[Buddha-l] End of laicity in France?

[Dan Lusthaus]

Concession to diet is not a bad thing (as a vegetarian who finds it
difficult to eat in Japan and impossible outside of Israel in the Middle
East, this is not merely armchair speculation). Similar developments are
beginning to happen in the States, for instance, the following report from
the University of Wisconsin-Madison, the first US university to offer
Buddhist studies (back in the '60s under Richard Robinson):

----
WISCONSIN TO OPEN KOSHER KITCHEN IN NOVEMBER 2007

By Heather Leroy, Wisconsin State Journal, 08/24/2007

Matzo ball soup and cudgel will soon be sharing a spot at the table with
cheeseburgers and shellfish at [the University of Wisconsin-Madison].

STARTING IN NOVEMBER [2007], the university will offer for the first
time full kosher dining as part of its regular food service plan.

The NEW KOSHER KITCHEN is part of the ongoing renovations of the
Chadbourne dining hall, as it moves to provide what's being called
marketplace-style service. The dining hall - to be renamed Rheta's -- 
will also feature Asian dining and a Mongolian grill, as well as more
traditional fare such as pizzas, pastas, sandwiches and salads.

Adding kosher dining to the offerings was A NATURAL PROGRESSION to
accommodate more students' varying needs and tastes, said Paul Evans,
director of UW-Madison's Housing, which oversees the residence halls'
food services.

Under Jewish dietary laws as written in the Torah's Book of Leviticus,
to "keep kosher" involves both what is or is not eaten and how it's
prepared. There can be no mixing of dairy and meat, for example, no pork
or pork products, no shellfish.

"There are a large number of Jewish students who come to this campus and
certainly there are THOSE WHO WANT TO BE VERY STRICT with their dietary
laws or would like to do that the best they can," Evans said. "In the
past, they were really very limited. "

There are an estimated 5,000 JEWISH STUDENTS on the UW-Madison campus,
according to Greg Steinberger, executive director of UW Hillel. While
not all of them comply with kosher dining laws, the new offerings at
Rheta's will provide them with a convenient opportunity to comply that
didn't exist before.

In the past, students could arrange to have kosher meals -- at limited
and set times -- at UW Hillel, to prepare kosher foods themselves or
they could try to compromise by eating vegetarian.

"One of the things I really like about it is it's mainstream, so a kid
who wants a kosher meal can sit at a table with a student who's not
eating a kosher meal. That's a big deal," Steinberger said.

"Lots of students are excited about eating there and for prospective
students, this puts Wisconsin in a much more competitive place for them."

The new kitchen's fare is also expected TO APPEAL TO MUSLIM STUDENTS,
whose dietary restrictions share some similarities with kosher. To
further accommodate Muslims, the kosher kitchen will not use extracts or
cooking methods that include alcohol, such as sherry or vanilla.

Located within the main kitchen at Chadbourne, the kosher kitchen will
have a separate room and its own equipment to accommodate, for instance,
the need to keep meat and dairy products separate. The kitchen will be
overseen by the Chicago Rabbinical Council to ensure it complies with
Jewish dietary laws.

Because the dining hall was already undergoing renovations, the
additional $129,000 to create and equip the kosher kitchen primarily
covers equipment and COMPENSATION FOR A MASHGIACH, a person approved by
an Orthodox Jewish rabbi whose responsibility is to prevent violations
of Jewish dietary laws.

Down the road, it's anticipated that kosher foods prepared at Rhea's
also could be provided to OTHER DINING HALLS ON CAMPUS.

"Providing a high-quality food service is probably the most difficult
part of the service we provide, because changing desires or what
students want to eat seems to change every day," Evans said. "Keeping
ahead of trends is really the trick to providing successful food."
---

As a side note, I began my university education at UW-Madison, and the dorm
food was horrible (as it is on many campuses). One anecdote: One day, as we
were standing on line for lunch, someone standing near me, who must have had
some sort of virus, suddenly began to vomit uncontrollably. The entire
dining room -- finding this a profound expression of how we all felt about
the miserable food we had to endure three times a day -- burst into loud,
spontaneous applause.

Dan