Okay, I admit the title is a bit of a red herring, but this story is absolutely hysterical.
For a couple of decades now, social psychologists and behavioral economists have been amusing themselves manipulating consumers into doing odd things. They’ve delighted in debunking the notion of homo economicus, that theoretical creature who rationally seeks maximum economic utility.
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But suppose, instead of scanning people’s brains as they’re sipping wine in a laboratory, you tested them in a more realistic situation: a restaurant where they’re spending their own money. That challenge was undertaken at an upscale restaurant in Tel Aviv by two behavioral economists, Ori Heffetz of Cornell and Moses Shayo of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, who expected to be able to manipulate diners’ choices by changing the prices on the menu.
Just wait. I haven't gotten to the punch line yet.
Unbeknownst to the diners or to their waiters, the economists monitored the choices of people who ordered from the prix fixe menu. The three-course meal cost included a choice of five entrees: shrimp gnocchi, pork shank, red mullet fillet, sausage or stuffed artichoke.
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But after three months of testing various combinations of prices, the researchers found they couldn’t sway the customers. Putting a higher price on the shrimp or any other entree didn’t make people more likely to order it.
Hmmmm, a restaurant in Tel Aviv. The choices included shrimp, pork shank, and sausage. What am I missing? Oh yeah, I got it.
Of the "beasts of the earth" (which basically refers to land mammals with the exception of swarming rodents), you may eat any animal that has cloven hooves and chews its cud. Lev. 11:3; Deut. 14:6. Any land mammal that does not have both of these qualities is forbidden. The Torah specifies that the camel, the rock badger, the hare and the pig are not kosher because each lacks one of these two qualifications. Sheep, cattle, goats, deer and bison are kosher.
Of the things that are in the waters, you may eat anything that has fins and scales. Lev. 11:9; Deut. 14:9. Thus, shellfish such as lobsters, oysters, shrimp, clams and crabs are all forbidden. Fish like tuna, carp, salmon and herring are all permitted.
What the heck did they stuff the artichoke with, crabmeat and oysters?
I realize this is just fluff, but what the heck, I laughed out loud, and thought you might, too.
TRAIF!!
Seriously, what was this, an April Fool's Joke?