Bring home the kosher bacon
Bone Suckin' Mustard spiked with molasses and jalapeños sounds like it belongs slathered on pork chops--which is exactly what Patrick Ford of Ford's Gourmet Foods told a potential buyer last week. From the expression on the guy's face, Ford quickly realized that was perhaps not the best pitch for a product at Kosherfest, the country's foremost kosher expo, held in New York City. Bagels and gefilte fish are still represented among the hundreds of foods, but many exhibitors are folks like Ford who are offering up new tastes.
"Kosher food is not all about chopped liver. It's salsa and sushi--upscale, gourmet foods," says Menachem Lubinsky, president and CEO of Integrated Marketing Communications, which organizes Kosherfest. In the 16 years he's been running the show, he has seen "the kosherization of America." Indeed, what was a $35 billion industry in 1994 has grown to $165 billion today. Much of the jump is due to non-Jewish consumers' altering their shopping lists. Some 28 percent of Americans say they have knowingly purchased a kosher product in the past year; only 8 percent of those did so for religious reasons, according to a March 2003 survey by Mintel Consumer Intelligence. "Gentiles have finally learned that Jews make food with no junk, dirt, or garbage," quipped comic Jackie Mason, shilling for his new namesake brand of lactose-free cheesecake.
Oh, you. He's exaggerating, of course. A kosher candy bar isn't any better for you than its nonkosher counterparts. But to put a kosher symbol on a food item (most often a "K" inside a star or a "U" inside a circle) the product must pass stringent requirements and allow a rabbi to supervise the production to ensure that the rules are followed. Kosher cuisine, based on Jewish dietary laws, bans pork and shellfish, separates meat and milk, and insists that animals be slaughtered according to certain humane rituals. The word "pareve" or "parve" on a product indicates that it contains neither dairy nor meat. Muslims, Seventh-Day Adventists, vegetarians, and the lactose-intolerant look for kosher labels to regulate their diets, and the extra oversight gives other consumers a sense that their food is safer.
Although this supervision is not guaranteed to make a product any more healthful, health food manufacturers have taken note of the public's perception of kosher as wholesome. The word has become another marketing term to slap next to "all natural," "no preservatives," and "gluten-free" on labels. "It's much better than a Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval even though a lot of people might not even know what it means," says Mark Denman of RiceSelect, a Texas company exhibiting at the New York show. Kosher World, a rival expo debuting in January in Los Angeles, is ready to spread the word on the vegetarian-leaning, health-obsessed West Coast. Its mantra: "bringing kosher to the mainstream and the mainstream to kosher."
They don't have too far to go. Most consumers have very likely bought kosher food without even realizing it. Some 75,000 products are certified kosher in the United States. Coca-Cola has had the certification since the 1930s, Oreos got the label in 1997, and Campbell's Soup joined the fray this fall with its newly certified vegetarian vegetable soup--20 million cans will be shipped nationwide by December. Applying for certification is a no-brainer: "There's a better profit when a product is kosher," says Pat Zumski, senior quality coordinator of Quaker Foods & Beverages. Even if the costs of rabbinical oversight are high, producers have discovered that the value added by the symbol makes the price worth it.
Finer foods are also getting a kosher makeover. Abarbanel Wines announced at the expo that its products-- including a 2002 Cabernet Sauvignon and a Brut Cremant D'Alsace--had won 23 medals at wine competitions this year. Brigitte Mizrahi's company, Anderson International Foods, distributes chevre, brie, and feta. Mark Rosen, who founded the Sugar River Cheese Co. last year, has introduced specialty cheeses like white cheddar with chipotle and monterey jack with tomato and olive.
Supermarkets are doing their part by providing an increasingly wide selection of kosher products. "The future of our business is in crossover," says Yakov Yarmove, corporate kosher category manager for Albertsons supermarkets, the second-largest chain in the country. Albertsons has dedicated kosher sections in each of its groceries, even in places like Boise, Idaho, where the religious Jewish base is tiny. Yarmove creates areas that can appeal to all consumers by stocking items like tempting marinades and low-carb tea biscuits.
Given the offerings displayed at Kosherfest, his job is a piece of kosher cake. Choices ranged from bottled sauces from the Anchor Bar (home of Buffalo wings) to Upscale Foods' enchiladas. If there's a single product that shows how far into the mainstream kosher has gone, it's one of Chef Paul Prudhomme's Magic Seasoning Blends. The eye-catching label reads: "pork and veal seasoning." Spokesman John McBride says, "We think we're the only pork seasoning that's kosher, but of course you can put it on anything." Even kosher vegetarian bacon.
Hello, Deli!
Can't get enough kosher at your local supermarket? First, try looking a little harder--even Wal-Mart has kosher sections at 600 of its locations. Natural-food stores, either local shops or chains like Trader Joe's and Whole Foods Market, often have wider selections. Or check online. Kosher.com has a grocery that rivals any local market. If you want to go highbrow, skim the selection at zabars.com. Online grocers Peapod (peapod.com) and FreshDirect (freshdirect .com) have recently revved up their kosher offerings--and will hand deliver them to your door. Some manufacturers will allow you to buy direct, but you may have to go bulk. To satisfy a hankering for a kosher burrito on the Upscale Foods site (oldcitycafe.us), the smallest purchase is a case of 24 ($42). -Vicky Hallett
This story appears in the November 10, 2003 print edition of U.S. News & World Report.