Posted by Menachem Lubinsky on May 31, 2010 under Kosher | 
By Menachem Lubinsky
New York…Most supermarkets in larger cities carry at least 20,000 kosher certified items, a Kosher Today survey indicates. In many stores, the number of kosher products is closer to 25,000, nearly half of all items on grocery shelves. Several food categories are virtually all kosher, including beverage, coffee and tea and cereals. Kosher consumers in the US have 125,000 kosher items to choose from, a far cry from the 16,000 items quoted in a 1987 survey just prior to the first Kosher Food and Jewish Life Expo at the Javits Center in March. With so many kosher products, kashrus agencies warn against “consumer complacency” in which labels are not checked for their kosher status. “Ever so often, you will find a flavored beverage that just is not kosher,” one kosher certifier said. Supermarkets continue to add new items with a kosher symbol, largely line extensions or new certifications on such well-known products as Gatorade. Despite the dramatic increase of the kosher fare in the nation’s supermarkets, those stores in most cases do not offer the variety, including products with many different kosher certifications, of the independent kosher stores, a major factor in the continued popularity of the kosher stores. Kosher certified items can be found in almost every aisle, including the growing number of snacks and frozen items that are kosher certified.
Posted by Menachem Lubinsky on under Kosher Market |
By Menachem Lubinsky
New York…The sharp decline of the Euro is already wreaking havoc for many Israeli food exporters who suddenly find the coveted European market an unpredictable destination. In interviews with a number of food industry sources in Israel, it appears that the losses from the decline in the Euro have in some cases wiped out potential profits. They say that many food exporters who had always considered the US kosher market secondary to Europe because of its proximity and competitive climate are re-evaluating their position and are actively considering increasing exports to the US. This comes at a time when many American kosher consumers are already feeling the brunt of what some have called the “Israeli invasion.” This past Shavuos, Tnuva published a recipe booklet with dairy dishes for the holiday while Strauss promoted some of its better ice cream products. Just before the holiday, a delegation of food executives representing the Kedem group was in Israel to tour some of the plants that manufacture products that are imported by Kedem. The group was led by Nathan and David Herzog and included Yakov Yarmove from SuperValu as well as Ron Wise from DPI. They visited Strauss-Elite, Beigel and Beigel, Prigat, Yehuda Matzo, Affifit and Wissostky Teas, all companies that Kedem now represents in the US kosher market. Menachem Lubinsky of LUBICOM Marketing Consulting will be joined by Bill Springer of Diversified Business Communications, co-producers of Kosherfest, in several days of meetings with Israeli food officials later this month as part of a tour organized by the Israel Export Institute.
Posted by Menachem Lubinsky on May 28, 2010 under Kosher Restaurants |
New York…Kosher Today staff reporters…A London businessman who travels frequently to the Big Apple has learned to check a number of key Web sites that cover the kosher restaurant scene prior to leaving the UK. While he has many options, a favorite is www.GreatKosherRestaurants.com, which offers him special discounts as well as the latest updates. In fact, the traveler has of late made reservations on the site. The kosher restaurant Web site is the brainchild of Elan Kornblum, known as “The Restaurant Guy,” who is the president and publisher of the Great Kosher Restaurants Magazine. Another site that also sends e-mails on the latest updates is Koshertopia. The e-mails report on new openings, closures, and even changes of kosher certification. Another world-wide data base of restaurants, popular with many travelers is Shamash.org. These are but a few of nearly a dozen websites and blogs that cover the kosher restaurant scene throughout the country. Kosher restaurant sources say that while the kosher restaurants appear to have weathered the “worst” during the current recession, “they are by no means out of the woods.” The sources say that while many kosher restaurants continue to close in such major cities as New York, Miami and Los Angeles, they seem to be offset by new openings. One kosher restaurateur pointed out that a kosher restaurant always operates “on thin ice” since they are not open on weekends, a traditional profit center for non-kosher restaurants. Some restaurants have banked on a theme that can appeal to a “crossover” audience. It is these constant changes that have made such sites as Great Kosher Restaurants so popular.
