Do you eat home made Misloach Manos from your friends?

LisaS

Mon, Mar 02 2015, 3:25 pm

This is so interesting. I have never heard of this type of sensitivity here in Israel. Here I have almost never received a MM without homemade food.

morah

Mon, Mar 02 2015, 3:50 pm

We keep yoshon, so we can't have the baked goods unless verified yoshon. However, we don't keep CY, so no concern about milchig items. No allergies here, so no issues with that. I actually put a note in mine saying everything is pareve, yoshon, but I can't vouch for allergen free, so act accordingly.

JAWSCIENCE

Mon, Mar 02 2015, 4:07 pm

For those that have hygiene issues/are just plain grossed out - do you ever eat at a friends house? Do you ever eat in a restaurant?

Would it matter if all the food was clearly labelled and said that gloves were worn in hamentasch preparation and no children were involved?

miami85

Mon, Mar 02 2015, 4:07 pm

heidi wrote:

I never never never eat other people's hamentashen--that is too much "hands on" work to make it palatable to me. When friends send salad or soup or dips I definitely eat them. Anyone who is close enough to send me mishloach manot (instead of just relying on the community list which gives to everyone who participates)-- means that I am close enough with them to trust their kashrut.

Ovens kill germs--that's what makes them edible in the first place (salmonella in eggs?)

Ruchel

Mon, Mar 02 2015, 4:18 pm

I eat at Jewish restaurants. I don't mind a friend's hygiene, no. Kashrus is very tricky, and we're not quite the most machmir in the Imamother crowd.... unless you only have friends on your level which we would never consider to cut them off for being less stringent!

I don't get the very big sensitivities to "dirty", the germ thing, the glove the sanitizing after meat... I live freer. I also think germs are healthy (in moderation), allergy wise for ex. From what I read we are not quite sicker than the average. Kah. Actually Americans (NY?) make my most finicky friends look sloppy.

Ruchel

Mon, Mar 02 2015, 4:18 pm

miami85 wrote:

Ovens kill germs--that's what makes them edible in the first place (salmonella in eggs?)

No. Or you couldn't eat mayo, chocolate mousse...

mille

Mon, Mar 02 2015, 4:19 pm

Yep, I eat everything homemade. We don't get mishloach manot from people we don't know, so kashrut isn't a concern.

The "yucky" argument, I don't get though. Or the "too hands on" argument. If you are worried about germs, do you also not go over for Shabbat meals? I feel like there are a lot more risks in terms of food safety when it comes to Shabbat meals, particularly preparing chicken and such, than hamantaschen or cake! But that's just me. I am also glad to accept any baked goods you don't want Smile

amother

Mon, Mar 02 2015, 4:21 pm

JAWSCIENCE wrote:

I eat in the same restaurants that have proven to be clean. I would eat in a friend's house if left without a choice, but will hate every second of it. I try to work on it though because it's excessive.

zaq

Mon, Mar 02 2015, 4:23 pm

If I would eat at their Shabbos table why would I not eat their homemade MM? Unless it looked as if too many little fingers had participated in its creation, or it was something perishable that had been left outside my door for too many hours, or it was just something horrifying like a mosaic Chagall window made of jelly beans and licorice shoelaces glued in place with confectioner's sugar glaze and "grouted" with marshmallow fluff.

MiracleMama

Mon, Mar 02 2015, 5:20 pm

Only from those who I know to have clean kitchens and are like-minded in terms of nutrition/health. So, I guess the answer is "rarely".

Lady Godiva

Mon, Mar 02 2015, 5:31 pm

Only if I'd also eat at her house.
It depends on who's giving the mishloach manot.

myself

Mon, Mar 02 2015, 5:34 pm

ra_mom wrote:

Yes, emphasis on from my friends (not from my acquaintances necessarily).

This.

MamaBear

Mon, Mar 02 2015, 5:45 pm

I don't eat the ones that are squished and no longer look appetizing (quite a few end up like this) or the ones that looked very "touched" - manipulated to look like something. And the real food ones that need to be eaten right away but are for only one person sometimes get dumped too. Like a hot dog. Nice in theory, but unless I make more for my other kids, what's one hot dog.

spinkles

Mon, Mar 02 2015, 7:16 pm

I can't believe how picky people are! We definitely eat homemade MM from friends and enjoy them.

zaq

Mon, Mar 02 2015, 7:20 pm

MamaBear wrote:

more for my other kids, what's one hot dog.

Lunch for your dh to take to work the next day?
Have you never heard of bal tashchit?

many people I know make their seudah a kind of buffet smorgasbord and incorporate stuff they received as MM. You could slice a hot dog into "coins" and serve on a platter side-by-side with your own meatballs, for example.

sweetpotato

Mon, Mar 02 2015, 7:42 pm

Wow, how much food do people throw out each Purim? It's kind of disheartening to think of how much baal tashchis is happening due to Purim.

For everyone who says they throw out many or most homemade MM's-- do you send homemade MM's yourself?

BetsyTacy

Mon, Mar 02 2015, 7:48 pm

It's nice to see how my laziness is rewarded. I send everything prepackaged besides fruit. I figure people will send these with their kids as snacks, or bring them to the office giveaway pile. At least it won't be thrown away. All food made by shomer Shabbos people is happily consumed (I said food, not art projects, zaq Very Happy

) Luckily, most of my friends/kids' friends don't do themes so we generally get regular junk food, not obscure items only meant to fit in with a theme.

zaq

Mon, Mar 02 2015, 8:04 pm

BetsyTacy wrote:

v (I said food, not art projects, zaq Very Happy

) .

LOL! We never got any MM quite THAT artistic, though IIRC the kids once brought home some 3-D creation consisting of various dried fruits glued together with marshmallow fluff. Exactly what it was supposed to represent was unclear, but I washed off the glop in warm water and we ate the fruit.

loveandpeace

Mon, Mar 02 2015, 8:19 pm

zaq wrote:

You wrote it out for me.