Published: 29 March 2022
Last updated: 4 March 2024
Prompted by her daughter’s rejection of meat, Sharon Berger’s eyes are opened to the way Australian Jews are embracing vegetarianism, veganism and more
JEWISH PENICILLIN HAS been a cure-all for generations. When their kids get sick, Jewish mothers make chicken soup. But what does a Jewish mother do when their child rejects Jewish penicillin for ethical or environmental reasons?
Gradually, my daughter has been eating fewer food groups. It started with foregoing red meat, then chicken, now fish (most of the time). It’s probably just a matter of time before she becomes vegan. While she is still the minority in our house, my daughter is part of a movement that includes an increasing number of Jews.
While I am happy to support her on this journey (supplemented by iron tablets and blood tests), I feel she’s turning away from some of our most valued Jewish traditions, which are inexorably linked to food. How can you have Pesach without chicken soup and matzah balls? No more chicken schnitzels? She was never a fan of chicken liver, but you get the drift.
Jews in the vegan movement have adapted age-old family recipes to be more animal friendly. Many use their understanding of Judaism in making their choices, particularly the Talmudic prohibition against causing suffering to living creatures (ts’ar ba’alei chaim).
There are online platforms, books, cookbooks and resources creating Jewish vegetarian or vegan spaces, with a plethora of alternative recipes and sources for faith-based ethical eating. Books include Beyond Chopped Liver: 59 Jewish Recipes Get a Vegan Health Makeover and Oy Vey Vegan: Vegan Cuisine with a Mediterranean Flair. In the US, there are even vegan delis serving plant-based lox, schmears and bagels, alongside chicken liver and whitefish.
While the Australian Jewish community is not yet hosting vegan seders nor opening vegan delis (to my knowledge), there is a growing number of Jews who are paying more attention to what they eat and are looking to find other Jews who share these values.
