Finding Kosher Food in Adelaide, South Australia
The kosher section in Coles at Burnside Village is full of junk food and nothing really useful, but it's the only store in town with a kosher section!
When traveling, finding kosher food is the number one concern most people express to us. No matter where in the world we are traveling, people ask us how we can manage to keep kosher. Even in Australia this is true, but especially in a place like Adelaide, where the Jewish population is only 1,000 and the kosher population has lots of room to grow.
There is only one supermarket that boasts a whole kosher section, the Coles at Burnside Village, which is just a short distance away from the only Orthodox synagogue in town, the Adelaide Hebrew Congregation. Unfortunately, I found that most of the products on the shelf were junk food. (Akiva was excited to see that Bamba is indeed available in Adelaide!)
Imported kosher cakes and snacks from the US and Canada for sale in The Reject Shop
When I spoke to the store manager about it, he said that the store stocks every kosher item available through their Sydney supplier. It seems that there just isn’t even much available for the supermarket to purchase!
So you would expect it to be difficult to find kosher food in Adelaide, especially processed or packaged foods, or foods imported from America. But that’s not necessarily so! And this is true of any town or city in Australia. There are kosher products available if only you can find them.
Imported kosher chocolate sauce OU(D) from the USA for sale in The Reject Shop
Last week, Rabbi Ben and I went to The Reject Shop in Adelaide. I’m sure there are many, and we went to one in a small suburb just about 20 minutes outside of Adelaide city center. So it is not the kind of place that would stock kosher products for its kosher customers. Yet, we found many, many kosher products imported from the US and Canada for sale! They were mostly under OU or Montreal Kosher (MK) supervision, with the heckshers clearly marked. We found everything from cake mix to pizza flavored Pringles and everything in between. In the past, we have found this to be the case in the most unlikely sounding places across Australia, and even across the world.
Imported Tabasco Sauce from the USA
So stop into your local supermarket (or even your local Reject Shop) and you just don’t know what kosher treasures you might find!
14 Responses to “Finding Kosher Food in Adelaide, South Australia”
Also there’s food with kosher symbols throughout the supermarkets. That aisle is mostly israeli imports from the Sydney supplier. Look elsewhere in Coles for food with Kosher Australia, NSW Kashrut, OU (eg Greenseas and Sirena tuna) and even Star K symbols etc, Tempo dairy, Yumi’s dips, Leda and Orgran products in the health food aisle, hechshered smoked salmon, there is kosher food everywhere there. Just check the packets. And there are regular deliveries of kosher meat to order every few weeks.
Yumi’s fish products and Huon salmon are at some supermarkets. Darikay soups (8 of them) are locally available. Passion8 products are now being stocked by other local supermarkets.
Kosher vegemite (with a hechsher on the jar) is everywhere!
No-one keeping kosher starves in Adelaide.
And the fresh fruit and vegetables are among the best.
Dear Rabbi,
Two years ago I found kosher matsot passover in the Coles at Grote street CDB. It was a small display with industrial food. wherever I was been in Oceania or in France the casual supermarket supply only junk food for Kosher food. I supose the market is too small to implant kosher supermarket in one the city there or in the sensational Adelaide.
Currently, according to the manager, Coles at Burnside Village is the only Coles in Adelaide that maintains a kosher section. Of course, kosher products can be found at any Coles across Australia, although it is hit and miss. Unfortunately, the Jewish population of Adelaide has declined dramatically from its heyday a decade or two ago. Previously, there would have been more kosher food sections and availability in other supermarkets across the city. We are hopeful that the kosher population of Adelaide will once again grow and there will be more products available in the future.
Going to see Rabbi Ben this month about a conversion. If he accepts I may have to be closer to the Synagogue. May be a kosher bakery/patisserie. I have worked with many Rabbi’s in the past in the large hotels. I make Challah every Friday not only for us, but for some friends here that are Jewish.
Lets see which direction G-d leads us.
G-d Bless you and your family.
Jason, Sylve and Chloe van Leuven