I Would Kiss You, But I’m Milchig

If you just ate a hamburger, are you allowed to kiss your wife, who just had a milkshake? Do you need to rinse your mouth out first? Brush your teeth? Does she need to rinse or brush? Is the kissing allowed, as long as there’s no tongue? I have so many questions!

This is an issue I’ve thought about a lot, especially when I’ve dated guys who are less observant than I am. Once I was hanging out with my then-boyfriend and he mentioned something about just having had chicken at his favorite (non-kosher) Indian place. He went in for a kiss, and I couldn’t help but picture myself kissing a big piece of treyf chicken marsala. Yuck. I offered him a nice glass of bourbon and waited until he had finished drinking it until I laid one on him.

Was that a halachic issue? Probably not, but over at Frumsatire the issue of kissing making a person milchig, fleishig, or treyf is exhaustively (and somewhat disgustingly) covered.

Check it out. And if you have any questions, may I suggest a nice glass of Knob Creek? It will stop your boyfriend from tasting like curry, and has the added bonus of being whiskey, and therefore fantastic.