Fish and Dairy

Can I eat fish and dairy together?

Shalom!

Thank you for your question.

You correct that there is some discussion on the permissibility on eating fish and dairy together. Let’s take a look at the sources.

The source for the hesitation on eating fish and dairy together is a ruling int he Beit Yosef, written by the author of the Shulchan Aruch, where it says, “one should not eat fish and milk together because of the danger involved.”

However, this statement is not found in the Shulchan Aruch, which was written later and considered to be more authoritative than the earlier Beit Yosef work. Furthermore, there is good reason to believe that the passage just quoted in the Beit Yosef was a printer’s error of sorts, and that the correct passage should read “one should not eat fish and MEAT together because of the danger involved.”

According to this approach eating fish and dairy is completely permissible.

Nevertheless, there are those, for various reasons, argue that there is indeed a danger, or health risk of sorts, in eating fish and dairy together. Yet others differentiate between fish and milk (or cheese) which is to be avoided and fish and butter (or cream) which is completely permissible.

The vast majority of Ashkenazi Jews eat fish with all forms of dairy, such as the famous Ashkenazi “lox and cream cheese” sandwich. Most Sephardim and Chassidim do practice some form of restriction in combining fish and dairy. One should follow one’s rabbi and family tradition in this matter.

OC 173 and commentaries, Machzik Bracha 87:4, Darkei Teshuva, YD 87:43; Kaf Hachaim, YD 87:24