rome, italy | Imamother

elaela

Thu, Aug 04 2011, 10:10 am

hi
we are beezratH going to rome soon. we ordered flights and the hotel and we found also kosher restaurants in rome. someone has metioned to me that the chalavi restaurants are only cholov stam (which I cant believe, cos of cheeze on pizza etc).
anyone know details?
also what would you recommend us to see on a 3 day visit?
thx

Ruchel

Thu, Aug 04 2011, 10:12 am

About cheese, let's just say not everyone holds all cheese needs to be CY, and davka there is an Italian minhag permitting some cheese others need to keep CY on.

Now, I'm pretty sure Yotvata is CY.

oohlala

Sun, Aug 07 2011, 12:30 am

yotvata is chalav yisrael. you actually need to be more careful about chalav yisrael in europe than in the US, btw. In the US there is always rav moshe's heter on gov't regulations, but that never was held in europe.
have fun, and see the colloseum, the roman forum, the pantheon (from the outside if you are makpid, since it is still used as a church) the trevi fountain, just walk the streets and enjoy!

Grandmama

Sun, Aug 07 2011, 12:51 am

Yotvata is definitely the only place there with Chalav Yisrael. You can ask your hotel for fresh whole fruits in the morning, and you can get soy milk or bring with you milk alternatives.

Ruchel

Sun, Aug 07 2011, 10:20 am

oohlala wrote:

All European rabbinates publish a list of kosher dairy items from regular shops, and if anything we are stricter on many things on food production. Please refrain from spreading misinformation.

Grandmama

Sun, Aug 07 2011, 11:00 am

Where is a tourist supposed to get hold of such a list? Chalav Yisrael is very hard to find in many places. I wonder how they manage without it as I know most Lubavitchers are machmir on chalav yisrael. So the shlichim just manage without cheeses and dairy products?
We had some soymilk, and we only ate dairy if it was chalav yisrael.
We really never appreciate how spoiled we are in the USA.

Ruchel

Sun, Aug 07 2011, 11:07 am

Grandmama wrote:

You can email or call the rabbinate. Sometimes called "Consistoire". There is a French list, Italian list, Swiss list, Belgian list, German list, Greek list... some are online - it also lists kosher hechsherless (much cheaper to do, and much cheaper to buy!) products, and products you can buy without supervision. We buy hechsherless as much as possible. Buying the same thing just more expensive and with a stamp, not for us...

For information, my dh's ruv is charedi, a kashrus gadol and he personally eats parve hechsherless. Not CS hechsherless as he keeps CY, but he allows it for those whose minhag allows it. He's one of the many who hold like that. I think he wrote a sefer on dairy and kashrus in Europe, too.

Grandmama

Sun, Aug 07 2011, 7:09 pm

Ruchel, we can live on fruits and diet coke, and would not eat foods without some sort of hechsher.
In the US we have the OU which is okay for some pareve foods.
Today you can take vacuum packed foods and other dry foods with you, so its really not a big deal.
We prefer fresh foods rather than food products, basically the biggest problem is if you are on a low carb eating plan and prefer meat or chicken for dinner. Glatt meat is not available everywhere.
BH we had enough fruits and managed fine.
Losing weight was just another benefit!

Ruchel

Sun, Aug 07 2011, 7:33 pm

Kashrus is really a complicated topic.

There are people who eat parve hechsherless in Europe, but only mehadrin in Israel, and not all hechsherim in America (like dh's rav)! It depends what level and type of supervision you need... the rabbinate takes responsibility for what it allows on the list, meaning in their shitta if there is a mistake it is on them - and unfortunately hechsherim make mistakes too, and there are even fake hechsherim or treif meat sold as kosher in the world Sad

And that's without those who need a (not) certain type of shechita, even among the glatt.

It is also well known hechsherless from the list of "strong community" country (like France) is often more reliable and checked than with a hechsher from an exotic place or never heard of society...