The connection between dairy foods and the holiday is mainly the result of marketing efforts, but we won't spoil the celebration, just check where it will cost less (Photo: ShutterStock)
Just before Shavuot, dairy prices soar. Let's leave aside for a moment an argument about who is to blame for the outcome: the government, the manufacturers or the retailers, which is certain that we consumers will pay and pay much more, sometimes we watch decisions and actions that are made against our will too easily because it turns out that it is easy to influence the consumer's pocket, and usually negatively.
It is important to understand that from a halachic perspective, there is no connection to the consumption of dairy products and Shavuot, in fact these are local customs, adopted and reinforced by marketing incentives - and this is a good enough reason to load the chains with recipes of dairy products, cakes, quiches and a huge variety of recipes that will make us carefully plan the Shavuot table.
Cheeses with a creamy texture (but low in fat) and flavors. Popular all year round, but selling out even more in weeks (Photo: Daniel Malachowsky)
How many buy more cheese for Shavuot?
Dairy products in supermarket chains account for a sales share of about 11% of all refrigerators of refrigerated products. Cheese delicacies account for more than 2%, and during the week before the holiday, market shares jump up to 25% of all supermarket chain sales.
Alongside the leaps, we will also see the category of frozen vegetables, frozen doughs and fish products, and we will not see a holiday table without fresh vegetables, salads and seasonal fruits, so that a moment after charging the bank account for Passover purchases, we will already have to worry about the increased household expenses for Shavuot.
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Pilas leaves, for those who prefer their pastries with a thin coating rather than puff pastry (Photo: Daniel Malachowsky)
What characterizes the holiday table?
Quiches, pies and a huge variety of cheeses and wines. Because of the axiom that has been etched into the consciousness that white or rosé wine is more suitable for cheese dishes (these are fun wines that are very suitable for the beginning of the hot season, but have no specific match for cheese), Shavuot has become not only the holiday of white foods, but also that of white wines (and in recent years, with the development of the segment, also rosé wines).
Taste surveys show that most of the Israeli public disapproves of strong flavors that characterize selected cheeses and prefers delicate, rounder flavors and especially without intense aromas, such as some Italian and French cheeses. But it seems that what matters even more than taste is how everything will be photographed for a story that we will upload straight from the holiday table.
Also starring on the table (and in the pictures) are the cheesecakes, which are no longer the traditional cheesecakes with the taste of yesteryear, but cheesecakes coated in white, floated as a canvas on which you can paint with various sauces and fruits.
Pasta. Starring on the holiday table on Shavuot (Photo: Daniel Malachowsky)
A dish we put in Tana?
We put together a wide and comprehensive basket for the holiday containing 135 different products, milk and various dairy products, cheeses, delicacies, cream, premium cheeses, basic cheeses, fresh vegetables, frozen doughs, baking products, wines, crackers, spreads, syrups, milk substitutes, pickles, ice creams, desserts, tortillas, pastas and ravioli from the well-known brands - and we made sure to maintain full identity in the shopping baskets, in order to review and examine whether there are differences in prices - and where we will pay less.
Warmly served, but what's the difference in price? (Photo by Daniel Malachowsky)
We surveyed retail chains from each sector: ultra-Orthodox, Arab, Russian and examined which chains have already begun celebrating prices for the holiday. We found gaps of up to 30% for the same basket, with the national average per basket being NIS 1,925, while the cheapest basket was in the semi-free chain with a basket of NIS 1,683, followed by Rami Levy with a basket of NIS 1,735. The most expensive basket was found in the Tiv Taam chain with a value of NIS 2,181, a difference of NIS 498 on the same basket.
The most expensive in Tiv Taam, the cheapest in half free (Photo: Daniel Malachowsky)
The writer is the CEO of the Retail
Research Institute
** based on price reports from supermarket chains to the Ministry of Economy and processed through Price's website
- money
- Consumerism
- Price comparison
Tags
- Shavuot
- pasta
- Doughnuts
- Cheese