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New Jersey Torn Apart By Taylor Ham Vs. Pork Roll Debate
By
Nell Casey
Published May 12, 2016
Modified May 12, 2016
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By
Nell Casey
Published May 12, 2016
Modified May 12, 2016
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New Jersey's a fascinating place, full of fascinating people who argue over fascinating things. The latest state debate? What the processed, pork-based breakfast meat popular on egg sandwiches should be called: Taylor ham or pork roll.
The deliberations began in the Legislature, who were trying to determine the state's official sandwich, an egg and cheese sandwich with either pork roll or Taylor ham. "In the north, people call it Taylor ham. Pork roll is the more generic name for it. We are voting for what to pick," Assemblyman Tim Eustace, the man pushing for the BEC designation, explained to the Wall Street Journal. Eustace has since launched an online survey so NJ residents can weigh in on their desired method of sodium and cholesterol consumption. God, at least it's not fucking yogurt.
In the 1850s, a state senator, John Taylor, created Taylor's Prepared Ham, which was later forced to change its name for not meeting the definition of ham as outlined by the Pure Food and Drug Act of 1906. A butcher named George Washington Case put together his own version of the pork product in the 1870s, later becoming the Case Pork Roll Co.
"It’s fierce and filthy," another pork roll company owner said of the name rivalry. "If there's going to be a state sandwich, it should absolutely be pork roll," Kate Kelly posited. "But I wouldn’t want to see a lot of debating or taxpayer money wasted on this." Time to bring in an impartial arbiter.
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new jersey
pork roll
taylor ham
Nell Casey
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