"New" Immigration

For the past few weeks in class, we've been discussing the Gilded Age in American History. A huge part of the Gilded Age was the fact that millions upon millions of folks left their homes and migrated the United States in hopes of finding a better life here.

I'm always on the lookout for new tidbits of interesting information but I never thought I would glean something from Food Wars on The Travel Channel. In the best pastrami sandwich feud, they went to New York City, where David Sax, author of Save the Delicatessens, went over the history of Jewish-influenced food like pastrami. During the Gilded Age alone, somewhere around 2.5 million European Jews came to New York City and because of the prejudices against them, they all settled in their safe enclaves in NYC. This was where they established their delis, firmly entrenching their wonderful food into the American stomachs. What I found most interesting about this was the fact that during this time period (the 1890's), the Jewish section of NYC was the most populous area in the entire world!

Wow! That's a lot of deli sandwiches! A Reuben would be REALLY good right now... remind me not to watch Food Wars when I'm hungry...