Kashrut Laws-

It must have proper Schitah, by a Rabbi. Some examples of Kasher ones are: Cow, Lamb,Sheep, Giraffe(Nobody eats Giraffe, since it was not passed down to). Any animal that chews its' cud, and has split hooves is Kosher. There is only one Kosher bug, that I don't know the name of. You cannot have meat with milk. According to Maran Beit Yosef(Who follows the Ro"sh)- You have to wait 6 hours between meat, and milk. According to Rambam-You have to wash out your mouth between meat, and milk. Between milk, and meat I think everyone agrees that all you have to do is brush out your mouth, very well. The reason for waiting time between meat ,and milk for the Rambam is that the meat gets stuck into your teeth. The reason for the Ro"sh, is that it takes a while to digest. The real Torah prohibition is, not cooking meat, and milk as it says three times. But the Rabbis derive that the three prohibitions: 1)Means for cooking. 2)One for getting benefit. 3)Means for eating. There is a concept of Glatt Kosher-It means the animal has smooth lungs, most Orthodox Jews follow that, but modern Orthodox Jew are not so Machmir-stringent. Then there is the Kashrut of milk. The Kashrut of milk is that it must come from a cow. Then there is a concept of Chalav Yisrael. Chalav Yisrael if I'm not wrong- Means that a Mashgiach(supervisor,Jewish) watched the milk go from the cow into the bucket. Then there is bread. There is not to much restriction on bread other than Kemach Yashan(old flour). This concept is I think-It means that the flower came from before Pesach. Then there is Matzah-Matzah can not have any contact with water. The Chabad have this restriction calle Gibruchtz-You cannot dip Matzah into water, even after it is cooked. The Matzah cannot rise for more than 18 minutes, if it does it is Chametz, and may not be used on Pesach. The reason gatorade used to not be Kosher was, because they used to use beetles blood in it. Then there is Bishul Acum-non Jew cooking food disqualifying it. The only way to have a non Bishul Acum, is if a Jew turned on the fire. If you have a butler(non-Jewish), and you have no-Mevushal wine then you cannot drink the wine he poured. However if it was Mevushal, then you can. The reason for this was because Goyim, used to make Avodah Zarah out of the wine.Back to meat, The Torah prohibits us from eating milk and meat, but is chicken meat? From the Torah some say it isn't. My father says it is, because when the Jews asked for meat, what did Hashem give them? Bird, chicken is bird. So that is my fathers Rav's p'sak on this issue. According to othe Poskim chicken is not meat. But you FOR SURE cannot eat with milk. Then there is the issue of eating fish with meat, everyone agrees that we don't eat milk, and fish together. But you don't have to wait, or wash your mouth out between them. According to Sephardim you cannot eat fish, with milk. According to Ashkenazim you can. So the question is aren't Ashkenazim more Machmir? In the Shulchan Aruch it says you cannot, the Ram"a, relies on Ashkenaz Poskim, and says you can. The Ta"z(Toreh Zahav) says there was misprint in the Shulchan Aruch, but the Sephardi poskim don't agree, and we are Mamchmir. Fish, must have fins, and scales to be Kosher. Back to meat again, Meat must be Shechted in the proper way, by a certified Shochet. My fathers Rav, doesn't eat meat, unless he Schected it himself. [Random fact- If there is a food that is not edible, and you eat it on Yom Kippur you are not Chayav.] Medicine, some poskim allow non-Kosher, and some don't (of course if it terminal illness, or very dangerous you can), you can rely on the ones that say you can. Vitamins(unless they are vital) if they are non-Kosher, they are not really supposed to be eaten. Again you can rely on those that say you can. [Random fact- It is stated by Chazal, that if someone eats non-Kosher foo it is not only physically bad for, him but spiritually.]