World's largest kosher food show held this week

Jerusalem Post ^ | Oct. 29, 2003 | MELISSA RADLER

[yonif]

Potato latkes, gefilte fish, cheesecake, salami, and matza abounded in the Jacob Javits Convention Center this week, as more than 275 exhibitors took their wares to the 15th annual Kosherfest food fair.

Held here this year after 12 years in New Jersey, the world's largest kosher food show featured Gimme Jimmy's handmade kosher cookies, high-resolution lollipops with scenes from the Bible by Lightvision Confections, and even kosher cat food.

Jackie Mason stopped by to pitch his non-dairy, cholesterol-free cheesecake in plain, chocolate, marble, cherry, strawberry, and pineapple, and Minister of Industry, Trade, and Labor Ehud Olmert tasted a variety of foods as security guards ensured the premises were, well... kosher. "I think you will agree there is no food in the world like kosher food," he said at Kosherfest's awards ceremony Tuesday night.

US Secretary of Agriculture Anne Veneman, who toured the fair and earlier in the day, said she hoped to export greater amounts of US-made kosher products to Israel, but Olmert hinted that Israel may be pressing for a reverse plan. "Kosher food is great, but kosher food from Israel is always more kosher and tastier than kosher food from any other place," he said. "It's kosher with the flavor of the Holy Land."

Israeli wines and cheeses were featured prominently at the fair, and economic attach Zohar Peri noted that Israeli food exports increased 35 percent between January and October through the "Fine Foods from Israel" campaign. Awards to those who contributed to the campaign went to Malcolm Hoenlein, executive vice chairman of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, Morton Williams' Associated Supermarkets, and Shopright. "I eat a lot of kosher food," explained Hoenlein as he accepted the award.

New kosher products that received the Kosherfest seal of approval included Moroccan beef and lamb sausage by Neshama Gourmet Kosher Foods; Empire Kosher Poultry's chicken Kiev; packaged feta cheese from Israel by Pastures of Eden; and key lime French twists, made by Barry's Bakery in San Diego, Calif.

[yonif]

I'm getting hungry....

[SouthernFreebird]

Is this the stuff that's made from the blood and flesh of Pali babies...? /jest kidding

[T Minus Four]

Kosher cat food? Hmmm, how do I tell if my cats are Jewish?

[T Minus Four]

Kosher cat food? Hmmm, how do I tell if my cats are Jewish?

[T Minus Four]

Upon reflection, I regret asking this (twice), because although meant in fun, it could go downhill fast, and I have nothing but respect for Jewish folks. So forget it, OK? :-)

[playball0]

Check for curcumcision. For female cats, I don't have an answer.

[T Minus Four]

SEE!!!!!!

[Modernman]

For female cats, I don't have an answer.

They're constantly nagging the male cats to take them to the shore?

[DonQ]

There are SOME Jews who are so fastidious about what food they keep on the premises - especially over concern of even microscopic contamination in the pantry or in the dishwasher - that they want even the pet food to be kosher. I am not of that opinion -- I feel that Exodus 22:30[-31] explicitly indicates that animals including pets get NON-kosher food (so they don't compete with people for the kosher food, non-kosher always being more readily available) -- but that was my amateur opinion and I have heard important rabbis stress that, for example, during Passover, even pet food must be kosher for Passover (meaning no breadstuffs, not even in aquarium food). I suspect the vast majority of Jews have no qualms about buying ordinary grocery-store pet foods all year round (even if it contains such nonkosher food as horsemeat and pork).

[T Minus Four]

I'm sure that's the real reason. I understand that the most ardent followers of kosher go so far as to buy kosher non-food items. For instance, Palmolive dishwashing liquid has some sort of kosher symbol on the package, identifying it to be safe for washing the dishes and utensils designated for dairy. In other words, it has no animal fats in it.