Kosher Fast Food?

August 24, 2005 8:30 AM

Do any of the large (or semi-large) fast food chains in the United States serve kosher food that is not fish / vegetarian? I know that McDonalds and Burger King offer a fish sandwich, but do any places (including places like Pizza Hut and Quiznos) serve kosher -meat-?

I'm not actually Jewish, but I've got enough friends who keep Kosher that it's come up every once in a while. I have a functioning idea of how the kosher laws work, though some of the more complex parts elude me. (I'm told they elude some people who keep Kosher too.)

posted by FritoKAL to food & drink (8 comments total)

AFAIK none of the major American fast food chains serve kosher meat food due to the small potential market.

Although McDonald's and Burger King keep kosher in Israel, none of their stands here are - Though there are many kosher Dunkin Donuts and Nathan's restaurants around the NYC tri-state area due to the Jewish population in NY/NJ.
posted by huskerdont at 8:38 AM on August 24, 2005

I have never seen or heard of the chains providing it. But if you don't care about the brand name there's certainly plenty of generic kosher (and halal) pizza and chicken and other assorted junk food places here in New York.
posted by jamesonandwater at 8:40 AM on August 24, 2005

Pizza Hut and Quiznos with their use of cheese and meat would knock themselves out of the strict kosher market right there, unless there is some pizza pan/sandwich grill that is set aside for kosher clientele.

Let's face it though, fast food is not conducive to specialty diets outside the norm.
posted by Pollomacho at 8:42 AM on August 24, 2005

Blast. That's what I was fearing. I'm told that some pizza places and Subway and Quiznos are 'acceptable' (including some use of air quotes) if the food ordered is vegetarian or fish, much like BK and MDs'..
posted by FritoKAL at 8:49 AM on August 24, 2005

Wouldn't the McRib and the breakfast items automatically make every McDonalds non-Kosher because pork was prepared in the same facility?
posted by m@ at 9:50 AM on August 24, 2005

Here's JewFAQ on keeping kosher. Here's the biggie that will exclude almost every restaurant that's not being extremely deliberate about keeping kosher: Utensils that have come into contact with meat may not be used with dairy, and vice versa. Utensils that have come into contact with non-kosher food may not be used with kosher food. This applies only where the contact occurred while the food was hot. Restaurants that do do this tend to post that they're certified kosher (and name the certifying body.)

Most Jews I've known don't stay kosher to the extent of avoiding all restaurants that don't do this -- you should ask your friends what keeping kosher means to them.
posted by Zed_Lopez at 10:19 AM on August 24, 2005

What Zed_Lopez said.

The next biggest problem is likely to be the rules for slaughtering meat. Most fast food chains supply their own meat to the different stores, and that meat certainly isn't slaughtered according to the laws of kashrut. But again, a lot of more liberal Jews will eat meat that hasn't been properly slaughtered as long as it comes from a kosher species.

(I seem to remember there used to be a KenTacoHut here in the student neighborhood in Pittsburgh with a handwritten sign in the window advertising halal chicken. So maybe it's possible for a fast food joint to get kosher meat too, but I've sure never heard of it.)
posted by nebulawindphone at 10:49 AM on August 24, 2005

Some places that mix "milk" (American cheese or Cheese Whiz) with meat (burgers, hotdogs) are actually sorta-kosher, because the cheese is so processed that it has no dairy in it, only oil and hydrogenated crap. By those standards, the northeastern US chain Nathan's Famous Hotdogs might sneak in as "close enough", since I think they use kosher hotdogs.

But if you want the real thing, four of the Nathan's Famous restaurants are definitely certified glatt kosher: two in Israel, one in Brooklyn, and a new one in Los Angeles on Pico.
posted by Asparagirl at 11:30 AM on August 24, 2005