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The monster truck of lunchtime sandwiches, the Philadelphia hoagie is a built-to-order hero sandwich typically encompassing a mass of Italian cold cuts, Provolone, shredded lettuce, tomato, pickle and a sprinkling of oregano-vinegar dressing for bite.
Competing with the Philly Cheese Steak for popular portable meals in the City of Brotherly Love, the hoagie's origins are inconclusive. According to one legend, the brimming sandwich was named for the Italian immigrants dubbed "hoggies" who worked in Hog Island, the local Navy Yard. Another legend stipulates that the sandwich takes its name from another shipyard worker by the name of Hogan, who would pay his Italian coworker to have his wife bring him an extra sandwich each day. Lastly, jazz musician and entrepreneur Al De Palma once noted that one would have to be a hog to devour the sandwich -- and opened up a shop devoted to it during the Great Depression, when jazz work was harder to find.
Though historical records mark the sandwich as being referred to as "hoagie," "hoggie," "hoogie" and a "hogie," one thing remained constant: the Italian-inspired sandwich is a satisfying meal in itself.
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I grew up in New England, and I'm not sure what other families did, but we never called the nighttime meal "dinner." We always called it "supper." Now I always call it dinner. I don't know when it changed, but somewhere along the line it did.