Posted by Menachem Lubinsky on May 27, 2010 under Kosher Technology |
New York…by Tova Ross, Kosher Today Features Editor…Keeping kosher is becoming easier, thanks to a number of high tech innovations. Kosher adherents can already use an Apple app “My Grocery Master” to search a database of over 100,000 specialty foods for kosher products in their closest grocery stores. Now comes a new invention: a stick that can detect the presence of pork in any dish. The uni-cultural plastic stick can alert both kosher and Halal eaters to the prohibited pig by using antibodies that react with the non-kosher animal’s muscle tissue. Invented by scientists at the Kazakh National Center for Biotechnology, the stick may not be so necessary for kosher consumers in the US, who rely on some of the 1000 kosher-certifying agencies and rabbis as well as the FDA to properly ensure their food is not contaminated with pork products. Yet the stick comes in handy for Muslims in Kazakhstan (Islam is the dominant religion there), where chefs often use pork in supposedly Halal dishes because it is cheaper than many other meats. Sources told Kosher Today that the stick may be handy for Jews who keep kosher and are frequent travelers around the globe, where food certification standards are not always subject to the strict ones in place in the U.S.
While the stick may not be a practical everyday aid, iBless Food 1.0 by the Davka Corporation can come in more handy. iBless Food 1.0 is a resource guide for Hebrew blessings (brachos) for over 500 different foods. It allows for easy scrolling on an iPod, iPhone, or iPad to discover what type of blessing should be made over fruits, vegetables, and popular snacks and appetizers.
The blessing – both for before and after the food being eaten – is shown in both Hebrew and English transliteration and chanted aloud with each word highlighted as it is said. Additional information about the customs of that particular blessing is also shown.
Posted by Menachem Lubinsky on under Kashrus Organization |
New York…by KT Staff Reporters…Just when you have perfected the important practice of checking vegetables for insects comes a new guide on the kashrus of oil by the Orthodox Union (OU). The “OU Manual for the Oil Industry” is designed for mashgichim and others who supervise cooking and baking with oil. It follows on the heels of the OU’s guidebook for the baking industry. Rabbi Menachem Genack, CEO of OU Kosher, stated: “This manual is an important step in the department’s goal to provide kosher industry professionals and kosher consumers alike with a thorough, extensive education in kosher laws and practices.” Printed in full color with many vivid illustrations, the recently-published manual focuses on three specific areas of concern for kosher certifiers, kosher food retailers and service facilities: technology, practicalities and methodologies of kosher supervision, and the official rulings of OU halachic authorities. Topics include refinement, fractionation, and deodorization of oil. Rabbi Moshe Zywica, the OU’s Director of Operations, helped coordinate the manual. He calls it “required reading for anyone supervising or certifying an oil agency, and the first manual of its kind to explain the issues involved with ensuring the oil used in cooking and baking is completely kosher.” In addition to Rabbi Zywica, those who worked on the manual are Rabbi Yaacov Luban, the OU’s executive rabbinic coordinator, who served as the editor; Dr. Avraham Meyer, who has a PhD in chemistry and who Rabbi Luban calls “a walking encyclopedia of technology and kashrus,” who served as an advisor for the text; Rabbi Yoel Schonfeld, an OU Rabbinic Coordinator who oversees the oil industry; and Rabbi Avraham Juravel, an OU Rabbinic Coordinator who reviewed the entire manual before its publishing. To obtain copies of the manual, contact yoels@ou.org.
