Cake is for the uninitiated. Pastrami is for your birthday.
Wear a Birthday Pastrami T-shirt to your next birthday pastrami celebration...
...and have a Happy #BirthdayPastrami !
To purchase a shirt, DM @BirthdayPastrami on IG or email at BirthdayPastrami@gmail.com for sizes, prices, and shipping info.
The History of the Birthday Pastrami
Once upon a time on the Upper East Side of Manhattan, there was a young man named Joshua who hated birthday cake. He had no sweet tooth. It was never his thing. For years, a feeling of emptiness washed over him as he had celebrated his birthday by blowing out his candles, watching everyone eat his cake.
In the Spring of 2001 he decided to put an end to his lifetime of birthday frustration. He walked into the Stage Deli on 77th Street and 2nd Avenue, and he ordered his favorite sandwich - a hot pastrami on seeded rye with spicy, yellow mustard.
When the food arrived, a cold sweat washed over him. Did he have the courage to do what he was about to do? Would he be banned from Stage Deli? Would his father approve?
And then it happened. In a moment of fearlessness and zeal, he triumphantly stood up, pulled out a birthday candle and thrust it into that pastrami sandwich! The restaurant stopped. The waitresses gasped. What was happening? Suddenly, the little old man working the meat slicer walked out from behind the counter. He easily could have been from the mountains of Romania where the modern pastrami was first created. In fact, he was so old he very well may have been that first man to have cured, steamed and smoked the beef brisket that eventually became pastrami (a variation of the Turkish pastirma) over 250 years ago. Soon the old man began to sing, as if possessed by a choir of angels,
"Happy Birthday to you.
Happy Birthday to you.
Happy Birthday Pastrami.
Happy Birthday to you."
The whole restaurant joined in! Busboys danced. Babies cried. And the tradition was born. Every year since the legend has lived on at delis across the nation. So, if you crave salty over sweet, if you love meat over icing, or if you just wanna get mishugana (crazy!), celebrate your next birthday at a kosher(-style) delicatessen. Invite your friends! Bring a candle! Stuff it into a pastrami sandwich!
Yes, you too, can have a
HAPPY BIRTHDAY PASTRAMI!
#HappyBirthdayPastrami
#BirthdayPastrami
#SaltyIsSweet