Every year, in the days just before the start of the Jewish Passover holiday, the telephones at the Chicago Rabbinical Council start ringing off the hook.
Nearly all the calls are about food. And nearly all the questions are about whether a certain type of food is kosher. Does it meet the dietary restrictions prescribed by the Jewish faith?
”Normally we might get 100 calls a week. Before Passover, that may increase to 250 or 300 a week,” said Rabbi Ben Shandalov, who is the kashrut administrator, or chief supervisor of kosher food, for the Chicago-based organization, which serves 10 Midwestern states.
There are several reasons for the increase in calls about kosher food, said Shandalov, who acts as a sort of one-person kosher police squad. He is in charge of inspecting food ingredients and eating establishments and awards the council`s ”CRC” kosher seal of approval.
One reason for the increase, he said, is that people tend to be more observant of religious practices during holidays.
Also, during Passover the usually strict Jewish dietary requirements are even more so. The religion`s basic dietary laws prohibit the eating of pork, shellfish and mixtures of meat and dairy products. During Passover, the use of leavened or self-rising flour products also is forbidden.
But separating the kosher products in the marketplace from those that are not is no easy task. That`s because in the last decade the number of products bearing the kosher stamp has exploded.
The makers of these foods are aiming at the nation`s more than 1.5 million Jews. But food industry experts say non-Jews are helping fuel the sales boom.
According to Lubicom, a New York-based marketing firm that tracks the kosher food industry, sales of kosher food products are skyrocketing.
”In 1991 there were 6,200 companies producing more than 23,000 kosher-certified products,” said Menachem Lubinsky, Lubicom president. In 1977 there were 412 companies producing 1,000 products, he said.
”Basically, the market has grown at a rate of about 15 percent a year. About 1,000 products are certified a year.”
Kosher food sales are estimated at about $1.7 billion a year.
”The engine that drives this market is the nation`s estimated 1.5 million to 1.7 million Jews,” said Lubinsky. ”But,” he said, ”there is also a growing number of people who are not Jews buying these products.”
Among this group are Muslims, Black Muslims and Seventh Day Adventists who also have religious-based dietary restrictions.
”How many products are there?” asked Shandalov, answering a question with one of his own. ”Well, it`s not easy to give a number. You have lots. You`ve got tortillas, bagels, pizza bread, cheesecake, muffins, bialys, croissants, cake mixes”-he pauses to take a breath-”and that`s just the baked goods.
”There`s also nut companies, cotton candy, kosher catering, milk, cottage cheese, sour cream, eggnog, butter. There`s smoked fish, dried fruits, drink mixes, ice cream, pop, pretzels, corn puffs, salad dressing, shortening, seasonings, tofu, yogurt-I could go on.”
Shandalov estimates that about 175 companies in the Midwest produce kosher products.
As the list of foods bearing kosher seals increase, so do the calls to places such as the Rabbinical Council. The kosher seal bears the stamp of the agency that has certified it as such. The Chicago Rabbinical Council is one of several such agencies around the country. One of the largest is the New York- based Orthodox Union.
During Passover, many products carry a label noting they are kosher for this season. For example, the Bay`s English muffin company makes a special muffin during Passover. And Adolph Coors Co. recently received certification for a special Passover product line.
Among non-Jews, the kosher labeling is sometimes misleading. Many people think the label means a food product is more nutritious or better for their health. For many, it connotes quality.
This is not necessarily so.
Rabbi Shandalov stresses that kosher laws are based on a religious premise, not nutritional or caloric theory. ”These laws are not stated to be health-based but faith-based,” he said.
Still, more and more foodmakers, including Chicago-based A.J. Canfield Co., are beginning to believe that having the kosher seal of approval is very good for business. For more than 40 years the South Side beverage-maker has produced a Passover product line. Recently it decided to do kosher products year-round. It has received kosher certification for all but one of the 25 soda flavors it manufactures.
”We started out making Passover beverages for predominantly Jewish areas like the North Shore,” said Alan B. Canfield Sr., senior vice president.
But, as Canfield explained, ”the acceptance for the product was so great from all sorts of people we were encouraged to put it into more areas.”
Manufacturing a kosher product is not as easy as it sounds, Canfield said. ”The biggest trick is making sure all your suppliers use kosher ingredients and processing.”
The one product in the line not certified kosher is grape soda. That`s because Canfield has not been able to use all the needed kosher-approved ingredients.
Arthur R. Velasquez, president of Azteca Foods Inc., has no idea how many more tortillas his firm has sold because they are kosher-certified.
The Southwest Side firm makes a variety of tortilla products, among them refrigerated corn and flour tortillas and salad shells. And it has been using kosher ingredients almost since it was started in the early 1970s.
For Azteca, it was a marketing decision, said Velasquez.
”We felt back then that we wanted to reach the total general market. This includes people with dietary restrictions as well as those who feel that a seal of approval kind of enhances their perception of the product.”
Mexican food sales also are booming. And Velasquez, who is president of the national Tortilla Association, a Los Angeles-based trade group, said many companies in the organization have or are seeking kosher certification.
The kosher food trend does not seem likely to wane soon.
It seems that just as the word ”kosher” has made its way from one group`s religion into the lexicon of American slang, so too is the taste for kosher foods rapidly becoming a part of the country`s taste buds.