Posted by Menachem Lubinsky on under Kosher Franchises |
Tel Aviv…The closure of the Burger King franchise in Israel left many Americans living in Israel wondering if the chain did its marketing homework. Burger King joined Starbucks, Dunkin’ Donuts and Wendy’s as failed franchises in Israel. The reason given for the closure is almost always that Israelis did not take to the taste of the American foods. In the case of Burger King, the franchisee will rebrand its 52 Burger King stores as Burger Ranch, a more popular local chain. Eli and Yuval Orgad, the franchisees, have owned the Burger King stores since 2005 and bought the 55-unit Burger Ranch chain last year. Other restaurant franchises in Israel (not all of its branches kosher) include KFC, McDonald’s and Subway. Kentucky Fried Chicken, Dominos and Pizza Hut. Idele Ross, Kosher Today’s Israel Bureau Chief, reports that Omri Padan, McDonald’s-Israel CEO said the ‘revolution’ is a McDonald’s Israel strategy which will not change. The chain has 150 outlets in Israel, 30 of which are kosher. Seven new branches are expected to open by the end of 2010. One source told Kosher Today, all Burger King “needed to do was obtain a good hechsher that would appeal to the near 500,000 Israelis of American origin in addition to as many as 500,000 tourists and businessmen.” Burger Ranch is a hamburger chain started by South African immigrants to Israel in the seventies and emphasizes the Israeli preference for local fare over imported American tastes.” All the research carried out over the past few months shows beyond a doubt that the taste of Burger Ranch is the preferred taste for most Israelis,” Orgad directors Eli and Yuval Orgad were quoted as saying in the Hebrew media.
Posted by Menachem Lubinsky on under Kosher Companies |
New York…The kosher food industry is playing a major role this month in Jewish Heritage Month, thanks to a major effort by Manischewitz. At least 30 major retailers are participating in promotions that will include a retailer display contest. Manischewitz has created numerous merchandizing materials for in-store use that reflect the spirit of JAHM, such as poster boards, shelf talkers and more. Retailers will be challenged with a first ever display contest in honor of JAHM. Manischewitz will make donations on behalf of the top three retailers with the biggest and most creative in-store displays. Several kosher food executives, including Yakov Yarmove of SuperValu have been invited to the White House this Thursday (May 25th) to join President Barack Obama in celebrating 350 years of Jewish history in the US.
“The United States would not be the country we know without the achievements of Jewish Americans,” said the President in recognizing JAHM. “We are honored to sponsor Jewish American Heritage Month,” says David Yale, CEO of the Manischewitz Company. “Our company has played a significant role in the history of Jewish American culture. We are delighted to support this month-long celebration that gives us reason to take pause and honor the contributions that Jewish Americans have made to our society.” Tova Ross, Kosher Today Feature Editor, writes that Manischewitz was indeed an important part of that heritage. In the 1800’s in Lithuania, most young Jewish men were immersed in their yeshiva studies, preparing for a career in the rabbinate or working as merchants, artisans, or laborers. Though Rabbi Dov Behr Manischewitz was once a Talmudical scholar in the Telz yeshiva, something else called out to him, and in 1886, he emigrated to America with his new wife, Nesha. It was in Cincinnati two years later, that he founded his eponymous kosher food company. Manischewitz, who had also been a shochet in Lithuania, was the first person to come up with the idea of selling machine-made matzah to American Jewry for Passover. The idea caused a small amount of controversy, for it changed both the shape of matzo (which up until then had been circular or oval-shaped) to square pieces, and the individuality of burnt, charred, or irregular matzos to a uniform and perfectly-shaped matzos in every box. Manischewitz matzo became a national and international product, changing the way Jews purchased and ate matzo. After conquering matzo, the company soon came to dominate the kosher wine market. In 1932, the company expanded to Jersey City to better serve the increasing Jewish population, which was mostly based in the Metropolitan New York area. The Jersey outpost soon became the main base for the company when its Cincinnati branch closed in 1958.
Posted by Menachem Lubinsky on under Sixth Sense |
The perception that kosher foods are healthier than other foods has led many Americans to embrace kosher fare. While it is true that kosher products certainly do not use pork and in most cases today are devoid of animal foods, it would be incorrect to say that kosher foods are by and large healthy. The recent national obsession with fighting obesity might also target those who observe kashrus. Many observers of the Shabbos would make the case that their diet was high in saturated fats and perhaps not so healthy only on Shabbos. It was as if they made the spiritual case that Shabbos calories simply don’t count. But then came the fad of eating cholent, kishke and kugel on almost every night, and certainly from Wednesday on, and that tore the one day calorie splurge theory to shreds.
