Vermont Kosher, a focus on quality food
If you are ever passing through any of the UVM Dining retail locations or Redstone dining hall, you might stumble upon Vermont Kosher as an excellent hot entrée or prepackaged to-go food option. Their wide variety of salads (both green and grain) , wraps and desserts have many prepared choices that are vegetarian, gluten free, and vegan. Vermont Kosher food is prepared by founder Rachel Jacobs who now runs her small kosher company out of Redstone Dining. As a successful local kosher business, Rachel was approached by UVM Dining to be their certified kosher kitchen on campus to meet the needs of students following kosher diets.
We asked Rachel what inspired her to start Vermont Kosher, she said that many people started to ask her to make meals for events after having eaten dinner at her house for Shabbat. Rachel, who is from Israel, said what makes her food unique, is that she prepares Middle Eastern and Mediterranean meals that we don’t get exposed to here in Vermont because her recipes and preparation techniques are authentic Mediterranean.
When buying their food, Vermont Kosher carefully selects their sources for produce and meat so that they meet Jewish dietary laws of kosher, which in Hebrew kosher means “fit” or “proper” and is the optimal diet for spiritual health. When following a kosher diet, the way meat is prepared and killed must be in accordance to Jewish law in order to be acceptable to eat. Considering qualified and healthy kosher food, they buy grass fed, organic meat from New York that follows Jewish law and produce from several local farms.
According to their 2015-2016 audit, Vermont Kosher serves approximately 10.9% Real Food. Most of that percentage is represented in the ecologically sound category. UVM Dining serves 19% Real Food. The business buys most of the produce from UVM’ Catamount Farm, Digger’s Mirth and Black River Produce. Rachael states that 90 percent of the produce is organic, including vegetables such as beets, cabbage, and kale are options they order from UVM farm.  Vermont Kosher’s main produce supplier is Black River produce who sources conventional and local farms to fulfill their year round needs. Cost is a barrier for Vermont Kosher in increasing their Real Food percentages and Vermont First qualified purchases. Rachel states that kosher food is typically four times more expensive than the typical conventional food and with seasonal limitations, it can be hard to always buy a low budget. Rachel tries her best to find a balance between good food and ingredients while providing lost cost options for her customers.
Besides all the challenges the company can face, Rachel Jacobs stated “that everything is handmade and hand cut because we are a small company”, reinforcing their focus on great quality food. Vermont Kosher welcomes you anytime and can often be found catering for Hillel during Jewish holidays. Liann Simonds 2017 and Jing Xu 2019
