02 Feb KASHRUTH QUESTIONS OF THE WEEK

Q: One of my co-workers brought in a box of chocolate-covered grasshoppers to the office. Many people tried them, but since I keep kosher I begged off, saying that I was grossed out. Did I do the right thing? 

A: You should not eat anything you are grossed out by. There is no mitzvah to eat something you do not want to eat. In terms of Kashrus, the Torah gives us simanim, a way of identifying what is a kosher grasshopper and which is not. However, Jews of ashkenazi descent for many generations have stopped eating grasshoppers because we are not absolutely certain how to identify a kosher grasshopper and a non-kosher grasshopper. Therefore, one should not eat a grasshopper if he is of ashkenazi descent, chocolate-covered or not. If you are in a community that has a custom to eat grasshoppers, you cannot eat grasshoppers without a hechsher. Not all grasshoppers are kosher and therefore you’d need a reliable supervision to identify that the grasshopper you’re purchasing is kosher. The OU does not certify any grasshopper products; and I am not aware of any reliable supervision that certifies grasshopper products.