'People regard the shop as a living thing'

The owner of the iconic Wally's delicatessen in Cardiff has penned an extraordinary book that tells the story of the shop and the Holocaust refugees who founded it. He told Jenny White why it's a story that had to be shared

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WALLY'S Delicatessen is an iconic part of the Cardiff food scene - a store that harks back to an earlier time while also being bang up to date with food trends. Packed from the floor to the rafters with everything from canned fish to conserves, it has always been more than just a place to shop. It’s also a meeting place, a community, and a way to connect with others via the language of food.

The shop was set up in 1981 by Wally Salamon, son of Ignatz and Frieda Salamon, who narrowly escaped the Holocaust, fleeing Nazi Austria to settle in the UK before making their way to Wales as the result of a scheme to regenerate an impoverished area that utilised the skills and expertise of Jewish industrialist refugees.

The success of the scheme is a model for the way in which immigrants can heal an area and transform it for the better. One result that was perhaps not foreseen by the government when it introduced this particular scheme was its knock-on effect on the food scene in Cardiff, with Wally's and its predecessor, Bridge Street Stores, being a food and cultural hub that created belonging for those severed from their cultural roots.

Now the store’s owner, Steven Salamon, has published a book, From the Anschluss to the Arcades: The Evolution of a Family Store, which tells the whole story of Wally’s, beginning with the Salamon family’s narrow escape from Nazi Austria. The book is more than the story of a shop: it’s the tale of the 20th century in microcosm, covering war, the Holocaust, refugees, cultural and religious evolution, and of course, food. It’s also the tale of a family, an extraordinary escape, and life in the aftermath of war.