I had Boar’s Head liver sausage lined up in my last lunch box.
Boar’s Head announced last Friday that it would stop making its most controversial deli meats in its deli section.
Liver sausage is the victim of a listeria outbreak that has led to a widespread product recall.
BOAR’S HEAD SUSPENDS PRODUCT PRODUCTION, CLOSES FACILITY LINKED TO LISTERIA OUTBREAK “INDEFINITION”
“Our investigation identified the root cause of the contamination as a specific production process that was present only at the Jarratt (Virginia) facility and was used only to make liver sausage,” the company said in a statement.
“With this discovery, we have decided to permanently stop producing liver sausage.”
Liver sausage was once a common ingredient in American lunches, but has become unpopular and hard to find in recent years. A sandwich made by Schaller & Weber in New York City is shown. (Kerry J. Byrne/Fox News Digital)
This may be an unpalatable moment for food manufacturers – but the truth is that liver sausage, once a beloved flavour, is now unpopular.
“Every time I eat liver sausage, everyone is disgusted by it.”
“Liver is one of the least popular sandwich options in New York City,” wrote Robert Sietsema of Eater NY in an April article about his quest to find liver sandwiches in a city known for its Old World deli culture.
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“Liver sausage, a filling in a sandwich made from rye or whole-wheat bread, topped with mustard and sometimes raw onions, was in many a child’s lunch bag 30 years ago, though it seemed strangely old-fashioned even then.”
A boy holds a lunch box in the 1950s, an era when liver sandwiches were popular among American consumers. (DeBrock/ClassicStock/Getty Images)
The author searched for liver sandwiches at five different Manhattan restaurants this year.
“None of us had this product,” he wrote. “At least the older sandwich makers knew what it was.”
Liver sausage is a cured sausage of German origin made from pork liver and other organs mixed with spices, as has been the case in an increasing number of examples.
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Liver sausage was generally affordable for families, and in the American culinary tradition, it was often sliced into supermarket white bread sandwiches for a quick lunch.
Some types of liver sausage were softer, like pâté, and were spread on bread.
A recall notice for Boar’s Head deli meats appears at a grocery store in Queens, New York. (Lindsay Nicholson/UCG/Universal Images Collection via Getty Images)
Liver sausages were popular enough during World War II to cause discontent over rationing.
“Liver sausage caused a minor crisis last week,” Time magazine reported in 1943.
“These meats lost most of their appeal after they were distributed at seven points per pound. And because liver sausages could only be stored for a few days, merchants looked upon their rotting stocks with a dismal look.”
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The magazine listed it among the best “honest trade meats…steaks, ribs, liver sausages and everything.”
Liver sausages seem to have gained popularity, if not popularity, in the post-World War II period, gaining prominence in the 1980s.
Sandwich board at McSorley’s Old Ale House in New York City. (Kerry J. Byrne/Fox News Digital)
It was the best of times.
Now – it’s the worst of times.
“Every time I eat liver sausage everyone is disgusted by it,” one disgruntled advocate of the food wrote on Reddit last year.
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“I asked the lady at the deli how many people ordered liverwurst and she said I was the only one who ordered it last year,” @spvcebound wrote.
“What’s up with the liver hatred?”
Liver remains the first course for those who can stand the sarcasm and minced pork liver.
Liver sandwiches were a popular and affordable lunch option in America after World War II but have largely disappeared from the diet in the 21st century. (Michael Ochs Archive/Getty Images; Kerry J. Byrne/Fox News Digital; Lambert/Getty Images)
“A liver sandwich with mustard is probably the perfect lunch for me,” the same person wrote.
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“It tastes like a cross between bologna and bacon, it’s a very rich flavour…and the texture is great too.”
“Devoted student. Bacon advocate. Beer scholar. Troublemaker. Falls down a lot. Typical coffee enthusiast.”