Got Gefilte Fish? Kosher Sales Soaring

1 Comment | Written on June 25, 2012 at 1:00 pm, by Lesley Kennedy

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Do all of the food packaging lingo and crazy, unpronounceable ingredients listed on so many foods today make you wanna cry “oy vey?” Maybe you should consider jumping on the kosher culinary bandwagon.

NPR reports that the market research company, Mintel, has found sales of kosher foods on a huge upswing, and it really doesn’t have anything to do with religion.

Everyone from Buddhists and Muslims to vegetarians and Seventh-Day Adventists is going kosher, according to the broadcaster. “There is a feeling by many consumers that kosher is somehow better, more wholesome,” Lynn Dornblaser, a Mintel analyst, tells NPR, which also reports that 25 percent of all new foods introduced since 2007 claim to be kosher.

And, if a product is labeled gluten-free, that’s even better.

NPR also reports that low-gluten or gluten-free products are also seeing huge gains in popularity, and, similar to the kosher trend, they’re not just popular among those with celiac disease or gluten sensitivities.

But it’s certainly possible today’s “gluten-free” could soon go the way of yesterday’s “low carb.” According to NPR, low carb claims were all the rage in 2004 (thanks to the protein craze sparked by Dr. Atkins), but are now pretty much passé.

Trendy or not, we’re suddenly hungry for matzo ball soup. Wait. Is it possible to get that gluten-free?