Drop Squad Kitchen- First Kosher Restaurant in Wilmington, Delaware In 20 Years

FROM THE JEWISH EXPONENT

Drop Squad Kitchen features a menu of dishes made with nuts, fruits and vegetables —
ingredients that are meat-free and dairy-free.
And the vegan soul food restaurant also has become the first restaurant to receive kosher
certification in Wilmington, Del. in 20 years.

Rabbi Steven Saks, who enjoyed some tacos at the restaurant — his first meal out in 10 years
— hopes the restaurant can help grow Delaware’s Jewish community.
“It’s one of these chicken-and-egg type of things,” said Saks, head of the Vaad HaKashrut of
Delaware, who certified the restaurant. “In order to help a community grow, it helps to have a
kosher restaurant and, if a community is big enough, it can support a kosher restaurant.”
Besides tacos, the restaurant serves a mix of soul food cuisine like cornbread, chili and mac
and cheese, as well as smoothies, shakes and burgers.

Abundance Child, the founder and owner of the restaurant, said she did not seek out the
kosher certification. Drop Squad Kitchen has always attracted Jewish customers, and people
had been coming to her for a while to tell her she should get kosher certification. She said the
whole process only took about a week.

“Nowadays, vegan is hopping,” Child said. “Vegan is the new black. Everybody wants their
plant-based something. … People want different types of options so much that they they’re
willing to eat a veggie burger at McDonald’s or Burger King.”