Bug Be-Gone

Orthodox Jews do not eat bugs. Period. It is forbidden. We are like religious exterminators with a mission to  eradicate any and all bugs from the food industry, or at  least from our own kitchens. It comes somewhere from the discussion in Leviticus about the "winged swarming things". Apparently some are kosher, but no one knows which ones, so they are all forbidden for fear of eating the ones we are not suppose to eat. Now, I am not a bug lover and have absolutely no desire to eat them, play with them, watch them, analyze them. I really don’t even get their purpose. Cockroaches, termites, slugs and anything not in the basic animal kingdom really gross me out. Anyway, this commandment gets a 10/10 on the obsessive commandment scale.  Just the other day at a Shabbos meal, there was a bug discussion and my friend said, “Well, I’m going to get one of those bug lights.” You see most bugs are really hard to see as they hide and camouflage themselves into the food. You would think that would make them OK to eat (being that you can't really see them), but not for us! Of course, this made everyone else at the table a bit nervous. Do I need a bug light? What if I miss a bug? What if her food is de-bugged better than my food? Will she eat my food that was checked without a bug light?

Either way, there are lots of buggies out there and we have ways of checking for them. For example, you can hold lettuce up to any light and you may find a few bugs. These bugs are so small, you would never see them with the naked eye. We get really excited to find a bug, so we feel one step closer to our bug eradication mission. You see you may think you don’t eat bugs, but you really do. They are on your food, in your food coloring (they use beetles to make red food coloring),etc. When I first became observant, I thought everyone was a bit crazy about this bug thing. I actually still do sometimes because at what level do you stop worrying. I mean there are all sorts of microscopic bugs that we eat, breathe and ingest all day long. Anyway, if you want to see a few bugs that you might normally not be noticing, try this technique for washing strawberries: cover them with water and a little soap. See what floats to the top. Rinse and drain several times. Then cut off the tops (that’s where the bugs live). This video can show you how. Then know if you are eating at an observant household, you are probably getting just a bit less protein, but the comfort of knowing you've ingested at least a few less bugs too. And, if you are newly observant and having guests over, you better check for bugs.  Then throw in a discussion at the table about the bug you found, so everyone can breathe a sigh of relief and enjoy the holy food.

Happy de-bugging.