Kosher to Fill Cape Coral

The News-Press

About once a month, Herbert Young and his wife make the three-hour drive to Fort Lauderdale to stock up on kosher groceries.

He looks forward to picking up items like meats, challah — a special braided bread eaten on the Sabbath and holidays — and pastries that Southwest Florida grocery stores don’t carry.

That drive will end soon.

The 66-year-old Young will only have to travel about 10 blocks thanks to a little persuasion from the local Jewish community.

Publix managers at Cape Coral Parkway and Chiquita Boulevard location have agreed to prepare kosher items at their bakery. It will be the first Publix store to do so in Southwest Florida.

The baked goods and other items should become available early in 2010, said Shannon Patten, Publix spokeswoman.

The logistics of when or how often they’ll be available have yet to be determined.

“We’re trying to figure out what’s the best fit for this store,” Patten said.

Rabbi Yossi Labkowski of the Chabad Jewish Center of Cape Coral, said he hopes baking will be done at least once every week, on a Thursday night or Friday morning, so items are available for the Jewish holy day, the Sabbath, and throughout the weekend.

He said it’s likely he will supervise the kosher baking as the food must be prepared under the supervision of a Rabbi.

Kosher means fit for consumption, said Michael Schiffer. He noted that kosher foods must follow Jewish dietary laws. Animals, for example, must be slaughtered in a manner in which the animal feels the least pain and all the blood must be drained afterward.

If members of the Jewish community weren’t traveling to Tampa or Fort Lauderdale to purchase kosher foods, the only other way to get them was to wait for a large semi-truck to pass through town with the items for sale.

A few months ago, Labkowski, Young and a few others, brought the needs of Cape Coral’s 5,000 Jewish families to the Publix managers. And they listened.

The store also has expanded its selection of dry and grocery kosher items over the past few months. A few hundred new items, including about 10 new varieties of wine, soups, snacks, noodles, dry groceries and lunchmeats, can be found on store shelves.

All Publix locations have kosher products available, but this specific location has taken the community’s needs into consideration, Patten said.

“It’s a huge step, it’s much easier for people to get kosher foods … and it brings more people to town,” Labkowski said.

He noted he believes the lack of kosher grocery items and baked goods has held people back from moving to or even visiting the area.