Mumbai Travel Forum

Hi
I have been planning to go to India next year for a few weeks and a few more in Sri Lanka ( around January- February), I want to be able to travel around and experience much of it, however, I am jewish and need to keep kosher. Now, I seem to understand that there are jewish communities in Mumbay and other few places in India, but dont know how to get a hold of them.

Do you have any idea, how I could get in touch with them, or to find out how to keep kosher while traveling in the area, of any jews (yehudi, bene israel) who live in India

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

thank you

I think it will be quite easy to keep kosher in India. You should just try to stick to "veg" or "pure veg" food, and that will be fine. It is hard to find a restaurant in India that does not cater to a strictly vegetarian clientele (many restaurants are veg-only, while some have meat as well as vegetarian items on the menu). I can't think of anything acceptable in an Indian vegetarian diet that would break kosher rules.

Eggs, dairy products might be a problem as well, Blood in the eggs; how about Seafood; From what animal does the milk comes from; How was the cheese curded; what was everything in contact with; What was the processed food in contact with while being manufactured? many simple kashrut questions may be asked, that we could discuss more in private, if you would like.

However, your point is well made too, and would be worth looking into a bit more, if nothing else is available. I surely will not be starving to death, that I am sure. But I have heard of communities there, so I would much prefer deal with them as much as possible. I do realise that in North America we are very spoiled when it comes to food. All you have to do is go to the store and look for a sign, but not so many countries are like that, and planning is just part of the fun of discovering a new country.

> Eggs, dairy products might be a problem as well, Blood in the eggs; how about Seafood; From what animal does the milk comes from; How was the cheese curded; what was everything in contact with; What was the processed food in contact with while being manufactured?

In an Indian "pure veg" diet, eggs and seafood are not allowed. So you can avoid those easily. As for cheese and yogurt (the most common dairy items you'll see), cows' milk is typically used, but there is a small chance of seeing goat or sheep milk products. I honestly don't know about the rennet question (sorry, forgot about this) but it is also very easy to avoid cheese altogether. It will be harder to avoid yogurt, which is everywhere, but I think yogurt is always kosher, right?

Generally, if you stick to South Indian food you will be best off. It tends to be more veg-oriented, whereas North Indian has a lot of meat and foods of the coasts (Goan, Bengali) have a lot of fish.

very interesting, I didnt know about "pure veg" that will make things a bit easier for sure. And for yogurt, no, its not always kosher. I know in North America it is a big problem due to the fermentation process and the flavors, but over there, I have no idea how it works.

and thank you for the hint on geography, will most likely be very useful!

:)

I think the yogurt problem here has to do with gelatin. In India, all the yogurt is home-made and it's all plain (no flavorings, no additives). That should ease your mind. You don't get packaged yogurt at all over there, and it doesn't contain gelatin--that would go against vegetarian rules.

It seems like you know India very well, do you travel there often?

Yes, I have been traveling to India on business for about five years. I have a lot of Indian friends and business contacts, so I think I have a fairly decent knowledge of domestic culture as well as the travel-related stuff.

I'm also Jewish, but since I didn't grow up in a kosher home, I might forget about some of the trickier considerations sometimes. Apologies!

No appologies needed, please!
I didnt grow in a kosher home either and have become frum myself only in the last few years, no worries about that.

Would you have encountered any jews or Jewish communities on your several trips to India?

I have heard of some organisations there, but I dont know of the names nor of where exactly they are located. I would believe that they are mostly in Mombay, which is why I posted this note here.

The only time I ever heard of Jews in India was in Cochin (see my Kochi/Cochin page). That is a historical community that's more or less gone today, but dates back several centuries. I presume there must be more Jews around somewhere, but I don't run into them. Bombay is a very cosmopolitan place, so I guess there were any to be found, that's where you'd find them. According to Rediff.com (one of the biggest Indian web search engines), the Bombay Jewish community numbers about 2,700. I didn't find much on them, but I found this: http://www.singaporejews.com/jewish_asia.htm#india

thank you, there is an email address of the Israeli consulate, I will email them to see if they can help me.

If anybody else on VT who can help, it would be greatly appreciated.
:)

You will also see a lot of Hebrew signs in parts of India - Israelis are huge travellers!! Goa is one particular place, but not just restricted to that. As already mentioned, Chochin has a Jewish community. But I am aware that Hebrew does not necessarily mean kosher!

Try the following website:

www.kosherdelight.com/India.htm

that should certainly put your mind at rest.

Be well
Keith

This site is so neat! I should have thought about it. There is everything there, from bakeries, food, synagogues.

Thank you so much!

Hope this helps!
http://www.amyisrael.co.il/asia/india/

I am from Cochin. there are few Jewish families and a synagogue in Mattancherry, Cochin. If you want me to enquire any specific matter regarding the Jew community in Cochin I can do that.
Jos. www.keralagramam.com

Hi Jos,
Thank you very much for answering. Well, if you could find out if there are any Orthodox jews in Cochin, would be nice. Also if there are a lot of kosher products readily available on the market throughout India, would be greatly appreciated.

God willing, I will be able to travel to India this winter.
Very much looking forward to see the country.

Thank you.
Emet

Hi Emet,

I will be travelling to India at the end of December for a couple of weeks. I was wondering if you were able to find any sources of kosher food there. I am planning on eating mainly vegetarian, which seems to be easy in India. However, it would be nice once in a while to get a good meat meal. What can I say, I'm a carnivore.

I also understand that there are a lot of synagogues in Bombay. Do you know which are active?

Any other hints that you came across in your search would be appreciated.

Thanks.