Deli Man is a documentary that is more about the personalities than a comprehensive history of delicatessens in the US. Deli Man is primarily about Ziggy Gruber, a third generation delicatessen owner who moved from NY to Houston, TX. Gruber’s story is supposed to be representative of the life of a deli owner. Other deli owners get interviewed, but since they are mostly first or second-generation owners, Gruber is a symbol of hope that delis will continue to live though the numbers dwindle, and newer delis are departing from traditional recipes that originate as far back as nineteenth century.
If Gruber is a microcosm of the people behind delis then delis are a microcosm of Jewish American society. Jewish immigrants came from different regions of Europe to US, but unlike other immigrants, there is no originating home where Jewish people still exist, and the flavors can still be found. Jewish people immigrate to survive so another reason that delis are in danger is because there are no more great numbers immigrating-the last great immigration was around the Holocaust. The flavors get affected by the region where they existed (some Jewish people immigrated from Germany and others from Eastern Europe) and then transformed as it arrived in US, but no one can go back to recapture the original flavor because very few people are really there anymore.
Deli Man is a thoroughly enjoyable documentary fraught with more meaning than its affable presentation seems. Deli Man is only a must see if you are interested in Jewish culture or love food, but if you are a deli fan, you may be angry if your favorite deli isn’t featured because it is not a comprehensive documentary. My one regret as a New Yorker is that even though my diet was obviously influenced by deli cuisine, I did not regularly go to delis. I was more of a Greek corner restaurant girl. Of course, I made up for that when I came to Cambridge and fell in love with S&S Restaurant.