Save the Deli (eBook)

David Saxs delightful travelogue is a journey across the United States and around the world that investigates the history, the diaspora, and the next generation of delicatessen.David Sax was alarmed by the state of Jewish delicatessen. As a journalist and lifelong deli lover, he watched in dismay as one beloved deli after another closed its doors, only to be reopened as some bland chain restaurant laying claim to the cuisine it just paved over. Was it still possible to save the deli? He writes about the food itselfhow it's made, who makes it best, and where to go for particular dishesand, ultimately, what he finds is hope: deli newly and lovingly made in places like Boulder, Colorado, longstanding deli traditions thriving in Montreal, and the resurrection of iconic institutions like New Yorks 2nd Avenue Deli. No cultural history of food has ever tasted so good.

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James Beard Award Winner: A cultural history and culinary travelogue from “the M.F.K. Fisher of pickled meats” (A. J. Jacobs). These days there are very few places you can get authentic hot pastrami sandwiches, delicious matzo ball soup, and chewy, crusty rye. In this travelogue, die-hard delicatessen lover David Sax searches out the best Jewish delis around the United States—and the world—and digs deep into the history of the deli: its characters, greatest triumphs, spectacular failures, and uncertain future.   Going far beyond New York landmarks, past and present, like Katz’s, the Carnegie Deli, and the Second Avenue Deli, to Chicago, Florida, LA, Montreal, Toronto, Paris, and beyond, Save the Deli is the story of diaspora, and of one man’s quest to save a defining element of the culture—and the food—he loves. It even includes a glossary of food and Yiddish terms, for the goyim or the woefully assimilated. Just don’t read it on an empty stomach.   “An epic journey, akin to The Odyssey but with Rolaids.” —Roger Bennett, author of Bar Mitzvah Disco