Unbreaded

In A Pickle: David Sax Crusades To Save The Deli

We’re giving away a copy of David Sax’s book Save the Deli: In Search of Perfect Pastrami, Crusty Rye, and the Heart of Jewish Delicatessen. Read the post to learn how to win!

David Sax is our kind of guy. The Canadian born Jewish freelance writer spent the past year or so traveling the globe to nosh at over 140 delicatessens. Raised on traditional foods like matzah ball soup, blintzes, corned beef, and tongue, Sax knows when he’s found the perfect bite. Through the years though, he has experienced a horrible revelation: the Jewish delicatessen as we know it is soon to become extinct.

Thus David Sax set out on his aforementioned journey, keeping a journal along the way, which developed into a book, Save the Deli: In Search of Perfect Pastrami, Crusty Rye, and the Heart of Jewish Delicatessen. From a stint slicing pastrami behind the corner at Katz’s in New York’s Lower East Side to a tour of a plant that pumps out thousands of corned beefs a day in the Midwest, the author takes us through the clogged arteries of Jewish food lore. Both a history lesson and a drool worthy recount of all the food he encounters along the way, Save the Deli is a fun and informative read, a state of the union of sorts for corned beef and pastrami.

David Sax will appear tonight in New York at Ben’s Kosher Deli at 7:30pm and on November 3rd at the Philadelphia Free Library. You can also read more at the Save the Deli blog.

To win a free copy of Save the Deli, answer in the comments: corned beef, or pastrami? We’ll close submissions on Wednesday October 21, at midnight EST and pick a winner at random.