Passover: Celebration of Freedom or an Excuse to Rip People Off?

Yesterday and today, I had to get ready for Passover by doing the shopping I needed to get ready. This includes getting Tupperware and counter covers along with all the groceries that have to be purchased for the occasion. I had no problem with the supplies (our local 99 Cents Only store helps us save some serious cash). But then it comes to time to load up at the kosher market.

I did everything I could to prevent it. I had a game plan, making a list and checking it better than Santa Claus ever could. And yet, I walked out of the kosher market this afternoon with a serious total added to my credit card bill – a total that is going to cause me to have to take a sizeable dip into my savings. All this was done in the quest to make sure that I could be as kosher for Passover as I could.

But the truth is it couldn’t be helped. The fact is there is a complete and total monopoly on the kosher for Passover food market. If you are honestly and sincerely O-U P (and a lot more people are versus the rest of the year), you need to purchase everything for the holiday the week before at your local kosher market, since they are the only ones who clean fully for the holiday and set up accordingly. You aren’t supposed to use any products that you use normally throughout the year, either, so you have to buy all your other stuff new as well. This means seriously putting out cash once a year.

On top of it, the companies who make these kosher for Passover products seem to be able to get away with selling some of the most disgusting items ever created to man, ranging from barbecue sauce that looks more like a dressing (and tastes like one, too) to a salad dressing that has the flavor of the plastic bottle it came in. On top of it, some of the ingredients in the kosher for Passover foods are completely unhealthy for you (I can’t find a kosher for Passover pareve margarine without hydrogenated oils in it).

We have come so far in the kosher world outside of Passover, with wonderful gourmet items to choose from. It frustrates me so much when I see that Passover is stuck in the past in comparison – not to mention ripping people off in the process. Companies aren’t forced to improve their products because they know people will keep buying them simply because of the fact they are kosher for Passover. Kosher markets won’t lower their prices because they know people will pay for the kosher for Passover items they need no matter how high the price.

Most people are happy to go about their Passover shopping not thinking about it. Maybe they’re willing to discuss it in their kitchens, but not wanting to cause a commotion to talk to their market owners or write letters to the companies that produce some of these products. But we shouldn’t ignore it. We should bring it to the attention of people who listen. How fair is it for people to have to pay a premium simply because of their faith?

This Passover, as we celebrate our liberation, we should be liberated even in our purchasing. We should be free from price gouging and being taken as fools. Just because it’s a special time of year doesn’t mean that we should be taken advantage of.

I’m going to leave on a happier note, though, with a recipe for meatloaf. There is a joke in my family about the hard-boiled egg in the center of meatloaf. During the era that meatloaf came into being, in order to make it more interesting, people would stick a hard-boiled egg in the center, so when you got a slice of meatloaf, you got a slice of egg. My father happens to think this is the most unnatural thing in the world. Thank G-d my mother never did it. He'd have the same reaction as I did to my plastic-bottle-flavored salad dressing that I bought for Passover two years ago.

REINA’S MEATLOAF

2 pounds ground beef

2 eggs

½ cup seasoned breadcrumbs, oatmeal or matzo meal (see quick tip 1)

4 cloves garlic

1 cup ketchup

1 cup dried minced onions

2 tablespoons herbes de province

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Finely chop the garlic cloves. Put in a bowl with the beef, eggs, breadcrumbs, dried onion, ketchup and herbes, along with salt and pepper. Mix together, preferably with your hands.

Spray a loaf pan with non-stick cooking spray. Put the meatloaf into the pan and put in the oven. Cook for 45 minutes.

Quick Tip: If you don’t like ketchup, barbecue sauce makes a wonderful alternative.