← Autodidact Archive · Original Dissent · Hilaire Belloc
Thread ID: 10840 | Posts: 8 | Started: 2003-10-30
2003-10-30 16:41 | User Profile
[url]http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=573&ncid=757&e=5&u=/nm/20031030/od_nm/kosher_dc[/url]
Kosher Food Festival Looks to Muslim Customers
By Chris Reese
NEW YORK (Reuters) - The world's largest kosher food showcase might seem a strange place to make overtures to the Muslim palate, but Jewish food manufacturers say Muslims make up an increasing number of their customers.
Participants in Kosherfest 2003 in New York on Tuesday and Wednesday said kosher food, specially prepared to meet Jewish dietary laws, often also met the needs of pork-free Muslim diets.
"We have been told by supermarkets that there is an increasing interest from the Muslim community," said Menachem Lubinsky, president of festival sponsor IMC Events and Exhibitions.
"The easiest way for (Muslims) to make sure that they don't consume pork or prohibited products is by buying kosher products," Lubinsky said
The kosher diet dictates that meat and dairy products may not be cooked or eaten together. The animal or fowl must be slaughtered and examined by someone skilled and trained in kosher slaughtering.
But a wide range of foods carry the kosher label -- from peanut butter to popcorn -- meaning they have been certified by an authorized observer.
Lubinsky said that of the estimated 11 million U.S. kosher consumers -- people who actively look for kosher products -- in 2002, about 44 percent were Jewish, 19 percent were Muslims, 10 percent were vegetarian or lactose intolerant, and 27 percent simply felt that kosher products are of better quality or healthier.
According to IMC studies, the U.S. kosher market was worth $7 billion last year, Lubinsky said.
"The Muslim food concept is based on many of the same things as the kosher diet," said Frederic Sonnenschmidt, a retired dean of the Culinary Institute of America.
The Muslim dietary laws, called halal, share ancient religious similarities to the rules of kosher foods and kosher can be an option for Muslims, said Mohammad Sherwani, director of the Muslim Center of New York.
"Halal is the first choice, but after that kosher food is the second choice," Sherwani said, adding that although halal food is becoming more widely available in supermarkets, kosher food is far more prevalent.
Kosherfest features a wide variety of kosher-only cuisine from Campbell's vegetable soup to wine-flavored nuts to sushi.
"We want to bring authentic Asian cuisine to even the most religious person," said Daniel Berlin, who sends rabbis around the world from Iceland to Thailand to prepare fresh fish for his kosher Japanese catering business.
Others are sticking closer to home.
"You don't have to be Jewish to enjoy Jewish Dressing," said Detroit-based Todd Levitt, who peddles his blend of celery seed and honey. **"If there is Italian dressing and Russian dressing, why isn't there Jewish dressing? Well, now there is." **
Perun: the last sentence has to be the stupidest thing I've ever heard a Jew say in my life!
2003-10-30 19:13 | User Profile
LOL. but we all know the firestorm that would result if one of us dared market a "jewish salad dressing."
On that note, I had a great BLT for lunch today. mmmm, double bacon.
2003-10-30 19:46 | User Profile
When, oh when will we ever be rid of jews and arabs and having to hear about their bizarre rituals and customs??
:wallbash:
2003-10-30 21:20 | User Profile
[QUOTE=Rumblestrip]LOL. but we all know the firestorm that would result if one of us dared market a "jewish salad dressing." [/QUOTE]
Well instead of "Jewish salad dressing" we'd probally term it something like "Kosher","Zhid", or "K*ke" sauce :lol:
2003-10-31 03:22 | User Profile
I found this on a N.Y. Giants (football) message board. That board has plenty of neurotic Chosenites on it. Related to Jew food, somewhat...
[url]http://www.bigblueinteractive.com/petescorner2/forum_display.cfm?F1_ID=110309[/url]
2003-10-31 03:29 | User Profile
[QUOTE=perun1201]Well instead of "Jewish salad dressing" we'd probally term it something like "Kosher","Zhid", or "K*ke" sauce :lol:[/QUOTE]
rotting gefilte fish mixed with Manischewitz.
2003-11-04 13:50 | User Profile
This kosher certification scam is a source of extreme annoyance (resentment) to many of us. It's just plain outrageous that the 97% non-Christian population in America should be compelled to purchase products (even house-cleaning items) that are certified holy enough for the 3% Jewish population. Can anyone imagine the hue and cry that would result from a Christian certification, like a little Cross stamped on products that Jews have to purchase because there's no alternative? Hold your ears.... JW
[url]http://www.jewishworldreview.com/kosher/kosher_expansion1.php3[/url]
Kosher foods gaining weight By Susan Lerner Nov. 4, 2003
Kosher food — it's not just for Jews anymore.
In fact, most consumers would probably be shocked to know that a good number of the products already in their pantries and refrigerators are actually certified kosher.
From Pepperidge Farms and Oreo cookies to Heinz baked beans, Lipton Soup mixes and Wonder Bread, the variety of products certified for use by the kosher consumer is expanding at a pretty torrid pace to address the needs of a growing market.
