October 12, 2015
Ol' Joe Knew What He Was Doing

I don't know why, but when my two sisters reported that they were making "sloppy Joes" for my father's 88th birthday party I couldn't stop giggling.  You see, I hadn't heard that term for years, I'm pretty sure.  And of course, that led my colorful mind to conjure up images of a food-encrusted, aproned short order chef covered in splattered in stains calling out his orders in military fashion.

"That's a real sloppy guy," I said to myself.  Joe must certainly have been an epic slob to have a sandwich coined after him, I mused. I wonder if he ever realized the significance of his slothfulness.  

Actually the delicious concoction that my sisters created was the same that I'd always been taught to refer to as "BBQ sandwiches" but it was the same delicious comfort food that I knew and loved.  It in fact was the one and only dish that I as a youngster, request ever year when my birthday rolled around and I was given exclusive dictatorial ruling over the family's menu for that one glorious day.  That and of course a pink cake.  That was necessary.

As we pondered the complexities of the sloppy Joe terminology, we dug into the vaults and discovered that indeed the term derived from a short order chef from Sioux City who devised a loose meat sandwich that quickly caught on among his customers.  Since the man was generally a slob, the term soon stuck.  

Since then a plethora of terms to describe the distinctive  sandwich have evolved and depending on the geological location, there are many names for the same dish.  Loose meat, taverns, bbq's, sloppy Joes, and even the Manwiches all refer to the same delectable  dish made with ground beef, ketchup, Worcestershire sauce, onions and mustard.  

I'm sure there are slight variations on the dish from time to time, yet still it remains such a yummy comfort food. I do recall that the Thursday offering of BBQ sandwiches at our school lunchroom was one of three meals that I would readily accept (the others being fried chicken and chili), and eat in entirety.  That pretty much says it all, I imagine. 

Call it what you will but to me, a rose by any other name would smell a sweet, to borrow from my favorite scribner.  It doesn't really matter what you call it,  I will always adore my bbq-loose meat-sloppy Joes.