I’ve been living in Israel for 8 years and the availability of vegetarian ‘meat substitutes’ doesn’t come close to what’s available in the U.S.

Did you know that when it comes to mixing milk and meat the prohibition is not just in eating it, it’s also in cooking it and in deriving benefit from it? The rabbis extrapolate this from the Torah through tools that were given in the oral law (i.e., what is now the Talmud). So what I’m trying to say is that if the Torah meant to prohibit tastes, textures, and smells that were like treyf food it certainly would have included it somewhere.

Also, think about the mannah that the Children of Israel ate in the desert. It could taste like anything you wanted it to. That means if someone who grew up non-religious and remembered how cheeseburgers tasted there’d be no reason for her to not have her mannah taste like one! What I mentioned on FB I’ll say again here. I think the discomfort that people have with things that remind them of treyf is the association. But halacha is not based on feelings or what things remind us on. It’s based on a legal system with rules. My basic feeling is that if the Torah doesn’t prohibit something we shouldn’t try to be more religious than the Torah!

As someone raised secular I have had lots of fun turning my favorite treyf meals into my favorite kosher meals. I can still have spaghetti carbonera, baked clams (fish is even better than the clams), SPAM anything (yes I loved SPAM but now use kosher salami or hot dogs), even some of my favorite pork dishes have been even better when I use kosher turkey, chicken or beef as a pork replacement.