It's Life, Jim...

[ffutures]

Final version of the section on on alien foods and religion - I've edited and pared it to fit a particular space, so I can't easily make any changes in case they make paragraphs overflow to a new line:

It’s Life, Jim... But Is It Kosher..?
One of the odd questions to come out of interplanetary travel is the religious status of alien foods. Many faiths have dietary codes, and edible species must be tested to see if they conform. Europa is an extreme case because it has so many edible species, but the question has vexed clerics and scholars since the first landing on Mars. In the case of Europa, for example, the Liberal Jewish interpretation is as follows:

• Bladder-Birds are not predators and do not have cloven hooves or chew cud. They are Kosher if prepared correctly; they must be drained of blood and the heart, lungs, and air bladder must be removed as soon as they are killed.¹
• Nutsies are Treyf (non-Kosher) since they resemble shellfish and their diet includes decaying material.
• The Liver-leaf and Truffles are both considered to be plants, and Kosher if washed to remove insects etc.

Orthodox Jews and Buddhists refuse to eat any Martian or Europan species since they are neither animal nor vegetable.

These debates are common to many religions; for instance, the Vatican took several years to rule that Venusian fish can be eaten on Fridays!

¹ A variant opinion compares bladder-birds to bats, which are treyf, and refuses to eat them.

The text describing these species is here if anyone has forgotten.

Does this seem to work, or is it a bit too terse?

Comments

[aisb23.livejournal.com]

A couple nitpicks:

I and most Jews I know spell it treif (though this may be an American Jewish thing).

Likewise the term "Liberal Jewish" is unknown on this side of the pond. Depending on how much of your readership is American you may want to switch to Reform or Reformed Jewish.

[ffutures.livejournal.com]

I went with Liberal because I think it's slightly easier for non-Jews to understand, and because Wikipedia seems to use both. Not sure why I used Treyf rather than Treif. Thinking about it, changing both will help with the paragraph formatting, so thanks for the suggestion.

[johnreiher.livejournal.com]

It was my 'merkin spelling of "Treif". :-)

I do like the final version, it's just right.