More than Pierogi and Pączki

Abstract

Abstract In many urban areas in the diaspora, churches, schools, and ethnic businesses are routinely established to feed the needs of the community. One that has more than a century of history in such communities is the deli. It is the place where products, purveyors, and purchasers interact. But the Polish deli has long escaped the lens of scholars. No longer is this the case. While delis provide sustenance and Polish products to customers in the diaspora, they are also gathering places for the broader ethnic community and crucial sites of memory where people experience and exercise symbolic ethnicity. Additionally, in Ottawa and Toronto, Ontario, Canada, contrary to the deli-lost narrative, the deli has adapted and followed the movements of people out of the traditional ethnic neighborhood and into the suburbs in the two metropolitan areas.