Non-Kosher Americans Bolster Kosher Sector

We've been covering the trends of Americans favoring more choice and a wider array of specialty foods from ethnic markets whose populations are growing. But it's also a trend in cultural populations with rates that are remaining stagnant.

Take the recent article in the New York Times covering the demand for Kosher foods, a market that is seeing astronomical growth...due to non-Jewish demand.

According to the piece: "Newark does not instantly evoke images of Kosher Central, but a warehouse district on the city’s outskirts has been the home of Manischewitz’s core production since it consolidated three plants into one in 2006. And all those seemingly nontraditional products reflect the way kosher food has become a growth area in a country whose Jewish population is more or less stagnant.

The company says there are now 86,000 kosher-certified products, the market is growing between 10 and 15 percent annually, and more than 14,000 new kosher products have been introduced in the United States and Canada over the last five years."

While those keeping Kosher are pleased with a wider variety, the irony is that the market's fastest-growing segment is non-Jews. Yet this irony is becoming less so, as the article explains: "If Americans increasingly want variety in food, why not more matzo ball soup and that Concord grape matzo (if not quite the gefilte fish) along with the Thai peanut sauce and Cajun wings?"

As Rabbi Yaakov Y. Horowitz notes, “People drink more Irish ale, they’re more likely to eat a chicken burrito. Why shouldn’t it spill over to kosher food as well?” Clearly, American palates want more variety and, just as the Rabbi explains, its spilling over into every type of specialty food.

Full article located here.