Questionable kashrut at mandatory function

Ugh.

I work in Israel, and it is very comon here to have "yomei gibbush" (rough translation: "bonding days"); days where you all go our and do some group activity in order to bond w/your co-workers. This week we are going to some local nature reserve to hike and do so other activities (we don't know what). One of the activities is preparing lunch. An instructor is coming to do some group cooking session over a fiire.

Sounds like fun, except the company that runs the cooking class has no kashrut supervision. A notice was sent out expaling that they only use kosher ingredients, and that the vessels were only used for meat meals, but because they cook in outdoor locations there is no supervision, and hence no teudah.

I am a bit skeptical, since many times I have heard people saying "oh, the restaurant is kosher, but we have no teudah" only to find out that if you poke around a bit, it's actually not kosher at all, and that the person who said it was has only the vaguest idea what keeping kosher means.

So now I have to order some pre-packaged glatt airline meal type food and be stared at and questioned by my Jewish colleagues. I feel like I will be singled out, which defeats the purpose of the whole "gibbush."

I'm whining, I know. It's just that it's not the first time things like this happen, and I feel like it counts against me at work. (It makes me appear "high maintenance" or "difficult" or "holier than thou").

I am particularly annoyed because our company has a policy of providing only kosher food on gibbush days, and I guess the organizer thought this cooking course was an acceptable option, whereas I do not think it is.

I don't really know what I am looking for here. Not really advice. Just venting, I suppose.

Thx for reading.

Diamond Member Joined: Mar 29 2005 Posts: 3592

That's tough to deal with. Sorry you are having this difficulty.

Good luck.

Posted: Sun, May 08 2011, 2:57 am Post subject:

Ouch. I know my company offers a mehadrin option for those who wish it (also airline-type meals). There are always several employees who take them up on it. We've never had an activity at a place without a teudah though, and that includes the yemei kef in the summer for the kids. All of which are at outdoor locations.
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DrMom - maybe this is the week you start your "new diet" and bring a packed lunch to the function because "you really have to count your carbohydrates strictly in this new diet and you don't want to mess up your diet plan"
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Posted: Sun, May 08 2011, 5:47 am Post subject:

ewa-jo,

Cute.
But I don't think I will lie aboyut it. If anyone asks me, I think I'd rather just say that I keep kosher, and if they ask "what, this food isn't kosher?" I can just say "it might be, I really have no idea, since there is no supervision. So I'll play it safe and eat my boring airline meal. Haha."

I also know that the company which runs the gibbush cooking workshop is not shomer shabbat, so the chances of the operson running the workshop being shomer kashrut and knowing what they are doing vis-a-vis kashrut is low.

Too bad; the food looks like it will be yummy. Sad

Posted: Sun, May 08 2011, 6:23 am Post subject:

DrMom, I like your answer. ewa-jo's solution might be better in a non-Jewish environment in chul, but really, THEY are the ones in the wrong. By saying something you might also be saving masorti etc people from eating it, if they haven't considered the problems.
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Moderator Joined: Dec 18 2008 Posts: 3612

Wow, kol hakavod.

I've from the past to make sure the person organizing the event knows that I only eat at a place with a valid teuda. I try to make them show me a copy of the teuda before going. It's easier when there are several frum people who demand this. Most companies are accomidating because the whole idea is gibush. I've made a big stink in the past when I found out that the "kosher" resturaunt is not kosher at all (they serve meat and dairy - but I guess not in the combined).
I'd try to get out of the whole thing and try to guilt my boss into giving me the day off.
We had a stupid yom gibbush last week.
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Posted: Sun, May 08 2011, 7:16 am Post subject:

Posted: Sun, May 08 2011, 7:29 am Post subject:

I couldn't pull of ewa-jo's idea anyway. I eat too much to convince anyone I'm on a diet. Smile

shalhevet: I think the fact that I am pointing out that those who ARE eating the gibbush food (I.e., the majority of my co-workers) are doing something wrong is what makes me sort of squamish. I work in a mostly hiloni environment, and I never confront my coworkers about their religious practices (or lack thereof), and this kind of situation puts it out there.

In the past, there was a similar incident for a gibbush that included a restaurant meal to which our American colleagues had been invited. When they saw me eating a home-packed sandwich on a paper plate, they were appalled. One of them asked, cluelessly, 'Gosh, is it hard to find kosher food in Israel? I would think it would be easy." I replied that it is not that difficult, and that there is a place just across the street! [BTW, I had volunteered to make all the arrangements for a kosher place, but the organizer rebuffed my suggestion because he wanted to impress our out-of-town guests, and of course one could not subject their sophisticated non-Jewish palates to primitive kosher cuisine.] The American man voiced his opinion that the organizers were very thoughtless, and in the end, the organizer (who is somewhat "anti") was embarrassed.

How's this? Tell them, **that morning** that you just got over a case of food poisoning. Then, yank out a very simple lunch--a jelly sandwich. Hey--it'll be very bland but a) It won't spoil in your backpack in the warm weather and b) it'll be a safe alternative. It beats saying you're not comfortable with the kashrut, that you're dieting (I can bet there are female employees who are uncomfortable about eating food that they are not preparing for that purpose alone), etc.

These bonding sessions STINK. We had a mountain hiking one and in the corporate newsletter that came out the following week, there was a great picture of my big fat butt on the cover climbing up the mountain. LOVELY.

(Not a frum, or even Jewish, company.) The headline was "New employee joins right in!"

Gag. At least they photoshopped or stretched the photo where I looked slightly thinner. I think I still burned it, though. Smile

Actually, I don't mind some of the gibbushim we've had lately. We had a French cooking workshop (in a kosher-certified studio kitchen), tours of Jaffo, Beit Guvrin cave tiyulim, etc. They are not all bad. They seem to have evolved from the dopey team-building exercises of a few years back (building a rope bridge together, etc.). It depends largely on the composition of the participants and planners (old vs. young, male vs. female ratios).

Usually, kashrut is not an issue, but every once ina while, we get a thoughtless planner. Oh and my last manager planned a gibbush that included a very nice lunch at an upscale kosher place and everyone griped (in front of me) about how they'd rather eat elsewhere, but because of DrMom, they couldn't ( "Um, I am religious, not deaf. I can hear you." ) I felt all warm and gibbushy inside after that one. Such a pleasure to work with such people. They even complained about kosher food at a lunch they threw for me when I left for maternity leave. Rolling Eyes

Diamond Member Joined: Aug 03 2007 Posts: 4448

They seem to have major issues.

Kosher doesn't mean dull, plain, tasteless............... it can be of course but it doesn't equalize to that.. Rolling Eyes

Silver Member Joined: Feb 28 2011 Posts: 669

That is difficult, and I hear you 100% about seeming high maintenance (I have had colleagues complain about my "dietary restrictions" unfortunately) but I applaud your trying to be gracious. I would start by actually contacting these people and asking exactly how their food was kosher. Will the meat still be labled when it gets to the fire, the pans opened at the fire (if they're using disposable) an opportunity to check ALL of the vegetables, etc. You might be pleasantly surprised?

Those that were complaining about the kashrus- what foods had they wanted to serve? Pork? Shellfish? Pizza with peperoni? What foods did they actually feel they were missing?
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Platinum Member Joined: Nov 04 2008 Posts: 7928

It looks really good!
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