The Sixth Sense
LUBICOM Kosher CEO Menachem Lubinsky is the founder and co-producer of Kosherfest, the annual trade event for the kosher food & beverage industry and is the editor-in-chief of KosherToday. The views expressed in this column do not represent the opinions of KosherToday’s publishers and are those of the author alone.
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My Sixth Sense is released on alternating weeks with Eye on Kosher, which can be found at http://www.lubicomkosher.com/eyeonkosher.
April 10, 2006
Passover Sales Soar in US and Israel
New York... It is still too early for a final tally of kosher food sales for Passover, which begins on Wednesday evening April 12th. But some industry officials predict that sales in the US will at least match the 15% growth of previous years. In Israel, a Federation of Israeli Chambers of Commerce survey predicted a 20% increase in Passover sales but the figures also include clothing and kitchenware. In France and the UK, sales are also said to be running well ahead of last year. In the US, new products are driving sales to what may be a record year. Many stores had one of their busiest weeks in history last week. Spot shortages of such basic items as matzoh, beverages, and baking ingredients were reported in several stores in New York, particularly Brooklyn. Israel Chambers of Commerce director general Yechezkel Daskal said the anticipated rise in retail sales over Passover 2006 was not only helped by holiday shopping, but also by stable prices and increases in real wages. Israelis are expected to spend $130 million dollars on Passover groceries this year and most of it will be spent at supermarket chains.
FEATURE STORY: Kosher Wine the Big Story this Passover
New York...By Menachem Lubinsky (New York) and Idele Ross (Jerusalem)...Kosher wines have come of age. That is the consensus of dozens of articles this Passover ’06 season in publications, ranging from USA Today to the Wall Street Journal and the Anglo-Jewish media. It wasn’t too long ago that these very same publications used the age-old sacramental wines with such brand names as Manischewitz and Magen David as the definition of kosher wines. But this year, dozens of publications are urging even non-kosher consumers to taste the kosher wines. The improvement in the quality of kosher wines has been that dramatic, led by Israel’s wine industry that is making waves worldwide. A well stocked-liquor store might carry as many as 250 different kinds of kosher wines. At Skyview Liquor Store in Riverdale, there is a selection of more than 450 kosher bottling from 15 countries, ranging from Mount Hermon red or white for $4.95 a half-bottle to Chateau de Valandraud, a tiny, trophy property in Saint Emilion much appreciated by critic Robert Parker, priced at $300 a bottle for the 2001 vintage.
Wine consumption by kosher consumers in the US has increased by nearly 20% in the past two years, industry officials say. In Israel, a market survey featured in Yediot Achronot shows that wine consumption has gone up by 16% in the last two years. Israelis purchase some 56 million bottles of wine a year and ahead of Passover, every seventh family has at least 10 bottles in the house. Israeli wines are leading the increase in the US as well, according to Nathan Herzog of the Royal Wine Company, the major producer and distributor of wines from around the world.
Israel’s wine industry has really taken off since the late 1990s, and the result has been superb quality wines. Even giant Carmel, founded by Baron Edmond de Rothschild in 1882, has emerged from long slumber. Some of its new boutique wineries are worthy challengers to Yarden, a favorite of many.
In the US, many of the quality wines come from the relatively new 77,000 square foot Herzog Winery in Oxnard, CA. They produce an array of wines under the Baron Herzog label ranging from white zinfandel priced under $6 to a special edition cabernet sauvignon from Napa's prestigious Warnecke Vineyard that sells for $50.
Ernie Weir, vintner and owner of Hagafen Cellars, has seen sales of award-winning Napa Valley wines soar this Passover. Even the Ukraine has gotten in the act with a kosher for Pesach grape wine produced in the Crimea. Last year, only two types of kosher for Pesach wine were produced, but that has increased to four this season, including the red wines ‘Krymskaya Noch’ and ‘Merlot’ and the white wines ‘Sauvignon’ and ‘Tamianka’. All of these wines taste wonderfully and are in beautiful uniquely-styled bottles with color labels.
Roger Morris of The News Journal in Wilmington, DE, a seasoned wine citric who has written about wines for years and regularly visits the winegrowing areas of the world, perhaps summed it up best: “There once was a famous ad campaign for kosher bread whose tagline was, "You Don't Have to Be Jewish to Love Levy's." Fortunately, today you don't have to be Jewish, or an unsophisticated teenager, to love kosher wines.”
Dominos Pizza Expects 50 Percent Sales Increase At Passover
Jerusalem...by Idele Ross...Not everyone stays away from chametz (bread products) during the weeklong Passover holiday. 19 out of 23 branches of the Domino Pizza chain will offer the regular menu on Passover but for delivery only. The chain expects a 50 percent increase in demand compared to the rest of the year, based on previous experience. The four Domino’s branches located in religious neighborhoods will be closed for the holiday. Recent surveys indicate that more than 70% of Israeli scrupulously observe the Passover laws.
