Thursday, December 8, 2011

Kosher Critic: Struggle for civility in the food industry

Jewish Star By Zechariah Mehler
hat tip Agudah Fresser

At this year’s Kosherfest, I couldn’t help but notice that the behavior of many of the attendees was slightly akin to that of your average kleptomaniac. There was the press, distributors, food industry workers or and members of the public that come for some unknown reason it certainly seemed that this year more than others the groupthink was dead set on stealing products (not just giveaways and samples mind you) from the booths that where there to showcase their wares.

I saw men walking down the tightly packed aisles totting canvas bags packed with food. Display booths that had wrapped packages torn open, pillaged by some overzealous Kosherfest goer who felt that he or she needed to stock up for a long winter on gum, jam, or soy sauce. What was truly shocking is that this Black Friday experience was on the first hour of the first day of Kosherfest.

6 comments :

  1. A big talmid chochom in Boro Park gave a shiur on this inyan after he repeatedly saw people wrapping up all the leftover food by bris milos and other venues. He said it is pure genaivah from the baalei simcha.

    There is a somewhat deranged family on East 27th St that has a history of bringing all of their many uninvited children to chassunos, displacing invited guests who end up leaving because they have no where to sit. It was uncovered after one chassuna that they had come with foil pans and packed up every leftover meal in the kitchen ad kdai that the chosson & kallah were not able to eat from their own wedding. They also cleaned out the Viennese table. They were confronted by askanim because it was a lot of food that was stolen, all of which was donated to a yeshiva. At first they denied taking anything except "a few cookies for the kids". When witnesses emerged who saw them in action with the foil pans, they hired a lawyer who circulated a phony story that they "take" food from simchos to give to aniyim. Several poskim consulted said it is nothing other than theft. When more witnesses emerged who smelled a specific fragrance wafting from their open kitchen window at home from a dish meyuchod to the caterer from that night, they engaged a corrupt beis din to harass the people questioning them.

    These people incidentally live in a house worth about $1.6 million which the mortgage was already paid off according to public records on a NYC website.

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  2. What an idiot columnist. The food manufacturers GIVE the food away FREE to attendees. It isn't stolen.

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  3. az should try reading the article again. The vendors at the Javits Convention Center certainly do not want to be cleaned out of display items during the OPENING HOUR of the trade show.

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  4. bissel: if they don't want that to happen, they shouldn't be offering it. They are offering it, so they have no valid complaints.

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  5. Even if az is technically correct he still misses the point. Have you ever seen the barbarian fressers shtupping at the Agudah convention by the meat carving station? There are kimat physical fights breaking out with the disgusted catering staff. It is hard for the civilized people to get close until the others have dispersed. You have live whole behaymos groping to get their hands on the geshochtenna half behaymos

    It is this kind of behavior that prompted Mehler's article

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  6. the writer doesn't like jews too much.

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