Taming the kosher dragon

I had been meaning to write a post about the New Yorker's recent article (annoyingly registration is required for access to the full article) on the process of rabbis certifying as kosher, food produced in China.   Basically if the rabbi's are happy, then the food gets the requisite hechsher and is sold across the world as kosher.

I was going to cynically point out the irony that so much cost and effort is put into certifying cheap commoditised food, produced on the other side of the world, whilst there is seemingly so little concern about nature's harvest that is reared or grown far closer to home.

Anyway, with so much to write (a post on veal stock and one on tarte tatine) and so little time, I was pleased to see that the inestimable The Jew and The Carrot had largely made my points for me. Ok, so they're a bit less cynical than me and yes, the irony might be lost a tad, but their post basically says what I wanted to.

By the way, if you've ever had a yearning to see a charedi rabbi inspect a chinese food production plant, here are some photos the New Yorker has posted on its website. 

If however, you're more interested in the best that kosher food has to offer, this is a little more thought-provoking.