That's right, I said it. It's pork roll. Not Taylor ham.When I went to the bagel shop to get breakfast this morning, I ordered "two pork roll, egg and cheeses, one on pumpernickel, one on plain, both saltpepperketchup." (I ordered for two people, smart ass. Not that I couldn't put away two of these bad boys ... anyway ...) I ordered "pork roll" even though the menu says "Taylor ham." I ordered "pork roll" even though the bagel shop is located a block away from my place here in Hudson County, here in North Jersey. I ordered "pork roll" and the folks behind the counter didn't even bat an eye.
Because even North Jersey folk are capable of admitting they're wrong, albeit tacitly.
It's as simple as reading a labelYou see, "Taylor ham" is the North Jersey name for a kind of pork product made by Taylor Provisions of Trenton, N.J. John Taylor started making the delicious and addictive breakfast meat back in 1856, using a recipe that may have been around since the Battle of Trenton in the Revolutionary War, according to Wikipedia and its sources. It's the quintessential Jersey food staple.
But wait, you say. It's made by Taylor, so it has to be called "Taylor ham," no?
"No" is right. Look at Taylor's own damned labels for the stuff. The tube shown here clearly says "John Taylor's Pork Roll." The smaller package simply reads "Taylor Pork Roll."
So why do North Jerseyans insist on calling pork roll "Taylor ham"? Does it have anything to do with the North Jerseyan's perceived sense of elitism, which seems to rub off from nearby New York City? "Taylor ham" is certainly a far more dignified-sounding name than pork roll, even though the food itself is not all that different from, say, SPAM or scrapple. (Don't ask. I'll let my Philly friends to try to explain that one.)
No, I'll cut my fellow North Jerseyans some slack. They call it "Taylor ham" because it actually used to be called that. Before 1906, this magical meat was known as John Taylor's Ham. But, according to a court case cited by Wiki, Taylor's tasty treat no longer fit the legal definition of "ham" because of the Pure Food and Drug Act of 1906. So Taylor had to change the name to "pork roll." (By the way, check out the Wiki entry for Taylor ham. Hahahaha!)North Jerseyans, therefore, are living in the past. They can't let it go. But they're not alone. There are many Central Jerseyans that cling to this outdated and legally incorrect name.
In the middle of it all
Again, yeah, I said it. Central Jerseyans. There is a Central Jersey. Whether you northerners or southerners like it or not, there is indeed one. Central Jersey.
I've had the pleasure (burden?) of living and working in North Jersey and South Jersey, but I was born and mostly raised in Monmouth County in Central Jersey.
When I lived in South Jersey, my old boss, Pete, would rag on me for being from "North Jersey." It's true, at the time I took the job at The Press of Atlantic City (which is in Pleasantville), I had been living in beautiful Bayonne, one of North Jersey's most notorious municipalities. "North Jersey is just a parking lot for New York City," Pete used to tell me when he was breaking my balls. I secretly agreed, but I didn't want to back down.
"But I wasn't born in North Jersey. I wasn't raised there," I countered. "I'm from Central Jersey."
He laughed in my face. Cackled, actually. "There is no Central Jersey."
"Well, where do you think North Jersey begins?" I challenged him.
"Oh, around exit 90," he said in that definitive way of his. This was no debate. It was fact. To answer back would be futile.So, according to Pete, North Jersey ends and South Jersey begins right after exit 90 on the Garden State Parkway. This would be around Toms River and Seaside Heights.
Now, my good North Jersey friend Marty, who is reminds me of what Pete would have been like when he was in his late 20s, is adamant that North Jersey ends and South Jersey begins right around the Driscoll Bridge in the Edison/Old Bridge area, around exit 127 on the Parkway. I contest this point whenever I get a chance.
"I'm not from South Jersey. Keansburg isn't in South Jersey," I say.
"You got a beach there, don't you? Then it's South Jersey," he'll respond with a definitive tone similar to Pete's.
Okay, so where does that leave us? Neither north nor south can agree on where the other starts and ends, and there's a big zone of contention in the middle, or central, part of the state roughly between exits 127 and 90. This is Central Jersey.
This is where proud Giants fans and whiny, belligerent Eagles fans blend together, somehow peacefully. (Everyone knows that the Jets are an NYC and Long Island team. Marty and my friend Neil, a fellow Central Jerseyan, are sure to be riled by this statement.) This is where "pork roll" and "Taylor ham" are used interchangeably. This is where Bruce Springsteen and Bon Jovi live.
This area, much like pork roll, is the essence of New Jersey.
I'll let some nice boys from New Hope, Pa., of all places have the final word on pork roll, but please, by all means, feel free to disagree or agree with me in the comments below.
As someone who lives in this area known as "Central Jersey" I contend there is no such thing. Middlesex and Mercer Counties make the southern end of North Jersey. Monmouth County is the start of the beach, and hence South Jersey.
ReplyDeleteNo way Monmouth County is South Jersey. Bayonne once had a beach. Does that make it South Jersey too? Hell, Keansburg shares a bay with New York. Yet it's South?
ReplyDeleteNJ is sandwiched between Philly and New York. South Jersey is more like Philly and North Jersey like New York. Since there is no such thing as just black and white, that grey matter in the middle of the two divisions is Central Jersey.
It's been 8 years since I studied NJ history, but if I recall, Central Jersey is just most of what East Jersey used to be before the Revolution.
Yes it is pork roll, the company that makes it is named taylor. But if you read the label it is pork roll. Also there is so a Central Jersey. Back in the 60's if you went over the raritian bridge you were in central jersey, from Point Pleasant on down is south jersey.
ReplyDeletei feel like you stuck a spoon in my brain and splattered it onto your blog. These are my exact thoughts, word for word. Its called PORK ROLL and Keansburg is CENTRAL JERSEY. You know why? BECAUSE ITS IN THE MIDDLE OF THE FUCKING STATE! I remember when Lynnae referred to me as a South Jersey boy. Silly woman, look at a map!
ReplyDeletethat marty sounds like a real schmuck
ReplyDeleteI call it Pork Roll, and after speaking to some people in South Jersey, they call it Taylor's Pork Roll. I would have to say there is a central Jersey, after having lived in all three areas. All three areas have their good and bad points, but I would have to say my favorite place to live would be the No Man's Land known as Central Jersey.
ReplyDeletePS- That Marty is the salt of the earth!
this brought a little tear to my eye. i heart my central jersey - born & raised! and now i'm hungry...
ReplyDeleteYou're right, Mike, it is indeed Pork Roll, but my North Jersey upbringing (Orange, NJ) has ingrained Taylor Ham in my lexicon, and I admit I do use the term from time to time, mostly to distinguish the brand. After all, try other brands of pork roll-Taylor's is the best.
ReplyDeleteAs for Central Jersey, I must adamantly state that there is a most definite distinction among the various areas of the state, and Central Jersey is its own separate locale! North Jersey and South Jersey each have their own climate, their own colloquialisms, and their own accents. Listen carefully; you can hear it in the way people pronounce various words. Central Jersey usually escapes most of the harshest weather (except, of course, for this year) both winter and summer, and when I was growing up in Neptune, was able to pick up BOTH NY and Phila television stations. This was, of course, before cable, and made our lives pretty interesting back in the big NY black out of 1965.