If you were fortunate enough to grow up in a neighborhood with a real delicatessen, the kind with meats hanging, a pickle barrel, and a aroma that smacks you in the face as you walk in, then you understand Subway is utter garbage. It begins with their cheap bread and layered with inferior ingredients that are premeasured instead of sliced onto a roll at the time you order. Nothing is authentic, just a cheap marketing rip off for people that haven’t been exposed to the real thing.
Grew up on old school NY/NJ/PA subs where they pile on the meat. First time I went into a Subway I burst out laughing while watching the kid take one slice of meat and then stretch it out on the sandwich for maximum coverage. I said “Put the meat on! What is each slice coming out your company 401K? or paycheck?”.
It’s cheap and makes a turd...
In the north with the Eastern Europeans you had come in you guys have that....we had one too in upper Nyack on Broadway and even the city had them everywhere
In the south primarily Anglo Saxon stock delis were more rare except in cities and even then they were not common
The Midwest and northeast and south Florida....in Jewish areas....got delis
Lucky you
We got Subway and other chains...some chains are tolerable honestly Jersey Mike’s for example
Of course in the south we did get po boys and bbq
Life is a trade
Nothing beats a real deli, but even most of the chains that usually have a mixture of fresh and pre-sliced ingredients have significantly improved the quality of their ingredients over the years. Subway is a different story. I don’t know why people still eat there.