The other day, a Jewish co-worker dropped by my cube and saw a flask of Meiji fruit drops on my desk and said "..that looks Japanese." I said "it is.." He asked naturally, "are you Japanese?" - i responded of course "no (friendly smile)" and then he said "why are you eating it then...?"that's a fascinating point of view. reality clashes are so much fun. guess for them, it's a given you don't eat anything that's not kosher, and on some level food even extends to cultural or racial identity subconsciously. i admire those who can focus and dedicate themselves to rooted traditions or religious practices, especially if they're healthy and inflict no harm. to a certain extent, i like to eat homemade and halal food as well whenever i can. it's not only more healthy but much more considerate to the animals. being a "convenient" vegetarian, i prefer not to eat meat whenever i have a choice, but if i visit someone's home and am served meat or whatever edibles - i will eat it for the sake of hospitality. the key factor is whether "food laws" are practiced based on conscious choice stemmed from understanding or conditioned behavior based on observation and faith alone. i always enjoy seeing the sparkle of realization from the other person's eyes when they experience the newfound awareness of someone outside the sphere of their cultural reality. for a split second you feel the words ".... no..., ....really...?" and "..uh...yea....surely...."
by the way, i answered "..cause i like it" to his last question and he looked at me with accented eyebrows and probably experienced a mild reality clash similar to mine.
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