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Happy National Hoagie Day!

Here are five food finds about Hoagies:

• The original “hoagie” is what is now referred to as an “Italian Hoagie” which includes a variety of traditional Italian lunch meats, including dry salami, mortadella, capicolla, and provolone served with lettuce, tomato and onions with a light vinegar and oil dressing.

• Former Philadelphia mayor (also once Pennsylvania governor) Ed Rendell declared the hoagie the “Official Sandwich of Philadelphia”.

• Most hoagie shops offer single-meat hoagies (for example, ham or salami hoagies) as well as premium hoagies with upscale ingredients: prosciutto, imported Italian lunchmeats (cotechino, mortadella, sopressata, etc.). A popular variant is the grinder or cosmo, which is essentially a hoagie that has been toasted under a broiler.

• Many takeout shops in Chicago sell a “hoagy” (sic.), usually containing steak and other ingredients, with the option of being “heated.” They also sell cheesesteak, referred to most often as “Philly Steak.”

• In many areas the default cheese on a hoagie is Provolone, while in others it is white American cheese. Cheese-only hoagies (Provolone, American, or Mixed) replace the meat with extra slices of cheese.

Today’s Food History

on this day in…

• 1494 Columbus landed at Jamaica and met the Arawak Indians. The Arawak used Jamaican pimento (allspice) to season and smoke meat (usually pigs), the foundation upon which Jamaican Jerk developed.
• 1854 Asa Fitch was appointed as New York state entomologist, the first such in the U.S. He studied insects and their effects on agricultural crops.
• 1942 War time food rationing began in the U.S.