The Vintage Deli Meat Many People Remember From Growing Up in the '70s

Olive loaf was once a fairly common deli meat. It resembles bologna, but it is made differently and is dotted with sliced green olives and pimentos. If you grew up in the '70s or earlier, it may have been a regular part of your lunch routine. Even if you have not had it in years, just hearing the name can bring back strong memories, pleasant or unpleasant, depending on whether you liked it as a child. For some people, it is an old-fashioned sandwich filling they are glad to leave in the past.

These days, olive loaf is more likely to turn up in nostalgic conversations on Reddit, Facebook, and similar social media spaces, though it is still available. Even so, it is far less popular than it used to be. Like bologna, which has seen steady annual sales declines over the past few decades, olive loaf and comparable deli meats have not held up especially well. Its nutritional profile does not help either: Boar's Head olive loaf contains 17% of the daily value for saturated fat and 26% for sodium.

An American deli staple with European roots

Olive loaf may seem unusual now, but its background is rooted in American food traditions, with some European influence. Although it looks a bit like Italian mortadella, the two are not the same. Mortadella is a lesser-known deli meat made from pork and filled with pistachios and cubes of fat. Olive loaf, by contrast, comes from loaf meats such as head cheese that Dutch and German settlers brought to the United States. In a method similar to head cheese, olive loaf is usually made from finely ground beef and pork, then baked in pans with whole stuffed olives and seasonings.

The exact origin of olive loaf is uncertain. The earliest reference found for it was a 1936 advertisement in The Houston Post for a Texas grocer called Weingarten's. By the 1970s, it had become a standard deli meat, loved by some children and disliked by others. For some adults who grew up with it, olive loaf remains a nostalgic summer picnic food. Even so, it has often been mocked in popular culture, suggesting it has more critics than devoted fans. Anyone wanting to try it again can still find it from several manufacturers besides Boar's Head, including Oscar Mayer and Dietz & Watson.