The Garden State is particular about a lot of things, but few things incite debate like the name of the sacred, salted pig product we call our own. Watch video
It's time to put this to rest, New Jersey.
The Garden State is particular about a lot of things, but few things incite debate like the name of the sacred, salted pig product we call our own.
If you travel from north to south in New Jersey, at some point Taylor ham becomes pork roll. Where that line resides is not entirely clear, and while valiant attempts have been made, the debate rages on.
And it seems to have picked up steam recently. State Assemblyman Tim Eustace (D-Bergen) has floated the idea of naming the state sandwich after either Taylor ham or pork roll, with egg and cheese. And Rutgers-Eagleton poll, released Tuesday, found New Jersey residents are pretty evenly divided on the issue.
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We're going to keep the polls open through the holiday weekend and the results are being mapped in real-time in a map at the bottom of this article.
View Live Results Map Here
In the past year, we've done similar live-voting maps, deciding the borders of New Jersey's sports teams and settling the great North-Central-South Jersey debate.
Each has pulled in tens of thousands of votes, so it seemed like the perfect fit for New Jersey's age-old salted swine saga.
Jersey's pork debate for the ages
We needed a starting point, so we loosely based our original map off of the research that Steve Chernoski, a dogged New Jersey cultural historian and teacher, laid out for our own S.P. Sullivan a few years ago.
Disagree? Change it!
Once the polls close next week, we'll pit the results against demographic data and see what we can glean from what our readership has to say.
Vote early, vote often and have a great week.
Live Results
Updated every 10 to 15 minutes. Polls will remain open through Memorial Day. Click on a town for more details on the current voting breakdown.
Stephen Stirling may be reached at sstirling@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @sstirling. Find him on Facebook.