In traditional Jewish American food culture, a “deli” was where you went for a towering pastrami sandwich. You went somewhere else entirely to buy lox and a schmear: an " appetizing store.”
The quieter, less famous sibling of the Jewish delicatessen comes straight out of the kosher laws that forbid mixing meat and dairy — not just on the plate, but in the kitchen, the utensils, even the store itself.
