I admit it -- I don't pay attention to kashrut any other time of the year, but I do make it a point to do so during Passover. (There is a very logical reason for this but I don't want to go into it as it would get this thread into a theological debate.)

I find it very difficult to manage this while travelling. Yes, airlines will provide me with food which is kosher for Passover and if I am going to a city with a decent-sized Jewish population I can find supermarkets with at least basic foods which I can eat in my hotel room.

Beyond that, it is difficult. Most kosher restaurants close for the holidays as they don't want the expense of maintaining the extra sets of plates, utensils, etc.

This is true even in Israel -- and much more so overseas.

How do you handle this problem?

Carry a 2nd suitcase only for food and eat a lot of canned stuff :D

Carry a 2nd suitcase only for food and eat a lot of canned stuff :D


If your food stash goes missing, you could get very hungry!

I often travel to places where the quality of food is an issue. For a few days prior to purchasing your travel food, keep track of how much you actually eat. Figure out how bored you are willing to be and purchase accordingly. Buy a new 'put in cup' water boiling device (a few dollars) and a package of heavy duty coffee cups with lids (such as you would get at Starbucks. You can make soups, teas, coffees etc with your own cups and water boiler. I always carry little packages of oatmeal. I don't know if they come in Kosher for Passover versions. But you can really survive on them. I've done it.

Buy some very special items for treats. Don't forget to pack meals in your carry on bag! You can buy fresh fruits along the way, correct?

A question borne of ignorance: do Pareve-only kitchens require a Passover set of cookware and utensils? If not, and if you can find a strictly-vegan restaurant, that could be an answer.

A vegetarian restaurant is no more likely to be kosher for Passover than one which serves meat. Remember, the problem is leavening and certain legumes.

Of course -- I was hallucinating in anticipation of the inevitable 8 Days of Constipation.

(a) Try not to travel
(b) Exercise circumstantial kashrut

(b) Exercise circumstantial kashrut


Huh??? :confused: What's circumstantial kashrut??

It really depends on where you are travelling to.
I think your best bet is to find a local chabad they can provide you with both places to shop and people who know the local terrrain (what is recommended etc).
You can start at their website www.chabad.org and locate a center.... good luck.

One thing I have used, but it doesn't always work real well. Depends on where you are is [url]www.kosherflyaway.com/url]. They have Glatt Kosher meals for certain areas of the world and they do do passover foods. I use them when the SO has clients in town who require Kosher meals. They are definately not cheap, but if you have to keep Pesah, then this is one way to do it.

However, what I try to do is stick to the spirit of the rules for Pesah. Of course having a Sephardic background (I get rice and beans) does make things significantly easier as there are more foods available for me to eat. In essence for me it becomes 8 days of chinese food. I try to stay away from foods that are clearly leavened, and made from breadproducts. I am still up in the air about what actually is in a tortilla. If it actually doesn't have a leavening agent in it then that may expand my food choices.

the few times i flew on pesach i got kosher CHAMETZ meals. i was not about to do biur on the plane but i did go hungry.
i hope you like tuna fish.
chag sameach

Huh??? :confused: What's circumstantial kashrut??Personal term. The best you can do under the circumstances.

the few times i flew on pesach i got kosher CHAMETZ meals. i was not about to do biur on the plane but i did go hungry.
i hope you like tuna fish.
chag sameach

The only times I flew on Pesach were on Air France and Alitalia and in both cases the meals were kosher for Pesach.

Depending on how strict you are, I'd say tuna, water, and raw fruits and veggies. Chag sameach!

The only times I flew on Pesach were on Air France and Alitalia and in both cases the meals were kosher for Pesach.
Ran into chametz kosher meals on AF during Pesach about 6 years ago. I don't know if they've improved, back then more than half the time you'd order kosher, the meals didn't make the flight.

I once got a kosher for pesach meal on a flight within Europe. There were just a couple of problems with it: a) it was half frozen, and b) it wasn't pesach!!!

goodo

Hmm, this hasn't occured to me because I've never really observed Passover. Guess this doesn't win me too many points with the very observant.

How interesting that even in Israel the kosher restaurants close- I would expect they could get a lot of business then. . . Is there an edict against having them open?

