Sample food that spotlights 150 years of immigrant cuisine on the Lower East Side

New Yorkers can enjoy a taste of Lower East Side history as NYC’s Tenement Museum brings back its popular food tour spotlighting 150 years of immigrant cuisine.

“Foods of the Lower East Side” will feature five tastings from local vendors and restaurants that tell the story of the immigrant experience in NYC through the lens of international dishes. Guided by a Tenement Museum educator, participants in the walking tour will explore how tenement residents preserved and adapted traditions from their homelands.

After a four-year hiatus due to the pandemic, the tours are now available every Saturday on the Lower East Side — and selling out fast. Participants will sample an array of tasty delights including garlic stuffed olives, pickled pineapple, fried plantains, vinaigrettes, pretzels and beer, and ice cream.

“We are excited to once again offer visitors the opportunity to explore the history of local street vendors while learning about how businesses have adapted to changing demographics in the neighborhood,” said Kathryn Lloyd, vice president of programs and interpretation at the Tenement Museum. “So much of our city’s immigrant history can be understood through the diverse culinary traditions that families have passed down over generations,”

Tenement Museum kitchen on the Lower East Side — The Tenement Museum, in the Lower East Side, reopened on Thursday, Sept. 21, 2023, following a year-long restoration process to preserve the 160-year-old building.Tenement Museum

Food samples on the tour

The scrumptious stops along the tour include Cafe Katja, an Austrian restaurant where participants will be treated to pretzels with traditional spreads and beers. Open since 2007, the locale has become a neighborhood mainstay on Orchard Street.

Also on the tour is Que Chevere, a Puerto Rican restaurant on Pearl Street serving tostone cups with pulled pork or rice and beans on the tour.

Pickle lovers will enjoy a stop at Pickle Guys, the last remaining pickle vendor in an area that was once famous as a producer of pickled food. Over a hundred years ago, pickle stores were abundant on Essex Street, so it is truly a big ‘dill’ to stop at this local shop. Pickles here are made from an old Eastern European recipe and are cured in a barrel.

Continuing the tour on Essex Street, Essex Olive and Spice offers olive oils from the owner’s family olive grove in Morocco. Another stop is the Essex Market branch of Chinatown Ice Cream Factory, a family run business and local favorite.

In addition to neighborhood restaurants and shops, the tour will stop at Essex Market, once a hub for independent pushcart peddlers and open-air markets managed by immigrants.

“From the 19th century to today, immigrants and migrants on the Lower East Side have created food businesses that support their communities and change the nation’s palate,” Lloyd said.