BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (JTA) — The Buenos Aires city government is holding its first kosher products and Jewish culture festival.
The Buenos Aires Celebrates Kosher festival on Aug. 4 will be held in Barrancas de Belgrano city park, one of the largest in the Argentinian capital. It is being organized by the city’s tourism agency and promoted by the Ministry of Culture. The event is free for visitors and exhibitors.
“We will put on display a public fair with all the kosher options of our city — food, ingredients to prepare kosher food at home, hotels and accommodations who offer kosher options to visitors, and also books, crafts and music,” Jaqueline Zeitouni, the Buenos Aires kosher program coordinator, told JTA.
Eleven city hotels have kosher certification, and their employees are trained to help the kosher tourist. The event will assist hotels in facilitating the experience of kosher visitors to the city.
“Buenos Aires is the kosher capital of Latin American since the city has a high potential in terms of the demands of this segment and our success with training of the tourism sector,” the director of Buenos Aires Kosher, Patricia Pecora, told JTA.
According to government officials, the festival will have more than 40 stands along with shows by DJs and local klezmer bands.
The city government website includes information about kosher restaurants, synagogues and other Jewish sites.
The local market for kosher food is about $25 million a year, according to the city.
The Jewish population of the city of Buenos Aires is about 156, 000, with about 244,000 in the greater Buenos Aires area, according to a local study by JOINT Buenos Aires.
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