Kosher

I know people have told you kosher does not help you determine whether or not certain food are vegetarians, but if you do more research on kosher food and laws, it can actually quite a bit. Ok lets start off with the rules...

1. What is kosher? Kosher is something that is acceptable under the Jewish law, mainly referring to food.
2. What are Kosher food? Kosher food are food that meet the requirement of the Jewish law.
3. What is Parve? It is when the food is not derived from meat or dair
1. Kosher meat- This include Poultry and Land Mammalsr.Land Mammals: All those that are both hoofed and chew their crud are kosher. Examples of Kosher land animals: Cow, deer, giraffe.Examples of Non kosher land animals: pigs-hoofed but don't chew their crud. Hare- chew their crud but has no hoofs.Poultry: It is not clearly specified but most birds are kosher except but scavenger birds are considered as non kosher.Animal Fat: "chelev" fat surrounding vital organs are not kosher but animal fat are kosher.
2. Kosher Parve- Food that are not derived from meat or dairy.
• Vegetable: All vegetables are considered kosher except for those that have been found with insects and worms.
• Seafood: Seafood that has scales and fin are kosher, meaning fish. Fish are considered parve, not meat or dairy. Shellfish, sharks dolphin are non kosher because they have no fins or scales.
3. Unknown- Sorry I'm not sure whether this is considered meat or parve.
• insects: Certain "winged" insects are considered kosher under different Jewish tradition who believe differently but a majority are non kosher.
4. What are the Kosher symbols?
• OU a circle with a U in the middle, or K means means that the product is kosher and it's parve. Parve can include both fish and eggs so watch out.
  
• OU and a D next to it means that it is kosher and it contains milk. D meaning Dairy.
• OU and a M next to it means that it is kosher and has meat derivative. M meaning meat.

Ok...What do these have to do with vegetarians...?
Obviously it has a lot to do with vegetarians, why else would I be posting this?

• OUD means there are some type of dairy in it but it's kosher. It still might have a possibilty of having fish or eggs in it since fish and eggs are considered parve.
  
• Fish derived items
  
• Vitamin A palmitate- Fish oil
  
• Vitamin D3- Mostly lanolin oil [derived from sheep wool] and sometimes fish oil
  
• Kosher Gelatin- Fish bones
  
• OUM means meat derived so stay clear of this item even if it doesn't seem like it has any meat in the ingredient list.
• If it's OUD or K or OU and it has mono-diglyceride or glycerin, you know it's vegetable derived and not meat derived since glycerin and glyceride are derived from hogs and cows. Even if it was derived from cows (kosher meat) it would have a OUM on it. Well you can look at natural flavoring the same way as you do with glyceride and glycerin but remember natural flavoring can be obtain from fish. If you want to risk that...so be it.
• CHEESE!!! If the cheese has OUD on it, it means it uses vegetable or microbe rennet. There are two reason, one being that animal rennet is a meat derived, so it cant be eaten with dairy ( jewish law says it's not kosher to eat meat with dairy). The second reason is that it would have to have a OUM on it if it is from meat but the 1st reason makes it impossible for a cheese factory to even label it OUM.
• Whey would not be extracted through the usage of animal enzyme if the product is OUD since the enzyme is derived from calves and calves are meat.
  

Update:
Sources: wikipedia-kosher, Judism 101, VRG, Dairy House, Vegetarian-Restaurant

Cottage Cheese!!

Omg i love cottage cheese. Here is what I have found out.

Axelrod
All products(veg)
http://www.axelrod.com/

I called them (800) 637-0019 and spoked to Linda about the cottage cheese and she said all of the cottage cheese are vegetarian. I was thinking to myself...eh why not so I asked her whether or not all Axelrod products are vegetarian and she responded with all of Axelrod products are vegetarian. There are no animal byproducts in the Axelrod products except for the milk. If you are lacto or lacto/ovo vegetarian consume all you want!!

Friendship
All products (veg)

I've emailed Friendship company and they said that all of their products are considered vegetarian since there are no "animal parts". I'm not exactly sure cause I checked the ingredients of the lowfat butter milk and it contains both vitamin A and vitamin D3 so it might not actually be vegetarian. In addition to that i'm not quite sure about the enzymes because Ms. Danielle Madsen did not specify whether or not the enzymes are microorganism or from rennet. Just be cautious. I've just emailed her again.

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WHAT?!!! Peta's vegan list is not so vegan?!

I can't Believe that "I Can't Believe it's Vegan" is Not Really Vegan!!

I Can't Believe it's Vegan

and
Vegcooking- Shopping Guide

These two lists from these two well known site are seen over the web. Well I don't know about you, but when i google vegetarian food list, those are the lists I see in peoples site. The same exact list (plagiarized) I kind of get the impression that these two list are widely used by many vegans and vegetarian. I'm sorry to burst people's bubble but i must inform you that not all the items on the list are vegan let alone vegetarian. I am not trying to give PETA and Vegcooking a negative publicity but I don't want vegetarians and vegans following a list that may contain by products of animals.

I've contacted Kelloggs and Post through email for my own personal needs and I found out that none of the Kellogg's cereal are vegan or vegetarian. I also found out that none of the Post cereal are vegan or vegetarian with the exception of Shredded Wheats which does not contain Vitamin D3.

Here are the proof:

Email from Kelloggs

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Email from Kraft-Post

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Instruction/Tips

Before you go and read ahead on all my post please read this first.
I will be listing vegetarian, vegan and non vegetarian/vegan food as a FYI.

