The Philly Cheese Steak
A "Philadelphia Institution" - The  wildly-passionate tradition of THE PHILLY CHEESESTEAK,
Reading Terminal's Rick Olivieri, the grandson of the cheesesteak inventor, Pat Olivieri.
http://www.rickssteaks.com


The Hoagie
European settlers purchased Hog Island from the Lenape Indians in 1680. The settlers gradually developed the island by building log and earthwork dikes to minimize storm damage and convert the marshes into good grazing meadows. Hog Island supposedly got its name from the pigs which local residents left to roam free, as no fencing was needed.
In 1917, as part of the World War I effort, the US government contracted American International Shipbuilding to build ships and a shipyard at Hog Island. At the time Hog Island was the largest shipyard in the world with 50 slipways. The first ship (named USS Quistconck for the Lenape name for the site), was christened August 5, 1918 by Edith Bolling Wilson (wife of US president Woodrow Wilson). The shipbuilding process practiced on Hog Island was an early experiment in standardized construction of ships. The ships built there, known as "Hog Islanders" were considered ugly but well-built. In all 122 Hog Islanders were built, mostly cargo ships, and a few troop transport ships. The shipbuilding continued until 1921, after which the facility was rapidly demolished. None of the ships were ready in time to participate in World War I, but many of them were involved in World War II.

Al De Palma owned a chain of sub shops in Philly and styled himself "King of the Hoagies." He claims to have coined the term "hoggie" in 1928 when he saw a friend eating one, so-named because he thought his friend was being a hog in eating the whole thing. De Palma opened his first sandwich shop in 1936, recalled the name he
had given it and started selling "hoggies." The spelling later shifted to "hoagie," probably by competitors. (Eames & Robboy, AS, 1967)
The De Palma 1936 sub shop opening is much closer in date to the term's earliest known appearance, his claim is orthographically consistent with the earliest forms, and it is semantically similar to the synonym "hero" in that
it is a reference to the sandwich's size.
One legend of the origin of the Hoagie sandwich is tied to Hog Island. Italian-American workers on the island were known as "Hoggies" and brought antipasto sandwiches for their lunch; these sandwiches evolved into Philadelphia's well-known Hoagies. The historical truth of this story is disputed.

The original "hoagie" is what is now referred to as an "Italian Hoagie" which includes a variety of traditional Italian lunch meats, including dry salami, mortadella, capicolla, and provolone served with lettuce, tomato and onions with a light vinegar and oil dressing.

The Philadelphia Almanac and Citizen's Manual says that “the Centennial made popular the “hokey-pokey man,” a street vendor selling ices, sandwiches, sausages, fresh bread, “zoologicals” (Philadelphia baker Walter G. Wilson’s animal crackers), and small antipasto salad. When Gilbert and Sullivan’s operetta “H.M.S. Pinafore” opened in Philadelphia in 1879, bakeries produced a long loaf called the pinafore. Entrepreneurial “hokey-pokey men” sliced the loaf in half, stuffed it with antipasto salad, and sold the world’s first hoagie.”[1]

Professor Domenic Vitiello, professor of Urban Studies at the University of Pennsylvania offers a different explanation of the word's origins: "Italians used to work at the old Navy Yard [in Philadelphia] where they would grab meat, cheese, and lettuce and put it between two slices of bread. The location of the Navy Yard was called Hog Island, so the sandwich eventually became known as the 'Hog Island' sandwich; hence, the 'hoagie'."

According to one reference, many older, Italian-descended, South Philadelphia residents, said that the real origin of the word "hoagie" arose in the late 19th-early 20th century, when there was a term "on the hoke" that was used to denote someone who was down-and-out. The word "hoke" may have been derived from a Scottish term, "howk," meaning "rummaging around." Men who were "on the hoke" would ask deli owners for handouts, who would put together scraps and off-cuts of their cheeses and meats and offer them in an Italian roll. The sandwich was known as a "hokie." The Italian immigrants pronounced it as "hoagie."