Emirates Flight Catering establishes Kosher Arabia and will begin offering kosher food on the more than 100 airlines that it services by the start of 2021. The company signed a memorandum of understanding with CCL Holdings founded by Ross Kriel. Kosher Arabia will offer kashrut certification from the Orthodox Union in America whose OU symbol is the most prominent kosher seal in the world. OU will work together with the South African Union of Orthodox Synagogues.
People may wonder exactly how many people in the world keep kosher and order kosher meals on flights. Well many non-Jews will order a kosher meal since they may feel that the food is of a higher quality and there is no need to be Jewish to get one. And just offering kosher food will add countless possible passengers to any airline, including Emirates which will now be offering Israelis flights around the world out of Tel Aviv.
Emirates Flight Catering is a division of Emirates airline.
While the second half of the year 5780 was mired in the Covis-19 pandemic and Israelis just lost their annual holiday season to another lockdown, the last weeks of that year brought them some good news with the new peace deal with the United Arab Emirates which keeps on getting better.
Wow! Who would have thought that they would see the day when an Arabian Gulf state’s airline would fly to Israel and offer kosher food? It’s like the old saying: “Money talks and bull#$%t walks.” Or, as they said in “The Godfather,” “Its business, not personal.” So we can ask chicken or the egg type questions now like, “does peace cause business opportunities or do business opportunities bring peace?”
Emirates Flight Catering CEO Saeed Mohammed said: “We are delighted to enter into an agreement with CCL to provide kosher food. For many years, EKFC has been offering kosher meals primarily to our airline customers, via an outsourced supplier overseas. We’ve been watching the global trends for kosher food, and with recent developments we expect that demand for kosher food in the UAE and region will grow quickly. Our partnership will cover all food channels and we will also explore opening restaurants across Dubai and the GCC.”
“By setting up our own capability at EKFC to produce kosher food, we are confident that we can better serve our customers not only in the aviation sector, but also in the hospitality, F&B, and events sector including the upcoming Expo 2020. Making freshly prepared meals here in the UAE gives us better control over meal design and quality assurance.”
Ross Kriel, founder of CCL Holdings, and President of the Jewish Council of the Emirates (JCE) said: “Kosher Arabia was set up to supply kosher food to meet the growing demand in the UAE, not only from the Jewish community here but also from other consumers looking for healthy and halal-compliant options.
“We’re honored to have received so much support from the UAE and broader global community, including from Rabbi Menachem Genack, CEO of the OU’s Kosher Division, Rabbi Yissachar Krawowski, Rabbinic Coordinator for OU Kosher in Israel, South Africa’s Chief Rabbi Warren Goldstein and Rabbi Dovi Goldstein, Head of Kashrut in South Africa, and Rabbi Yehuda Sarna, Chief Rabbi of the UAE. With their guidance and endorsement, Kosher Arabia was launched and today is signing an MOU with Emirates Flight Catering to set up the UAE’s first kosher food production facility.”
