What We Found at Kosherfest

By Rochie Pinson
Author of RISING: The Book of Challah
Photos: Itzik Roytman

My first time back at Kosher fest since 2008. I’m here with COLlive publisher Mica Soffer on behalf of COLlive, and the first thing that strikes me is how much the kosher industry has grown in the past 10 years. The quantity and diversity of the booths are staggering, and it takes me a moment of dizziness to absorb it all.

But the moment of vertigo passes and we jump right in and get to work.
Today is going to be all about discovering what is new and exciting in the Kosher world, and bringing those discoveries back to you!

First stop, stomach still empty and growling by now… I pass by RC fine foods with their pre-made healthy mixes, and soup bases… yay! They are frying latkes fresh right there and appropriately for the month of Kislev – my first bite at kosher fest 2018 is a crispy hot latke straight off the pan. Good start.

With my stomach safely carb-lined, I approach the stand across the way where I notice fine liquors on tap! Besides for their line of gorgeous flavors like blackberry, honey&mead, praline, dark chocolate and more… I am super excited to discover that Lavie liquors are making a line of dairy, cholov yisroel, creamy liquors (coffee & cream and Dulce de Leche!) that are so good, I had to hold myself back from filling up a cup… this is alcohol after all and it’s only 10:00 am.

So many cool and innovative things greet me as I pass the booths – gorgeous artisanal breads that you can keep in the freezer and warm up in the bag it comes in by Signature Passion, toasted seaweed snacks by Natural Earth, Popped Tam Tam chips by Manischewitz… So much creativity in the kosher world right now!

But we are searching for something that is truly outstanding, so we keep moving.

A beautifully designed booth catches my eye and we step up to Esti foods, a company that makes a line of hummus, that is preservative-free, made with authentic and carefully sourced ingredients (the lemon hummus is made with real lemon peels from Crete!), and is hands down the best hummus I have ever tasted. I started with the lemon, and moved to the olive flavored hummus and very quickly decided that this was going to be one of the best products of the day! Hummus is everywhere these days, but I have yet to find one that tastes so homemade, so creamy and so tasty!

A quick stop for some beautiful cheeses at Vintage Cheesecrafters, a brand-new cholov yisroel cheese company, that seems to really know their cheese, and now we’re getting thirsty. Luckily right across the aisle, we see someone standing behind a huge selection of what at first looks like cans of soda. We approach the table and find that this is definitely NOT soda. It is Yerbae water! Never heard of it? Neither had we, but thankfully we were quickly educated and hydrated! These exciting sparkling drinks are subtly sweet and extremely refreshing, but more than that, they are made with Yerba Mate, which is a South American herb that provides a kick of caffeine without the jitters of coffee and tea. The flavors are amazing, I tried almost all of them, and especially loved the Mango Passionfruit and Orange Vanilla dream.

As I’m getting my Yerba Mate fix, I smell something incredible from the booth next door and peek over, only to find a truffle heaven. Until now, real truffle infused ingredients were impossible to find in any kosher aisle, but La Rustichella, a truffle specialty company, has now made their most popular products kosher, and now every Gittel and Hentche can have black truffle pate, white truffle pate or real truffle infused oil in their heimishe pantry. Kosher food has never smelled this good!

After inhaling my share of truffles, I continue down the aisle to a slightly disheveled looking booth, with 2 dishes of something that is calling my name. I am excited to discover that this is the booth of KOKO – a kosher KOREAN food company, that is bringing the favorite street food and flavors of Korea to our (kosher!) shores. There is Kimchi and Spice packs, and then there’s this dish that I gravitate to. It’s spelled Tteok, and sounds like she’s calling it “Tup Poke Kee” (but I could be wrong. How do I describe this food?? It’s made of 99% rice, it’s soft and pillowy, kind of like pasta and dumplings had a baby…. And I will never be able to go back. Smothered in either their sweet or spicy sauce, these little pillowy babies are making me so happy, I may just spend the rest of the day in front of the KOKO table, I’m finding it hard to leave, this is a definite winner of the day! They are importing it from Israel now, keep an eye out for it in your nearest kosher store!

