Chicagoans Enjoy ‘A Taste of Kosher’

Chicago supermarket chain Jewel-Osco, which features one of the largest Kosher offerings in the Midwest, held its “A Taste of Kosher Food” fair this past Sunday. The event was a tremendous success, with over 1,000 people attending to sample Kosher foods displayed by over 35 different Kosher companies from around the U.S. and Israel.

The event also included a live cooking demo with Chef Rafael Perez from the St. Augustine College, Culinary Arts  featuring “Mexican Cooking the Kosher Way,” plus a cheese and wine pairing with Brent “The Cheese Guy” Delman and a slew of Kosher wines from around the globe.

The main attraction was a feature performance by Uncle Moishy, which included a photo-op session with him, plus Uncle Moishy mingled with the hundreds of customers sampling foods and shopping in the store.

Shluchim were seen putting on Tefilin with customers in the aisles, and many shluchim from throughout Illinois and Wisconsin drove in to attend this event that truly exemplified “Mivtza Kashrus” in every meaning of the words.

The Jewel-Osco Corporate Category Manager for Specialty and Ethnic Foods, Yakov Yarmove (himself a member of the Chicago Anash community), put together this event to celebrate Jewel’s 10^th anniversary of opening this World-class Kosher store-within-a-store, and commented “It was such a Kiddush Hashem to see the throngs of people that attended this event, which really reflects how Kosher foods, when offered to the public in a traditional supermarket setting, can really make it so much more accessible and easier for people to buy and keep Kosher.”

He continued, “We at Jewel-Osco have been pioneers in bringing Kosher innovation, value and variety to the Midwest for the last ten years, and look forward to continue to take Kosher shopping to a whole new level (using the company’s Kosher slogan) into the next ten, IY”H.

“In addition to this flagship store, which boasts full Kosher deli, bakery, butcher shop, fish dept., sushi and even Kosher Chinese restaurant, all staffed by a team of OU Mashgichim, we work hard to carry a respectable Kosher offering in many of the balance of our 185 stores, especially in those near Shluchim that cannot easily get to Chicago often,” he continued.

Customers were overhead in the aisles commenting how this was just like a “mini-Kosherfest,” referring to the annual Kosher trade show in NJ, however this one had Uncle Moishy too!