I Found Real Kosher Food!

Italian food usually doesn't carry a hechsher like American food does. The few people who keep kosher here just know what products to use and what to stay away from. The situation makes kosher life seem much less strict than it would be at home, like the bakery in the ghetto that carries assorted pastries and products, but only the bread and pizza are kosher, according to the sign on the door. Needless to say, I was in shock yesterday when, in a normal grocery that I use pretty often, I found Italian jam with a Star-K hechsher! It's the first time I've found kosher jam in this country, (aside from a French product I found in the Kosher Market in Florence) and I was ecstatic. I felt as if I should buy up the entire stock just in case they run out before I make it back to the store.

After calming down, I continued to the pasta aisle and found another surprise: Italian pasta with an Italian hechsher!
If you can't see the hechser, it says siKs, which stands for "Services International Kosher Supervision" (siks.org) and seems entirely legit. Now if I can get them to stock kosher for Pesach food, that would be perfect.