Times: Is the Superbowl Kosher?

This year the Superbowl will be kosher, according to a long article in the Times, "For Some, ‘Kosher’ Equals Pure."

"Certainly, faith will prompt some of the fans at Dolphin Stadium in Miami Gardens, Fla., to line up at one of two carts selling grilled salami sliders and garlicky knoblewurst. But for others, the appeal of a kosher hot dog will have nothing to do with religion."

The main idea of the report is that kosher has transcended the Jewish community. The news is that all kinds of Goyim eat kosher.

Of course, you cannot discuss kosher in America without mentioning Brooklyn or invoking Teaneck and its residents.

The first reference to Teaneck comes in discussing why people eat kosher foods,

Some shoppers who were not raised in kosher families use the label as a stand-in for other signifiers. “I prefer to buy local and organic, but when I get to the market late and they have sold out of the chicken, I end up buying kosher because I feel it is the second-best thing,” said Myra Kohn, a food blogger in Seattle who goes by the digital pen name Seattle Bon Vivant.

For some shoppers, kosher means purity of ingredients. Vegetarians know a parve label means absolutely no meat or dairy products. (Vegans, though, are out of luck. Parve food can contain eggs and honey.)

Families with food allergies like the increased availability of kosher products for a similar reason. Bryan Adams is an entertainment publicist from Teaneck, N.J., whose son had terrible skin problems when he was born. A holistic medical adviser suggested the family cut out a number of foods, including soy and gluten. The child’s skin cleared, and Mr. Adams discovered his own gluten intolerance.

Now, the family stocks the kitchen with certain brands of kosher mayonnaise and margarine that aren’t made with ingredients that trigger outbreaks.

Nosheen Nazakat, a Muslim from Pakistan, often buys kosher when she cannot find halal food. She is also a discerning cook who is happy to browse the aisles at Pomegranate, a 20,000-square-foot store in Midwood, Brooklyn, whose fans call it the kosher Whole Foods.

At the end of the piece our expert but skeptical neighbor Elie gets cited (without the Teaneck signifier attached),

Not every expert on the Jewish market buys the reasons behind the growth of kosher food. Elie Rosenfeld is the chief operating officer of the New York firm Joseph Jacobs Advertising, which helped introduce Rebecca Rubin, the first Jewish doll in the American Girl line.

He doesn’t disagree that kosher food is growing more popular, especially among higher-end cooks and chefs. But he doesn’t think it is a mass movement and believes food companies continue to expand their kosher lines to serve the Jewish community, not to capture the nonkosher consumer.

“It’s an unexpected side benefit to a certain extent, but the volume is there for people who keep kosher,” he said.