For anyone contemplating the laws of kashrut, the decision is inevitably reduced to a crude culinary arithmetic. Consider parting with treyf, and, soon enough, you’ll find yourself mentally dividing everything edible into three groups.
In the first, entitled “Food I’m not likely to miss,” I put shrimp cocktail and fried calamari and ham sandwiches, all of which I have always enjoyed but none of which, I realized, I would ever miss if I resolved to no longer be a few cheeseburgers removed from the faith of my fathers.
Speaking of cheeseburgers, I put them in group No. 2, “Food I’m somewhat likely to miss,” together with the oysters I enjoyed slurping with my dry martinis and the lobster I loved drowning in butter on breezy summer evenings with my family on Cape Cod.
But group No. 3, reserved for food I could absolutely not imagine living without, contained one single entry: bacon.
It was, after all, my original sin, the instrument of my fall from grace. I had spent the first decade and a half of my life blissfully unaware of its scent or its taste, raised in a kosher home in Israel where a good cholent was the peak of fleshy goodness. And then, one day, slogging through puberty, I slouched into a friend’s home and smelled something transcendent. I understood, with that one whiff, what it must’ve been like to stand in the ancient Temple and take in the smoke rising from the burnt offering, every breath making clearer the spiritual affinities between meat and the divine. I asked my friend’s mother what she was making, and she replied it was bacon. She might as well have said Kryptonite: Bacon was a substance I never imagined actually existed on the same planet I myself inhabited. She asked me if I wanted a strip. Without thinking, I said that I did.
Reader, I loved it. The appeal was more than gustatory; it was emotional. Eating bacon was like taking communion in a religion of my choosing, casting off the yoke of tradition my parents placed on my back without my comprehension or consent. I still believed in God, still felt deeply Jewish, was still proud of my heritage, but with every crispy, fatty bite I felt I was forging my own path forward, a path that didn’t require me to forgo life’s pleasures to pledge my allegiance to my people and my faith.
I delivered a version of this sermon often, frequently over breakfast buffets where bacon took its rightful place beside the potatoes and next to the eggs. The days of burnt offerings, I thundered with my mouth full, were long gone; God, surely, would never have created such splendors only to prohibit us from ever enjoying them.
It’s been several swineless years now, and I miss bacon less and less every day. Meat is great, but meaning is better.
Each bite I took was a theological tractate, because bacon, unlike all other forbidden food, wasn’t just a prohibited treat: It was a synecdoche for all of treyfdom, a metaphor for the prickly and trying relationship between God and his chosen people. I enjoyed it deliberately, mindfully. It was, I believed, the instrument of my liberation.
When I got older, when the wisdom of old ideas shone brightly, when kashrut beckoned, I hesitated for a long time, mainly because of bacon. Giving it up felt like surrender. I was never, I realized, going to rationalize my way into submission. If I was going to return to the purities of my youth, I had to just plunge in and do it.
At first, every meal was a small heartbreak, defined by the meat that wasn’t there. Was this burger really good without a strip or two on top? Was that salad really healthy without the gift of crumbled goodness? And, most importantly, was my spirit growing even as my waist trimmed down?
I got my answer one balmy afternoon as we New Yorkers often do, on the street. I was hurrying somewhere when I passed an outdoor café where a young woman had just received her order: a BLT, the very spiritual balm I had ordered on so many drunken nights. I slowed down, allowing the familiar smell to settle in my nostrils. I expected to feel jittery, angry, distressed. Instead, I felt what might’ve been the greatest calm of my life. It wasn’t the calm of comprehension: I still can’t fully articulate why I decided to once again keep kosher. It was the calm of mastery and of mystery, of knowing that my soul, responding to strange signals from the primordial past, is being called upon to do something it doesn’t yet understand but that it can still, even as it obeys higher powers, command the gullet to do its bidding.
By not eating bacon, in other words, I felt at the same time completely in charge and not at all in charge, which is about as good a description of life as you’re likely to find.
It’s been several swineless years now, and I miss bacon less and less every day. Meat is great, but meaning is better.
