IDT Megabite Cafe

IDT Mega Bite Cafe
Restaurant information
Food type cafe, sushi
City New York City
Country United States
Other information cybercafe

IDT Megabite Cafe is considered the world's first kosher cybercafe.[1][2]

History

IDT Megabite Cafe (aka "IDT Mega Bite Cafe") is located in the New York City Diamond District.[1] Originally the internet café was a kosher cafe and pizza restaurant. The cafe restaurant had been purchased with the intention of converting it to a cybercafe. The conversion that took place in February 1997, which included a brand new interior and a kosher sushi bar, cost about $135,000 at the time.[2]

The cybercafe had the idea of offering free computer access when they opened. Most cybercafes charge an hourly rate usually in the range of $10 to $15 per hour. When IDT Megabite Cafe first opened in 1997 they placed about a dozen computers in the restaurant, one for each dining table. In addition, there were two separate computers just to check e-mails.[2]

A spokesperson of the IDT Corporation said a wider range of patrons came to the cafe because of the conversion. Orthodox Jews, who worked in the diamond district of New York city, had been the traditional customers. But now that it was a computerized cybercafe it would serve a more diverse crowd. To accommodate this clientele they stayed open two extra hours every night, except Fridays. On Fridays, the cafe closed one hour before the sun went down and didn't reopen until Sunday to follow the discipline of the Jewish Sabbath.[3]

IDT Megabite Cafe was founded by a 31-year-old person who works the cash register during active lunch times. He is from Israel and partnered with IDT Corporation for the venture. Before the kosher cybercafe came about in 1997, the Jewish people of New York City had no place to go out to eat and surf the Net that was serving an exclusively kosher menu. When IDT Megabite Café opened in 1997 there were over 1,300 cybercafes around the world, none other to be known as officially kosher. Initially a bearded, black-hatted rabbi was the inspector to make sure the food on the menu met the Jewish tradition and the Jewish dietary laws. The café became popular for Orthodox weddings, bar mitzvahs and other Jewish ceremonial events. There was a separate sushi rabbi that made sure the sushi did not contain shrimp.[4]

The cybercafe’s computers had to follow certain Jewish traditions, as did the cafe's menu. The Jewish ideal is a clean body and a clean mind. When the café was full at lunch time, patrons could look at a large poster behind the computers giving them a list of approved items to surf when they got access to a computer. This list included web addresses for the Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations of America and Project Genesis, an educational program for those who follow the Jewish faith.[4]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 Kane, Joseph (1997). Famous First Facts, A Record of First Happenings, Discoveries, and Inventions in American History (5th ed.). H.W. Wilson Company. p. 129, item 2467. ISBN 0-8242-0930-3. The first kosher cybercafe ... the IDT Megabite Cafe in New York City’s diamond district, opened in the spring of 1997.
  2. 1 2 3 Chen, David W. (February 13, 1997). "Food Megabite, Anyone? This Cybercafe Is Kosher". The New York Times. New York. Retrieved 21 June 2013.
  3. ↑ "IDT Pays Up, Cuts Back, Mixes Kosher and Cyber". Wired Magazine. 1997-02-17. Retrieved 20 June 2013.
  4. 1 2 Mendels, Amela (August 11, 1997). "Where Food and Surfing Are Kosher". New York: The New York Times of the Web. Retrieved 20 June 2013.

Bibliography

Coordinates: 40°45′22″N 73°58′49″W / 40.75609°N 73.98027°W / 40.75609; -73.98027

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