The Charlotte Jewish News- November 2026- Page 11
Where to Next? Montreal: Where Jewish History Can Be Found at Almost Every Meal
By Roni Fishkin
In recent columns, we’ ve traveled far from home and across the Atlantic Ocean to Portugal, Curaçao, Berlin and Morocco, discovering Jewish stories in places I never expected to find them. But you don’ t have to cross an ocean to enjoy a Jewish travel experience. Sometimes, you just need to head north into neighboring Canada.
Montréal is known for many things, including its French charm, vibrant culture, iconic landmarks, lively neighborhoods and diverse culinary scene. But there is another story running through the city, an inherently Jewish one, and perhaps the easiest way to discover it is by sitting down to eat. Many of the city’ s traditional Jewish dishes have transcended their origins to become defining staples of Montréal’ s culinary identity.
The Bagel Is Just the Beginning
If you want to truly understand Jewish Montréal, start with a bagel. Smaller than most other varieties and distinctive in both texture and taste, Montréal bagels are boiled in honey-infused water before being baked in a wood-fired oven, emerging dense, chewy and subtly sweet.
For your first bite, head to Mile End, where generations of Jewish immigrants helped shape one of the city’ s cultural epicenters. Alongside the businesses they built came culinary traditions that remain embedded in the neighborhood’ s identity.
Today, Mile End is home to an eclectic mix of artists, young professionals, immigrants, Orthodox and Hasidic Jewish families, restaurants, cafes and independent shops. The streets once shaped by generations of Jewish immigrants continue to evolve, even as the neighborhood’ s
Place d’ Armes illuminated at night in Old Montreal, Quebec.
Jewish history remains visible throughout.
Ask someone in Montréal to name their favorite bagel, and you may ignite a surprisingly fierce debate. The answer usually comes down to two names: Fairmount or St-Viateur. Fairmount, opened in 1919 by a Russian immigrant and now run by her grandchildren, originally only sold poppy seed bagels. Fast forward to today, the shop offers more than 20 varieties, from sesame to all-dressed, Montréal’ s answer to an everything bagel. The best choice? Whatever is warmest from the oven.
Next, head a few blocks over to St-Viateur, where the heat from the wood-fired ovens greets you almost as quickly as the aroma of freshly baked bagels. Once you have yours, help yourself to butter, cream cheese, smoked salmon and jelly at the self-serve station, but don’ t expect anyone to slice it for you. These bagels are made for ripping, dipping and eating as you walk.
Once you’ re ready for round # 2, order a smoked meat sandwich at Schwartz’ s, a Jewish deli and yet another Montréal institution. The history of Montréal smoked meat is complicated, with several competing stories about its origins, but historians agree on one thing: Its roots are deeply connected to the city’ s Jewish immigrant community.
First opened by Reuben
Jardin Nelson brings flowers, café tables and live jazz to the heart of Old Montreal’ s Place Jacques-Cartier.
Schwartz in 1928, Schwartz’ s helped popularize the Romanian-style smoked meat that would become synonymous with the city. Distinct from both corned beef and pastrami, the brisket is cured for 10 to 12 days in a blend of spices, smoked for eight to nine hours and steamed for another three. It is then sliced by hand and piled onto rye with mustard, traditionally accompanied by a pickle and a Cott’ s cherry cola. Can lunch be considered a history lesson? Beyond the Bagel The Montreal Jewish Museum( museejuifmontreal. ca) offers walking tours through Mile End and other neighborhoods, tracing the people and places that shaped Jewish life in Montréal. Its“ Beyond the Bagel” food tour pairs the city’ s culinary traditions with the stories behind them, from the garment workers who helped shape Mile End to writers such as Mordecai Richler, who grew up on these streets. Along the way, the tour reveals traces of Jewish life easily missed when moving from one tourist attraction to the next. A Place at the Table There is something else I found myself appreciating as I thought about Jewish Montréal: the generous welcome. Canada has long been a place where Jewish immigrants built new lives, and Montréal’ s Jewish experience is part of that larger Canadian story. Generations of newcomers arrived, opened businesses, raised families and established communities that became integral to the city around them.
That is yet another reason Montréal feels so inviting to Jewish travelers. You are not
simply visiting the remnants of a Jewish past. You are experiencing a community that has helped shape the life of the city for generations. Perhaps that is what good neighbors do. They make room for one another. In Montréal, that welcome often comes with a bagel.
A Different Kind of Jewish Travel
One of the things I love about travel is discovering how different the Jewish experience can look in every destination. Sometimes it is a centuries-old synagogue. Sometimes it is a cemetery or a museum. And sometimes it is a warm bagel pulled from a wood-fired oven. Jewish travel does not have to mean building an entire itinerary around Jewish sites. It can simply mean seeing another dimension of a place you were already planning to visit.
So, plan a long weekend in Montréal. Come for the European character, the magnificent architecture and the energy of the city. Then look a little closer. Walk through Mile End and learn the stories behind its streets. Talk to someone. Try the bagels. Order the smoked meat. Take a Jewish food tour. Discover the Jewish story that has been there all along. You may find something you did not even know you were looking for.