Desperate times call for desperate measures. During stressful periods, humans are nothing if not industrious and clever about making something out of almost nothing. That explains both how mock ham salad sandwiches came to exist and why many of you may not have heard of them. Mock ham salad was one of many “mock” dishes that gained popularity during the Great Depression in the 1930s and later during the Second World War in the ’40s. It endured during lean times for many years around the globe.
Mock chicken, mock apple pie (which brilliantly substitutes its star ingredient), and mock ham salad were all created to offer eaters an approximation of food they knew and enjoyed even when the real thing was not a viable option due to cost or availability. Australian Women’s Weekly even offered up a variety of mock recipes in its January 1944 edition, showing this to be a global phenomenon. Meat rationing during World War II made real ham hard to come by. While red meat and pork were strictly rationed or expensive, bologna was not and remained readily available.
Combined with the fact that it was so much cheaper than other cuts, was well preserved, and could last without spoiling for a long time, bologna became hugely popular in America. Home cooks looking to adapt favorite recipes that were too expensive substituted bologna for ham. But when both the Depression and wartime rationing ended, meat prices fell, and real ham became affordable and easy to get again. As a result, there wasn’t a need for mock ham salad or sandwiches made with it and the dish quickly faded from public awareness.
What was mock ham salad?
Even before the Depression, as far back as Colonial times, many Americans were savvy about food waste. You had to be back in an era when refrigeration was not widespread and you couldn’t simply walk to the grocery store to get fresh ingredients as easily as you do now. This desire to use all of something, even scraps, is what gave rise to mixing chopped chicken or ham with mayonnaise to make a “meat” salad sandwich. Mock ham salad was made the same as ham salad with one key difference.
In this case, chopped bologna was substituted for ham, and the meat was minced with onion, pickle, and hard-boiled egg as usual. Then, mayonnaise was mixed in to create what, visually, probably looked a lot like genuine ham salad – especially after it was tucked into a sandwich. During the Depression, repurposing leftovers was heavily promoted and a new generation of recipes that tried to disguise old food as something new arose. This tradition still exists today, and you can even find a number of novel uses for bologna if you’re interested.
Keep in mind, Depression-era bologna was different from the modern product. It probably included various organ meats or lower-quality cuts than what you will find today. Even though the texture would be slightly off, depending on the quality of the bologna, you would at least be in the ham salad ballpark. Nowadays, mock ham salad exists mostly as a novelty for those who want to experience the way things once were.
