Meat mysteries got you swallowing
a load of baloney? Fear not — it's time to set the record straight
about America's favorite sausage. "It's a bunch of bologna!" It's easy to imagine that bologna is a
cheap, working-class kind of food. This is because it's fairly inexpensive and often
paired with ingredients like white bread and American cheese. Additionally, since
it's easy and cheap to process, store, and serve, bologna quickly became a staple
in institutions that needed to feed a lot of people cheaply and easily — such as schools
and prisons. However, just because bologna isn't typically served on a baguette with Gruyère
doesn't mean bologna has always been a subpar variety of meat. That transition only came
with the rise of the packaged food industry. Instead, bologna traces its roots right back to
the city that shares its name, as well as its predecessor, mortadella. In and around Bologna,
mortadella is still a beloved regional staple, a protected delicacy that requires skill and
artistry to prepare. Clearly, bologna's ancestor receives much more respect than its Oscar Mayer
counterpart does on this side of the Atlantic. While mortadella was the precursor to today's
bologna, it's important to note that the two meats are not identical. Yes, they are very
similar and certainly resemble one another in a variety of ways, but there are noteworthy
differences between bologna and mortadella. For one, mortadella is made with high-quality
pork only. In contrast, bologna can be made using a variety of meats as the base. Additionally,
bologna is processed in a way that produces a singularly textured and singularly hued round
slice of meat, identical to every other slice in the stack. Mortadella, on the other hand, is
spotted with pockets of fat and other ingredients such as spices and pistachios, which give
the light pink slices a variety of texture, color, and flavor. And of course, mortadella is
prized as part of Bologna's culture and heritage, whereas bologna doesn't always get a great rap.
In other words — if you've tried one and not the other, you may be missing out, as both bologna and
mortadella bring their own strengths to the table. While bologna can trace its
roots to Italian mortadella, it is often associated with food
culture in the United States. “It’s just bologna” However, bologna is not an all-American
invention. It's not even the case that an American went to Italy, discovered
mortadella, brought a recipe back home, and concocted bologna. Instead, like so
many foods now labeled as all-American, bologna came over to the U.S. with immigrants
who spread their cuisine far and wide. Although we don't know for certain, it's
believed that German immigrants can be credited with introducing bologna to the United
States. The regions in which bologna food culture is prevalent in the U.S. are the same areas that
have historically been home to pockets of German immigrants. That said, other countries have
their own claims on bologna, too. For example, The Newfoundland Times, in Canada, claims that
bologna is "synonymous" with the province. And they also eat bologna in Australia, where it
is known as polony. The point? Despite what you might think, America certainly does not hold
an exclusive claim on the concept of bologna. "My bologna has a first name, it's O-S-C-A-R." The grocery store lunch meat aisle typically
contains ham, chicken, turkey, and, of course, bologna. You can pretty much reliably find Oscar
Mayer products throughout the United States, but while that's the most prevalent type
of bologna, it's not the only option that exists. Even if you're just looking at
bologna products in the United States, you'll find numerous regional
takes on this classic meat. So-called German bologna typically has a strong
garlic flavor, for example. Meanwhile, Lebanon bologna comes from Amish country in Pennsylvania;
it's made with an array of spices then smoked, for a summer sausage-like consistency. Ring bologna
is very much like regular sandwich bologna, but it comes in a large sausage-ring case for bite-sized
rather than sandwich-sized slices. Sweet bologna has — you guessed it — a sweetener added, whether
that's maple syrup, corn syrup, or plain sugar. Maybe it's because it was produced and sold
so cheaply throughout the last century, or because you can't automatically identify
what animal it came from — whatever the case, bologna has developed a negative
reputation as a mystery meat. And sure, you can't look at a slice of bologna the
way you might a rack of ribs or ham hock, but that doesn't mean the U.S. Department
of Agriculture is just letting producers put any ol' "meat" into your meat. Indeed,
bologna is not as mysterious as it seems. According to the USDA, bologna is grouped into the
same category as hot dogs. For all food items in this group, the USDA requires that the maker
clearly identify what kind of meat is in the item. Additionally, if the bologna contains "meat
byproducts," the USDA requires that they be named on the label, too. In other words, this mystery
is one you can solve with just a little reading. Yes, the USDA lumps hot dogs into
the same category as bologna as far as food safety guidelines go.