(14) Anonymous, June 21, 2018 9:53 PM
Loosing weight on Keto diet
Fifty (Yes50) years ago I weighed 215lbs. I went on the Atkins diet and my weight went down to 165. I had recriminations about the no carb, high protein diet. Over the decades I gained it all back. The Keto diet is more like the diet people eat in the Arctic climates, lots of meat, fats , and liquids, just a minimum of carbohydrates and no sugars. This is not the stuff one does a Bracha over, so how do I substitute grains , bacon and shrimp? The goyishe guidebooks for this diet recommended by many doctors have stuff I avoided, but one has to have a reasonable variety to build a meal from. My diabetes ranges now around 100, down from 200 . I want some variety and to eat the right stuff , but not treife. It is important to stay "on the wagon". I am not looking for recipes, but info on the various items that would make a decent meal and also snack. The Keto based books, have tons of recipes, but will not work if I omit the treife items. I do not like to cook fancy meals, and also my wife is blind, so I have to do the food in a way to keep her happy. I have not seen anything for the Atkins diet or the Keto diet any that has kosher ingredients.
Any suggestions?
Thank you,
Ben Reuven
Raymond, March 30, 2019 4:03 AM
Not All Carbs Are Evil
Even proponents of the ketogenic diet not only acknowledge, but even encourage, the consuming of the good kind of carbohydrates. One should eat, for example, at least two pounds of vegetables every single day. Berries are not only perfectly okay to eat, but are among the world's most healthiest foods. Nuts, seeds, 70% (or more) dark chocolate, and whole milk unflavored yogurt and kefir are also perfectly fine. None of these foods I am mentioning raises your blood sugar too high, so you can consume them without any feelings of guilt at all.
(13) Anonymous, June 21, 2018 12:17 AM
Original Bacon was not trayf
The original bacon was from cattle. All those cowboy movies that you watched as child with the bacon sizzling over the fire (they where not herding pigs they were herding cattle) It was Beef bacon!!!
My family has been eating it for over 60 years
Beef bacon comes from the same cut as pastrami, it is just cured with different spices and smoked. It is much tastier than the swine variety and if you like it crispy, it cooks up just the way you like it. It will stay crisp in casseroles and salads unlike the poultry varieties.
You can find kosher brands on line or make your own.
http://www.kansascity.com/living/liv-columns-blogs/chow-town/article325415/Bacon-made-from-beef-is-beef-lovers’-dream-come-true.html
Fry up a batch of it, drain it well, and freeze it. When you go out to your favorite restaurant take a few slices in a zip lock bag and add it to you burger or crumble it over your salad.
(12) Joyce Aldrich, June 20, 2018 10:48 PM
How I kicked Bacon habit.
I kicked the bacon habit, long before deciding to be Kosher, again. I went to the Royal Winter Fair, in Toronto, and saw, first hand, how pigs are penned, and treated. I researched, and found out how horrible it was, and how intelligent they are, as well. I didn't want to contribute, any longer, to their suffering. For me, it was an act of mercy to stop eating them. I never missed bacon.
(11) Anonymous, June 20, 2018 11:30 AM
Giving up cheeseburgers
I have never liked bacon or ham, so I do not have the same feelings as the author did. However, I never thought I could give up eating cheeseburgers. Nonetheless, it happened gradually. I do not yet have a kosher kitchen, as my husband does not want one. (The idea is intimidating to him.) I have not given up hope of making our kitchen kosher, and am doing my part to move there bit bu bit. Thanks for sharing your journey!
(10) Annie, June 20, 2018 8:19 AM
Now that I haven't eaten meat for several years (with two small lapses, roast lamb and cold chicken) I don't miss it al all.
The mere thought of eating a dead pig is disgusting to me and I can't imagine how I ever did it !
Anonymous, March 30, 2019 4:04 AM
Totally Agree with You
I totally agree with you about the mere idea of eating pig being disgusting, although in my case, I only had it once in my entire life, and even that one time was completely by accident.
