For many, bologna is a nostalgia food, a non-negotiable
part of summer time, and also a major part of school lunches. But how much do you really know about this
mystery meat? Let's find out where it came from, what it's
made of, and where it is now. Bologna may be a low-cost lunch meat today,
but it's roots go way back to something surprisingly fancy. You might not know it today, but bologna is
the great-great grandson of the Italian mortadella. Mortadella, much like bologna, is made from
finely ground pork meat, which is first cured, and then cooked in a low temperature oven
before it's packaged. The main difference between bologna and mortadella
is that mortadella also contains added fat or lard, which gives it that distinct marbled
appearance. Mortadella also sometimes has pistachios or
green olives in it, which makes it sort of like a fancy version of bologna's olive loaf. Mortadella also contains a lot of spices,
and at one point it was considered a food for the rich and powerful, due to the cost
of the spices used in the production of it. And in some varieties of bologna, you can
still taste this lunchtime favorite's spicy roots. Yes, the standard grocery store bologna you'll
find pre-packaged in your grocer's refrigerated cold-cut section doesn't contain a lot of
spices, but if you visit a meat market and buy sliced bologna, you will probably be able
to discern spices like pepper, coriander, and garlic. When you purchase lunch meat like ham or roast
beef at your deli, you basically see what you are getting. Ham looks like ham. Turkey looks like turkey, and there's no doubts
about what you're putting on your sandwich. That's not quite so with bologna. You can't quite tell exactly what it is, and
that's given rise to bologna's reputation as something of a mystery meat. The FDA requires that all bologna be created
in such a way that it's ground into tiny particles, which makes it so that consumers can't discern
any fat or spices. Essentially, the result of this manufacturing
process creates a "meat batter." What goes into this meat batter? Beef, pork, turkey, chicken… or all of the
above. One of the most common varietes, the Oscar
Mayer brand, is made from mechanically separated chicken and pork. The USDA explains: "mechanically separated meat is a paste-like
and batter-like meat product produced by forcing bones with attached edible meat under high
pressure through a sieve or similar device to separate the bone from the edible meat
tissue." Or to put it another way, don't think about
how your bologna is made or what exactly it's made from, and just sit there peacefully and
eat your sandwich. Many people might have viewed bologna as having
too much of a mystery meat vibe. Of being a little too weird. It's a texture thing, right? It probably doesn't help that as a lunchtime
staple, bologna sandwiches have long been given little consideration. White bread, some mayo, and done. Yum? "I hate bologna, like more than anything else
in the world.” “UGH! Spit it out, spit it out. Please don't swallow it.” No longer relegated to the category of desperation
lunch, bologna sandwiches have recently become the hippest thing since sliced bread. Turkey and the Wolf, a restaurant in New Orleans,
makes theirs with locally-made bologna, fried on the griddle and piled high on buttered
and browned slices of bread with cheese, mustard made in-house, shredded lettuce, and, of course,
mayo. Then, a handful of chips are added for some
seriously delicious crunch. Fried bologna isn't just a simple staple any
more, chefs are frying it and dressing their sandwiches up with all sorts of things, like
sweet relish and all different types of cheeses. Others are topping their bologna sandwiches
with things like caramelized onions and olives, and still others are subscribing to the idea
that you can't have too many fried things on your sandwiches, and adding some fried
pickles on there, too. Some places don't settle for just frying their
bologna, they're smoking it then serving that up on a sandwich. Today, it's just downright good for the soul,
and whether you are enjoying a gourmet version for your next meal out, or eating a cold bologna
sandwich over your sink, it's time we all started welcoming bologna back into our hearts
and stomachs — in moderation, of course, and after you share your fanciest bologna
creations with the rest of the world. During the early 1900s, most kids went home
for lunch. By the 1920s and 1930s, many schools had a
lunch program where children were either given free meals or meals that cost pennies. During this time, guidelines about what constituted
a nutritious lunch were quickly changing, but schools did their best to keep up. How did bologna fit in and become such a popular
lunch time staple? It had a lot to do with the fact that in 1946,
President Truman signed the National School Lunch Act, which established the National
School Lunch Program. The National School Lunch program provides
low-cost or free lunches to children each school day. Because bologna is a low-cost food, it ended
up on a lot of lunch trays and in a lot of lunch bags. Around this same time, grocery stores began
offering "fresh foods" that were packaged to have a longer shelf life than they had
previously. Bologna was a lunch meat that was relatively
inexpensive, able to be kept fresh, and appealed to the taste buds of children. What more could schools and parents want? Packaged bologna sometimes comes with a red
string or seal around it. What exactly is that stuff, and can you eat
it? There's actually a few possibilities, depending
on the brand. It might be a casing made from the gastrointestinal
tracts of cattle, sheep and hogs, which makes it slightly gross, but still edible. If it's bright red though, it's most likely
a synthetic casing, which may be made from collagen, plastic, or other fibrous material. Not all bologna has this red casing, and sometimes
it's removed before it's sold in stores. When confronted with this question on Facebook,
