Israel Rabbinate OKs Pork-Flavored Goose Liver

Israel's Ynet News, the online version of the newspaper Yediot Acharonot, reported this week that Chief Rabbi Yona Metzger has announced the discovery of a special species of goose which tastes exactly like pork.

Writing for Yediot Acharonot, Meir Turgeman reported:

"We are looking into the possibility of industrial imports of goose," the rabbi said during a culinary conference at the Kaplan Medical Center in Rehovot, tantalizing the taste buds of every kashrut observer in Israel.

The move presents a real culinary and halachic revolution, as it offers a solution allowing religious and traditional Jews to discover the taste of pork, which is forbidden according to Jewish dietary laws.

It turns out that farmers in Spain recently decided to breed geese in non-industrialized pasture lands. As opposed to the modern methods, they didn't fatten the geese, but gave them natural food. 

When the farmers tasted the first chunk of goose liver, they were amazed. "It tastes like pork," they cried out.

They decided to share the sensational discovery with the chosen people, and sent a halachic query to Chief Rabbi Metzger. The latter demanded a second opinion, and asked that the goose liver be sent to three non-Jewish professional chefs in Europe, who are very familiar with the taste of pork. The three chefs confirmed the discovery of a "rare culinary duplicate".

Rabbi Metzger struggled with the problem and finally gave his answer: The meat is completely kosher. His ruling was based on a citation from the Talmud, which states that for every prohibition God imposed on the people of Israel – he created a kosher substitute with the exact same taste.

So how close are we to a pork-flavored Shabbat meal? Metzger tried to lower expectations on Tuesday, saying that the geese were still young and that the import of the mean is still being examined.

"We plan to approve the move and help it happen," the rabbi told Yedioth Achronoth. "It could serve as an original Jewish solution for consumers of non-kosher meat, who will be receiving a proper substitute. As for religious Jews, I believe they will be disgusted at first, but will eventually get used to it."