National Bologna Day 🥪

Although we couldn’t find the history of National Bologna Day—even though we suspect that it was probably started by the bologna industry to promote its products—we can tell all of our readers about the storied history of bologna. And when we say the history of bologna, we don’t mean the Italian city, but the popular lunchmeat enjoyed by people all over the U.S and the world. Bologna owes its origins to a type of salumi called mortadella that was popular in Bologna, Italy. This sausage was extremely popular in central Italy since the Middle Ages and reached the peak of its popularity in the 17th century. It was still extremely popular when Italian immigrants began to migrate to the United States between the end of the 19th century and the beginning decades of the 20th century. However, these immigrants aren’t the ones responsible for the bologna that Americans appreciate nowadays. Instead, that distinction goes to German immigrants. Germans at the time loved mortadella but had problems finding it in the U.S during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. So, they decided to manufacture it themselves and German butchers in Pennsylvania began to create their version of mortadella. Along the way, the changed the product by using different parts of the pig to make it and by leaving out the pistachios that’s common in mortadella. They also substituted other ingredients besides just pork such as chicken, turkey, and beef. As a result, American bologna was created in the process. During the Great Depression, Bologna was very attractive luncheon meat because it was so expensive, so millions of Americans would come to rely on it. And because so many people used it, it became a very familiar food for lunch. It’s because of this familiarity that it’s so popular even to this day