North Carolina Lays Claim to Scrapple, Calls it Livermush

We were checking out the list of 50 Fattiest Foods in the US, and, spoiler alert, they picked the cheesesteak for Pennsylvania (although they picked a version that has ketchup and green peppers, which won't fly over at Not a Cheesesteak). During our journey through the slideshow, though, we came across the North Carolina entry and found something that looked a hell of a lot like scrapple, but they called it livermush.

A quick stop over to the ever-reliable Wikipedia says livermush was probably brought down to NC through the Appalachian Mountains from our region, but we're calling bullshits on these hacks for stealing our birthright and repackaging it as their own. In fact, you'll find more Pennsy locals who believe scrapple should have been our entry over the cheesesteak on this very list. They have a Livermush Expo in Shelby, NC, which sounds a lot like our ScrappleFest, and even hornswoggled adventure-eater Andrew Zimmern into believing this was their own deal. For shame.

In our rage, we contacted local critic Craig LaBan for his opinion, and he had never heard of livermush. The closest thing they had in his hometown of New Orleans was cajun boudin. He also added some perspective to the situation, saying, "no one ever invents something as primal as this; just sort of happens simultaneously and logically in the waste-not whole animal cultures of rustic traditions everywhere."

Nah, we're still pissed. It's scrapple, and they know it's scrapple. Sure, you can argue that much of the South—especially rural North Carolina—doesn't have the internet yet (the website for Mack's, the areas largest purveyor of Livermush, proves that fact), but ask around if you're not sure where your food came from.

At this point we're pretty sure all of North Carolina's game is lifted. The Wright Brothers first flight probably took place in Virginia. And, can anyone prove Duke University is a real place, and not some genetics laboratory? It always struck us funny that a national basketball power of that caliber had an inordinately large number of caucasians on the roster that saw real playing time. Next week, North Carolina will probably "invent" the CheezWhizMeatwich, too.

Philly sports fans, we appreciate your hatred for New York, and to a lesser extent Boston and D.C., but Eater HQ has found our real arch nemesis: Shelby, N.C. We'll see you in hell. With scrapple.

· Livermush. Yeah Whatever, It's Scrapple [Wikipedia]
· Scrapple [Wikipedia]