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Is Kosher Food the Next Cuisine Fad?
Global kosher market expected to jump from $24B to $60B in five years
- 29 May 2020
- 5:40 pm
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- 29 May 2020
- 5:40 pm
Shlomo Assayag, who runs a Toronto-based kosher meat company, Koshermeats2u.com
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South Beach, Paleo, Atkins, low-carb, vegan – there’s no shortage of diets. But pretty soon, another diet could sweep Western palettes, and that’s the kosher diet.
Indeed, the kosher food industry is increasing by leaps and bounds.
The centre of the world’s kosher food sector is the US. For while only 2% of Americans are Jewish, some 7.5 million people, a study by the Quartz business news website found that 41% of all packaged food in the US is certified kosher.
Led by growing demand in the US, the global kosher food market is predicted to increase to almost $60bn of annual sales in 2025, up from $24bn in 2017. Given those vast figures, it is not surprising that a growing number of food businesses around the globe are seeking kosher accreditation.
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Explanations for the allure in this peculiar culinary shift include a general perception that kosher food is cleaner or healthier, or, people’s desire for assurance than a product does not include potential allergens such as shellfish. It also offers certainty for vegans, such as in the example of Oreo cookies, which prior to their switch to kosher in the late 1990s contained lard (pork fat).
Shlomo Assayag, who runs a Toronto-based kosher online meat company, Koshermeats2u.com, said that food producers are increasingly on board to tap into more buyers. “Most companies these days are trying to get their products certified kosher, as that opens up a whole new customer base for them. If their ingredients are all kosher anyways, then doesn’t make sense not to get certified.”
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“As well, it is sometimes easier for companies to get shelf space if they come in as healthy, or kosher, than if they just come in as a regular grocery product, to compete with many others out there already on shelves,” noted Assayag, who also runs the largest Facebook group for kosher food discussion in Canada, The Kosher King, with more than 13,000 members.
Last fall, for example, exhibitors at the 31st annual Kosherfest in New Jersey, showcased everything from pizza bases made from cauliflower, to salsas, ice cream sandwiches, cider, beef empanadas, Italian sorbets, gins, charcuterie, and even a range of biscuits infused with cannabis oil.
Kosher meat display at last year's Kosherfest, in New Jersey
The event was bustling with more than 6,000 attendees and nearly 400 exhibitors from every continent (except Antarctica.) Kosherfest touts itself as “the world’s largest and most attended kosher-certified products trade show.”
With the number of people attending up 800 from the year before, and 300 new products on display, Menachem Lubinsky, chief executive of event organizer Lubicom, said that demand for kosher food was growing strongly among non-Jewish shoppers.
Assasyag enjoying a meal
“I think firms are coming from the basis that you can’t produce an ingredient anywhere in the world, and hope to sell it in the US, without being kosher,” says Lubinsky. “There’s a significant market, and firms want a piece of it.”
Proof of this was an array of food companies in attendance hailing from Pakistan, South Korea, Sri Lanka and Italy.
And so, during these COVID-19 times, it’s likely more and more people are watching their Netflix… while doing a fair bit of kosher noshing.
Dave Gordon is the managing editor of TheJ.ca. His work has appeared in more than a hundred media around the world, including all of the Toronto dailies, BBC, Washington Times, and UK Guardian.
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Thank you for choosing TheJ.Ca as your source for Canadian Jewish News.
We do news differently!
Our positioning as a Zionist News Media platform sets us apart from the rest. While other Canadian Jewish media are advocating increasingly biased progressive political and social agendas, TheJ.Ca is providing more and more readers with a welcome alternative and an ideological home.
We revealed the incursion of anti-Israel progressive elements such as IfNotNow into our communities. We have exposed the distorted hateful agenda of the “progressive” left political radicals who brought Linda Sarsour to our cities, and we were first to report on many disturbing incidents of Nazi-based hate towards Jews across Canada.
But we can’t do it alone. We need your HELP!
Our ability to thrive and grow in 2020 and beyond depends on the generosity of committed readers and supporters like you.
Monthly support is a great way to help us sustain our operations. We greatly appreciate any contributions you can make to support Jewish Journalism.
We thank you for your ongoing support.
Happy reading!
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