I am sitting in New York’s 2nd Avenue Deli (which, confusingly, is on 33rd Street), tucking into a triple-decker sandwich of chopped liver and egg salad on rye. If I listen carefully, I can hear the walls of my aorta slowly furring up.
Across the table, my husband is contemplating a bowl of golden chicken soup, in the middle of which sits a kneidl the size of a cricket ball. This is food not just to be eaten, but to be celebrated, and celebrated it certainly is in a new exhibition in the city.
‘I’ll Have What She’s Having’: The Jewish Deli, which first opened at the Skirball Cultural Center in Los Angeles, is now at the New-York Historical Society, taking visitors on a delicious journey through a unique culinary history that pays tribute to the enduring power of the Jewish delicatessen.
When thousands of Jewish immigrants from Central and Eastern Europe arrived in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, they brought with them memories of their favourite foods and these evolved as Jews adapted the recipes to what was available as they settled across the Land of the Free.
By the mid-1930s, there were around 5,000 delicatessens in New York, attracting both Jewish and non-Jewish customers. Delis had become a cornerstone of American food culture. They were more than a place to eat: they provided a sense of community, a place for a nosh and natter, somewhere where big deals were made over even bigger sandwiches.
Manny's deli, Chicago (Photo: Alamy)
Later, for those who had survived the Holocaust, the delis became a place of refuge, somewhere to find companionship alongside delicious food.
Refugees such as Abe Lebewohl, pictured above, who owned the 2nd Avenue Deli, forged new lives away from the horrors of the concentration camps and the delis became a place where they could celebrate their culture and religion in a new way.
Over time some delis became more Jew-ish than kosher. As adherence to dietary laws waned, the strict separation of dairy and meat products no longer mattered to many customers.
Cheesecakes and smoked salmon (lox) and cream-cheese bagels found their place alongside the pastrami sandwiches. Go into a Jew-ish deli today and you can have your corned beef sandwich topped with a slice of cheese (oy vey).
A visit to the exhibition is guaranteed to set your stomach rumbling. On display is a selection of typical deli foods, including the ubiquitous matzah ball soup (they tend not to call it chicken soup over the pond) and salami. These look so incredibly realistic it is hard to believe they are made of plastic and resin.
Other exhibits include a section devoted to advertising, such as the “You Don’t Have to Be Jewish to Love Levy’s Real Jewish Rye” campaign, which depicted diverse members of American communities tucking into the bread.
There are also costumes on display from the popular television series The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, which contained several scenes shot in a deli. Excerpts from Curb Your Enthusiasm are shown too, alongside surely the most notorious deli scene of all: Meg Ryan’s faked orgasm in Katz’s Deli from When Harry Met Sally — the famous line “I’ll have what she’s having” gives the exhibition its title.
Carnegie Deli (Photo: Ei Katsumata/Alamy)
Today many of the city’s more famous establishments, such as Carnegie Deli have closed, though Katz’s still survives, with a sign pointing to where Ryan experienced her memorable moment of bliss.
There may no longer be thousands of delis in New York but there will always be a place for an overstuffed corned beef sandwich with a knish on the side. Will you be wanting a pickle with that?
‘I’ll Have What She’s Having’: The Jewish Deli is at the New-York Historical Society Museum & Library until April 2.
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