I reluctantly leave the enthusiastic Korean/Israeli team, with promises to be back soon, and keep moving through this enormous kosher Mecca.

Amazing olives, revolutionary sauces, and energy drinks that taste just like a mojito, and we’re just getting started!

I spot a familiar face, Shloime Klein from fleishigs magazine, and he is eating a toasted stuffed ravioli from the venerable Pasta Authority… that is, shockingly, very milchig. I can’t believe he’s held out to almost lunch time without becoming fleishigs… that is an accomplishment in his line of work.

While snacking on little party tempura bites of broccoli from Pardes, I spot a new item that gets me SUPER excited. Frozen avocado halves… I saw an ad for these and had wondered if it was actually possible to get a perfect texture with a defrosted avo. Here was my chance to test it out! They had samples (of course) and I hesitantly put a piece of avo on a cracker and took a bite. WOW. Perfect avocado taste and texture. I would never have guessed that it had once lived in a freezer.

Sarah Lasry, of the famous sheet pan dinners, and brand ambassador for Pardes, offers to show us the wonders of frozen avocado. She opens a bag from the freezer and dumps out 8 perfect avocado halves. I feel like I need a string quartet and a choir to sing “Hallelukah” as I see years of unripened, over-ripened and straight-up “will never ripen” avocados disappear before my eyes. The possibilities are making me dizzy, avocado chocolate mousse, avocado blended in my salad dressings, avocado in my smoothies, avocado toast every day! I turn to Mica and we both agree – this is going in our top new products list… no doubt about it. With no preservatives (except for a drop of vitamin C) and a price tag ($4.99!) that rivals 4 fresh avocados any day – this is a no-brainer.

Our stomachs are getting fuller, but our eyes are still hungry for more, and we get a real eyeful with our next stop at the Matzo Project. While their matzah crackers are good, their packaging is superb and funny. With a snarky upper east side Jewish Bubby spouting comments such as “would it kill you to try something new?” And “Eat something, you look skinny,” This company wins packaging of the year, hands down.

We’re thirsty from all these tastings, but there is no liquid to be found. Note to Kosher Fest organizers for 2019… please make some water available! Thankfully our next stop is close to liquid and also gets us agreeing about the next best product for our list… It’s Mom Pops, and we love it. Made by moms, these perfectly sized little frozen pops come in flavors like Pineapple Basil and Chocolate Sea Salt, and since they are made with real fruit, and only a drop of agave for sweetening, they are healthy and a perfectly sized treat for any busy and time crunched Mom (and her brood!) We love the company, we love the product, and we are grateful to have found another winner for the day.

Getting tired but determined to find every single great product out there, we stomp forward. The sound of sizzling makes us pause, and we find ourselves at the huge MIKEE booth, where Japanese chefs are cooking dumplings before our eyes. I almost pass it by, not that hungry at this point, but for you dear readers, I decide it would be unfair to leave any dumpling unturned, so I take one for the team and get in line. This turns out to be a very good decision, as this dumpling, dipped into sauce, tastes like the best dish I’ve had at any Japanese restaurant. This new line of Asian dipping sauces by Mikee are going right onto our list. No hesitation. So glad I stopped here.

We’re just about ready to wrap this up, but we make one more stop at the huge AgriStar booth. At this point I can already eat fleishig, so I decide to try a new product that they are showcasing, and just like that, we find our final top product of the day! It’s their hard salami (which is not that hard, just perfectly chewy) and offered in flavors like pepperoni and fennel. These are not just great because they’re delicious, but they are the perfect food for kosher travelers! They are shelf stable, and don’t need refrigeration, but not dry and tough like a jerky – you could still totally make a sandwich with this beautiful meat. I will for sure be packing these on my next trip to an exotic location. (Reminder to self, book vacation to exotic location, which, with my tired feet and bloated belly, I feel like I could use right about now).

And just like that, we find ourselves back where we started. Much less hungry, a little more tired, and very excited to share with you all our findings!

Hope you enjoyed this little virtual Kosher Fest tour.
Happy eating!