Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
The Schmooze

Kosher Liver That Tastes Like Pork

Talk about the best of all worlds. Soon, here in Israel, we’ll be able to observe tradition and start our Shabbat dinner with liver, while enjoying the taste of pork. Oh, and all with the blessing of the Chief Rabbi.

Confused? Chief Rabbi Yona Metzger has revealed that his rabbinate is looking in to importing a special goose liver that tastes like pork. How does he know? He’s had three non-Jewish food experts check it out.

The liver comes from Spain from geese that are raised on normal food instead of grain. Ynet reports that he said that the livers “could serve as an original Jewish solution for consumers of non-kosher meat, who will be receiving a proper substitute.” He continued: “As for religious Jews, I believe they will be disgusted at first, but will eventually get used to it.”

How popular will this prove if it does hit the market? I have always been surprised at the low take-up of kosher equivalents to non-kosher food. Non-dairy cheese has been on the market for ages, but few observant Jews bother to make imitation milk-and-meat dishes. And as I discovered at a remarkable dinner of little-known kosher food a year ago, there’s an entirely natural milk-tasting meat which is even recommended by the Talmud — cow’s udder. But it has never really become popular. But then again, good marketing can sell pretty much anything — maybe not cow’s udders, but perhaps porky liver stands a chance.

A message from our Publisher & CEO Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

We’ve set a goal to raise $260,000 by December 31. That’s an ambitious goal, but one that will give us the resources we need to invest in the high quality news, opinion, analysis and cultural coverage that isn’t available anywhere else.

If you feel inspired to make an impact, now is the time to give something back. Join us as a member at your most generous level.

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

With your support, we’ll be ready for whatever 2025 brings.

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines. You must credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link in Google search.  See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.