Liver is a perpetual bottom dweller on Americans' list of favorite foods. This makes livermush -- yeah, really -- an especially hard sell. Once a staple of textile mill worker lunches, the creamy loaf of pig parts has lately become even more of a lunch pail pariah.
Changing tastes, mill closings and an onslaught of snack-wielding vending machines have conspired to nearly wipe out western North Carolina's signature liver, skin, snout and cornmeal hybrid, a khaki-colored treat pioneered by scrapple-loving German farmers who followed the Great Wagon Road south in search of work. But community leaders in Marion, a thrifty little foothills town where a turned-over tomato truck is occasion to break out the home canning supplies, are banking on livermush's resurgence. Local livermush makers suspect the poor man's pate could become the current recession's official lunchmeat.
Marion is gearing up for the third edition of its annual livermush festival, and the town's Chamber of Commerce has hammered out an event schedule that allows livermush lovers of all ilk to express their passion: There's a livermush cook-off for the kitchen savvy, a livermush haiku writing contest for romantics and a livermush toss for athletes. And, as always, all attendees are invited to wear their best livermush costumes.
With livermush looking this good, scrapple may be running scared.
The Third Annual Livermush Festival will take over downtown Marion on June 5. Visit www.hometownmarion.com for more information.
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