Why do people think that kosher means vegetarian?

To be Kosher, you can't mix meat and dairy, so people assume that since it's kosher, and it's dairy, there must not be any meat in there either.

A lot of people just don't realize that according to the Kosher laws, gelatine doesn't count as meat, and it CAN be mixed with dairy.

I've had this problem with yogurt. I have to go to the store with my mother everytime,because she just doesn't believe me when I tell her that Kosher gelatine is in fact made from animals.

Kosher means it follows the rules of what not to eat and what to eat in the bible (for christians, who barely ever follow this) and torah (for jews, who usually strictly follow a kosher diet).

It says you can't eat food like: fish/under water creatures without scales, shellfish, pork/ any land animal that doesn't chew of the cud or something like that, some birds, and any animal a normal person would never eat also (like a snake or a raccoon).

so that means a kosher hot dog doesn't have any of the upper ingredients. it has meat so it's not vegetarian but it doesn't have pork etc. I like to think of kosher as the in-between chose of eating everything, unclean and all, and a vegetarian diet.

it says you can't eat the blood of an animal either so something too raw is out of the question and that only some parts of a clean animal can be eaten (like that kosher hot dog commercial that shows the cow and says one half is kosher and the other half is not. this is the same with other meats you can eat)

Some, more stricter laws are usually followed by only extremely strict jews though. (like grape products must be made by jews to eat or drink and you can't eat dairy products with meat)

i'm not sure why people confuse kosher with vegetarian but some kosher laws are not only about meat, it can be about fruit. Check link on my sources for a more detail review on kosher rules)

I follow a kosher diet because my christian religion supports the old laws the jews kept so i don't eat food like pork or shrimp. some of my friends that go to my church are also vegetarian or vegan because my religion also supports it but doesn't allow it. this may be the reason because most people who are kosher go a little more strict and become vegetarian.

I guess most people are confused and just rely on stereotypes they hear from others. but remember that something vegetarian may not be kosher because some of the rules apply to vegetable but most are kosher.

Kosher doesnt mean it isnt made with meat it just means it is made with kosher meat, meat that is up to par with the jewish laws... like slaughtered the right way... Kosher foods are those that conform to the regulations of Jewish religion. These rules form the main aspect of kashrut. Reasons for food being non-kosher include the presence of ingredients derived from non-kosher animals or from kosher animals that were not properly slaughtered, a mixture of meat and milk, wine or grape juice (or their derivatives) produced by gentiles, the use of produce from Israel that has not been tithed, or even the use of cooking utencils and machinery which had previously been used for non-kosher food. Kosher is eaten mainly by Orthodox Jews but other Jews are not so specific.

I think people associate kosher with vegetarian because they know Jews won't eat non-kosher meat, and they assume anything else is kosher. It's just because people are uneducated. I still say that every high school should have a compulsory comparative religion course and teach everything about all the major religions.

I agree. When something is Kosher, it has a set of rules that Jews follow from the Torah. Some of these rules include not eating pork, seafood that crawls along the ocean floor (such as lobster or clams), any meat that is cooked along with milk, etc. These foods are considered "unclean." Also, any animal has to be killed in a very humane way in order for the meat to be Kosher (this would be the Kosher standard for meats).

A vegan (vegetarian), however, eats no animal products whatsoever, including meat, milk, eggs, etc. A Kosher diet includes meat, as long as it is "Kosher."

People probably get the two confused because both have a set of rules regarding meat and what foods they can eat.

God Bless!

It would be interesting to see where this question and answer was posted. Perhaps it would help the person answering to know the difference between agar agar or carrageenan and gelatin and why vegans use the plant based one and not the animal based one. It continues to surprise me that in this age of the internet where everyone Googles everything, why people would still be ill-educated about these things.

People like buzzwords.

Although it is something of greater significance, the word Kosher is a cultural buzzword (at least it is in the states).

The thing about buzzwords is that people often misconstrue their intended meaning.

I wouldn't so much blame people's lack of intelligence (although that is a factor) but rather the fact that our culture is obsessed with catchphrases, slogans, and "hip" language.

forgive my ignorance, but I always thought that Kosher meant Jewish.

If something was Kosher, jewish people could eat it.

they should know that kosher isnt vegetarian because there is a kosher hot dog commercial. hot dogs are meat, therefor they are not vegetarian.

People also think the Raw Food Diet is Vegetarian and it isn't. Most people don't question authority or just jump on any ol' bandwagon without doing their research. Truly amazing to me how naive and stupid people are.