Nick Bernardi (@ohnickyboy) pulled into what looked like an ordinary Dunkin’ Donuts in Jackson Township, New Jersey, ordered a bacon sandwich. Then he got an abrupt introduction to kosher food — and the texture of plant-based pork substitutes.
“Didn’t realize it was kosher”
Bernardi opens the clip mid-realization. “We just went to a Dunkin’ Donuts, didn’t realize it was kosher,” he says, showing an open sandwich. “Let me show you the bacon real quick. What the f*** is that?”
The strips don’t separate from the cheese so much as fuse to it. “It’s staining the f****** cheese,” he says, voice climbing. Then comes the verdict every reviewer dreads and every comment section waits for: “That… it smells like f****** dog food. Like, it… what the f***?”
What Bernardi came across wasn’t a bad batch, nor “dog food.” It’s likely veggie bacon. The Jackson location—sitting near the border of heavily Jewish Orthodox Lakewood — swapped its menu to comply with kosher directives, which is why his “bacon” didn’t come from a pig. In fact, the egg and cheese in the clip likely aren’t a real egg or cheese.
Lakewood isn’t an Orthodox neighborhood, but it’s an Orthodox-majority municipality. The Census Bureau estimated the township’s population at 140,000 in 2024, making it the fourth most populous municipality in New Jersey. The driver is Beth Medrash Govoha (BMG), the yeshiva that Rabbi Aharon Kotler founded in 1943. Under his grandsons, BMG has grown from a dozen students in its first year to over 7,000, making it the largest Jewish school outside Israel.
What is kosher?
There is much to understand about what is kosher and what is not, and who gets to call something kosher. Kosher isn’t just some loose concept of religious eating for Jewish people. It is a legal system. It’s codified in the Torah and elaborated across centuries of rabbinic literature; kashrut governs what observant Jews can eat, how it’s prepared, and which combinations the kitchen will never permit.
For example, pork and shellfish are absolutely out — hence why Bernardi’s “bacon” wasn’t the salty, crispy strips of meat that he expected.
Under kashrut, meat and dairy can never touch. Items even have to be stored in ways to maintain proper food prep. Animals must be slaughtered a specific way, by a trained hand, under supervision, which no non-kosher fast-food restaurants could ever guarantee. A rabbinical agency certifies the result, posts its seal (typically near the door of the establishment), and stakes its reputation on every plate that leaves the line.
Why a Dunkin’ sells veggie bacon
Regional and local variations within chains aren’t uncommon. But people were stunned to learn that there’s such a thing as a kosher Dunkin’ Donuts.
“What do you mean KOSHER DUNKIN lmfaooooo,” asked one person. “Looks straight outta Roblox,” joked one commenter.
“I like crispy turkey bacon as an alternative, but not BEGGIN strips,” another person wrote.
Kosher Dunkin’s aren’t a marketing gimmick. Shore News Network reported last year that the New Prospect Road location converted to a kosher menu, meaning customers can’t order a bacon, egg, and cheese or signature sausage sandwich, and will instead find veggie bacon and cheese sandwiches, tuna salad, and other kosher alternatives. The outlet pinned the shift to one variable: a large portion of the surrounding population is Orthodox Jewish, which led to the chain’s switch. A Dunkin’ one mile away on Manhattan Street kept its pork.
Behind the swap sits a supervising rabbinate, not corporate. The Lakewood Kashrus Organization’s (LKO) mashgiach, Rabbi Yosef Tesler, confirmed in a letter to The Lakewood Scoop that the three kosher Dunkin’ stores — Todd Plaza, Monmouth Medical Center Southern Campus, and Jackson on South New Prospect Road — are under LKO supervision, with lists posted in each location specifying which items are pareve and which are milchig.
Translation for Bernardi: The bacon was always going to be a vegetable.
The Big Lead reached out to Bernardi and Dunkin’ Donuts via email for more information.
