Kosher dining gets new home, plan options

With a new location and a revamped policy, few details remain unchanged for kosher dining at Penn.

Irv's Place -- once home to the University's kosher kitchen -- has been replaced with an expanded and modernized facility in Steinhardt Hall.

"Irv's was small, dark... basically a restored warehouse," Dining Services Contract and Relationship Manager Laurie Cousart said of the 4040 Locust Street facility.

Also different, the option of a separate kosher meal plan has been eliminated in favor of $2 surcharge tacked on for each kosher meal. The surcharge can be paid with Dining Dollars, cash, bursar bill or PennCash.

Controversy about kosher dining arose last spring when new meal plans were announced. The old kosher dining options included a separate kosher plan and the option to pay for an individual kosher meal with a $5 surcharge when using Dining Dollars or PennCash, or a $7 surcharge when paying with cash or charging to a bursar bill.

Arguing that these surcharges would isolate kosher diners by deterring students with non-kosher meal plans from eating kosher meals, some students protested the proposal by circulating petitions and e-mailing complaints to dining officials.

In light of this discontent, members of the Jewish community and representatives from Dining Services and Aramark -- Penn's food provider -- met to consider alternatives.

"We sat down immediately... and kicked around a couple models," Cousart said. "It was a very cooperative process."

Still in discussion is the possibility of incorporating halal food preparation, kept by some Muslim observers, into the facility.

"There's certainly interest," Cousart said, noting that a decision has yet to be made.

Last March, Penn Dining also announced that reservation fees for Shabbat services would be made optional -- a policy that will continue with the new kosher plan.

University officials added that they intend to monitor the success of the new plan over the next year to see if it supports the higher costs of kosher dining.

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