Oscar Mayer replied, quote, " Yup, all the bologna in the package purchased is good-to-eat,"
though questions about specific products went unanswered. While red synthetic casings may or may not
be edible, it's probably safer to remove them before consumption, unless the packaging specifically
states that they're edible. There's a good chance that they're not, and
that's a chance you probably don't want to take. A little bit of plastic isn't going to do
much to make your sandwich taste better, that's for sure. Even if you are a huge bologna fan, the idea
of being locked up in the Dakota County Jail sounds pretty awful and is made more awful
by the fact that bologna is all you get. The jail serves two turkey bologna sandwiches
and a small side dish of fruit per inmate, seven days a week, 365 days a year. Even on Christmas. In Alabama, a sheriff was locked up after
feeding the inmates at his jail grits and paper-thin bologna sandwiches. Why such weird cruelty? Wardens in Alabama are allowed to pocket money
left over from providing inmates with meals, and bologna is a very inexpensive choice to
feed a group of people. In Alaska, two Muslim inmates were fed bologna
sandwiches during Ramadan and later sued for having their civil rights violated. Infamous Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio
not only makes his inmates wear pink socks and underwear, but he has also boasted about
serving them rotten food, including green bologna. Most prisons allow access to vending machines
and canteen services where incarcerated people can supplement these meager mealtime offerings,
but all that talk about bad bologna is enough to make anyone rethink our whole legal system. For those of you who want more bologna with
your bologna, why not whip up a delicious, creamy bologna cake? This cake resembles a normal cake, until you
slice into it and reveal layers of bologna with a zesty cream cheese and ranch dressing
frosting between the meat layers. If you think it couldn't get any better than
this you'd be so wrong because you also decorate this deliciousness with cheese, but not just
any cheese. If you want it to be authentic, you'll have
to use the stuff in a can. That's right, you decorate the cake with aerosol
cheese. Serve it up with some yummy buttery crackers
or cocktail bread and watch your friend's faces light up. Who needs a plain old cheese ball when you
can have a cheese and bologna cake? Sounds like a pretty delicious football game
treat to eat with a nice cold can of PBR, as you watch your favorite team fight their
way to victory. Americana at its finest! If you thought the only way to eat bologna
on a sandwich was to open the package, pull the little red string off, and slap it into
bread you'd be sadly mistaken, because you can also enjoy the down-home deliciousness
of bologna salad. Nobody knows exactly where bologna salad came
from. It may have just been an offshoot of ham salad
that came into existence when a clever housewife only had bologna in her refrigerator in the
1950s so she decided to whip that into a bologna salad. But everyone knows someone who has a grandma
or an aunt or a cousin who made this. Bologna was cut up and mixed with mayonnaise
and pickle relish and sometimes celery. Then you either ate it on white bread or with
crackers. Nostalgia food for the win! It's common knowledge we should all be trying
to limit processed foods, including lunch meats like hot dogs and bologna. But how bad is it… really? Well, for one thing, it's got a lot of salt
and fat. One slice of bologna contains 7.9 grams of
fat and 302 milligrams of sodium, about 13 percent of your entire daily intake. And who eats just one slice, especially when
you're busy digging into one of those delicious bologna cakes? The real risk, though, lies in the nitrates
in bologna. Processed foods like bologna and bacon are
frequently cured by adding sodium nitrate to them, because nitrates can help stop food
from spoiling and prevent botulism-causing bacteria from growing. The big downside to eating processed deli
meats is that the International Agency For Research on Cancer concluded that when you
eat just a 50 gram portion of processed meat every day, you're increasing your risk of
colorectal cancer by 18 percent. Even though that risk is somewhat small, eating
less processed meat can decrease your bowel cancer risk. This basically means that bologna should be
a sometimes food if you simply can't resist the urge to indulge. The World Health Organization has classified
processed meats as a Group 1 carcinogen, like cigarettes and alcohol — which means they
recommend it should be avoided entirely. Depressing news, but better to be safe than
sorry and swap out your bologna sandwich for peanut butter on occasion. All over the world, people keep making sandwiches
in honor of President Donald Trump. And what do these sandwiches contain? Bologna, and a lot of it. Restaurants from New York to Sweden are serving
up the Donald Trump special which — to be more specific — contains a stack of bologna,
served on white bread, topped with Russian dressing, with a small pickle on the side. Some places, like the Windsor Sandwich Shop,
have also added a wall of tortilla chips to the plate. Don't look for Trump to be ordering this delicacy
anytime soon, because he has said his favorite sandwich is a meatloaf sandwich. The Donald is not the first president to be
associated with bologna. President Bush was said to order bologna sandwiches
with a side of Doritos when he stayed at the Waldorf Astoria in New York City. First Lady Barbara Bush handed out bologna
sandwiches at a soup kitchen in Washington, and President Obama served bologna sandwiches
at a D.C. nonprofit that serves low-income families. It just goes to show that whether you love
it or hate it, bologna is here to stay. Check out one of our newest videos right here! Plus, even more Mashed videos about your favorite
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