The Kosher Roadtrip Part 1

[Music] thank you let's say someone's on the road so they're going to gas stations they're going to Hotel lounges they're kind of you know they don't have that structured environment of a hotel they're going to a Starbucks what what are the issues that someone would have to know there as far as buying items obviously if something is packaged and it has a reputable on it then then you're okay but we're talking about buying things out of the package so to speak so basically once something leaves its original package even or um or if it's something that never was in a package like a coffee um you're going to have if you're going to consume it you are the major as a consumer it's your responsibility to make sure that you're not messing up so people sometimes think oh it's just a plain juice well sometimes that juice has grape juice a common example is a very popular beverage at Starbucks the refreshers that have a very high percentage of grape juice and many people they just what do you mean stock isn't Starbucks kosher no Starbucks is not Kosher there might be some Starbucks that have less issues than others if they're serving food there then you're always going to run into some kind of cross-contamination people need to understand that Cassius is an allergen on steroids if a person had a child with an allergen in their house whether it's Dairy Celiac gluten whatever issues they are nuts they wouldn't just have an EpiPen they would double and triple and quadruple think any time that they bring any item into the house and for sure before they go to any restaurant and for some reason people take on a kosher perspective and they think a little bit more relaxed approach and there's no reason for that I think the analogy I think the analogy is fantastic because like you're saying if we would have that attitude when we walk into a Starbucks that I might be allergic to something here that could really have severe ramifications I'm not going to buy a Starbucks Refreshers assuming that it's juice and it must be kosher so if you have a Starbucks store that has serving food it's a real restaurant most people would never think of walking into a non-kosher restaurant and just ordering I'm just ordering a coffee I don't know almost anybody that has that perspective but for Starbucks it's a coffee shop it's not a restaurant no they're restaurants there are Starbucks stores that are just coffee shops they're not they're not restaurants they might serve a little bit of food of cold food or or packaged salads or stuff like that but it's not a restaurant so there are articles that are available that explain into more detail but I'll regulajas yeah I wanted to give practical advice for our viewers is there anything that one can buy in all Starbucks without worrying about it can they buy a plain unflavored coffee it depends on what uh Starbucks you're talking about if you get a tea you get it straight out of the hot water tap it doesn't go it's not any shared equipment with anything else the tea bag you put in yourself that's fine but anytime you're dealing with a Starbucks or any other type of um coffee shop like that that has other things you're getting into it with the Avid situation sometimes it's more acceptable sometimes it's less it's something people should discuss with their local Orthodox Rabbi and get personal guidance on how to deal with that and the same thing with gas stations the second you're dealing with a hot item then you have that problem for people that are not marked by Holy Soul then ice cream comes up also the same type of thing there you're dealing with a cold situation so it's a lot easier there's no the only cross-contamination is visually you can see if things are dirty if there's a transfer from one type of ice cream scooper to the other you make sure that they clean it off you make sure that you're getting the ice cream that you want them and then that ice cream is fine toppings if there's toppings that you can see what box they came out of that's good but just because it says oh it's they sometimes will put a copy of a label of something on it who said it's the same thing and there's been many many situations where people have that there are stores gas stations up and up and down the 95 or in more former areas that they'll put holiday soil milk open on the who said once it's open once there's no haisum milk needs a heisen it's it has to be sealed once it's open and there's no Jewish person that's there the whole time that milk is not Kosher it's not holiday throw that's a very important thing you're saying let's say you go into a 7-Eleven and you're assuming that the coffee is okay because it's a dedicated machine and then they have a Frigidaire with an open bottle of Harvey straw milk of course the 12 Israel that's a problem if there's no if there's no it can be a problem I won't say it's always a problem there are placing that a little bit more lenient if you see that they have a whole bunch of milks there there's no hashing in there's no real reason that any benefit that they have to swap it is cheaper but they have a whole bunch of milk in the refrigerator why would they go at a store down the block and buy some not Kosher milk and swap it out the people that are more more Michael again this is another question to ask the one's personal love to get guidance on when it is appropriate when it is acceptable maybe when you're traveling maybe for sure not when it's right next to your house and you have a coffee maker at home or in your office and then uh just for convenience where I like the coffee there so I buy that that's at least in my opinion so we've been talking about hot beverages how about cold beverages cold soda from a hotel lounge Slurpees things of that sort so the same thing there there are um cold beverages that you know what they are the first and most important thing with cautious when you're traveling like I said in your own home your own comfort zone you know you have a sort of vsi and you have a way of visually seeing something without even checking we should check always for action on every single individual item but you know what items you're using you have a familiar area to do with it once you walk out of your custom your comfort zone you don't necessarily have that same acquaintance with the items that you're using so you have to check and verify that those things are what you think you might think it's a fresh squeezed orange juice when it's not it's a syrup that has all kinds of different concoctions in it that could be Bonafide not Kosher um you mentioned like Slurpees most Slurpees that are in 7-Eleven are on approved list of things that are certified and and are Kosher but you have to verify that it's not something that you could just assume that that it's it's fine um and just because one flavor in the machine is kosher then the other one is not necessarily not only that but you can have similar things that look almost identical especially when you're traveling people in the United States they buy Pringles Pringles of the United States is kosher every other Pringles in the United States is not Kosher you can have cereals that people are used to that's why it's very important to check especially when you go into different Geographic areas particularly different countries you can have the exact same item that in one country will be parv in another country will be Dairy and in a third country will be trafe and and if people are not aware and look outside same Brands we're talking about International Brands right so in one country it's kosher one country is not Kosher one place is power one place is dairy uh it might have different in one place it might be considered Mahajan whatever that means and another place it might be something that's a big deal with kosher and and doing research on these things and making sure that you know that what you're looking at is what you're getting that's key number one so if you see a juice you see something how do you know what it is because Muhammad as we said before told you that it's juice doesn't work oh you saw him fresh squeezing in front of your eyes and the Caleb are clean everything's fine it's cold it's not hot great enjoy [Music] thank you [Music]