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Not Your Bubbie's Menu
Foodie craze catches up with kosher caterers.
Stacy Gittleman I Special to the Jewish News
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celebrate! I March 2014
Quality Kosher, food selections may
cover "at least" four different ethnic
tastes, from sushi and noodles at
an Asian station to Moroccan meat
cigars and tagines, or Indian curries.
Casual, But High End
Another trend in eating is that party
guests still love their casual food,
even if they are in sequined gowns
and tuxedos.
"You can take burgers and fries
and other casual American food to
another level and make them high
end," Kohn said.
A fine menu starts with advanced
planning. When Franci Goodstein
Shanbom, 38, and Sam Shanbom,
45, of West Bloomfield planned
their Nov. 27 wedding — the night
before Thanksgiving and the first
night of Chanukah — they knew
that the food would have to meld
these two holidays. Because they
married later in life, the Shanboms
said they did not want to subject
friends and family to just another
"sit down chicken and baked potato
dinner."
What Quality Kosher planned
was something completely "off the
Ethnic food is prevalent at modern weddings.
board," said Franci Shanbom. The
evening included four buffet stations
2003 and founded Chef Cari Kosher Catering, a
with varied types of potato latkes and pareve
Glatt kosher company housed at Congregation
sour cream, mini turkey potpies in cups made
B'nai Moshe in West Bloomfield.
of phyllo dough, a Pan Asian station featuring
As vegetarian and vegan kosher venues open
Asian noodle slaw and orange chicken, a Tex
up in Detroit — such as Gold 'n Greens at
Mex station with steak fajitas and a burger sta-
Wayne State University and Herskovitz's summer
tion including sliders made from salmon and
pop-up falafel stand at Campus Martius Park —
portabella mushrooms.
she loves to hear how they surprise the average
"We wanted a fun affair with a cocktail party
restaurant goer. They realize that you don't have
feel, with lots of casual good food. Daniel is very to keep kosher, or even be Jewish, she says, to
youthful, and he had great ideas of how to make
enjoy kosher food. What they are enjoying, sim-
the party fun and hip," Shanbom said.
ply, is good food.
Vegan Gourmet
Chef Cari Herskovitz also wants to treat her
kosher-observant clients to a meal and a catered
affair with international flavors they may not
ordinarily have a chance to sample.
Herskovitz graduated from the Natural
Gourmet Cookery Institute for Food and Healing
in New York City in 2000 and worked in the food
industry there for many years preparing gastro-
nomical delights for Lenny Kravitz, Ralph Lauren
and Elie Wiesel. She moved back to Detroit in
"I want people to come to me to cater an
affair, first and foremost, because they are com-
ing to me for well-prepared food," Herskovitz
said. "I want them to know if they want that
vegan wedding that will keep even their non-
vegan guests happy, they can come to me. They
can also come to me if they keep on the more
traditional side and want a meal with beef or
chicken as the centerpiece."
Herskovitz said she enjoys offering clients the
continued on page C16
QUALITY KOSHER CATERING
T
here are people who eat to live. Then,
there are those seeking unique, exotic
tastes created with the most superior
ingredients chefs can get their hands on. These
are the foodies — the people who live to eat.
In cities like New York and Los Angeles, it is
no longer about the restaurant that just opened,
but the foodies who are following the hottest
chefs sweating it out in the kitchen of a particu-
lar restaurant, which is making it impossible to
get that Saturday night reservation. Local kosher
caterers agree; the foodie craze has
also caught up to their business as
well.
The kosher-catered affair is no
longer about the stuffed derma and
kasha served at your grandmother's
wedding. Unless, of course, for nos-
talgia's sake, you know your guests
will want an "Old World Eastern
European" station with old stand-
bys like knishes and chopped liver
spread. Then it will be there. Guests
should also be prepared to make
room on their cocktail-hour plate
Daniel Kohn
for cuisine from India, Ethiopia and
Japan.
Daniel Kohn, manager of Quality
Kosher Catering in Southfield, was
witness to the global gourmet
trend as he worked in the hospi-
tality business in New York and
Colorado. Now back in Detroit, he
keeps the legacy of the business his
grandmother started in 1968 going
strong for the next generation.
He knows that not all in this
generation who seek a kosher
caterer keep strictly kosher. In fact,
statistics from the industry show
Cari Herskovitz
that 55 percent of consumers buy
kosher products for health reasons,
38 percent are vegetarians, and 16 percent eat
only halal. Only 8 percent surveyed said they buy
kosher products because they adhere to kashrut.
"There used to be a time not long ago when
the food was just one more element at a big
occasion, like the flowers or the band," Kohn
said. "Today, as people have developed sophis-
ticated tastes and have become involved them-
selves with new cooking techniques, the food
takes front and center stage."
It is this sophistication of the foodie's eclectic
palate that is driving chefs to create anything
but the standard chicken or beef offerings at
catered affairs. At a typical wedding catered by