Wacky Mac vanished from Canadian grocery shelves and Jews are freaking out

The kosher food scarcity story of the year.
An empty shelf where Wacky Mac used to be at Savours in Toronto, Oct. 14, 2021. (Photo by Ellin Bessner)

Over the past few weeks, Canadian grocery stores in Jewish neighbourhoods have been ravaged by a bizarre calamity: they’re all out of Wacky Mac. From Kosher Quality in Montreal to Savours in Toronto to the Sobeys on Taylor in Winnipeg, Wacky Mac—a kosher staple for families craving macaroni and cheese—has completely disappeared from store shelves.

The cheese-powder drought has led Jewish Canadians to social media, where eager shoppers are hunting down the country’s few remaining boxes, while others sit clueless as to where all the funny-shaped pastas have vanished.

On today’s episode, we’ll hear from one Canadian woman who’s been trying to get to the bottom of the Wacky Mac shortage, as well as a few kosher grocers who are going to extraordinary lengths to get their hands on as much of the cheddar treat as possible.

What we talked about:

Credits

The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Victoria Redden is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We’re a member of The CJN Podcast Network; find more great Jewish podcasts at thecjn.ca.

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