I first heard of fried bologna sandwiches in 1965 in Charleston, West Virginia. Sure, I’d had sandwiches made with thin slices of fried  bologna on white bread before, but I’d never seen anything like the half-inch thick slice, fried crusty and served on a bun with onions and pickles. They called them Hillbilly hamburgers.

My father called it depression food in that it was all we could afford. When he cooked he bought a slab of baloney, maybe 10 pounds or so, and baked it like a ham complete with glaze and Dole pineapple slices. I suspect he was only being cute. We could afford the ham. Maybe that was what he knew growing up.