There are limited options for those on campus who eat kosher.

Cary Wolovick, senior history major and member of NIU’s Hillel organization, finds very few places that students who eat kosher foods can go to in DeKalb.

Animals with split hooves are considered kosher, whereas animals such as pigs aren’t considered kosher, said Brandon Marks, president of Hillel. Meat and dairy products also cannot be eaten together.

“The only places that have kosher foods in DeKalb are Jewel and Schnuck’s, which have just a small section in their stores,” he said.

Wolovick said the university has offered a special meal once a year for students who eat kosher.

“During the time of Passover, kosher food was made available to students in Neptune,” Wolovick said.

Kosher foods become increasingly important for Jewish students that eat kosher when celebrating holidays such as Tuesday’s and Wednesday’s Rosh Hashanah.

Michael Stang, executive director for NIU Housing and Dining, said Passover has been the only holiday that they have done something special for.

“This is the only time because Hillel was the only group to have sat down with us a few years ago regarding a special menu for Passover,” Stang said.

If students want to get kosher food regularly, they have to go away from DeKalb.

“The nearest kosher restaurants to DeKalb are located in Chicago,” Wolovick said.

Goldie Pekarsky, executive director of the Jewish Federation of Greater Rockford, agrees with Wolovick.

“There’s one store in Rockford that has a kosher section but that is it,” she said. “Those that eat kosher here have to go to places in Chicago.”

Marks said he recently had to get kosher food from outside sources for their barbecue on Sept. 4.

“We went to grocery stores and meat markets and were only able to find kosher hot dogs,” he said. “We had rabbis come from Chicago to bring other kosher food.”

Marks feels that due to the Jewish community being small, many restaurants and stores won’t make too many accommodations for them.

“Out of the 25,000 students who go to NIU, only 300 of them are a part of the Jewish community,” Marks said. He also added that only a small portion of that number eats kosher strictly.

Brent Keller, senior human resource management and president of Student Association, thinks the lack of kosher places around NIU has to do with marketing reasons.

“Perhaps there isn’t a big market for it, and businesses choose to not do anything for financial reasons,” he said.

Marks thinks it would be great if changes were made to help those that eat kosher.

“It would be more convenient to those that have to go home or out of town just to get the food they can eat,” he said.