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Why is chicken considered meat but fish is not? Also, why is an egg considered pareve? And if we can eat chicken eggs, why can't we eat caviar (fish eggs)?

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Michael, Welcome to Judaism.SE, and thanks very much for bringing your questions here! Please consider registering your account, to help the site keep track of your contributions no matter where you log in. – Isaac Moses Jul 18 '11 at 20:51
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Your first question is at least partially addressed in these two previous questions about fish and about chicken. – Isaac Moses Jul 18 '11 at 20:54
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Milk is not meat, even though it comes from a cow. – Menachem Jul 18 '11 at 21:57
Does the behavior of birds raising their young have anything to do with birds considered to be meat And does a warm-blooded animal also contribute to this concept – Robert May 15 at 4:37

3 Answers

up vote 14 down vote

Chulin 8 / Yoreh Deah 87:3 - Rabbi Akiva holds that the prohibition of eating chicken with milk is Rabinnic (M'Drabanan) - the reason is to avoid confusion as people consider chicken meat. Fish would not be confused as it does not require slaughtering, however chicken does require slaughtering.

Once eggs are laid they are completely developed; and they are not considered part of the chicken meat. A complete egg is in fact considered an entity by itself and is not considered meat that can be confused with animal meat. Therefore the Rabbinic prohibition would not apply here and it would be permissible to eat the egg with dairy products.

http://judaism.about.com/library/3_askrabbi_o/bl_simmons_eggs.htm

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up vote 13 down vote

To your last point, traditional caviar comes from sturgeon fish, which are not kosher.

Eggs from kosher fish, such as whitefish, are kosher, so you can find kosher-certified "caviar" made of such eggs.

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Furthermore, if the caviar are red then they are kosher, according to the Beis Yosef (but see also the Aruch HaShulchan YD 83:50 for a machmir view). The OU however follows the lenient view and thus if the caviar are red, no hashgacha is required -- they are ipso facto kosher. – Curiouser Jul 19 '11 at 7:07
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The Noda BeYehuda Tinyana YD 28 thinks that sturgeon are indeed kosher. – Double AA♦ Dec 14 '11 at 1:20
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An egg that is in the chicken when slaughtered is meat. It must be soaked and salted like the rest of the chicken. It must be opened and checked for blood spots before being consumed. It may not be eaten raw, even though eggs that are laid normally may be consumed without cooking.

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It depends on the formation of the egg and if it is broken or not, etc. I learned that sometimes an egg found in the chicken can still be parve. – Adam Mosheh Jan 29 '12 at 21:39

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