Buzz builds in Israel and Miami, plus a great new book and Deli Heaven relaunches
להציל את המעדנייה (that’s Save the Deli in the mother tongue)
Sue Fishkoff’s JTA article from the other day got reprinted in the Jerusalem Post, and it’s gotten quite popular. It’s gotten 4.71 out of 5 stars by readers, and already has 31 comments on it. It’s also the Editor’s Pick online, which is a real honor, considering that Israel is hardly a place suffering from a lack of news. The comments, from both sites, are the best part of this.
Here’s my personal favorite from the JTA, in which the commenter responds to another who says delis should die because they’re unhealthy and we eat better today: “Speaking of health, would you care to compare the general health of the U.S. population when the delis were thriving and now? The health is worse now but the medicine and treatment are better . You eat your soy protein and I’ll have a deli-pastrami any day. Look at the high school class pictures from 50 years ago. No whales then. Now? Children with I-Pods “walking” laps. No running now. It would kill the little beasts!”
Ahh the little beasts.
And here’s my favorite gem from “Al” in the Jerusalem Post: “I live in Montreal and I cant find a decent kosher smoked meat sandwich for the life of me. What I have is a 1000 variations of coucous. You can die from that Moc/Israeli garbage…Give me flanken or give me death. If there is any women out there who can cook up a mean flanken, give me a buzz. Flanken Now!”
Now that’s a singles ad any woman can sink their teeth into. Flanken. Now!
A few other things to report.
The food blog at the alt weekly Miami New Times has a good, Florida centric, preview of Save the Deli.
Being an alt weekly, it goes right after the jugular in the title “Jerry’s Famous Deli Gets Slammed In New Book on Delicatessens”.
To those who’ve read about the death of the Rascal House on this blog, that’ll come as no surprise.
Here’s some of what the article says:
Thou shalt not eat at any establishment calling itself a “New York deli” where the following is also served: sushi, Thai food, pizza, pasta, lobster.
This is one of the Ten Commandments of Jewish Deli according to journalist David Sax, author of the just-published Save the Deli: In Search of Perfect Pastrami, Crusty Rye, and the Heart of Jewish Delicatessen (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt). Alarmed by the state of Jewish delis, Sax set out on a mostly nationwide search for the best purveyors of corned beef, kishkas, the whole kit ‘n kaboodle, going from New York to L.A., Salt Lake City to St. Louis, from “Coast to Coast With Latkes To Boast” to “Travels in the Deli Diaspora”. Pastramiphiles will love going along for the ride behind the scenes, where the heroes are small, family-run delis that care — and the villains are large, corporate deli chains that don’t (such as Jerry’s Famous Deli, Inc.):
“The death of America’s Jewish delicatessens isn’t unique. The problems that affect (them) continue to be harbingers of what will eventually happen to everyone else. When it comes to where Americans eat, corporations have leveraged your appetite into stock options.”
CLICK HERE TO READ THE REST OF THE PIECE. ESPECIALLY IF YOU’RE IN FLORIDA.
The website Deli Heaven, which used to be up, but went down for a while, is back up as Deli Heaven. It lists Jewish delis around the country and the world, and I suggest you send info on your favorite local delis, so it can be added. Check it out.
Finally, there’s a great new book out that I’ve yet to read but really want to. The Mom and Pop Store is partly about author Robert Spector’s father’s butcher shop in New Jersey, but it soon turns into a quest where Spector (a well known business journalist), travels around the country visiting different mom and pop shops, including Hobby’s Deli in downtown Newark, NJ (run by the Brummer family).
As you can probably tell, this book isn’t much of a reach for lovers of Save the Deli. They are both quests based on the idea that the small, family owned businesses of this country are not only endangered, they’re also worth preserving. Sounds like a great read.
September 4th, 2009 at 2:57 pm
And today it ran in the weely Buffalo Jewish Review! Larry