Georgia Tech Goes Kosher
Before Georgia Tech began offering kosher food this year, students such as Eithan Martinez were eating vegetarian or driving a distance to find kosher fare.
Before Georgia Tech began offering kosher food this year, students such as Eithan Martinez were eating vegetarian or driving a distance to find kosher fare. Some who were keeping kosher told Chabad they stopped when it became too difficult to find appropriate options and others who considered coming to Georgia Tech changed their minds when they learned there was no kosher food, Shifra Sharfstein, co-director of Chabad of Downtown Universities, told the AJT at the time. Downtown universities also include Georgia State.
Having a selection of kosher packaged food on campus at Tech was a welcome relief for 20 students in a WhatsApp group who are actively taking advantage of kosher on-campus options. They are able to eat with their peers instead of having limited choices or having to wait until they return home if they are commuters.
A number of professors and faculty are also eating kosher on campus, Sharfstein said.
Georgia Tech has about 400 Jewish undergraduates and 100 Jewish graduate students, Hillel reported.
The Kosher Gourmet, which also delivers to Emory University, brings kosher food to the Tech student union. Since kosher food became available, the caterer has expanded its selection from boxed sandwiches and desserts to include pulled beef and chicken dinners, and “double-wrapped hot meals for kosher students to reheat in a microwave. The meals taste great and students have told me they are very happy,” Sharfstein said.
“I have watched students who are not Jewish request the kosher food for personal reasons as well. The food has been selling out at a perfectly steady pace.”
Hillel and Chabad at Tech serve kosher food at their events, but Chabad campaigned this summer for campus dining services to make kosher food available.
When Chabad requested kosher food, it wasn’t a big stretch for the college because it was already providing Halal food for Muslim students, Sharfstein said.
“Georgia Tech continues to be helpful in responding to issues when questions arise and being very friendly at the kosher serving counter.”
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