Finding Good Romaine a Challenge this Passover
New York...Jews do not use Romaine Lettuce as much as the general population said a spokesman for the largest distributor of kosher pre-cut and washed vegetables, except for Passover, when the Romaine is used at the Seder for bitter herbs. However, with warnings from rabbis that the Romaine Lettuce are by and large infested with insects, the pickings have been slim. Some kosher groceries, like Landau’s in Boro Park, are advertising that they have a special rabbinic staff checking the lettuce leaf by leaf. Some Israeli Romaine, produced in greenhouses and unlikely to have insects, are also amongst the bestsellers. Romaine Lettuce, say American food experts has become America's most popular main-dish salad, showing up virtually everywhere from fast-food chains to white-tablecloth restaurants to the takeout counter in the supermarket. It has dramatically altered the lettuce industry as the demand for romaine has skyrocketed. Dole Foods (also produces a kosher version some rabbis say is infested with bugs), which introduced the bagged Caesar salad kit with Romaine 12 years ago, says sales of its classic Caesar kit continue to grow each year, despite competition from other companies and Dole's own eight other bagged salad kits. "Americans just don't get tired of that flavor," says Eric Schwartz, president of Dole's fresh vegetable division. Demand for the salad grew and the effect began to be felt in the lettuce industry. Over the past 15 years, romaine has gone from a tiny portion of the nation's lettuce crop to one of the fastest-growing vegetables to be produced, consumed and exported, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Economic Research Service.
A Yorkshire Christian Becomes a Personal Kosher Chef
Toronto...While tens of thousands of Jews head to vacation spots all over the world for Passover, Ashley Farnell, 43, will be one of a number of chefs that will be preparing Passover in private homes. Farnell is one of many non-Jewish chefs who have over the years become experts in kosher cuisine. A native of Leeds who describes himself as "Christian and English knows a lot about kosher. As fate would have it, one of his mentors, John Higgins, was in charge at GMB Culinary Productions, a Toronto catering company that specializes in kosher fare. He needed part-time help. Farnell began working 10 to 12 hours a week at GMB in addition to another job he held. When it came to kosher dietary laws, Farnell was a quick study. "I started reading books and using the Internet," he explains. "I found the kosher dietary rules interesting. I'm pretty much self-taught." During his six years at GMB, Farnell had his rugelach, tzimmes, matzoh balls and kugel down pat. Most important, he perfected a quintessential Jewish dish: chicken soup. "Chicken soup's my favorite Jewish dish," Farnell concedes. "I'll go into a home and they'll say their mother makes the best chicken soup." After tasting his, people often change their tune. "Yours is as good as bubbie's," is the oft-heard compliment. These days, as a kosher personal chef who prepares meals in private homes in Toronto, Farnell is never short of clients, especially during Jewish holidays. "A lot of my clients are orthodox and well-known in the community," he notes. "They trust me because my knowledge of kosher is straight from the teachings."
Rabbi/Psychiatrist Authors Kosher Cookbook
Monsey, NY...Rabbi Dr. Abraham J. Twerski, a well known personality in the Orthodox Jewish community, has joined the ranks of cookbook authors with his new "A Taste of Nostalgia: Tales and Recipes to Nourish Body and Soul," co-authored with Judi Dick (Art Scroll Shaar Press; $24.99). The book has more than 150 traditional recipes geared strictly for Jewish holidays, including Passover. “A Taste of Nostalgia is not a cookbook," said Twerski. "It's a storybook with some great recipes. Associating stories with recipes may animate one's spirit, eliciting a chuckle or providing a thoughtful insight. The stories, traditions and folklore associated with food can give it more meaning." Rabbi Twerski, a scion of the well known Orthodox Chasidic family, moved from Milwaukee to Monsey, N.Y. where he now resides. The 75-year-old retired rabbi and medical doctor (general psychiatry), who dabbles in the kitchen has written more than 40 books, including this 28th volume in a Jewish series. But this is the first one with recipes. (He was running out of ideas and his friends noted that cookbooks always sell.) So he collaborated with Dick, the editor of his other books, who provided the recipes. "It (the book) was designed around how things were made in the old days in Europe," said Dick, who cooks traditional recipes with Old World flavor for all the Jewish holidays. "The book was not intended as a menu plan. Little did I know how much work goes into preparing recipes for a cookbook," she added. The book contains many recipes that have been in Dick's repertoire for years (about 50 of them from her mother), along with some contributed by friends, neighbors and the rabbi. "Although the rabbi uses modern-day enhancements to make his food tasty and easier to prepare, I still cook the way my mother did (her mother came to America from Austria-Hungary at the age of 12)," added Dick, who has her mother's recipes for everything. "I use almost nothing for Passover, except the basics," said Dick, adding that there "is a beauty in not buying any kosher-for-Passover products and living for eight days without all the extra frills. That's what I want to pass on to my kids (seven of them) and grandchildren."
Please Note: Kosher Today will not be published on April 17th due to the Passover holiday. It will resume on April 24th. A Happy and Healthy Passover.