Why are frum people addicted to meat?

thanks

Tue, May 17 2016, 11:24 pm

Look at the ads in the kosher magazines. You will see pictures of big chunks of raw meat. Doesn't appeal to me, but it must to others.

I agree that many people eat lots of meat. They add it to their soup, salad, side dishes (pastrami potato knish, deli roll,etc.). Soon there will be a recipe for dessert with meat. The crazy thing is, that they get sick to the stomach every shabbos and yomtov, and continue to do it anyway. They call it "oneg shabbos". I hear people saying "Ugh, I at too much.....", and they sit in the bathroom the whole motzei shabbos.

Meat is loaded with saturated fat. That's the bad fat. It also has lots of cholesterol.

amother

Wine

Tue, May 17 2016, 11:25 pm

Didn't read all the posts, but meat is very good for you. Some consider healthier than chicken and fish...

Simple1

Tue, May 17 2016, 11:30 pm

goodmorning wrote:

Actually, I think that people who care about kashrus eat less meat overall than non-kashrus-observing people (obviously, who are non-vegetarians). Non-kosher recipes for meals like lasagna or baked ziti also contain ground meat; since we obviously can't do that, we end up with pure milchig meals.

And it isn't just meat-and-cheese recipes where this plays out. I see a lot of mention of meat for lunch, or even breakfast, on non-Jewish recipe sites, whereas a lot of frum people have a phobia of making themselves fleishig so early in the day. That limits them to fleishigs just for supper, if that.

And of course, kosher meat is more expensive than non-kosher meat. I always laugh when I see non-Jewish recipes calling for pot roasts or briskets as a weekday supper. That's Yom Tov food in my house!

I don't know if our eating habits are healthier, but I do think that they involve less meat.

I agree with this. I saw a recipe columnist once refer to something called fleishefobia, in which you're afraid of making yourself "fleishig".

Personally, I tried avoiding meat or chicken for weeknight suppers, but I find that it's harder to fill up on parve or dairy meals.

oliveoil

Tue, May 17 2016, 11:44 pm

Clarissa wrote:

We have an all milchig kitchen. We bring in lox for those that eat it (not me) and we bring in meat once in a blue moon (like on Pesach) but I only cook vegetarian food. I'll never forget when my mother-in-law came for Shabbos for the first time and realized no chicken would be brought out.

Come now, we all know you have an second kitchen entirely dedicated to creating dishes featuring Rich's whip. LOL

amother

Violet

Tue, May 17 2016, 11:52 pm

Some people mentioned sugar. Sugar is especially bad when mixed with so much fatty meat that just stays in the digestive tract. Sugar is in every recipe in every frum magazine also which is also no mitzvah to eat.

amother

Tangerine

Tue, May 17 2016, 11:55 pm

The reason I eat a lot of meat is because I'm sensitive to gluten and carb-based products. Proteins from legumes aren't ideal either for me. I eat my meat for supper three times a week, the rest of the time it's grilled chicken breasts and the like.

So, some people might actually be eating meat for nutrition reasons - imagine that!!

Clarissa

Tue, May 17 2016, 11:55 pm

oliveoil wrote:

Come now, we all know you have an second kitchen entirely dedicated to creating dishes featuring Rich's whip. LOL

Curses! Foiled again!

oliveoil

Wed, May 18 2016, 12:02 am

amother wrote:

You know there's lots of other places to get recipes, right?

amother

Ruby

Wed, May 18 2016, 12:11 am

I think all the research from the last 15 years or so shows that saturated fat is good for you and unsaturated is not.

http://www.westonaprice.org/he.....ines/

oliveoil

Wed, May 18 2016, 12:14 am

thanks wrote:

Soon there will be a recipe for dessert with meat.

bacon desserts are very popular.

MrsDash

Wed, May 18 2016, 12:19 am

I can live on steak and taters for dinner for the rest of my life!

amother

Tangerine

Wed, May 18 2016, 12:24 am

MrsDash wrote:

I can live on steak and taters for dinner for the rest of my life!

I'm assuming you're referring to the ancient segulah from Chelm.

The elders of Chelm promised: Whoever eats steak and potatoes every night for 97 years, will be zoche to live a long life!

amother

Slategray

Wed, May 18 2016, 12:33 am

amother wrote:

I think all the research from the last 15 years or so shows that saturated fat is good for you and unsaturated is not.

http://www.westonaprice.org/he.....ines/

Price has been dead since 1949. The foundation named after him has zero contemporary studies of nutrition.

ra_mom

Wed, May 18 2016, 12:47 am

Are frum people so addicted to meat? I think it's an American thing.
Meatless Mondays came about for a reason.

DrMom

Wed, May 18 2016, 1:29 am

sweetpotato wrote:

I think there is a trend in general among American Jews (and not just frum Jews--my husband's non-frum family is the same way) to eat a lot of meat. I think this comes from a few sources:

1. The idea that meat is more kavodik for Shabbos, etc., dating from back when meat was very expensive. Now that it's cheap (to buy; it's very expensive when you count the environmental and health impact), we have too much of a good thing. Most of the Azhkenazi recipes that get passed down and make up "Jewish cuisine" are special meals that were probably made for holidays and shabbos, so of course they feature meat. I'm guessing people had plain vegetable soup and boiled potatoes and beans for much of the year, but the recipes we get in cookbooks are roast chicken, stuffed meat cabbage, brisket, etc.

2. Jews have higher rates of lactose intolerance, so a lot of people find dairy-focused meals to be unappealing.

3. Meat is easier to make tasty than a pot of beans, lentils, tofu or other types of non-meat protein. And since nowadays it's inexpensive, that's what people gravitate toward.

