It has been many months since we last did a round-up of new online sources for kosher gourmet products, so here’s the latest:

KOSHERGOURMETMART.COM
* offers one-stop shopping for over 400 kosher gourmet products
* extensive selection from across the online world, including igourmet’s cheeses, Sweethearts Three chocolates, Marzipan’s famous rugelach, and Rue Lafayette’s French delicacies
* also includes several non-food gifts

So far, it looks like all of KGM’s products are already available on other sites, but if their guarantee is valid that all products are the same price as at the manufacturers’ websites, it would make sense to do all your specialty shopping at KGM.

Though I’ve never been a fan of the osCommerce open source ecommerce package which KGM uses to drive its site, due to its poor marks in out-of-the-box aesthetics and usability, sites like CheeseSupply.com, for example, certainly succeed in improving their osCommerce-driven site from its original design. Alyssa Kaplan, KGM’s creator, was very receptive to a couple of usability concerns I sent her way, so I expect her site to continue improving in the coming months. Once a few missing images are filled in, some empty categories get loaded with products (or removed until they’re full), and more products have extensive descriptions, the site will be much more user-friendly.

KOSHER DEPOT
* manufacturer, importer, and distributor of high-end and exotic kosher products
* offers food-service products/quantities through retail site open to public
* world’s largest selection of kosher Asian products (miso, fermented black beans, sushi ingredients, etc.)
* bulk cheeses from several producers, bulk meat, bulk fish, lots more
* very competitive wholesale prices
* weekly truck delivery along eastern seaboard (from DC to Boston) offers serious savings in shipping costs

Let me just get this out of the way first: the site really doesn’t need a Flash intro page. Visitors should be taken directly to the store. Aside from that (and my previously-stated aversion to osCommerce), this site is a great resource, especially if you have a dedicated freezer for bulk purchases. Kosher Depot really is the “Victoria’s Secret of the kosher food industry,” as Jeff Nathan puts it… truly scintillating.

Many of their products aren’t available anywhere else, but I broke down several of the cheese prices to see how competitive they were with retail stores. Anderson International’s 6 lb. Mozzarella Brick worked out to be $3.08/lb, almost two dollars cheaper than Trader Joe’s price for a pound of kosher mozzarella. On the other hand, Ahava Foods’ Monterey Jack came in at an unimpresssive $5.53/lb.

The same was true of Kosher Depot’s meat. Their caterer-ready chicken seemed overpriced, but fresh tuna loin and beef rib eye, both at $7.95/lb, are very enticing.

I plan to make an order next week from these folks, so I’ll report back about the experience.

Overall, it’s promising to see more online kosher stores, especially with the wide selection of these two sites. Maybe someday the power of the Internet will bring prices much lower so it won’t be as oppressive to attain “the finer side of everyday kosher living.”