KosherFest at the Meadowlands - November 10-11, 2015

Kosherfest 2015 was held at the Meadowlands Expo Center in Secaucus, NJ. My class was given free tickets to go and explore, taste, and meet people! We also volunteered to help with the chef demonstrations in the "Kosher Kitchen" demo space.

 My admittance!

Me with classmates Bracha, Bonnie, and Eugenia.

I volunteered to help out Chef Ariak Grigoriyan of Marani restaurant in Queens, NY. They demo-ed two appetizers, a plate of grits, braised lamb, and dumplings.

 Me and my classmate and demo partner, Bracha.

Eggplant rolls with a walnut mixture inside. This is what it looks like at the restaurant.

Shotis puri, Georgian pointed bread

 The beet and walnut appetizer, garnished with pomegranate seeds and cilantro. I scooped and garnished these.

Grits, served with a garlic sauce.

More photos of the demo, by Avi Leibowitz:

After the demo, we got to wander around the convention, taste, and schmooze. Here are a few things I saw:

 This booth had duck and sqaub (all kosher!) I loved the squab, and it inspired me to seek some out to cook later on. I'll be on the hunt... Pun intended.

 Lavie liqueurs were delicious! I tried the blackberry, chocolate, and praline. They were also good when you mixed flavors.

The Kvutzat Yavne booth! I passed along good wishes from my aunt, whose family lives on kibbutz there, to the exhibitors at this booth.

 Tishbi Winery had delicious wines and also wine jams - these jams are made with their wine, with the alcohol boiled out, so all you're left with is exquisite flavors!

These strawberry shortcake petit fours were scrumptious:

 There was a guy "blowing" glass! He was using a tabletop torch to manipulate glass into pendants with Hebrew letters on them.

 A fruit candy display.

There were several other products I really enjoyed tasting, like the Brooklyn Artisan Bakehouse, Moses date vodka, and Pallini limoncello. If you are in the food industry, I highly recommmend attending one of these shows! One thing to note - there were different vendors on Day 1 and Day 2, so hit up both days!