1)In the period since the character was established "in-story" as being Jewish, has any mention been made of whether he keeps kosher or not?
2)From the before he was established "in-story" as being Jewish, does anyone recall if he was ever seen to eat anything trayfe?
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In the eras I know he often ate with the rest of the FF. I think Sue's cooking could only be properly kosher if she kept a kosher kitchen. But the scenes I can think of were breakfast scenes, and breakfast doesn't involve meat. In the 60s-80s he ate pizza and enormous sandwiches, and sometimes at public eating places (e.g. Fantastic Four #79 and #179).
It does where I grew up. Or maybe you just mean that the scenes in question didn't involve meat?
Thanks for the info, Luke!
I can remember Ben eating enormous stacks of pancakes. I don't recall if sausage was in view!
Is beer OK? Ben drinks a lot of beer in public houses which couldn't be expected to keep kosher, made in breweries which wouldn't keep kosher. (Sorry if that's a dumb question. I don't really know the rules for kosher.)
Not long before Jack Kirby left the FF, Crystal got sick because of her poor immune system from living in the middle of nowhere all her life. Not knowing what the problem was and not wanting Johnny to worry, she said she probably just ate too many hot dogs. Ben said "Did ya have ta say that? I had me a dozen! URP!" Since I believe they got the hot dogs from a park vendor I doubt they were kosher. I'm pretty sure I've seen him eating hot dogs in Marvel Two-in-One too.
The Baron said:
I didn't think that through!
The pancake scene is from Fantastic Four #67. The other scene I had in mind was from Fantastic Four Annual #4, but I was wrong about that one; they're not having breakfast but opening mail. It was sometimes indicated in the 60s-70s that Ben didn't live at the Baxter Building.
I also remember he once ordered a hamburger saying he wanted it "Raw. None of that greasy kid stuff for me!"
Maybe somebody could do a reread of Fantastic Four or Marvel Two-in-One and look for food scenes? I have to say if Jack drew Ben eating something that we can determine was definitely not kosher then I have to go with Kirby and say the Thing doesn't care what he's eating. He's 500 pounds, he's probably an always hungry eating machine.
If it was a cheeseburger then it definitely wouldn't be kosher. Any kind of meat with any kind of dairy product isn't kosher (even kosher meat).
Ron M. said:
Breakfast on tv as usually toast (possibly with jelly or marmalade), cereal, milk and/or orange juice, and eggs. It tended to be more or less like that at my house, except the orange juice and eggs were rare. Meat? Maybe if it was a very cold morning we'd have sausage.
There's a kosher hot dog vendor at AutoZone Park here in Memphis, where the triple-A Redbirds play. My wife prefers the kosher ones for some reason, which is why I know. And if a triple-A baseball team in Tennessee has a kosher vendor, I imagine New York City stadia do too.
Ron M. said:
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