By Beth Goodbaum

Starting this semester, Jewish students will have a larger selection of food to choose from with the addition of the Mediterranean Market.

The new section, which will be located in the Student Center across from Nature’s Organic Grille, will offer students an array of hot and cold kosher meals, in addition to the prepackaged kosher foods already being sold in the refrigerated sections of the Student Center, Bits ‘n’ Bytes and the Deli.

The new eatery will have a set menu, althugh entrees will change, Eisa Shukran, director of dining services, said. The section will include a variety of soups, vegetables, rice, pilaf, noodles, briskets and salmon. There will also be a choice of kosher meats, so students can put together their own sandwiches, an option that Shukran said will be similar to Ben’s Deli. He said that the dining services will not discontinue the distribution of prepackaged certified kosher sandwiches and salads and anticipates that the new business will do well. 

“I think the fact that the menu is Mediterranean will attract a diverse number of students and faculty,” he said. The price of the food will be slightly higher than other cuisines offered in the Student Center due to the higher cost of the meat and produce products, which must meet rabbinical supervision guidelines. 

Shukran said that during the past four to five years, the University was supplied kosher food from an outside vendor in Great Neck, which received less than satisfactory reviews from students. With the current kosher food available off of the Mediterranean Market, students seem more satisfied with the selection.

Shukran stated that the section “will be added as a result of the overall analysis of the dining service and the understanding between us and the Universitry community.”

“The food is better than last year, but I feel that it is still pretty limited,” Nati Harsinay, a student who keeps kosher, said. She says that she is looking forward to the new section of food.

Rabbi Meir Mitelman explained the process of keeping the foods kosher.

“The idea is that there is someone in the kitchen who is knowledgeable and trained about kosher laws,” he said. “This person is on the premises to make sure that everything is prepared according to Jewish law and that there is no mix of the meat and dairy.”

Mitelman gave credit to Rabbi Yehuda Kelemer of the Young Israel synagogue in West Hempstead who he said helped with the start of the Mediterranean Market.

“We went to him because of his outstanding reputation and because he is a fine [person] to work with and he did what was necessary to meet kosher requirements,” he said.

Mitelman added that during the last couple of months, University officials met to discuss the kosher standards.

“We tried to see what we could work out,” he said.

As a result, an approved on the spot skilled supervisor, or Masgiach, was designated to oversee the kosher kitchen. Mitelman commended the dining services on campus.

“Eisa and Lackman have been working carefully with us and we are very appreciative,” Mitelman said.