As many of you know, I live in and am from New Jersey, a state which is often the butt of so many jokes, but which is also (in my opinion) one of the best places to live. Alas, the adjective “classy” is rarely paired with New Jersey, save for in a purely ironic sense and the New Jersey lottery commission has proven why with their latest offering.
Last week they unveiled their newest scratch-off lottery ticket, and the theme is pork products, well, a specific kind of processed pork product.
Other states have scratch-offs with themes of money, luck or popular games. Here in Jersey we have a game based on a breakfast food who’s name sharply divides the Garden State’s residents. The New Jersey Lottery’s latest scratch-off game is called “The Jersey Debate” and it’s all about whether you say “Taylor Ham” as those of us from North Jersey do or “pork roll” as those in South Jersey do.
A quick Google search turned up no less than seven map images that have been created to show where the Taylor Ham/Pork Roll dividing line falls. So, this is clearly something we take very seriously in New Jersey.
Something else I turned up while doing some Googling is that Taylor Ham is a specifically New Jersey invention, having been created by one John Taylor from Trenton all the way back in the 19th century. The name Taylor Ham was officially changed to “pork roll” back in the early 20th century with the passage of the Pure Food and Drug Act of 1906 since it wasn’t actually ham, though clearly North Jersey never got this memo. Entrepreneurial Taylor tried to trademark the name “Pork Roll” but his application was denied.
I tried Googling what they call this pork product in other states, and where they call it anything they usually go with the South Jersey “pork roll” name, but the truth is this tends to be a pretty New Jersey food, and the further you get from the Garden State, it becomes increasingly difficult to find at all.
For those of you who are Taylor Ham/pork roll enthusiasts (don’t look at me, I’m a vegetarian) this might just be one more reason to live here in the land of jug handles and full service gas stations.
And for the rest of you, let the unveiling of this new lottery game be a reminder that you should follow your own bliss, and do the things that are uniquely you, no matter how classy or unclassy others might deem them. That’s one of the reasons I’ve gone back to working on a novel I abandoned some time ago because it was generally weird and not commercially viable. Perhaps it will never see the publishing light of day, but a least I’ll have fun working on it.
In a world of Cash Money Spectaculars and Gold Treasure Deluxes be true to yourself and be a Taylor Ham/pork roll themed lottery scratch-off game because being like everyone else is boring.
— Alissa
Weekly Inspiration
What I’m Reading: School Trip by Jerry Craft
What I’m Watching: Gold, Lies and Videotape
What I’m Listening to: “Honeysuckle Vines” by M. F. Schlotterbeck
Find out more about my books at alissagrosso.com
Find out more about my digital art at alissacarin.com
My apologies for the typos and such this post is almost certainly riddled with.
I am a Jersey transplant living in Arizona where pork roll is very hard to find. (Not that I eat it, but my hubby, also a Jersey boy, loves it.) You can take a girl (or boy) out of Jersey, but you can't take the Jersey out of the girl. (Or boy.)
I have always loved your writing style. I look forward to seeing this each week. Keep it coming! ❤️😘