Beer, bagels and whiskey are still a strict no-no during the Jewish holiday of Passover, but the Jewish community remains divided over the kosher status of quinoa, the trendy South American seed that many Jews have co-opted as a Passover staple.

“It’s left people very uncomfortable,” said Rabbi Yossi Sapirman with Toronto’s Beth Torah Congregation.

In 2013, for the second year in a row, the New York-based Orthodox Union — the world’s largest kosher certification agency has once again refused to give its blessing to the grain-like food — a position that has been echoed by kosher authorities in Canada.

“We can’t certify quinoa because it looks like a grain and people might get confused,” Menachem Genack, CEO of the kosher division of the Orthodox Union, told theJewish Daily Forward earlier this month.

The quinoa crackdown has elicited a backlash among Jewish circles, many of whom depend on quinoa during the grain-free eight-day holiday — and who allege the kosher battle is merely a power-struggle.

This week the Beit Hillel rabbinic organization spoke against a tack towards kosher stringencies, saying in a statement “it’s proper to try to reduce what divides different communities.”

March also saw the formation of the jokingly-named Kitneot Liberation Front (kitneot being a term for a category of Passover-ineligible foods), a “movement … dedicated to liberating all Jews who wish to be free of this questionable custom that causes needless divisions between families and friends.”

Israel’s 7.8 million citizens consume more quinoa than all of Europe combined, and in the weeks before Passover, Jewish publications are awash in “perfect for Passover” quinoa recipes.

“Listen, give me a topic in which there isn’t a conflict,” said Rabbi Philip Bregman of Temple Shalom in Vancouver, a city that is no stranger to quinoa salads and casseroles.

“Since it arrived on the scene, it is seen as being absolutely kosher for Passover,” he added. “It’s a seed.”

Rabbi Bregman’s daughter-in-law, Vancouver nutritionist Michelle Bregman, agreed, saying “there’s a lot of misconceptions of where it comes from and what it is.”

In Canada, quinoa is frowned upon by the Kashruth Council of Canada, the country’s largest kosher certification agency, although the group acknowledges “there are differing opinions.”

Quinoa has an “all clear,” meanwhile, from Star K, a kosher-certifying agency based in Baltimore, Maryland.

The Chicago Rabbinical Council, for its part, approves only Bolivian quinoa that has been packed in facilities that are carefully scrubbed to prevent any hint of grain contamination.

Passover, one of the most widely-observed Jewish holidays, is an eight day festival commemorating the exodus of Jews from Egypt. For the entirety of the holiday, observant Jews are forbidden from eating five grains explicitly listed in the bible: Wheat, spelt, barley, rye and oats.

Ashkenazi Jews — who form the majority of North American Jewry — take the tradition a step further with “kitniyot,” a category of foods such as rice, corn and lentils that are banned simply because they look like grains.

Canada’s Kashruth Council noted in its quinoa evaluation, for instance, that not only does the seed resemble the five banned grains (and “can be used to make bread!”) but that it grows on long stalks similar to other kitniyot.

“Accordingly, it would seem clear that quinoa ought to be considered [kitniyot],” wrote Rabbi Tsvi Heber, the council’s director of “community kosher,” in a 500-word, heavily-footnoted post on the council’s website.

Quinoa’s detractors similarly allege that South American quinoa fields could be subject to contamination from neighbouring barley farms.

Although it has been a South American staple for centuries, quinoa exploded onto the North American market in recent years as a high-nutrition alternative to rice and grains. Notably, 2013, has even been marked by the United Nations as the International Year of Quinoa.

Technically known as a “pseudocereal,” quinoa is actually an edible seed derived from a plant that is closely related to beets and spinach.

National Post

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