Hanukkah Highlights Trend Toward Kosher Foods

The market for kosher food is growing – just ask Rabbi Jason Miller and Dan Sonenberg, owner of in Farmington Hills.

The two teamed up Sunday to present a kosher food tasting event at the store, which is located at 14 Mile and Middlebelt. Guests found a chef cooking latkes (potato pancakes) as they entered the store, as well as several displays of the store's kosher-certified foods.

"We are trying to promote the Jewish holiday of Hanukkah," Sonenberg said of the event, "and so our guests and others in the Jewish community can come in and taste what we have."

Hanukkah, also known as the eight-day Jewish Festival of Lights begins at sundown Wednesday and ends Dec. 9 this year.

Kosher Michigan, which is operated by Rabbi Miller in nearby West Bloomfield, certifies most of Johnny Pomodoro's baked goods, fresh fruit trays, dried fruit, candy and nut trays. Those were on display, across from a long table where store chef Tobin Harris cooked potato pancakes, or latkes, which are traditionally served with sour cream and applesauce during Hanukkah.

Chef Tobin cooked the latkes in Leslie Elizabeth Inc. brand oil, a Lapeer-based business and new Kosher Michigan client. He said the recipe, or more accurately, the technique, is an adaptation of one given to him by Detroit area food writer Annabel Cohen.

"It's about feel and how it feels in your hand after you've mixed it," he said as he dropped a lump of shredded potatoes into the hot skillet.

Farmington Hills resident Leslie Katinsky pronounced the latkes "very good." She makes her own for the holiday and said her husband likes them "hot and greasy." She disagrees and found Chef Tobin's more to her liking. "They're light and fluffy," she said.

Rabbi Miller said studies have shown all consumers are becoming more conscious of where their food comes from and how it's being produced. "In addition, people are caring about nutritional value ... and social values, how workers are treated. People also want to know their food is being observed all along the way," he said.

The majority of kosher consumers, Rabbi Miller said, are not Jewish. Many keep kosher for health reasons. "They believe it's healthier, safer and cleaner. There are more standards, and people today want more standards for the foods they consume."