[Photo of a filled-to-the-brim market basket] All kosher. An overwhelming number of America's finest foods are these days
"There has been over the last two decades an explosion in terms of interest in kosher. We've grown in 20 years by a factor of about 20," said Rabbi Menachem Genack, head of the Kashruth Division of the Orthodox Union, the largest and most well known of the nearly 600 agencies and individuals stamping their approval on kosher products.
Just look at Kosherfest.
Now in its 15th year, the show, held last week at New York's Jacob K. Javits Convention Center, has grown from 59 booths with less than 900 visitors to nearly 500 booths and more than 12,000 visitors with 30 countries represented at Kosherfest 2003.
According to Menachem Lubinsky, co-producer of Kosherfest and president and CEO of Integrated Marketing & Communications in New York, the U.S. produces about $500 billion worth of packaged foods of which $170 billion is certified kosher. On the ingredient side, there's also about $500 billion of which $300 billion is certified kosher.
"The industry itself, we believe, is at least a $7.5 billion market that has been growing at a rate of 15 percent a year," he said.
The word kosher itself means fit and proper, meaning that the food has been prepared or is in consonance with Jewish law related to kosher. "The thing that generally makes a product kosher is the ingredients that are used — that the ingredients are proper and they've been prepared on equipment that is segregated only for kosher use," said the Orthodox Union's Genack.
Yet, many interpret the kosher seal as meaning healthy and quality. Bruce Mills, vice president of operations and marketing for My Grandma's of New England, which displayed an assortment of coffee cakes at the show, said he saw the value of making his product kosher when he and his partners took the company over from its founder about 11 years ago.
"It's been our experience that people associate the word kosher with quality and purity so it helps us sell our product even to the nonkosher, non-Jewish community," said Mills, who noted that 95 percent of his customers were not kosher or even Jewish.
Another reason for the increase in demand for kosher products is the "pareve" designation received by many items. "Pareve" the Hebrew word for "neutral," tells customers that the product contains no meat or dairy byproducts, making the item acceptable to vegetarians and the lactose intolerant.
Those who adhere to kosher biblical laws do not eat meat and dairy together.
Comedian Jackie Mason is even getting into the act.
The Broadway performer has put his face on a "pareve" lactose free, gluten free, cholesterol free cheesecake manufactured by Rhoda's Best, which was introduced last week at Kosherfest.
But it's not just smaller companies that are addressing the trend.
Major manufacturers such as H.J. Heinz and Coca-Cola have offered kosher products for years.
And now Campbell Soup Co., which has already turned the heads of kosher consumer in recent years by certifying its Pepperidge Farms cookies and Godiva chocolates as kosher, has finally taken the plunge with its benchmark product. Just this fall, the Camden, N.J.-based company introduced its first kosher soup when the "vegetarian vegetable" variety received the Orthodox Union's seal of approval.
"The initial reaction from consumers has been very, very positive," said Jeremy Fingerman, president of U.S. Soup for Campbell's.
Paperwork and getting the equipment ready for kosher production took about a year but Campbell said it made no changes to the actual soup to receive the certification. "You have to be very careful when you make changes to some of these top selling items that you don't affect the taste or quality delivered," Fingerman said.
Though the first, Fingerman said the vegetarian vegetable was "by no means the last" soup the company would be making kosher. He said Campbell would see how the product goes and continue to look for opportunities to address different niche segments within the market place.
"We see the growth in the kosher consumer base and the amount of kosher products that are out there," said Fingerman. "We're seeing data of about 5 million households with kosher seeking consumers and that's a big number. We want to make sure we're not missing opportunities."
While the kosher consumer once had to rely heavily on specialty grocers for their purchases, they can now find just about everything they're looking for at the major supermarket chains — and not just in major Jewish population centers like New York.
"Someone woke up and realized it's a lucrative market," said Sheila Guyer of Farmington Hills, Mich., who said that she can now find about 99 percent of what she needs among three local major supermarkets.
You'll get no argument from Andrew Kramer. The director of ethnic marketing and specialty foods at Albertson's said sales of kosher foods at Albertson's stores were seeing double-digit gains.
"We're just responding to the customer trends and the customer needs," said Kramer who noted that kosher food sales were growing throughout the country.
Those trends and needs required major changes to Albertson's thinking about kosher products.
"Our kosher food sections are definitely changing — major changes. We're taking the old matzah ball, gefilte fish, borscht section and really integrating a lot more upscale gourmet products that just happen to be kosher and that's really responding to our customers," said Kramer. "Our customers are looking for how can they incorporate kosher products into an everyday lifestyle and frankly most people who are eating kosher don't want to eat those types of items on a regular basis so we're getting gourmet soups and marinades and candies and snacks and things like that.
"We're putting a new face on kosher."
Susan Lerner is a reporter for CBS MarketWatch. Comment by clicking here.
2003-11-04 23:04 | User Profile
[QUOTE=wintermute]Do you include circumcision in that list? [/QUOTE]
No. I just don't get too worked up over the whole circumcision issue. It may be involuntary, but our parents make all kinds of decisions for us at that age where we have no say in the matter. That's part of being a parent.