George,
 
People who keep Kosher never eat meat and milk in the same meal.  Therefore,
it is very important to know what's in things, so you don't accidentally
combine something with milk products in your meat meal and vice-versa.
 Things that are pareve contain neither milk nor meat, and therefore can be
eaten in a meat meal or a milk meal.  This includes all fruits and vegies,
grains, fish, and eggs (but not chicken----something I've never understood,
as the prohibition is against cooking the lamb in its mother's milk, and I've
never met a chicken that lactated!)  Thus, one would never eat a
cheeseburger, unless it were made with soy cheese, or eat "ice cream" at the
end of a meat meal, unless it were Tofutti.  Kosher only means that a Rabbi
has supervised production and no unacceptable substances (pork, shellfish,
etc) were present.  Kosher, Dairy, means milk products ARE present.  Kosher,
Pareve, means no milk (or meat) products are present.  Hope this helps.
 
Connie in NC