The Story of the Jewish Deli

´I think the future of Jewish foods is that they´re incorporated into other menus and enrich them´.

Ken Raskin, Owner of Manny´s Cafeteria 

A graphic journey of Jewish food stories, The Jewish Deli by Ben Nadler is an illustrated guide of the staple foods of the North American Jewry but also a permanent questioning of its future. From the old times, Jewish communities adapted to the customs of the place they were hosted and translated local recipes into the kosher food love language. 

´When I bite into a good pastrami sandwich, I feel in my Askenazi blood that I am satisfying my basic human instincts´. Indeed, food meant for the Jewish immigration more than survival, it meant maintaining the identity and a reminder of the tastes from the ´old countries´. Thus, talking about a Jewish deli is a historical and existential adventure: ´A Jewish deli is begging to be illustrated, no detail too small to be appreciated, nowhere to look without some sort of secret delicacy waiting to be discovered´. 

Nadler´s enquiry is more than a graphic novel, it includes interviews with owners of successful delis, but also includes many historical and culinary details. When he refers to the stories and the people who made those delicious pastrami sandwiches, the magic of words and images are there to help. The book is not less serious than other encyclopedic approaches to Jewish food  asking very important questions about how tradition can survive in a world on the move, but also doing some outstanding justice to meals and products that are hardly mentioned those days - like Karnatzel.

The Jewish Deli is an important contribution to the emerging debate about the past and future of the Jewish Askenazi-inspired food, in the North American realm. Hopefully, there will be more similar approaches following the same curious yet humorous pathway.

Rating: 5 stars