(9) brian, June 20, 2018 1:48 AM
turkey and duck meat
There are some kinds of teurkey meat and duck meat that are cured to taste very similar to bacon (is duck meat kosher, btw)?
MESA, June 20, 2018 2:29 PM
Duck is a kosher animal and as long as it's handled only by kosher butchers and in a kosher manner, it's fine to eat. And when cooked just right, it's delicious.
(8) SAbba Hillel, June 20, 2018 1:12 AM
There exists a fish that tastes like bacon
The talmud points out that for every forbidden item, there is a koshewr item that tastes like it. The gemara actually cites a fish that tastes like bacon. There are many kosher items nowadays that can be used as a substitute.
However, the fact that someone can give up something that he has become addicted to because it is not kosher withing going crazy searching for a taste-a-like, is actually a sign that he has mastered his cravings and become closer to Hashem. This is indeed a result that we all should strive for.
(7) Bill McCaulley, June 19, 2018 6:48 PM
I can readily identify
My gustatory challenge was eschewing cheese steaks. I originate from and reside in Philadelphia and the cheese steak is our signal culinary contribution. Guests from all over the world seek a Philly cheese steak when they visit our city. I sometimes think that abstaining from cheese steaks should be sufficient to effect my admission to Gan Eden.
Reuven Frank, June 21, 2018 1:36 PM
OH, How I feel for You!
As one Philly boy to another:
I truly get it!
Especially Pat's Steaks, and
don't forget the pickles!
Oy.
I solved the problem the only way I could:
I now live in Jerusalem!
(6) Jonathan, June 19, 2018 6:11 PM
So interesting this thing we call bacon!
You bring up a tremendously valid point, and that's the crazy thing about pork!
I learned in culinary school (classic French) about the amazing qualities that only pork fat can offer to the culinary world (some things just won't come out right without it).
Being Jewish, I still never tried anything I did with pork in school, and maintained a pork-free stance (I grew up in a non-kosher home, but have worked steadily towards keeping more and more kosher, so pork actually doesn't interest me).
But it brings a valid point - does anyone go crazy for any other non-kosher animal? Shark? Camel? Rabbit? "Oh, you have to try these frog's legs!" No, absolutely not. It's so interesting that people go so crazy for bacon / pork.
(5) Anonymous, June 19, 2018 4:34 PM
great article, I know the feeling
it's been many years, but when the urge hits, I have a BLT with baco bits. Not exactly the same, but not bad. Kosher and allowed. also eat great veggie cheeseburgers. we are not deprived!!
(4) Ted Vigodsky, June 19, 2018 4:11 PM
Swines' perspective
Imagine how relieved the swine are with your healthier, current diet choices.
(3) Gabriel Barber, June 19, 2018 1:49 PM
Bacon. Replaced with "Fakin Bacon"?
This article was a bit 'anti-climaxic'. I was expecting it to end, with the person finding 'Fakin Bacon'. But it just ended with, basically, "I'll get over it."?
If you use "fake bacon", with ZERO pork in it, but lots of smokey bacon type flavor, you can't be violating 'kashrut"? Right? Please, tell me I'm right?
Thanks. :-D
(2) glenda LaFont, June 19, 2018 1:47 PM
I don' eat bacon for health reasons. Do I miss it? Yes,
I do.
(1) Don D, June 19, 2018 1:39 PM
You can still have GREAT bacon if you...
Get some Godshall brand (or Applegate) TURKEY bacon. It is not made out of a paste that's pressed and painted to look like bacon... it's real meat, that is smoked and tastes FANTASTIC! I've been eating it for ten years, and have not had any desire to eat bacon from swine ever since. Shalom!
Bk, June 19, 2018 6:34 PM
Turkey bacon is kosher? really?
Anonymous, June 19, 2018 8:26 PM
Saying goodbye to bacon
Should be, it's not swine. and until Abba says different. I say go for it?
Rachel, June 21, 2018 7:41 AM
Not all turkey bacon is kosher
While there is at least one brand of bacon made from kosher turkey, please remember that only turkey processed under rabbinical supervision is kosher. If the label doesn’t show kosher certification, it’s not kosher.