You don't have to be Jewish
Kosher food has moved beyond gefilte fish to pasta sauce, peanut butter, even tacos. And people are buying it for reasons that have nothing to do with religion.
(Correction: Because of a reporting error, a story in Wednesday's Food section incorrectly stated the origins of the Kosher Food & Jewish Life Expo in 1987. The expo, a consumer show of kosher food and other products, was created by Irving Silverman before being sold to Menachem Lubinsky, who in 1991 created Kosherfest, a trade show dealing in kosher food alone.)
As an Episcopalian, Christina Baker didn't know from kashrut. But then her 5-month-old daughter, Eloise, was diagnosed with allergies: No more nuts, peas, kiwi, sesame seeds -- or dairy products of any kind.
A minefield all, but when it came to avoiding the dairy, Baker found an ally in the Jewish dietary laws, particularly in the hekhshers, the various marks identifying products that have been certified as kosher. Since one tenet of kashrut is the separation of meat and milk products, the mark indicating pareve, something that contains neither meat nor dairy, ''is the first thing I look for," says Baker, a clinical health psychologist who lives in Newton. It's been five years since her daughter's diagnosis, and ''if something says that it's kosher pareve, I trust them to be sure that there isn't dairy. I feel like there's been some careful checking."
As Jews worldwide prepare for the High Holy Days, which begin Monday night with Rosh Hashana, they won't be the only ones in the kosher aisles. The growth in kosher-certified products is being driven by more than Jews keeping a kosher home, separating dishes and utensils, eschewing pork and shellfish, and eating only meats that have been slaughtered in accordance with Jewish law. Even though the Jewish population in the United States is declining, more than one in five consumers recently surveyed by the research firm Mintel said they buy kosher products. The smallest group said they keep kosher all the time. Many more keep kosher occasionally; some said they wanted vegetarian or dairy-free food; some are looking for products consistent with halal, Islamic dietary restrictions; and more than half said they believe kosher products are healthier or safer than others.
''So many people look at it like some kind of safety valve," says Marcia Mogelonsky, a research analyst at Mintel who wrote the firm's June report on the kosher market. ''When I go into the natural section of the supermarket, there's more kosher products there than anywhere else."
Indeed, as the kosher sections of regional supermarket chains Shaw's and Stop & Shop have grown, they remain more likely to carry traditional products such as matzo ball mix, horseradish sauce, gefilte fish, and items imported from Israel. But walk through the Wild Harvest section at Shaw's, for instance, and the hekhshers show up on unlikely labels, from Newman's Own organic pasta sauces to Kashi cereals to Terra Chips. Peanut Butter & Co., with roots in a Greenwich Village sandwich shop, sells kosher peanut butters spiked with flavors such as white chocolate and chili peppers. Ceres of South Africa, which makes guava, passionfruit, and other juices, also carries a kosher label.
Even good old Manischewitz has gotten into the gourmet kosher game, with new twists on both horseradish and grape juice. Just in time for Rosh Hashana, Manischewitz has rolled out four versions of creamy horseradish sauce, including one flavored with wasabi. And its new premium grape juices are made from Niagara and Concord grapes.
''Some people grew up in an age where kosher food was greasy," says Menachem Lubinsky, a marketing consultant whose firm, Lubicom, produces the annual Kosherfest expo in New York. ''They were the chopped liver generation and may not have made the transition to know that kosher food today is everything you could possibly find in the mainstream."
According to an explanation of kashrut written by Tracey R. Rich on the website JewFAQ.org, about 75 percent of all prepackaged foods have some kind of kosher certification. ''Basically, almost anything can be kosher, unless there are certain ingredients" such as pork or shellfish, says Walter Gelerman, one of the owners of the Butcherie, a kosher supermarket near Brookline's Coolidge Corner. ''Most products just need the proper certification."
