Wedding Cake Controversy

The wedding reception was held on a Christian-owned camp ground. The restaurant, however, is under Jewish ownership and is maintained kosher according to Jewish law. This means, among other things, that meat and dairy dishes cannot be served at the same meal. Knowing this ahead of time, we made the cake so that it contained no dairy since the reception meal was to be beef and chicken. Our butter cream frosting contained no butter or milk, only vegetable shortening, sugar, flavoring, and water. When it came time to serve the cake, we were called to speak to the manager of the restaurant who inquired on the supervising rabbi's behalf as to the content of the cake. We could assure him that all of the ingredients were non-dairy. This was not satisfactory because the cake was not "certified" by the rabbi (meaning that we didn't purchase a kosher certificate). We were told that the cake could not be cut or served on the premises, nor could we use the restaurant's dishes or silverware to serve it. We would have to carry the cake outside and serve it on paper plates with plastic forks. At the end of the night, we lifted the table with the cake and began carrying it outside. The manager, seeing that we were willing to do that without making a fuss, agreed to collect all of the meat dishes and silverware from the tables and allow us to have our cake and eat it, too--inside the restaurant. This was definitely a lesson in the politics of food and religion. I am glad that as believers we serve the One who tells us, "...do not call anything impure that God has made clean."