Vegan Restaurants Without Hashgacha

Q. There is a vegan restaurant in my community, but it does not have hashgacha. Someone told me, that you can go in and order a coffee and roll because these are made on dedicated equipment and nothing can go wrong. Is one permitted to do so?

A. No. Rolls may contain non-kosher oils, stabilizers and emulsifiers. Though unlikely, coffee may be made on non-kosher equipment. Even if the kosher status of the coffee and rolls was verified, entering an uncertified vegan restaurant, which sells kosher and non-kosher products, may appear suspicious to an onlooker. Igeros Moshe (OC II:40) discusses this very issue, whether one may enter a non-kosher restaurant to purchase foods that are known to be kosher? He writes that this would be a violation of both maris ayin (literally, “the vision of the eye”, but the intent is causing the observer to become lax in their Torah observance) and chashad (literally suspicious, which means that the person’s reputation may be compromised). There is an additional concern with entering a non-certified vegan restaurant. The observer may assume that all vegan restaurants are kosher, and not realize that the consumer’s interest was limited to one or two kosher items. Thus, in addition to maris ayin and chashad at a vegan restaurant, there is also a possible violation of “lifnei iver lo si’tain michshol” – causing another Jew to “stumble” and eat non-kosher. As such, frequenting a vegan restaurant is more serious than entering a non-kosher restaurant, as lifnei iver lo si’tain michshol is not a concern with a non-kosher restaurant since the non-kosher status is well known.

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The Gerald & Karin Feldhamer OU Kosher Halacha Yomis is dedicated to the memory of Rav Yisroel Belsky, zt"l, who served as halachic consultant for OU Kosher for more than 28 years; many of the responses in Halacha Yomis are based on the rulings of Rabbi Belsky. Subscribe to the Halacha Yomis daily email here.