The origin of the kosher laws

“Do not cook a young goat in its mother’s milk.” Deuteronomy 14:21b
Those of us who know something about Jewish dietary rules, know that it is forbidden to eat milk and meat together in the same meal. In fact, the rabbinical take is that you must wait at least two hours after eating milk or milk products, before you can eat meat, and at least four hours after eating meat before you can eat milk or milk products. (The difference being the length of time estimated for the food to be digested in the stomach; the reasoning being that if both milk and meat were in the stomach at the same time, that could be considered ‘cooking’.) No steak for dinner and ice-cream for supper! They even go so far to say that you can’t eat chicken and milk products together (even though chickens do not produce milk). However, fish and milk products are ok...
Unlike the laws concerning not eating pork or shellfish, among other meats, which God specifically laid down (Lev. 11:7, 10-12), this notion about milk and meat together has been taken out of context from what God intended. Consider this: Abraham served meat and curds as a meal to the Lord and two angels who came to visit him prior to the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah (Gen. 18:8). And God ate it.
Cooking a young goat in its mother’s milk was actually a Canaanite fertility rite. God didn’t want His people to adopt the ways of the nations around them, either in worshipping Him, or, even worse, worshipping pagan gods. This law is not so much about eating, but about following heathen practices in worship.