A Traveling Jewish Deli Exhibit Tells an American Tale in Pickles and Pastrami

Los Angeles — Fading, Carnegie Deli’s 2008 photo evokes a world of heaping pastrami sandwiches, the pungent smell of salt water and smoke, with tourists lined up on 7th Avenue in New York.

A few steps away, the walls are lined with kosher carving knives, wheelbarrows, pickle barrels, and tattered travel suitcases used by Lithuanian immigrants. Reminiscent of the Lower East Side a century ago, they were crowded with Jewish immigrants from Eastern Europe while creating food and new types of restaurants.

A valuable artifact in this attic is “”I have what she has “: Jewish deli,An exhibition recording the rise of that restaurant culture in the United States. This is the most extensive survey of this culinary facility attempted by major museums, by all signs. (Why is that name? Do you need to ask? )

The museum, however, is far from the row houses in Lower Manhattan: Scarball Cultural CenterCreated a show about 20 miles northwest of downtown Los Angeles, and next year, New York Historical Society..

The exhibition is a quest for food and culture that flourished in New York and subsequent Los Angeles, along with cities such as Chicago, Houston, Miami, and Indianapolis, as well as the large Jewish and show business communities. Thus, it investigates the story of immigrants as the force behind changing American tastes: as the curator points out, wheelbarrows foresaw food trucks currently run by a new generation of immigrants. ..A grainy film clip near the start of the show shows police officers fanning out from the streets of New York in the early 1900s, a scene reminiscent of the 2020s. Crackdown in Los Angeles For unlicensed food vendors.

“The show argues that the Jewish deli is an American component,” said Kate Thurston, one of the curators. “It’s American food and was born of immigrants.”

However, there is something elegant in the exhibition. Deli and the food they serve remind us that they are not as popular in Jewish life as they were fifty years ago. The show is a practice not only in history but also in nostalgia. There were an estimated 3,000 Jewish deli in New York City in the 1930s. According to the New York Historical Society, there are now only a few dozen.

Immigrant children, who lived behind the side dish department, did not, in principle, take their parents to the family business. As they grew up, they became more interested in Chinese and Italian food than smoked meat, bagels and knish that filled the family table. Demand for Kosher food cooked under the supervision of rabbis is not as strong as in the first decades of migrant arrival. Currently, most supermarkets have “deli counters”. And many delicatessen couldn’t survive the Covid-19 pandemic.

“What does this mean when Jewish culture becomes part of a museum exhibit?” Said Ted Marwin, author of “Pastorami on Rye,” the 2015 history of Jewish delicatessen. rice field. “Is my experience already a fossil of the past? Is it a kind of last gasping?”

With the menu of New York’s Stage Deli (now closed like Carnegie Deli) and the celebration of Mazzo Ball Soup, Chopped Liver, Knish, Kugel, Salami and Pickles, there’s no doubt about “I’ll Have”. Herring — Attracts people who want to relive the memories of their long-standing grandmothers, uncles and neighborhoods.However Lara RabinovicA food writer and historian who helped curate the exhibition said it was not intended for a sentimental journey.

“When I boarded, there were two caveats, one was that the Jewish deli had to be treated as part of the American landscape,” she said. “And second, I couldn’t give in to kitsch and nostalgia. When it comes to Jewish food, deli and Jewish food can evoke a lot of conversation and a lot of kitsch and nostalgia. “

Margaret K. Hofer, director of the New York Historical Society, said the exhibition was designed to bring to life the lessons of clearly dry history. Bagel Bakers Local 338 In New York by a Yiddish-speaking organizer — eye-catching menus from vintage delicatessen and dazzling photos of embarrassed politicians. (This is President Barack Obama’s visit Canter’s Deli In Los Angeles in 2014.Over there is Senator Ted Cruz Shapiro delicatessen In Indianapolis. )

“I think this is a kind of perfect historical exhibition, which can attract visitors and surprise them with all kinds of history,” Hofer added.

There are more in New York than Jewish deli.So, sit down on a pastrami sandwich that is overloaded and expensive Second Avenue Deli Also Katz’s Delicatessen It is usually an agenda that tourists have to do. However, the exhibition was devised by two women who live in the San Fernando Valley and are curators of Scarball, a center specializing in Jewish culture.

