Middle East immigrants began to arrive in northeastern Florida in the 1890s and early 1900s, from co
Middle East immigrants began to arrive in northeastern Florida in the 1890s and early 1900s, from countries like Syria, Lebanon, Jordan and what was then Palestine. Many came from the rural Mount Lebanon region between Beirut, Lebanon, and Tripoli, Lebanon. Most were Catholic or Christian Orthodox.The first to arrive worked as fruit peddlers. Within a generation, those same immigrants opened corner stores, often in working-class neighborhoods where Jim Crow laws restricted opportunities for African-Americans and dark-skinned Arabs. In the backs of those stores, they made sandwiches with meats and cheeses that they pulled from the shelves. As chains displaced mom and pop groceries, they transformed their corner stores into sandwich shops that were, in many communities, Arabic analogues to Jewish delis.In Jacksonville, Camel Rider Sandwiches are Ubiquitous -- source link
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