Quinoa controversy: kitniot* or not?
Azigra published a guest post about it on DovBear's blog. The comments are at least as interesting (and, in some cases, informative) as the post.
I say to heck with this constant adding to the forbidden-food list. If it's kasher-l'Pesach/kosher-for-Passover enough for the Star-K, it's kasher l'Pesach enough for me--we just bought three boxes of quinoa with a Star-K kasher l'Pesach hechsher at Seasons kosher supermarket this past Sunday.
*Explanation here, list here.
See also:
I say to heck with this constant adding to the forbidden-food list. If it's kasher-l'Pesach/kosher-for-Passover enough for the Star-K, it's kasher l'Pesach enough for me--we just bought three boxes of quinoa with a Star-K kasher l'Pesach hechsher at Seasons kosher supermarket this past Sunday.
*Explanation here, list here.
See also:
- YCT Shiur on Kitniot: If it looks like a duck, and walks like a duck, and quacks like a duck . . . (Sunday, March 26, 2006). Grumble, grumble, kvetch and mumble. Here's one thing for which I can legitimately blame my parents--I'm 100% Ashkenazit. At this time of year, that's annoying.
- Ashkenazim rebel against kitniyot restriction (Friday, April 09, 2010) Rebels with a kvetch (complaint).
- "Open, sesame!"* Or not. A Pesach question (Tuesday, April 03, 2012)
posted by Shira Salamone at 6:29 PM
4 Comments:
Even though some kashrut agencies chose not to give a hechsher to quinoa, they are not saying that it is kitniyos. I don't think anyone advances that position. They are saying that it is problematic for other reasons.
A quote from the linked post:
"As of now the reason provided by the OU is that “[they] can’t certify quinoa because it looks like a grain and people might get confused” otherwise known as Ma'aris Ayin, the same reason why many people dont serve non dairy ice cream at meat centric meals."
Maybe I'm wrong, but I thought that was one of the reasons behind the prohibition on kitniyot in the first place. As for more serious reasons, click on my Star-K link--the Star-K folks have gone to great lengths to avoid the "grown near or packed with chametz" problem, which is why I trust their Pesach hechsher.
Except Quinoa looks nothing LIKE wheat. Rice and Spelt Berries look remarkably similar. Quinoa looks nothing like it. The idea that people might be confused would be easily alleviated with a flyer and pictures of what the grains look like.
It's only because people buy so much processed food (a dangerous trend encouraged by the OU for business reasons) that they don't know what these grains/seeds look like.
In bad lighting, quinoa and mustard seeds look alike, but nobody would keep them the same way, and if one inadvertently cooked a pot of mustard seeds (and took one bite and felt ill), who really cares. It's not chometz, it would be thrown out (as inedible), and wouldn't result in intentional eating of kitniyot.
Narishkeit.
Also, Quinoa products are mostly consumed by the gluten-intolerant, that's the market. The idea that Quinoa products are processed near wheat without careful separation is a fantasy to justify a Rabbinic jobs program.
Quinoa vendors would be out of business if they were mixing wheat in.
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