Kosher Meat: Hard to find in Toronto?

You might think situations like Gourmet Glatt , make kosher shopping inconvienent.Toronto now has an even bigger problem finding Kosher Meat. This is due to one of the largest distributors of Kosher Meat Perl's Meat and Delicatessen, a landmark in the city's Jewish community, being swallowed up by a four alarm fire.

Because it was the Sabbath, Perl did not know the fire had occurred until hours after it had happened because he did not answer the phone. Most stores in the heavily Jewish area were empty because of the Sabbath, which starts Friday at sunset and ends at nightfall Saturday.

He only viewed the hollowed-out remains of his store yesterday morning. To get inside the cordoned-off building, he showed his Ontario Health Insurance card to fire officials as identification.

"It was really distressing because there is so much history in that building. He built that business from nothing," said Perl's daughter, Cheryl.

Despite the damage, with typical optimism he told Cheryl he would be "back in business within a week." It will likely be months before the business is returned to normal, as Perl figures he will now have to find a temporary headquarters.

"There will be a lot of customers affected by this," said Perl, who could not resist adding in confidential tones to a reporter: "You know, at Perl's, it's all about quality on the table."