Kosher BBQ competition is a hit among Jews

MEMPHIS, Tenn. (JTA) -- If there’s anything that can bring the Jews of Tennessee together, it would be barbecue.

This past weekend, the 23rd annual Kosher BBQ Contest and Festival drew thousands of Jews from Tennessee and around the country.

It attracted a group of Muslims, too. Turns out they're not bad at cooking kosher brisket: The Memphis Islamic Center’s team, the "Halal Smokers," won a third-place award for their brisket entry.

The commingling of Jews and Muslims among tables heaped with baked beans, hamburgers and ribs provided a counterpoint to anti-Muslim protests in Murfreesboro, Tenn., and death threats aimed recently at mosques elsewhere in this state.

“This is what America is all about,” Adam Itayem, who manned the Halal Smokers’ booth, said during the event. Itayem is also the owner of Tom’s Bar-B-Q in Memphis.

“People from all over the community feel comfortable coming year after year,” observed Rabbi Joel Finkelstein, the rabbi of Anshei Sphard-Beth El Emeth, the Orthodox synagogue that organizes the annual event and holds it in its parking lot.

Every May, this Mississippi River city hosts the famed World Championship Barbecue Cooking Contest, held each year on a Saturday. That contest has an overwhelmingly porcine character.

The synagogue cooked up its contest more than two decades ago so that its Shabbat- and kosher-observant members could get in on the barbecue action.

“It is the only event I know that brings the entire Jewish community together,” said Steve Kaplan, a longtime organizer of the event. He estimated that 3,000 people in all came to the festival.

The kosher barbecue contest has become so popular that attendees from far and wide are trying to copy the Memphis model.

Longtime participant Bruce Downs of Birmingham, Ala., said he has helped launch a similar kosher competition back home, sponsored in part by the Piggly Wiggly supermarket chain, whose local branch sells kosher meat.

Warren Binderman, an accountant whose “Grillin Tefillin” teams had baked beans bubbling on the grill in Memphis, said he’s trying to start a similar contest in Atlanta.

Marvin Rembo, of Jericho, N.Y., a chemical wholesaler, was sent by his synagogue to scout out the Memphis competition. His mission, Rembo said, is to launch a Long Island-wide kosher barbecue competition next June that will be sanctioned by Anshei Sphard-Beth El Emeth. The winner will get to compete in Memphis -- which can make the uncontested claim, at least for now, of hosting what has quickly evolved into North America’s world series of kosher grilling.

“Eisenhower invaded Europe with less preparation than these guys did to get ready,” Rembo said of the organizers of the Memphis barbecue.

For the crowds this weekend, Sunday was an opportunity not just to tantalize the taste buds, but also to pet goats, shoot some hoops and meet up with friends from around town. Some 45 teams participated in the cooking contest, with each paying a $125 entrance fee in addition to buying all the kosher meat and ingredients they needed. With smoke from the grills hovering over the parking lot, the scene had the air of a Civil War reenactment.

Stuart Lazarov, an anesthesiologist and past president of Anshei Sphard-Beth El Emeth, said sponsors of the event this year included a medical center, a property-management firm, a bank, a casino, law firms and a frozen yogurt store. In a humorous nod, a group of gastrointestinal specialists sponsored a pickle-eating contest.

The grand prize winners, and victors of the ribs competition, were the “Pickering Potchkers.” The best brisket went to “Grills Gone Wild.” The baked beans of the “Cow Towers” took first place in the beans category.

The Memphis Islamic Center’s booth drew a lot of curious Jews who chatted with the cooks about the similarities and differences of the laws governing halal and kosher meat.

Aside from meat, the main draw of the day was a basketball tournament in which 40 teams competed for trophies in three-on-three competition. The power forward for the University of Memphis men’s basketball team, Tariq Black, chatted with fans of his team.

I think it depends on the Jains. The smaller group would not eat a bean since that would be to eat the whole "creature". The larger group scarfs down beans like there's no tomorrow.

I happen to know traditional Jain cooking is pretty difficult to deal with ~ but there are degrees.

I know Jaines who eat nuts with hard shells, but they won't eat peanuts. I've heard of those who eat peanuts but not nuts with hard shells. Others are lacto-ovacian vegetarians, and yet others are simple vegetarians who don't look too closely at the food!

In general none of them eat root crops as a practice because preparing them kills all the little critters that live on the roots in the dirt.

Jaines have eating restrictions almost as severe as those practiced by diagnosed Celiacs.

“The Memphis Islamic Center’s booth drew a lot of curious Jews who chatted with the cooks about the similarities and differences of the laws governing halal and kosher meat.”

I was actually wondering that myself.

So I looked it up:

Similarities

Swine is prohibited by both sets of laws.[1][2]
Many animals permitted in kashrut are also halal, such as bovines.[3][4]
Kashrut forbids and halal strictly forbids the consumption of amphibians such as frogs.[5][citation needed]
Almost all insects are not kosher. The few kosher insects are specific types of locusts and grasshoppers which are not eaten today in most communities, since it is unknown which species is permitted (the exception being the Yemenite Jews, who claim to have preserved this knowledge).[6] It is also a consensus among Muslim scholars that all insects are forbidden except for locusts.[7][8]
To be kosher, aquatic animals must have scales and fins. Most Muslim schools of thought adhere to the interpretation that all creatures from the ocean or the sea are considered halal.[1][9] Hanafi Sunnis (who comprise the majority of Muslims) follow essentially the same laws as Kashrut, believing that only fish with scales and fins are halal. Shi'ites also follow this, but make an exception with some crustaceans; shrimps and prawns are halal).[8]
According to Jewish oral law all fish that have scales have fins, thus making all fish with scales kosher and rendering the law essentially the same as dhabiĥa halal.[10][11][12]
Gelatin is only permissible if it comes from a permissible animal (usually kosher gelatin comes from the bones of kosher fish[citation needed], or is a vegan substitute[citation needed]).
Cheese is permissible so long as the rennet used to make the cheese is permissible.

Differences

For a substance to be halal, it must not contain alcohol of any kind. However, there is a difference drawn between the addition of alcohol to foods which is absolutely forbidden, and the small quantities that naturally become present - such as orange juice. Except for grape wine and grape juice (which must be manufactured under Jewish supervision), Kashrut allows the consumption of any sort of alcohol, as long as it has kosher ingredients (including any unsupervised grape extracts).[5][13]
The list of animals forbidden by kashrut is more restrictive, as kashrut requires that, to be kosher, mammals must chew cud as well as have cloven hooves. Dhabiĥa halal only requires that an animal survive on grass and leaves. Thus, various animals, such as the camel, are permissible as per dhabiĥa halal, but not according to kashrut.[1][4]
Kashrut prohibits shellfish, such as lobster, shrimp, clams, and oysters.[14] Sunni (non-Hanafi) interpretations of halal permit the consumption of all seafood. Hanafis follow the exact same laws as Kashrut, believing only fish with fins from the oceans are permissible, whereas shellfish, lobsters, etc. aren't. However, there is some difference of opinion amogst some Hanafis about the permissibility of shrimp. Shia interpretations (following Ja'fari jurisprudence) also prohibits the consumption of shellfish (with the exception of shrimps and prawns).[8]

Huh. The more you know.

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