Kosher Nation: Why More and More of America's Food Answers to a Higher Authority »

Sue Fishkoff is the author of The Rebbe’s Army. She is a national correspondent for the JTA news agency and lives in Oakland, California.

Kosher? That means the rabbi blessed it, right? Not exactly. In this captivating account of a Bible-based practice that has grown into a multibillions-dollar industry, journalist Sue Fishkoff travels throughout America and to Shanghai, China, to find out who eats kosher food, who produces it, who is responsible for its certification, and how this fascinating world continues to evolve. She explains why 86 percent of the 11.2 million Americans who regularly buy kosher food are not observant Jews—they are Muslims, Seventh-day Adventists, vegetarians, people with food allergies, and consumers who pay top dollar for food they believe “answers to a higher authority.”
 
Fishkoff interviews food manufacturers, rabbinic supervisors, and ritual slaughterers; meets with eco-kosher adherents who go beyond traditional requirements to produce organic chicken and pasture-raised beef; sips boutique kosher wine in Napa Valley; talks to shoppers at an upscale kosher supermarket in Brooklyn; and marches with unemployed workers at the nation’s largest kosher meatpacking plant. She talks to Reform Jews who are rediscovering the spiritual benefits of kashrut, and to Conservative and Orthodox Jews who are demanding that kosher food production adhere to ethical and environmental values. And she chronicles the corruption, price-fixing, and strong arm tactics of early-twentieth-century kosher meat production, against which contemporary kashrut standards pale by comparison.
 
A revelatory look at the current state of kosher in America, this book will appeal to anyone interested in food, religion, Jewish identity, or big business.

Publishers Weekly

In this informative and revealing primer on kosher food, practice, business, and history, Fishkoff delves into the ins and outs of why the kosher industry continues to grow at an astounding rate despite the small number of observant Jews who actually require kosher-certified food. Having spent years researching and following mashgichim (Orthodox Jews who supervise the production of kosher food and ingredients around the world), Fishkoff has an impressive arsenal of firsthand stories and inside information to keep the narrative moving. The volume provides in-depth chapters on what kosher means, what mashgichim do, the growth of the kosher supermarket, kosher winemaking, and going kosher globally, among other related topics. With an obvious zeal for what she writes, Fishkoff will engage readers with both the religious and professional facets of this complex and misunderstood standard as she explains why so many people prefer kosher cuisine despite its higher costs. (Oct. 12)

Prologue

1 It's a Kosher, Kosher World 3

Kosher Food Conquers the U.S. Market

2 Eating Their Way into Heaven 24

The Who, What, and Why of Keeping Kosher

3 Big Brother is Watching 46

The Kosher Certification Agencies

4 On Fire for Kashrus 72

The Life and Times of a Mashgiach

5 Pastrami on Rye 91

The Jewish Deli

6 Beyond Manischewitz 109

Kosher Wine Aims High

7 Good-bye, Moisha's 131

Supermarkets Replace the Corner Store

8 Killing It Softly 150

Kosher Meat---Who Makes It, Who Eats It

9 Please Don't Eat the Broccoli 166

Bug Infestation Takes Salad Off the Table

10 Made in China 186

Kosher Food Production Goes Global

11 A Wedding in New Jersey 209

Cholov Yisroel to Sushi, the New Kosher Diet

12 Got Shrimp? 231

Liberal Jews Take Another Look at Kashrut

13 Kosher Law and Its Discontents 253

Who Decides What's Kosher?

14 Postville 278

The Scandal at Agriprocessors Changes the Kosher Conversation

15 Eating Their Way into Heaven, Part II 296

The New Jewish Food Movement

Epilogue 325

Notes 329

Glossary 339

Select Bibliography 345

Index 347