SoCS the last thing in your fridge — 11.21.20

Your Friday prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday is “the last thing you put in your fridge.” Start your post with the last thing you put in your fridge. Let your mind wander from there. Enjoy!

I scratched my head in “huh?” when I first read this prompt, and so instead of writing I went to Second Life to take the post’s featured image. Even in a virtual world the fridge never has what you want in it.

How? What? Write about what you last put in the fridge? Why? What is WRONG with you Linda? This is a nutty prompt… I grumbled. I may have even kvetched. I came back to the prompt after participating in this week’s Jew Zoom Shabbat services. I logged into SL to take the photo. I glared at the blank WordPress screen. Well, what was the last thing I put in the fridge?

Bacon.

Now, look at those two paragraphs. Which one of these things is not like the other?

Hey! Stop judging! I mentioned a few weeks ago that I am considering converting to Judaism. I’m not a full-fledged Jew. There can be bacon!

I had a similar thought about Thanksgiving. I get various food-centered email subscriptions. One had a nice sounding recipe for a pork roast…

Oh.

I have not had the kosher discussion with the rabbi. I have read, though. Keeping strictly kosher by following all of the rules is daunting. I honestly don’t know how people living in areas without a large Jewish population do it it. There can be a type of one-upmanship with being kosher, rather like someone saying “I’m a vegetarian” while giving someone who is scarfing a bacon cheeseburger the stink eye, only to have the person next to them say, “Well, I’m vegan.”

Let’s just pause a moment to reflect on the American perfection that is a bacon cheeseburger. (And in case you aren’t up on your Jewish dietary laws, having cheese with meat is also a no-no. Depending on how that cow is slaughtered, it might not be kosher either.)

Image of this bourbon bacon cheeseburger along with the amazing recipe is from the food blog The Chunky Chef. No infringement intended, in fact AWE is intended.

I live alone. I’m not in a relationship. I don’t have kids. So I’m in this whole to be or not to be situation on my own, which is a huge simplification. My choice will be made from various inputs, not the least of which is my decision about becoming Jewish or not, wisdom from my rabbi, my own study, and good grief, it is bacon! If God didn’t want us to eat bacon then why did he make it so delicious? Hmm? (That is a direct quote from my best friend, who is, by the way, Jewish by birth.) Do I believe the laws of kashrut are dictated by God and cannot be disobeyed? Or do I believe they stemmed from ancient knowledge of which foods tended to cause illnesses, and are no longer relevant as long as you store and cook things properly?

Things get complicated. There’s only like 5000-plus years of history, teachings, cultures, and laws from a people who love to over-analyze everything. (These are so much my peeps.) Tonight’s Tribe Trivia that has become part of Shabbat Zoom had a question asking whether there is debate among scholars as to whether Jews are allowed to eat turkey on our American Thanksgiving.* Yes or no? I laughed the second I heard the question. The question topic mattered not, I thought. The key words were “debate among Jewish scholars…” and regardless, the answer will be “of course!” I was right.

No matter what I decide about bacon, I am sure I will find articles (official or otherwise) that will support my position and just as many, or more, that will refute it.

Meanwhile, there’s a bit of thinking here that long-term pork consumption may be in danger. In that case, it is a little like declaring tomorrow you’re going on a diet and so you chow down on chocolate the night before. Bacon on everything!

* Although nothing is ever a hundred percent, the vast agreement by the scholars was “Yes, eat the turkey.”