“We are both volleyball girls,” Laura Mart said of her and her colleague, Thurston. “We like to eat. And there was one of the 4pm snack breaks and something like spitting out different ideas. We often get pretty crazy about ideas and break them down from there. To do.”

In the Greater Los Angeles Second largest Jewish population In the United States, and more than a classic Jewish deli share. Skirball CEO Jessie Kornberg said he saw the benefits of speaking from outside New York.

“Much of the history of deli has been told by New Yorkers or with a focus on deli in New York,” Kornberg said. “This exhibition is deliberately nationwide and undoubtedly reflects our view as a West Coast institution.”

The Jewish deli was born in New York, but as the Jews began to move elsewhere, so did the restaurants.

“Jews have traveled all over the country,” said Jiggy Gruber, star of the 2014 documentary “Deliman” on Jewish food. Now run delicatessen In Houston. “The reason we find so many delicatessen in LA is for all the Jews who invented the film that emigrated to Los Angeles.”

New York, a city that has never left the battle, may be forgiven for feeling a bit procrastinated by this West Coast intruder. However, Hofer of the New York Historical Society said he was drawn to the idea of ​​scarball the moment he heard it.

“It’s not just about New York, it’s about America,” she said. “So there is no competition as to who can say it.”

The exhibition will also head to Houston and Skokie, Illinois. At each stop, it will be adjusted to include local folklore.

The New York show on November 11th will explore Jewish deli in Queens, Brooklyn, the Bronx and Manhattan. Find the best pastrami sandwiches in the city by revisiting the 1979 quest by New York Times restaurant critic Mimi Sheraton, featuring photos of Mayor Edward I. Koch and Congressman Bella S. Abzug at Deli, New York. .. (Winner: Pastrami King in Queen’s Cue Garden. Go to the Upper East Side and a sign from that location will appear at the Historical Society.)

Museum exhibits are usually based on sights and sounds such as paintings, sculptures and loop videos. This had the challenge of communicating taste and smell and was not an easy task in galleries where food was not allowed.

Attempts by food stylists to reproduce deli sandwich replicas from non-food ingredients have turned into an unattractive mess. “We had a small panic attack on this corned beef sandwich,” Mart said during a recent walkthrough at the exhibition.

Mr. Thurston heard the story. “We asked for corned beef with mustard. Mustard, in violation of Kosher’s law, looked like thick, thick American cheese mixed with meat and dairy products.” Couldn’t put it. “

The food manufacturer pulled out the plastic cheese from the sandwich and went to work before considering it ready for the exhibition.

The exhibition is full of impressive artifacts that work in the museum, such as the original neon signs recovered from Drexler’s deli. Opened by Holocaust survivors Held in North Hollywood in the early 1950s, it is now closed. It has a yellow star and the word Kosher in Hebrew.

The curator recovered the cigarette machine leaning against the wall. Kibits Room Canter’s Deli was once a late-night hangout for rock stars and actors. There are also matchbooks from restaurants across the country and delicatessen menus in New York’s theater district, many of which include sandwiches named after performers such as Ginger Rogers Special and Dean Martin-Jerry Lewis. It is attached.

At the end of the exhibition, there is also a screen that recreates the classic deli scene of the 1989 movie “Billy Crystal and Meg Ryan.”When Harry meets Sally“That influenced the name of the exhibition.

The exhibition’s Los Angeles performance was scheduled to end on September 4, but due to the large number of visitors, the museum manager held it until September 18. New York.

“But what do people get from it,” said author Marwin. “I have a lot of questions. Can I bring the deli home?” I want to say no. How do you get the clock back? The place occupied by deli in Jewish culture no longer exists. “

“”“Get What She Has”: Jewish Deli “will be held at the Scarball Cultural Center until September 18th. It will be held at the New York Historical Society from November 11th to April 2nd, 2023. the Holocaust Museum Houston From May 4, 2023 to August 13, 2023.And that Illinois Holocaust Museum & Education Center From October 22, 2023 to April 14, 2024 in Skokie, Illinois.