Vegan Restaurants: A Kashrus Minefield

March, 2022

    Last week we discussed the halachos and hashkafos of being vegan. While most readers are not contemplating such a move, there is one area that has become a popular issue to be brought up to rabbanim, especially in New York City.

    Often, it’s the kosher certification agencies that are known to not follow modern kashrus policies (policies created due to new realities) that certify vegan restaurants in the city (many vegan establishments are indeed under good certifications, that follow modern protocols; I’m referring to one’s that are not and do not).

        However, some people will go to these establishments anyway. When I ask why, they either explain that they accept that hashgacha, which is their choice, or more commonly, they will say, “Rabbi, it is vegan! What could be the issue! This teudah should certainly be enough for such a place!” I’ve heard this argument from otherwise very smart and frum people.

       While I am not here to say which hashgacha a person should accept, I can say that such an argument is absurd, or better said, not fully thought out.

       First, let me share a story or two.

    When I was a rav in Buffalo, the dream was to create a sit-down kosher restaurant. While we had several food options -a meat deli, a JCC dairy takeout, a university cafeteria, and various caterers -a real, tabled restaurant would be the mark of a stable and secure community. But to support such a venture a town needs one of two things: either a critical mass of frum people that will keep it in business every night of the week (which we did not have), or, a restaurant that would appeal to non-Jews as well.

       Growing up in Toronto, whenever we would drive to New York to bake matzos for Pesach, we would stop in (my future home!) the Young Israel of Buffalo for shacharis, and then head off to Bakerman’s for breakfast. It was a classic donuts and bagel all day ‘breakfast’ spot. True Americana, and the perfect restaurant for an out-of-town city like Buffalo, catering mostly to non-Jews yet under the hashgacha of the local vaad (run then by the stupendous Rav Yirmiyahu Kaganoff).

It was there where I tried my first tuna melt, as well as first heard such terms as ‘over easy’.

      Several years into the venture, the mashgiach noticed that the first batch of donuts were being sold less than an hour from opening. This was suspicious, as he had to be the one to turn on all cooking equipment, and fryers take time to heat up.

      It was the late 1980’s or early 90’s, and when he shared this information with the rabbi, his only option was to purchase a camcorder and follow the owner. (Why not use a PI? For one thing, at such late-stage suspicions, immediate confrontation is apt, as being caught red-handed by the rabbi deflates excuses, even when one’s livelihood is, sadly, on the line. Secondly, this issue arose due to putting matters into non-rabbinic hands; to investigate by those very means seems peculiar).

The next morning, the rabbi – parked outside the non-Jewish owner’s house since the crack of dawn – began following the owners car to the store. However, the owner didn’t go toward the store! Instead, the rabbi followed him to a warehouse we they picked up their first batch of very-non-kosher donuts -ready to sell before his regular donuts could be fried. (The reader should note that off-site frying is becoming the norm, and even your local Dunkin likely does not fry their own donuts).

     Suffice it to say, they lost their hashgacha.

        Next story:

       Fast forward fifteen years, and now I sit at Rav Kaganoff’s desk. We are approached by the owner of a large Indian restaurant. His restaurant took up a huge modern building, was centrally located, and all VEGAN!

What he was missing was more customers, and he called our office to see if going kosher would be feasible.

     This was a gift! What a boon this could be for the community! What a hero I would be if I could make this happen!

   I suggested we meet at the actual restaurant so that I may see the lay of the land etc. We agreed to meet there before he opened the next morning.

     I arrived at the designated time and waited in the empty lot for the owner to arrive. I called his cell phone to no avail. After close to two hours, I wondered if he lived i the top floor, as this was a huge building. Maybe he is inside waiting for me. I knock. No answer. Maybe he is in a back office, I think. I turn the knob and the door swings open. It was gorgeous inside, with high ceilings, and with the entire space used for an oppulant eastern design. He certainly didn’t live there.

I walked alone throughout the large restaurant, to the back offices. No one is there.

“They just leave their store open all night?!” I wonder to myslef.

In the kitchen, I go through some of their products. Many of them would seem ‘vegan’ to many, but are certainly not. Stearates and Caseins and other ingredients abound in their packaged, dried, and canned goods. I found at least ten products that have ingredients derived from meat!

    Finally, after an hour of my perusal -and thre hours of waiting total- the owner shows up.

No apology.

Not a word.

Rather, he sat down and demanded I join him.

“Ok, Rabbi, so we are already vegan, tat means we are kosher. So why don’t we make a deal that you come here for free once a month with your family and in exchange you give a sign that says we are kosher”!

    I wasn’t sure if he was joking or not. “Well, first of all, your security is awful. Secondly, I perused your products and many are problematic to kosher and to your vegan customers. In addition, we have the issue of bugs. This is not to mention….

    He cut me off.

     “Rabbi. I did not come to my own store to hear you lecture me. My brother owns three vegan restaurants in Manhattan. I know exactly what kosher is…”

     I extended my hand, got up, then turned around and left -not saying another word then, nor speaking to him ever again.

Because:

He Lacked Humility:

If a proprietor behaves like this now -when courting an ‘investor’, as it were – and is also unwilling to invest in learning, in growing, and improving, then no amount of training, no number of security measures, no level of mashgichim could ever mitigate the inevitable implosion.

It would be doomed to fail from the start. Worse, I would be at fault for letting him through the proverbial door when i saw the warning signs.

        It’s a funny thing. The fact that I’ve ver pulled my certification from any factory, company, or restaurant causes the simple to assume this is a sign of weakness, or of my not taking kashrus seriously enough. In truth, it proves the opposite. Eighty-percent of the real kosher security is done before shaking hands. I said “No” more often than “Yes”. When one looks for honesty and humility then he will rarely if ever be let down. That is the reason I never had to pull my kosher certification!

These stories did not even touch upon the most severe issue relating to vegan restaurants.

     Bishul Akum.

        A simple eggplant -a vegetable that one can’t eat raw -can treif up all the dishes in a ‘vegan’ kitchen! A can of veggies from the wrong company (depending on how and when they cook it) -like asparagus -will do the same. Without a set-up for deliveries and a mashgiach, it is, in many ways, the vegan restaurant that scares me the most. That is when one’s guard could be down, that is where new ingredients and products are tried the most often, and that is where critical kashrus errors happen -by accident or with malice.

        The above is not a comment on any particular vegan facility, rather for the reader top understand why major kashrus agencies have increased and changed their standards over the years.

   May Hashem protect us from michshol!