Such certification, contrary to misconception, does not involve blessing by a rabbi, but rather an inspection of ingredients and processes by a group such as the Orthodox Union or Star-K, each with its own certification symbol. Since the ingredients themselves must be kosher, for instance, companies may have to change suppliers, and if they make both meat and dairy products, they would have to demonstrate that separate equipment is dedicated to each. Certifying meat as kosher is more involved, because the actual slaughtering must abide by Jewish law.
When he organized the first national expo of kosher food in 1987, Lubinsky counted about 16,000 certified products. Today, the number is well over 80,000. When the show changed in 1991 to a trade-only event, 59 exhibitors showed products to fewer than 900 visitors. When Kosherfest 2005 hits New York in mid-November, 10,000 visitors will stream past 500 booths, representing companies from 29 countries and 40 states. In fact, while Mintel's report says that the growth in the five kosher segments it studied has been flat over the last few years, Lubicom cites a 15 percent annual growth, and a total market value of $8.3 billion.
In either case, the developments are coming at such a fast and furious pace that Kosher Today, the weekly publication that Lubicom produces, has a backlog of items for its weekly showcase of new products. ''I've been focusing a lot on things that were pretty uncommon like Oriental products, anything from spices to vegetables to Mexican tacos to sauces, which I've seen much more of recently," Lubinsky says.
Sometimes, though, when companies try out kosher versions of products and decide that any increase in sales isn't enough to justify the extra expense. Welch's went kosher a few years ago, says Gelerman, but switched course and let the certification go. According to Kosher Today, some kosher consumers are in an uproar over Duncan Hines's decision to change the certification of its cake mixes from kosher pareve to kosher dairy. For someone keeping a kosher household, that prevents the product from being consumed in the same meal as meat; for a lactose-intolerant or otherwise dairy-allergic consumer, the mixes could become off-limits altogether.
More specialized companies may find that a kosher certification sets them apart from the crowd. World Harbors Inc. sought kosher certification for its marinades and sauces in 1993 when its plant was in Winthrop, Maine, and has maintained it through a move to Auburn and a sale to Angostura International Ltd.
''For those of us selling the specialty end, if somebody wants to pay a few cents more, they're looking for quality, then what signifies that?" says company president Steve Arthurs. ''The typical consumer says it might be good, but if it's kosher, it's better, because the standards under which it was produced are better."
The company also touts its natural ingredients, a trend that Lubinsky has noticed at many of the kosher food expos. ''You see these big signs that say 'kosher certified, organic certified,' which basically tells the consumer, 'We're perfect,' " he says.
The connection among organic, natural, and kosher makes sense, according to Mogelonsky, the Mintel research analyst. Not only do both categories draw interest from consumers worried about food safety, they dovetail in other ways. Since so many organic and natural foods companies also specialize in vegetarian products, for instance, they are already careful to avoid meat-based additives that would prevent them from being certified kosher if the products also include dairy.
The trend has not escaped the notice of
For some consumers, it's a simple matter of quality. Ballparkgoers all over the nation seek out hot dogs by Hebrew National, whose time-tested slogan remains ''We Answer to a Higher Authority," simply because they taste good. Chickens such as those made by Empire Kosher are salted, a process similar to brining, which home cooks and restaurant chefs swear by for retaining moisture and flavor.
Lois Grossman of Medford, a retired Tufts University professor, switched to a kosher diet decades ago, for what she describes as ''a lifestyle choice, not a religious one." Sure, she's Jewish, but it was her high cholesterol and then her views on the destructive impact of factory-processed meat that caused her to move toward a ''mostly vegan" diet. Grossman, 62, eats fish, but no dairy and no meat beyond ''the occasional free-range poultry."
She and her boyfriend, Mark DeVoto, got a lesson in the appeal of kosher foods one summer two years ago in Eastport, Maine, when she asked the local supermarket to stock Empire turkeys. The couple bought three, ate two that summer, and took one home for Thanksgiving. ''The next summer, we came back, and the meat man told me, 'I took one home, and it was the best turkey I've had in my life,' " Grossman says.
''Now they carry them all the time."
Joe Yonan can be reached at yonan@globe.com. 
