I was one of the lucky ones (100,000 of us went to hotel programs this year) that had the good fortune to spend Passover with members of my family in a New Jersey hotel with a well-known chef. Without hanging around the kitchen, I could sense the many challenges the operator faced in feeding more than 1,000 guests. Would he be receiving the chickens (in short supply) in time? Would there be enough Coke products? With the prices he set months ago still relevant in the rapidly increasing prices for food he was paying now? My Whatsapp messages from other programs were no different which told me that most of the programs faced similar challenges irrespective of where they were.
Chicken shortage? No, there was plenty to go around and an abundance of beef and lamb. Imagine that beef and lamb became a replacement for chicken. Who would have thunk it? Matzoh shortage? Not this year as there seemed to be plenty to go around. There was a shortage of Diet Coke in my hotel but most of the independent kosher stores seemed to have a supply. Alternative diet drinks were Dr. Brown’s and Mayim Chaim.