4. Kosher keeping Jews in America are less able to try different world cuisines or new food trends. If you live in a town with 1 kosher restaurant, it's probably going to be falafel. If your town has 2 kosher restaurants, it'll be falafel and pizza. 3 kosher restaurants: falafel, pizza and steak house. And you need to live in a pretty big community to have more than 3 kosher restaurants. So we aren't getting to try Thai food, Indian food, and other cuisines that inspire creative cooking.

Totally agree with all of this.

I also think that many people just have no idea what to do with vegetables.

I have relatives in the US who are very meat- (or chicken)-and potatoes types, to such an extent that they aren't realy interested in other types of foods, so there is really nothing ekse to eat at their home on Shabbat. They serve some token vegetable at Shabbat meals just to round out the menu, but it is clearly there as an afterthought. It is always one of four choices: Peas and carrots, steamed (or boiled -- yuck) broccoli, boiled-to-death string beans, or an uninspired salad consisting of iceberg lettuce, some anemic tomato slices, and some tasteless watery cucumbers. A bottle of store-bought goopy dressing on the table. Everyone must take some on his/her plate, because "vegetables are good for you." Nobody likes it; it is a necessary evil.

They never cook using any spices or herbs. The only spices used are salt, a little pepper, maybe some paprika, and (of course) sugar.

I know when they come to my place that if I make something varied and interesting, with lots of veggies and flavored with fresh herbs, they will think it is "too strongly flavored" and they won't feel like they are satisfied unless they eat copious quantities of meat/chicken.

cbg

Wed, May 18 2016, 3:00 am

amother wrote:

I think all the research from the last 15 years or so shows that saturated fat is good for you and unsaturated is not.

http://www.westonaprice.org/he.....ines/

Agree, the same people that told us saturated fat is "bad" for us, told us that MARGERINE is healthy back in the late 70s early 80s.
What's not healthy in today's beef and chicken, as well as most foods is the hormones and GMO garbage (keeping the language clean) that our food supply now a days contain.
IMO we are eating plastic, not real food. Banging head

little_mage

Wed, May 18 2016, 6:09 am

I cook mostly dairy. I make meat once a week. In addition to the points mentioned above, most of which I agree with, I want to make a point about cooking with chicken fat. If I'm making a meat meal, I use schmaltz. You need some fat, it makes the food taste better, and often not stick. If it was a dairy meal, I'd be using butter, so I don't see how it's any worse to use schmaltz. I prefer butter or schmaltz to oil.

Iymnok

Wed, May 18 2016, 8:09 am

sweetpotato wrote:

4. Kosher keeping Jews in America are less able to try different world cuisines or new food trends. If you live in a town with 1 kosher restaurant, it's probably going to be falafel. If your town has 2 kosher restaurants, it'll be falafel and pizza. 3 kosher restaurants: falafel, pizza and steak house. And you need to live in a pretty big community to have more than 3 kosher restaurants. So we aren't getting to try Thai food, Indian food, and other cuisines that inspire creative cooking.

You've never seen Seattle Cool

Chinese restaurant, Indian restaurant, Thai restaurant and pizza shops that come and go. Notice, vegetarian or dairy.
Seattle is OOT.

nylon

Wed, May 18 2016, 8:37 am

Mrs Bissli wrote:

I just find Americans in general to have meat consumption levels that's too high and not sustainable. I suspect it's because meat and poultry are cheap relative to other countries, and also many people are ignorant of how to prepare nutritously balanced meal without meat or plainly don't know how to cook beans or fish.

Now, someone mentioned about sugar ---my question would be why frum recipes have so much sugar in everything, ,from challot to salad dressing, fish and chicken included?

It's my 100% English husband (not keeping kosher growing up) who thinks that if an animal didn't die, it's not really dinner.

Meat was a prestige food. Now that we can afford it we eat it all te time. Monks were privileged--in Europe the poor did not eat anywhere like that quantity of meat. They ate bread or porridges, or later potatoes, with whatever fresh or preserved vegetables they had and small amounts of meat. I don't find traditional American or British tastes to be that different... it's just cheaper here to keep doing. '

The sugar is another story. That's the confluence of two tastes. The government of Poland encouraged the development of a strong sugar beet industry. So Jews living in that area (not Jews from Lita, Ukraine etc) got the taste of adding sugar to dishes, because it was local and inexpensive. That's where the sweet and sour comes from, or adding a bit of sugar to the gefilte fish, or making a sweet kugel.

Now these same Jews emigrate to America. American food is marked by strong flavors. Including sugar. So take that existing preference for sweetness, and add American BBQ sauce or ketchup. The first Chinese food to be popular in the US? Cantonese. Which uses sugar as a seasoning. Adopt the duck sauce used in Chinese restaurants. (I have been to authentic Cantonese restaurants--vetted by Chinese people--and seen the popularity of sweeter meat dishes. Some things I thought must be American adaptations were not; they are from China or Hong Kong.)

At the same time, other tastes that were popular in Europe to balance the sugar diminish. My grandmother served a sweet kugel and tzimmes... and always put pickles on the table, and a sour rye bread for weeknights, not a challah. The sweet challah reflects other European breads which add egg and fat for a rich loaf (brioche, Zopf, sweet rolls): it symbolizes that it is a costlier bread. They always have some sugar, but again, then people made them sweeter again.

yo'ma

Wed, May 18 2016, 8:42 am

MrsDash wrote:

I can live on steak and taters for dinner for the rest of my life!

My dh used to say he can eat it for breakfast too. Not the taters though, he prefers rice Wink