Cold cuts - or "lunch meat" as my mother called them, not as many varieties as yesteryear. For a long time, I've bought Oscar Mayer brand. Which I believe is no longer an independent firm; now owned by Kraft. I remember when most gro. stores carried a dozen or fifteen different styles of packaged Oscar Mayer cold cuts. First in my experience to disappear was jellied corned beef, one of my favorites. Then it was liverwurst with the little band of tasty fat around the edge. OM made separate olive loaf and pickle loaf. The first of those to go was the olive. After that, maybe two years ago, the pickle loaf vanished. So now you go into a major store, there may be four or five varieties. Bologna, ham, maybe cotto salami, maybe ham loaf, maybe ham loaf with cheese.
I haven't seen OM brand head cheese in a while but I don't miss that one. Jellied pig's eyelids, I called it.
I've been trying to think of the reasons for these disappearances. Of course consumer preference is the driver, but I was trying to get into that background. For one, until the Covid virus thing anyway, more people were buying their lunch out instead of packing their own. Here I mean mostly fast food. Then some of the traditional products have been outsold by packaged "deli meats," that is, products thinly sliced in different style containers and of a moderately healthier nature in terms of fat content. But no more varietal, just ham, chicken, and turkey. Then there is the ethnic thing. Not so many Germans in Milwaukee to buy liverwurst anymore and Hispanics are not substitute buyers. As an example.
I see the same situation with other major US brands of pre-packaged cold cuts. BUT: If you go to the deli case in some place like Fred Meyer, they have Boar's Head brand and some Kroger house brands that they will slice off for you by the pound. Quite a bit of variety. Today, I sprung for some Boar's Head olive loaf, but it's almost half olives, a bit too salty and olivey for my taste. OM was just the right ratio of olives/pickle relish to meat. IMO.
I haven't seen OM brand head cheese in a while but I don't miss that one. Jellied pig's eyelids, I called it.
I've been trying to think of the reasons for these disappearances. Of course consumer preference is the driver, but I was trying to get into that background. For one, until the Covid virus thing anyway, more people were buying their lunch out instead of packing their own. Here I mean mostly fast food. Then some of the traditional products have been outsold by packaged "deli meats," that is, products thinly sliced in different style containers and of a moderately healthier nature in terms of fat content. But no more varietal, just ham, chicken, and turkey. Then there is the ethnic thing. Not so many Germans in Milwaukee to buy liverwurst anymore and Hispanics are not substitute buyers. As an example.
I see the same situation with other major US brands of pre-packaged cold cuts. BUT: If you go to the deli case in some place like Fred Meyer, they have Boar's Head brand and some Kroger house brands that they will slice off for you by the pound. Quite a bit of variety. Today, I sprung for some Boar's Head olive loaf, but it's almost half olives, a bit too salty and olivey for my taste. OM was just the right ratio of olives/pickle relish to meat. IMO.