And yes, they both have more or less a similar consistency. They're both
pale pink and emulsified meat products, too. But hot dogs and bologna are not exactly
the same — and it comes down to much more than just the size difference. Despite what you
might think, hot dogs are not just smaller cylinders of bologna and bologna is not just
an oversized hot dog processed into slices. Despite the similarities, there are a number of
differences in flavors, seasonings, and the final product that mark a significant distinction
between hot dogs and bologna. For example, hot dogs are often smoked and may have mustard
powder added to the recipe. Hot dogs often come with their casing intact, while bologna does
not. Likewise, you're probably not going to find myrtle berries in your hot dog. At the
end of the day, you could consider hot dogs and bologna to be siblings — they share a lot
of the same DNA, but they're not identical. You've probably heard the
story: Somewhere out there, there's a factory where they sweep
the floor after the meat processing is finished and throw whatever they
find into a vat. And that's Bologna! "No, God! No, God, please, no! No! No! Noooo-" Horror stories surrounding the contents
of bologna run rampant, and kids and adults alike joke about all the suspicious,
nasty ingredients lurking in processed meat. However, just like the USDA ensures that
bologna's ingredients aren't a mystery, it also guarantees that producers aren't just
slapping a bologna label on anything they want. According to the USDA, bologna must be
made from beef, pork, turkey, chicken, or a mix of these proteins. Furthermore,
the USDA doesn't permit certain types of mechanically separated meat to be used, such
as mechanically separated beef, which isn't considered safe for human consumption. Likewise,
if a manufacturer uses a mechanical separator to remove meat from the bones for bologna and
hot dog use, the machinery must meet certain specifications to guarantee that ground or
crushed bones do not end up in your food. Just because bologna is a little bland looking
and doesn't contain the variety of ingredients you'll find in mortadella, that doesn't mean
bologna is also bland tasting or boring. In fact, you might find yourself surprised by the spices
contained in the average bologna slice. Coriander, nutmeg, garlic, celery seed, allspice,
and myrtle berry regularly make the cut. You likely already know most of these seasonings
and may even have several in your spice cabinet at the moment — although myrtle berry is
definitely a lot less common. So what is it, and what role does it play in making bologna?
As it turns out, the ingredient is directly connected to bologna's Italian roots, because
these dried berries are frequently used in Mediterranean cooking. With a flavor likened
to citrus and rosemary, myrtle berry has been historically used in wine and desserts and is
believed to offer an array of health benefits. Children who come across the spelling
of "bologna" for the first time might find themselves a little surprised. To most
American ears, the word doesn't quite sound the way it's spelled. Surely "baloney"
with an -ey must be the proper spelling, right? Well, while that baloney is a slang
term that sounds like this kind of food, it's not a word that came about in conjunction
with bologna as a food. Instead, "baloney" is slang for "nonsense," and it's a term that grew
in popularity in the earlier part of the 1900s, when a New York politician began using it to
describe federal bureaucracy. It's believed that the slang term may have been derived from the
Irish word "blarney," which also means "nonsense." "Oh, baloney, old man!" So then why do we pronounce "bologna" like
we do, and not like the Italian city for which the meat was named? One linguist told
HuffPost that this was just an instance of Americans replacing the ending I and A
in Italian words with a Y — in much the same way that "Italia" becomes "Italy". The
pronunciation of the city of Bologna sounds as if it has an "ia" at the end, meaning it
was subsequently Americanized into "baloney." If you've scanned health-related headlines in
the last few years, you may have gotten the impression that all deli meat — including bologna
— is totally unhealthy. What's more, you may have concluded from the headlines that not only is deli
meat bad for you, but it's downright dangerous, as it can cause all sorts of cancers. Whereas
headlines like to dramatize the impacts that certain foods can have on our bodies, experts tend
to be a little more restrained in their claims. One expert told The New York Times that, although
bologna isn't exactly great for you, you can eat it in moderation without any significant worry.
Similarly, a nutritionist told USA Today that, while pre-packaged deli meat is high in
preservatives and sodium, it can still be a source of protein in small quantities. However,
if you already have a health concern such as high blood pressure, you may want to be extra cautious
about your consumption. When buying any deli meat, you'd be better off choosing meat sliced at the
deli counter rather than pre-packaged options, which typically contain more
preservatives and additives. For years, the common understanding has been that
people shouldn't eat lunch meat while pregnant. If they did, the individuals and their unborn
children were thought to be at risk for dangerous food-borne illnesses. In particular, listeria
was a big worry, as it could lurk everywhere from unpasteurized milk to chicken salad and, yes,
lunchmeat. However, this is a broad generalization that overlooks some specific details, so it
shouldn't necessarily be taken at face value. For example, the USDA clarifies that lunchmeat
is only a risk if it hasn't been thoroughly reheated. So, while pregnant people shouldn't
eat a piece of bologna right out of the fridge, you should be safe if you put
the slice on a sub sandwich and reheat it to 165 degrees Fahrenheit. One
doctor who spoke with Healthline agreed, further noting that heat should reduce the risk
of listeria. And fried bologna is delicious. "Spam — it's a lot of meat,
but not a lot of money." For anyone who's had a taste of both Spam
and bologna, the idea that they could be the same product is clearly false. However,
it's still a misconception that comes up, particularly among those who deem all processed
meats to be mystery meats — including these ones. The distinction is most evident when you look
at their ingredient lists. Spam contains six ingredients: pork, salt, water, potato starch,
sugar, and sodium nitrite. All of these items are mixed together, loaded into Spam cans, cooked
inside, and sent on their way. Easy-peasy. In contrast, bologna contains far more ingredients,
including many that the average consumer may not be able to confidently identify by name. And,
of course, the way in which it is cooked and processed is completely different to Spam;
it's not usually canned, for one thing. So, while the naysayers might hold these two foods
in similarly low esteem, it's definitely not fair to say that they're the same thing. Truth
is, Spam and bologna are very different.
