Only in York County

Back in June, John Loeper mentioned a truly Only in York County food, butcher bologna.

At the time, I mentioned a blogger now living in New Jersey who wondered the same thing – Nancy, of “Rediscovering Grandma,” who had written about it in 2010.

Well, Nancy wrote to me later in the summer with more on her thoughts on this special meat: “As far as I can tell recently, there are two foods that definitely mark you as a York County native: butcher bologna and sugar cakes. We have an Amish Market here in NJ that’s full of vendors from Lancaster County, and when I asked the bakery folks from Ronks if they ever had sugar cakes, they looked at me like I’d sprouted an extra head. I had no idea they were YC-specific, but apparently they are. Actually, now that I think about it, Egg and Olive might be a third. Do they speak E&O over in Lancaster?”

Not sure, Nancy, but I bet some of our readers can answer that!

Meanwhile, speaking of sending one of our favorite meats out of state, Beth Lutter emailed in response to the same question by John and said, “You forgot to mention an important other bologna — Twin Pines located in Seven Valleys. It is soooo delicious that I ship it to other states — NJ, CT, CA, MD and FL — every Christmas so that my family can enjoy what they love!!”

Beth, I’m glad to hear that! I always like seeing “Yorkisms” spread around the country!