OK Press Release - 11/08/06
Observant Jewish travelers to Hawaii have been able to find great hotels, beautiful sandy beaches and memories to fill a lifetime. They haven’t been so lucky trying to find a good kosher meal. Ordering kosher food just got a lot easier with the 2006 opening of Oahu Kosher: a fully supervised kitchen preparing glatt kosher meats (the highest level of kosher supervision).
Hawaii’s first kosher catering firm prepares and delivers meals throughout the week, and specializes in special Shabbat feasts, delivered ready-to-heat in sealed containers to hotels in Waikiki and around Oahu. With an extra day’s notice, meals can be on a plane to Maui, Kauai and the Big Island.
Jews coming to Hawaii, for business or pleasure, have traditionally found it difficult to get kosher meals at all, let alone the high-quality cuisine available in other resort destinations. “There are Jewish vacationers who literally choose not to come to Hawaii because of the perceived difficulty in getting prepared meals,” says owner/chef Yudi Weinbaum. “We want them to feel comfortable coming here, knowing that we can take care of their needs.
Whether it’s a quiet meal delivered to your hotel room, or a picnic to take to the beach, we can have it ready and waiting for travelers right in their hotels.” Visitors can order meals directly from OahuKosher.com as they plan their itineraries in Hawaii, or can ask the concierge at most major hotels to arrange for delivery.
For the local Jewish community, the availability of high quality, kosher catering for events has been a welcome addition. Already in 2006, Oahu Kosher catered the Passover Seder at the Governor’s mansion, and the Israeli Independence Day Festival at City Hall. And with the opening in late November of Yudi’s Deli in Manoa (which will also serve as the commercial kitchen for Oahu Kosher), locals will finally to have a place to go for a real pastrami sandwich, falafel pita, or chicken shwarma, plus kosher meat by the pound, baked goods and holiday supplies.
With a background in kosher catering in London and Miami, Chef Yudi is confident he has the right mix of culinary expertise, knowledge of dietary laws, and a keen business sense necessary to make a small business work in Hawaii. There are plenty of Jews living in Hawaii—or wishing they did—that are pulling for him.