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Treif describes foods that Jews are not allowed to eat. Orthodox Jews will keep to food laws strictly, however, some Reform or Liberal Jews may choose not to. Treif foods include:

• fish without fins or scales
• any type of shellfish
• birds of prey and birds that feed from the carrion of other animals
• animals that don’t have split hooves
• animals that don't chew the cud
• animals with split hooves that don't chew the cud, eg pigs
• animals that chew the cud but don't have split hooves, eg camels

Combining foods

As well as keeping in mind what foods are kosher and treif, Jews also have to be careful about what foods they put together, as some combinations of food are also forbidden. This rule comes from the instruction in Exodus 23:19 which states, Do not cook a young goat in its mother's milk.

The belief is that this quote means that it is forbidden to eat meat and dairy products together. This means that dishes such as meat lasagne or cheeseburgers cannot be eaten. However, some Jews will also leave a time gap of at least three hours between eating meat and dairy, if they want to eat a cream-based pudding after a main meat dish.

Parev

The term parev means neutral, and refers to foods that are neither meat nor dairy. It provides Jews with a wider choice of food. Examples include:

• vegetables
• eggs
• plants

Different families will have different rules about the extent to which they keep a kosher kitchen. Orthodox Jews may choose to have completely different utensils, fridges, dishwashers and in some cases even separate kitchens for the preparation of meat and dairy dishes, others will just ensure they are not eaten together and some, mainly Liberal Jews, may choose to not even observe this law.