(Jewish Group) Why Grocery Stores Get Jewish Holidays All Wrong
Did you hear the one about the grocery store that was selling ham (yes, actual ham) for Hanukkah? How about the supermarket that constructed a pyramid’s worth of matzo boxes just before Rosh Hashanah, or the one that stocked hamantaschen next to the honey bears? Over the last decade, the arrival of the Jewish holidays has increasingly been heralded on social media (and traditional media, too) with a parade of anecdotes from customers encountering stores’ well-meaning attempts to offer holiday products that spectacularly miss the mark.
People’s reactions over finding yahrzeit candles on a Hanukkah display, or photos of challah announcing the Passover section range from amusement to profound annoyance. How difficult, these posts and articles ask, could it be for a supermarket to do a little research? A Christian shopper would never be subjected to the humiliation of finding a Cadbury Creme Egg display before Christmas, or packaged fruit cakes on Easter!
As it turns out, however, “getting it right” is harder than one might think. And while a photo of a grocery store marketing boneless smoked ham as ideal for a Jewish holiday is objectively startling, there is more to the story than just a meme. Behind the punchline is the rather remarkable fact that the holiday section is there at all.
If you walk into a typical grocery store in a town with any discernible Jewish population, you are likely to find a shelf or two dedicated to Ashkenazi comfort and ritual foods: things like matzo ball mix, egg noodles, bottled borscht, and kosher grape juice. These products are often squashed somewhere along the store’s vaguely defined “ethnic” food aisle, which houses Indian curry sauces, packaged soba noodles, and other products that are deemed outside “mainstream” American tastes.
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Obviously, ham is not a Chanukkah meal. LOL! Ham isn't kosher.
Challah, while traditionally Jewish, doesn't go with Passover because we don't (aren't supposed to) eat leavened products during that time.
Some foods are made specifically for Passover and some are not.
There are some desserts which are associated with one holiday, like Hamantaschen to Purim, but almost only that holiday. As the article says, it would be like having Cadbury Crème Eggs during Christmas or chocolate Santas for Easter.
There are some I am sure I am missing, but in rural Oklahoma, we have almost no Jewish food. There is one store that now has a shelf of Jewish food and mixes, which is nice, because I can get something traditional if the mood strikes, or I want to punish my husband! 
Hopefully, a few others will chime in with their thoughts.