Here are the legends.
(veg) = vegetarian
(vegan) = obviously, vegan
(nv) = not vegetarian and definitely not vegetarian

Here are some sites you can go to for recipes.

Vegetarian/Vegan Recipe
Vegcooking Affiliated with PETA, they also include a list very similar to Peta's "I can't believe it's Vegan!" Note: I do highly recommend checking those products' ingredients before you purchase them because I've been doing my own research and I emailed the companies. Some of those products listed there are not vegetarian or vegan
VegWeb Very great place for vegetarian recipes
IVU International Vegetarian Unions' list of recipe. There are recipes from around the world. YAy!!
VRG Not as much recipes but very helpful. There are articles and info about the produce you will be using.
VegSource
It's more like a database of recipes gathered from various links including those above. Note: some of the links don't work.
Vegetarian Times Very narrow search which is great, but it does not list the recipes. You need to search it yourself.
The Vegetarian Society Some recipes

Ingredients Vegetarians/Vegans should watch out for
IVU Very thorough list (does not define ingredients)
Vegetarian Guide Another very thorough list (does not define ingredients)
The Vegetarian Society Very nice list and they do explain why it's not vegetarian/vegan
Vegetarian Watch-Out Nice list with explanation

Food that are Vegetarian/Vegan!
VegCooking Like i have noted before, I recommend you to read the ingredients before purchasing because some of those items are no vegetarian/vegan.
PETA Affiliated with VegCooking. This list is obsoleted. Not all of these products are vegan.
Droogie Awesome list. Note: Only for products in the UK. I'm not certain if it applies to the one in USA.
Vegetarian Cheese List Meatless Rennet Cheese x3 Awesome!
What's in Your Cheese? An article about cheese and rennet. On the bottom of the page they suggest vegetarian cheese including cheese substitute.
Almost Vegan Vegan Blog :3

Daisy Sour Cream, Damascus Bakery Wraps, Barilla Pasta Sauce

Sour Cream

Daisy
Sour Cream - All (veg)
http://www.daisybrand.com/index.html

I've contacted Daisy via telephone and i was informed that all of Daisy's sour cream whether or not it regular, light or no fat, it is vegetarian!!! The vitamin A palmitate is not derived from animals or vegetables. It's derived from micro-organisms.

Lahvash Wrap

Damascus Bakery
Lahvash Wraps - All Flavors (veg)
*contains honey
http://www.damascusbakery.com/

I've checked the ingredients on the back.
Plain Lahvash ingrednts: enriched flour (niacin, reduced iron, thiamine mononitrate, riboflavin, folic acid), water, salt, yeast, calcium proprionate and tumaric acid (as preservatives.)
Honey Wheat Lahvash ingredients: 100% stone ground whole wheat flour, enriched flour (niacin, reduced iron, thiamine mononitrate, riboflavin, folic acid), water, salt, yeast, calcium proprionate and tumaric acid (as preservatives.)

Spinach Lahvash ingredients : natural spinach powder and parsley, enriched flour (niacin, reduced iron, thiamine mononitrate, riboflavin, folic acid), water, salt, yeast, calcium proprionate and tumaric acid (as preservatives.)
Sun-Dried Tomato Lahvash ingredients: natural tomato powder, sun-dried tomato and paprika, enriched flour (niacin, reduced iron, thiamine mononitrate, riboflavin, folic acid), water, salt, yeast, calcium proprionate and tumaric acid (as preservatives.)

Spaghetti Sauce

Barilla
Pasta Sauce - Some (vegan)
http://www.barillaus.com/index.aspx

I've checked the ingredients on the back.
Roasted Garlic Ingredients: Diced Tomatoes, tomato puree ( Water, tomato paste), onions, roasted garlic (garlic, canola oil), sugar, salt, oregano, olive oil, sunflower oil, parsley, pepper, citric acid.
Garden Vegetable Ingredients: Diced Tomatoes, tomato puree ( Water, tomato paste), zucchini, eggplant, onions, red bell peppers, sugar, garlic, olive oil, sunflower oil, oregano.
Green & Black Olive Ingredients: Diced Tomatoes, tomato puree ( Water, tomato paste), green olives (olives, water, salt, acetic acid), black olives (olives, salt, ferrous gluconate), white wine, onions, sugar, salt, olive oil, parsley, sunflower oil, garlic, oregano.
Italian Baking Sauce Ingredients: Diced Tomatoes, tomato puree ( Water, tomato paste), sugar, salt, garlic powder, olive oil, sunflower oil, oregano, parsley, pepper, basil, citric acid.
Marinara (not sure) - Contains Natural Flavoring*
Mushroom & Garlic Ingredients: Diced Tomatoes, tomato puree ( Water, tomato paste), mushrooms, onions, garlic, sugar, salt, olive oil, sunflower oil, parsley, citric acid, basil, oregano, pepper
Spicy Pepper Ingredients: Diced Tomatoes, tomato puree ( Water, tomato paste), green chili peppers, salt, garlic, olive oil, sugar, sunflower oil, parsley, chili pepper, crushed red pepper.
Sweet Peppers & Garlic Ingredients: Diced Tomatoes, tomato puree ( Water, tomato paste), red bell peppers, onions, green bell peppers, salt, olive oil, sunflower oil, garlic, basil, oregano, citric acid, white pepper.
Three Cheese : (not sure) - Contains Enzymes and whey (for those who do not consume whey).
Tomato & Basil: (not sure) - Contains Natural Flavoring*