SAVE THE DELI

A deli enthusiast embarks on an international tour of his favorite food, looking for the last authentic deli establishments.

Growing up in Toronto, journalist Sax went with his family to a Jewish deli every Friday, where he alternated between corned-beef and salami sandwiches, always preceded by a bowl of matzoh ball soup. When he moved to New York after college, he was understandably excited about moving into deli mecca. However, concerned that delis were becoming merely bastions of tourism and franchising, the author decided to go on a quest—starting in New York, traversing the continent and then moving to Europe—to witness and record their history and future. His story starts out with promise, as he chronicles his one-night gig on the pastrami lines at the famed Katz’s Deli on the Lower East Side. The final legs of his journey, which took him to London, France and Poland—home to the roots of much Jewish-American comfort food—are packed with interesting cultural and historical detail. But the middle of the country stretches out bleakly, with each city telling nearly the same story. From Detroit to Chicago to California, there seems to be little variation on the same plight—vestiges of a vibrant deli culture, a few iconic holdouts, but mostly controlled by large companies who supply substandard meat and try to compensate for mediocre food with splashy décor. Sax is an entertaining writer, and the descriptions of the food are often mouthwatering. Unfortunately, there are only so many ways to discuss corned-beef, pastrami and rye bread.

As warm and inviting as chicken soup, but not nearly as sustaining—another example of a book idea better suited for a long-form magazine piece.