Q:I'm new in New York and I hear kosher this, kosher that. I'm not Jewish but could you tell me what's the thing with kosher?

A: If you're about to dive into a platter of ham and eggs, or munching a cheeseburger for lunch or perhaps dining on loin of venison, we can start right there.

Kosher is essentially about foods that have met the test of Jewish law. It has to be the right kind of food prepared the right kind of way. The regulations come straight from the Ultimate Recipe for Jewish life, the first five books of the Bible. There's no complicated set of reasons given. Just do it.

Here are some basics. Meat can't be eaten with dairy. Fish are fine; shellfish not. If your entrée had cloven hooves and chews its cud, so far so good. That allows sheep, cattle and goats, among others, but no pigs or camels. Birds, generally yes, but scavengers and birds of prey need not apply.

Dispatching the acceptable candidates requires exacting execution skills that have made the kosher butcher a paragon of hygiene. All blood must be drained or broiled from meat, for instance.

There's much more, of course, to maintaining a kosher home. Many Jews adhere to this gladly and reverently as a means of sustaining their religious identity. As for your diet, the ham would be disqualified right off; the burger theoretically might be okay, but not with the cheese; and the venison could possibly be acceptable, if it had been butchered by kosher means and cooked by kosher methods. It can be tricky. A bagel may seem kosher but not be, for example.

Lively disputes over who's more kosher than whom are common. For the record, this column has been prepared under supervision of a golden retriever.