Torontoist says “Save the Last Deli”. A review with illustration.
Illustration by Sasha Plotnikova/Torontoist.
Cool pic huh? Supposedly that’s me. I didn’t realize I was that grey. Or weird looking.
It goes along with a review of the book by Torontoist. I think it’s a pretty good one.
Freelance journalist and native Torontonian David Sax received death threats from New York, blushing gratitude from LA, and lots of chatter from cities in between, all due to his newly released book, Save the Deli: In Search of Perfect Pastrami, Crusty Rye, and the Heart of Jewish Delicatessen. Within its pages, Sax passes judgement on which towns have the best delis (hence all the civic pride), but his real concern is how these emporiums of comfort food are rapidly disappearing from our culinary landscape, disconnecting Jews and the population at large from a vital aspect of Jewish culture. During his travels across North America and Europe, Sax had moments of despair (his working title for a time was The Death of the Deli), but he met too many dedicated and passionate people, fighting to keep the tradition alive, to give up that easily.
Sax’s parents are originally from the smoked meat mecca of Montréal, but they moved to Toronto in the ’70s, as many anglophone Jews did after the passing of Bill 101, which made French the official language in the province of Québec. Once here, the family began making weekly visits to Yitz’s Delicatessen on Eglinton, where David’s love of hearty deli fare blossomed. After high school, Sax went back to his parents’ hometown to attend McGill University where he researched and wrote a term paper on deli for his Sociology of Jews in North America class—which, unbeknownst to him at the time, would become his debut tome.
Save the Deli chronicles Sax’s odyssey driving from city to city and stopping up to four times a day to sit, eat, and talk with owners, cutters, cooks, waitstaff, and bussers at iconic Jewish delis (e.g. Katz’s in Manhattan, est.1888; Schwartz’s in Montréal, est.1928), as well as some of the most obscure. Everywhere he goes, he’s met with colourful characters whose stories depict a troubling trend: rising rents, skyrocketing food costs, and a general population eschewing high-calorie foods have forced many out of business. In between stories of woe, however, were flickers of hope, and Sax came across several places which are thriving, one of which we can proudly call our own.