With the Jewish community suffering from high rates of hypertension, diabetes and heart disease, there is certainly a new awareness of eating healthier. The kosher community has responded in kind with a broad range of low fat, sugar-free, and gluten-free products that offer the kosher consumer an unprecedented choice of healthier items. A Kosher Today reader recently wrote: “As an Orthodox Jew, I feast every seventh day, on numerous Jewish holidays and a seemingly endless stream of organizational dinners, bar mitzvahs, weddings and sheva brachos. It is virtually impossible to control my weight.” Another begged for healthier snacks for his young children from kosher manufacturers. As is the case with every medical or social problem, awareness is the first step towards coming up with a solution. That first step has seemingly been taken by many kosher consumers. It is now time for action. The health of the kosher consumer deserves a serious response!
Posted by Menachem Lubinsky on May 13, 2010 under Kosher Wine |
By Menachem Lubinsky
New York…With the two day holiday of Shavuos (Festival of Weeks) set to begin next week (eve of May 18-May 20), many Web sites are promoting recipes for the customary dairy meals. Supermarkets are also featuring many specials for fish, blintzes, cheeses, and vegetarian dishes. The Royal Wine Company (Kedem) is suggesting wines that can be paired with the Shavuos dairy fare. One suggestion that the wine company is promoting is “that when selecting a white or rosé this Shavuot, try to buy wine from recent vintages such as 2007 or younger. Also remember to serve these wines chilled, but not too cold – that can mask some of their aromas.” Amongst the wines listed for Shavuos and by extension the spring are Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay, Red Bordeaux, Chenin Blanc, and rosé (Cabernet Franc, Sangiovese and even Cabernet Sauvignon). Kedem offers these wines from California, France, New Zealand and Israel.
Tags: Cabernet Franc, Cabernet Sauvignon, California, Chardonnay, Chenin Blanc, france, israel, kedem, Kosher wines, Menachem Lubinsky, New Zealand, Red Bordeaux, rosé, Sangiovese, Sauvignon Blanc
Posted by Menachem Lubinsky on May 12, 2010 under Kosher |
Woodmere LI…by Tova Ross…The Five Towns may be amongst the most affluent Jewish regions in the country, but it is also an area with an increasing number of Jewish families who are struggling, Kosher Today has learned. The Jewish Community Center of the Greater Five Towns has had a kosher food pantry for nearly five years (thanks to funding from the UJA-Federation of New York) to provide struggling residents of the Five Towns with pantry staples and canned foods. But it was only recently that increased demand for assistance has necessitated a move from the JCC’s basement to a larger storefront on Central Avenue in Woodmere. Rina Shkolnik, the JCC’s executive director, said: “Five years ago, we served fifty, maybe sixty families a week. Two years ago, we served eighty five families. Last year we served 135, and this year, 150. With an average of four members to a family, that’s already over 500 people that don’t have enough food to eat.”
Shkolnik attributes the rising number of people in need to the still-struggling economy. “Many of these families that are suffering already have kids in yeshiva and mortgages to pay, and when those costs are taken care of, it often doesn’t leave enough for kosher food,” she explained. Basics like milk and meat are more expensive when they’re kosher, and when one member of the family lost his or her job, finding the money for things that have already been committed to doesn’t leave a lot of room to buy kosher meat or other typically more expensive basic foods.
The new JCC storefront – which opened in part by donations from the JCC’s board of directors – operates differently from the basement food pantry, from which community members could not frequent and only receive donation from deliveries. In the storefront, perishables and canned goods are still collected from both private donations and from bins placed in local supermarkets like Gourmet Glatt, Brach’s, and Supersol that ask shoppers to buy an extra item to donate, but the food is then stocked on shelves for those in need to come and “buy” as they “shop.” And, unlike its previous location, this storefront is equipped with freezers used solely to stock meat, so families who cannot afford kosher beef and chicken can still enjoy it. The storefront’s windows have shades to protect the privacy of families who come to “shop” there. The space is leased for two years, but hopefully, it won’t need that long for community members to get back on their feet.
