Vegetarian

Question

Regarding the many rabbis who put hashgachot on Indian vegetarian restaurants, they do not light the fire. I have spoken to a number of them and they hold that the food being served at these restaurants is not oleh al shulhan melachim since you wouldn't serve this type of food at an important dinner with dignitaries etc. Of course, if you wish, you can always ask to light the fire and the restaurant wlll be only too happy to oblige. I know that Rav Abadi has a different pesak when it comes to bishul akum, but these rabbis have not made up this position, and it is presumably held by poskim they follow. In fact, they are ot attacked for their view of bishul akum, which is widely shared, they are attacked for giving a hashgachah on a store that is open on Shabbat and in which there is no mashgiach temidi (I asked Rabbi Spivak about this and he replied that he is doing the exact same thing that the OU does -- all the factories it supervises are open on Shabbat, and he comes by to check the veggie restaurant once a week or so, which is a lot more than the mashgichim come to check the companies). As for Rabbi Ralbag, when I was in high school we weren't allowed to bring in Drakes since it had the Triangle K but when the OU took over, all was acceptable -- and the head of the school was forced to admit, after speaking to people in the know, that there were no changes in the product when the new hashgachah came aboard (at least that is my recollection). No one was ever able to tell us what was wrong with Rabbi Ralbag's hashgachah, and these things develop a life of their own. Now we know that even Rabbi Ralbag's hashgacha is "extra" since all we need is the ingredients.