Stackin' those matzos high for Passover. Credit: Sgt. Pepperedjane, Flickr
Considering that Passover is commonly referred to as "The Festival of Unleavened Bread" it seems fitting that the leading economic indicator of the 7-day Jewish festival is matzo, the cracker-like flat bread that you'll see on the endcap displays at many supermarkets each year in late March -- not particularly tasty, but fun if you like saltines.
According to Nielsen, Americans chowed down on $3.5M worth of matzo during 2009's Passover holiday, with another $1.2M purchased in the form of matzo meal/mixes (I'm guessing that means matzo ball soup, etc.). For anyone who loves matzo, this week is like heaven for you. Anyone who makes habitual visits to the local bakery may experience withdrawals.
In addition to a nice bump for the matzo industry, producers of kosher table wines also get a boost from the Passover holiday, according to Nielsen. About 13% of the annual sales ($6.5M) for the kosher wine industry comes from the Passover Seder -- a dinner held on the first night of Passover. That equates to about 1.5 million bottles of vino.
razrrer13,3-30-2010, 2:21PM
One of the most irrelevant, pointless, posts ever.
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mikemaj82,3-29-2010, 5:08PM
matzo is the most disgusting tasting thing you can eat. really nasty, people.
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Ronnie,3-29-2010, 5:51PM
There is a kosher tax on all kosher food,or basically put ,overseen by a rabbi,which they make MILLIONS OF DOLLARS ON....A typical large organized religious thing.....Matzo ( Millions Added To Zion Organization)....
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lisanie43,3-29-2010, 6:19PM
Why do one need to know? Is that a bit intrusive? Why not focus on people eating junk food and being constantly gorging on unhealthy snacks? Don't ruin passover by continuing to post irrelevant article that does not have any religious significance of passover.
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Melissa,3-29-2010, 7:03PM
@ronnie:
There is no such Kosher tax, and there is no reason to bring anti-Zionism into this, as it doesn't pertain to this article.
Individual companies pay certain Rabbinic organizations money for Kosher certification. Then, that organization will send a Mashgiach (someone trained to supervise the production of Kosher food) to make sure that the companies product is in accordance to Jewish law. Being a Mashgiach is a full time job, so much of the money goes to Mashgiach's working for the organization as a salary. Also, Kosher certification gives the company more business, as it allows Jewish customers and consumers to purchase their product. Most companies that pay for Kosher certification will earn the money back in sales.
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Loren,3-30-2010, 9:45PM
A little bit of anti Semitism here? Sounds like an Al-Jazeera crowd posting snide comments.
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Carol L. Ziegler,3-29-2010, 11:18PM
Could we please refrain from ugly bigoted comments? Not good for the USA!!!!
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