A Traditional Foodway Meets the Food Movement

On Tuesday, February 9, the Saul's Deli hosted a 'Referendum on the Deli Menu' panel featuring Good Food host Evan Kleiman, Michael Pollan, Gil Friend, author of The Truth about Green Business, Willow Rosenthal, urban farmer and founder of City Slicker Farms, along with Karen Adelman and Peter Levitt, Co-Owners of Saul’s. The event was covered extensively on The Ethicurean and Civil Eats and you can watch the video of the talk



I'm proud that this Berkeley institution has the matzo balls to take a cuisine steeped in tradition and reevaluate its sustainability, despite the risk of alienating staunchly traditional clientele.

I grew up in the Midwest, far from a Jewish deli, and have learned to love deli food mostly through the lens of Saul's. Despite my lack of familiarity with Jewish food, the panel struck a chord with its discussion of a food culture based on thrift and a response to scarcity, much like the Southern and farmwife food of my youth. These themes are universal to regional foodways and will hopefully speak to your background too.

The fact that the panel covered seasonality, especially as it pertains to meat/eggs and that we shouldn't expect to eat the same dishes year round, is profound and something we need to hear more about.