Ok time for confession...I totally denied it was Passover this year after many many years of being very stringant about it. I flew domestically on Passover, I was away the entire holiday, I was in places that it was not easy to keep kosher and just decided God and my friends would have to either accept it (and let me live with my guilt) or provide guilt of their own for me *smile*.

So my sarcastic ethical question is, if you totally denied the holiday was happening, are you still breaking the rules when you eat non-passover-kosher food or does the denial negate the rules *grin*

So my sarcastic ethical question is, if you totally denied the holiday was happening, are you still breaking the rules when you eat non-passover-kosher food or does the denial negate the rules *grin*


Nice *grin* but - rules are rules .

Jewish guilt has to win here

Jewish guilt has to win here

Where does it lose? ;)

I once had to do an all-day interview during passover -- myself and 2 guys who co-lead my team with me were changing companies. Of course, neither of them cared about passover, kashrut, etc., and I was being strict.

So I bought a new cool-pak at the store, froze it before I went to the airport (night before the interview), packed pop-top tuna, hard cheese, dried fruit, matzah. At the hotel, I filled the ice bucket to keep the cool-pak cold, and stuffed the food into the minibar fridge. In the morning, I ate before the interview, and carefully packed my cool-pak & cheese into my briefcase.

We walk into the conference room for the interview, and there's a box of matzah and a huge bowl of grapes, oranges, apples & bananas, along with the usual bagels, danish, donuts, etc. :)

How interesting that even in Israel the kosher restaurants close- I would expect they could get a lot of business then. . . Is there an edict against having them open?
There are a few reasons why Kosher restaurants close on Pesach:
It is very difficult to "Kasher" (clean and make acceptable) a restaurant for Pesach. You literally have to tear it apart from ceiling to floor and clean everything including vents, pans, pots, plates, burners, cutlery, glassware,tables chairs etc and then ritually "Kasher" them my soaking, or flushing with boiling and then cold water. Many owners don't want to go through all this as it ties up the kitchen for a few days before the holiday and can be very trying and tiring.
Secondly inspite of all the cleaning many Kosher observers don't eat out of their house during the holiday and would never go to a restaurant just like that
And lastly it gives the owners an oppurtunity for a well deserved vacation with their family

I've found that when traveling during Passover I tend to eat fruits and vegetables and bring my own matzah. Also I try and use "Jewish Geography" to my advantage - it always seems that a friend of a friend lives in my destination city so I can usually count on at least one dinner at that acquaintance's house. Business meals are a bit more difficult - I've yet to find an easy solution to that. Fortunately it's another year until it's an issue again.

dovster, this shouldn't be a problem, just eat meat meat and only meat!

In 1994 took a charter flight back from Israel a few days after Pesach TLV-LGW and they still had the stale kasher-le-pesah meals.

Anyway, airline food tends to be horrible so I'd take your own.

I flew last year during passover for the first time and requested the meals. I got one Kosher for Passover and one generic Kosher meal during the trip, so YMMV but I wouldn't rely on the airline catering service to get it right.

As far as travelling during passover, I try hard to avoid this but have not always been successful. When I had a client in NJ and needed to be up there for the week, I found a kosher store/butcher in the general area and ordered a bunch of prepared food from them. I stayed at a suite/extended stay type place when I came back after the first days and used paper plates/utensils. That worked out very well. For day trips, I pack my own food and for longer, I do a combination of pack my own and eating a lot of fruits & greens. The best thing is to stay home or travel somewhere where you know people who will feed you ;)

BTW, my brother had these special meals that you mix water into the lower compartment to cause a reaction to heat the meal so you don't use electricity. I don't know if they make a passover version of those but they came in handy after the hurricanes this year. (I didn't taste them so won't vouch for that, but they were at least edible)

I find it silly that you can make a Kosher for Passover cake if you use 12 eggs whites and have 3 hours to spare. And in the past decade, the Kosher for Passover aisle has exploded.

My theory is that the whole concept of the holiday is to move quickly. If Moses could have stopped at the deli and got 1000s of sandwiches to go, it would have been enough.

So, I figure, if I can eat it in my car, Moses and the Israelites could have eaten it while escaping from Egypt. And it is good.

A Cantor friend of mine finds it interesting and amusing.