I’ve been running the blog savethedeli.com for nearly three years, and in that time I’ve received hundreds of random emails and comments from deli lovers all over the world. Some are often compelled to write because of something I posted on the blog, but often they just want to share their memories. I love these emails. They’re an unfiltered look into the brains of deli lovers, and to conclude this sweet run on Jewcy, I’m going to share the highlights with you. Behold…the mind of deli’s faithful (punctuation and spelling has been left intact…or lack thereof):
"finally this is where my digestive system longed for" "What in the hell has brought about the alleged mass exodus of delis from Brooklyn? When I left there, fifty years ago (40 of which I have lived in rural isolation in southern appalachia), there were multi hundreds, many of them superb. We just took them for granted, like the automat, and "the papers," i.e., the News and the Mirror."
"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!" "I am 11 years old and working on an important history project–my topic is Schwartz’s in Montreal. I found your web site while doing my research. Your writing is really interesting and I wanted to let you now that I believe in Save the Deli! I hope you will write back — its okay with my mom that you send your reply to her email."
"I live in Midland, Ontario (close to Barrie) how do I find real chopped liver in this part of the world?. For a guy who lived almost next door to the Carnegie Deli in NY for twenty years I feel like I’m in no-man’s land."
"i live in south florida since streits no longer makes old fashion farfel i am looking for a place that does make a farfel product similar to theres i would appreciate any information you may have concerning the above thanking u inadvance"
"what is the origin of a deli sandwich being accompanied by a pickle spear?"
"I wonder if anyone can answer this question. About 35 years ago I bought a 5 pound kosher salami. It has been hanging on the wall for all this time in a room that is usually between 65 and 75 degrees. There are no signs of deterioration, although, of course, it is knarly and wrinkled as an aged salami would be. I have no intention of cutting into it, but I am curious if anyone knows or has opinions about how safe this 35 year old salami would be to eat."
our grandmother is a baby boomber and she is also a survivor of the holocaust. i’m so happy that she is still in good health till this day~
The gods do nothing until they’ve blinded the minds of the wicked.