Tablet Magazine » pickles

Hungry for Assimilation

Stephanie Butnick — Thu, 04 Aug 2011 16:36:28 +0000

It’s always tough being an immigrant. For New Yorkers a century ago, nothing was more noticeable—or repugnant—than the cooking styles different immigrant groups brought to the proverbial melting pot. Spices and seasonings used by newcomers went so far as to cause alarm for politicians and public health officials. Jane Ziegelman, who wrote 97 Orchard, a book chronicling 19th century immigrant groups in New York through their food proclivities, explores the challenges faced by immigrants looking to preserve elements of their heritage while trying to assimilate.

“In other words,” she writes, “to be a good American, you had to eat like one.”

One big problem? The pickle, beloved snack of the Jewish immigrant community. “Pungent beyond all civilized standards, toxic to both the stomach and the psyche, the pickle was seen as morally suspect,” Ziegelman writes. More problematic than its existence, however, was its rampant popularity among all sectors of the Jewish population:

“Consumption of pickles was highest in Jewish neighborhoods like the Lower East Side, where Eastern European peddlers sold them from pushcarts. Their merchandise included whole pickled cabbages, string beans, green tomatoes, peppers, mushrooms, eggplant, apples, watermelon and, of course, cucumbers. All of these goods were produced within the tenements, just a few hundred yards from the carts that dispensed them.”

Luckily for modern-day pickle fans, not even bilingual cookbooks or cooking classes held in settlement houses could eradicate the power of the pickle.

Immigrant Identities, Preserved in Vinegar? [NYT]
Related: Motor City Cured
On The Bookshelf

Sundown: Abbas Slams Israel

Marc Tracy — Thu, 24 Jun 2010 21:00:33 +0000

• Palestinian Authority President Abbas blamed Israel for the peace talks’ halt, supported an international probe into the flotilla incident, and opposed the Gaza blockade. [Ynet]

• Foreign Minister Lieberman invited his European counterparts to Gaza. [Ynet]

• The Jewish World Cup will be played Sunday on Randall’s Island, between Manhattan and The Bronx in the East River. The soccer tournament will involve New York-based Jewish players hailing from 15 countries. [JTA]

• Once strong Zionists, the Irish now tend to find themselves in the Palestinians’ corner. Why? [Foreign Policy]

• Ess-A-Pickle, late of the Lower East Side, has officially opened at its new digs in Boro Park, Brooklyn. [Forward]

• Kalmen Opperman, “the elder statesman of the clarinet,” died at 90. [NYT]

I’ve never seen it described this way, but you tell me that the house band at the Mos Eisley Cantina doesn’t sound like some sort of klezmer-jazz fusion.

Now Let Us Praise Pastrami

Sara Ivry — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 17:00:35 +0000

This year’s heavy weight title for world’s biggest deli champion (Oh, you didn’t hear about that award? You’ve really got to get out more!) goes unquestionably to David Sax, whose book Save the Deli hits stores next week. It gets a boost in today’s Wall Street Journal from Dara Horn who posits that “the history of American food is really a history of immigration, and the nostalgia that comes with a cuisine’s decline is an indicator of an ethnic group’s confidence in its American identity.” Sax tells the Village Voice (which, incidentally, stole our picture of the author, but we’re not mad atcha!) that the crazy kids of today love to eat deli after they carouse at the formerly cool bar Max Fish on the Lower East Side (Max Fish is still in business but Ratner’s isn’t? Oy, the heartburn!). Elsewhere Joan Nathan goes on a deli tour of New Jersey with Sax. And Robert Siegel does what we did for our podcast with Sax—goes with him to Ben’s Best in Queens where he tries, as did we, rolled beef. It was good! Listen here, work up your own appetite, and hop on the subway out to Rego Park.

And if you want to see Sax talk about the deli in person, check him out next Wednesday in Washington as part of our Jewish Body Week.

The Ethnic Food Chain [WSJ]
David Sax Talks About Saving the Deli and the Enduring Appeal of Hot, Fatty Meat [Village Voice]
At Jewish Delis, Times Are as Lean as Good Corned Beef [NYT]
A Mission To Save Real Jewish Delis, A Dying Breed [NPR]
Earlier:
Meat Up [Tablet]

Guss’ Pickles Decamps For Brooklyn

Marc Tracy — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 15:16:42 +0000

Manhattan’s Lower East Side has already lost most vestiges of its history as the teeming neighborhood whose tenements housed many of our ancestors. Yet there is still something depressing about Orchard Street landmark Guss’ Pickles decision to move across the East River to Brooklyn’s heavily ultra-Orthodox Boro Park. The pickle emporium, which opened on nearby Essex Street in 1910 and which still closes on Saturdays, reportedly needed more room and couldn’t afford a bigger rent in the neighborhood. So here we have another ravage to chalk up to gentrification, which has either destroyed what remained of “the old neighborhood” or turned it into an object of commemoration. Still, gentrification also undoubtedly increased the neighborhood’s Jewish population—albeit with Jews of the more secularized, yuppiefied variety—and it’s a shame they can no longer walk down the street and pick up a fresh, sour, briney pickle.

Guss’ Pickles Packing Up for Brooklyn [Bowery Boogie]

The ‘Forward,’ ‘Brüno,’ and Pickles

Jesse Oxfeld — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 16:00:44 +0000

We earlier in the week declared a moratorium on all things Brüno, partially because there’s really nothing Jewish about it and mostly because it’s sort of terrible. But we must temporarily lift that moratorium to appreciate the excellent work of the Forward’s art department, as demonstrated by the placement of teaser art on the new issue’s cover. So: nice work. Moratorium now reinstated.

Current Edition [Forward.com]