The 27th annual Kosherfest food trade show was held at the Meadowlands Exposition Center in Secaucus on November 10th and 11th. While we will have full coverage and new products reports from the show next week, here is a taste of the excitement.

Over 300 manufacturers and distributors of food, wine and supplies showed their wares and let visitors sample their tasty products. Attendance was for the trade only, including representatives from chain supermarkets, specialty grocery stores and caterers. A kosher kitchen was constructed where chefs demonstrated their culinary prowess and leading kosher cookbook authors signed copies of their books. Executive chef Josh Massin of Teaneck’s Wine and Grill demonstrated how to use salt to increase the taste and nutritional value of vegetables and salmon.

Kosher food is now a billion dollar industry, according to Menachem Lubinsky, Kosherfest organizer. Mordy Dicker of Englewood, Executive Vice President of Business Development for KEDEM/Kayco, said non-Jewish customers make up a large percentage of the market. “People think positively about kosher food,” he said, “it’s become trendy.” Dicker said millennials, vegetarians and people who are glucose intolerant can now find what they need in the kosher space. Kayco’s mission is to persuade manufacturers to produce kosher lines of their products. “We are constantly expanding our markets and products,” said Dicker, who has been in the food business since 1984. “We now find ways to make kosher products that in the past were taboo for the kosher consumer. ” Kayco is a merger of KEDEM Foods, Kenover Marketing and B&W Foods. The company has a huge distribution center in Bayonne and is now the largest kosher distributor in the world with over 5,000 items and 150 brands.

By Bracha Schwartz