The Prohibition
of Eating Food Cooked by a Gentile
There is a rabbinical prohibition to eat food that
is cooked by a gentile. This prohibition applies to all forms of cooking. It
does not apply to food which is salted or pickled.
Microwave cooking was, of course, unknown in the
time of the Rabbis. Modern Poskim have determined that the prohibition of
bishul akum also applies to food cooked in a microwave.
If a gentile pours hot liquid from the pot in which
the liquid was heated (irui kli rishon) onto food, the food is not prohibited.
Irui kli rishon cooks only the uppermost layer (the “shell”) of the food.
Since this shell alone would not be served to an honored guest, the food is
not prohibited.
Hot liquid that has been poured from the vessel in
which it was heated into a second vessel (kli shayni) does not cook the food
placed into the second vessel even though the liquid is still hot. Therefore,
if a gentile places food into a second vessel, the food is permitted even if
the liquid in the vessel is boiling hot.
The prohibition of bishul akum applies only when the
gentile heats food with the intention of cooking it.
The prohibition of bishul akum does not apply to
foods that are normally eaten raw. But if a gentile intends to cook a food
that is ordinarily eaten raw and he does not realize that it is combined with
food that is eaten cooked, the prohibition of bishul akum applies.
The prohibition of bishul akum does not apply in
doubtful cases, for example where it is unclear whether or not a gentile has
cooked the food. Such food is therefore permitted.
If a Jew lights the fire under a pot and a gentile
then places food into it to be cooked, Rabbi Yosef Karo (the Mechaber) forbids
the food, while Rabbi Moshe Isserlis (the Rama) permits it. If a Jew places
food into a pot and afterwards a gentile lights the fire, these authorities
agree that the food is prohibited.
Owners of restaurants and hotels which have a
clientele of Jews who conduct themselves according to Rabbi Yosef Karo (the
Mechaber) should make certain that the food cooked in their kitchens is
permitted also to them, i.e. they should conduct the kitchen according to the
more stringent opinion of the Mechaber.