Thanks so much to Emunah Hauser for this heads up.  Emunah is a host at Saul’s Restaurant and Deli, which has been organizing the Referendum on the Deli Menu, which will be held on Tuesday in Berkeley, CA.  Check out Saul’s blog Sustainability Adventures of a 100+ seat Diner.

Can the Jewish Deli be sustainable? Can a retro cuisine be part of the avant- garde?

Local, organic VS. the externalized costs of cheap, industrial food and . . . collective memory and food traditions?

Deli is at a crossroads. In New York, only a handful delis remain from hundreds. Across the country, beloved Delis continue to disappear. Popular expectations of “real” Deli conflict with today’s economic realities. And these expectations conflict with environmental sustainability.

For example, towering pastrami sandwiches once signified success, security and abundance, an immigrant’s celebration of the American Dream. At “real” Delis, the meat is piled so high it topples. But given the realities of meat production in America today – 99% is factory farmed – how can we continue to stand by this as an icon?

Meat at the center of the plate is gradually losing ground in the American diet. Innovative chefs and new farm-to-table restaurants draw informed, activist eaters, ready to pay for the true cost of food, and celebrate carefully prepared vegetables at the center of the plate. Young Jewish foodies re-examine Kosher, going back to the land. And vegan/vegetarianism has become the paradigm for many Jewish foodies concerned with sustainability and humane treatment of animals.

Meanwhile, Deli mavens come to Saul’s with a hankering for a huge pastrami sandwich to relive cherished taste memories. Deli is part of the grand tradition of secular, cultural Jewish identity. So people come to Saul’s for many different reasons. Eating sustainable, local food doesn’t always top the list. Some changes to Deli that have made Saul’s a battleground over the years:

• No more Dr. Brown’s – housemade, seasonal soda instead
• Non-mammoth-sized pastrami sandwiches
• Artisanal, fermented, brown, organic old-world style rye bread
• Seasonal, local produce moved to the center of the plate
• Chilled borscht only in summer and when beets are in season . . . .

How can a popular Jewish deli, working to become more sustainable, keep the goodwill of its most traditionally supportive customer base?

To open this conversation, Saul’s Restaurant and Deli in Berkeley, CA is hosting a referendum on the Jewish Deli menu with three Saul’s regulars:

Michael Pollan, Willow Rosenthal, and Gil Friend. Evan Kleiman will moderate. Questions that might guide the discussion:

Even “authentic” cuisine can obstruct progress towards more just, sustainable food. How does a business committed to being part of the solution persuade traditionalist customers of the importance of change?

What taste memories and flavors of The Deli have been provided by an industrial food system? How can we look at our nostalgia and expectations critically?

How might we evolve a shared cuisine together? How can we bring our people along with us – away from grieving the disappearing deli, into the conversation and into the future?

Referendum on The Deli Menu Can a Retro Cuisine be Part of the Avant-Garde?

To accomodate demand:

**Venue has been changed from Saul’s to JCC of the East Bay around the corner**
1414 Walnut Street
Berkeley, CA 94709
Directions to JCC of the East Bay

6:30 pm Tuesday, February 9
Doors open at 6pm
Registration/Will Call check-in from 5:30 on

Tickets $10 in advance, $15 at the door

Proceeds benefit The Center for Ecoliteracy

Panelists:
Michael Pollan, Journalist, Author: The Omnivore’s Dilemma, In Defense of Food
Gil Friend, CEO of Natural Logic, Author: The Truth About Green Business
Willow Rosenthal, Founder, City Slicker Farms
Karen Adelman, Co-Owner, Saul’s Restaurant and Deli
Peter Levitt, Co-Owner, Saul’s Restaurant and Deli
Moderator: Evan Kleiman, Host, KCRW’s Good Food, Owner-Chef, Angeli Caffe