6056 – Follow the Fowl?
Q. Dear Rabbi. What is the difference between the kashrus, or in this case, treif, (non-kashrus) of a cheeseburger or even a bacon cheeseburger just to make it double treif, and a chicken parmesan. Apparently, the prohibition of meat and dairy is technically different when it comes to chicken / fowl. The prohibition of cooking a kid in it's mother's milk doesn't necessarily apply to chicken or other fowl which don't lactate.
Clearly I'm not looking for a heter, I just thought that it's a great shaila!
Thank you very much in advance and you're the best!
A. The classic Chicken Parmesan is usually defined as a tender breaded chicken covered in fresh marinara condiment, spaghetti sauce, and melted cheese, often used is the fresh mozzarella cheese. Yet there are many variations to the above recipe.
The explicit biblical prohibition of cooking or eating meat with milk, is derived from the verse "Do not cook a kid (gedi) in its mother's milk,(Exodus 23:19, 34:26, Deuteronomy 14:21). This prohibition of mixing milk and meat is repeated three times in the Torah, and it applies to mammalian livestock, and not birds, based on the verse "You shall not cook a kid in its mother's milk.
The prohibition of eating chicken with milk is indeed only a Rabbinic decree, however one should not be lenient and follow it as we do with all other prohibitions of our Torah that we must keep.
Reviewed by: Hagaon Rav Shlomo Miller Shlit'a
Published: August 20, 2026