South Jersey’s Breakfast Debate: Scrapple Reigns Over Pork Roll?

You're likely a lot more loyal to another breakfast meat if you originally hail from the Garden State. Even I have to admit, my love of scrapple isn't necessarily appreciated here in this part of South Jersey like it is in, say, the Philly suburbs of South Jersey. That's where I grew up. I was born with a love of both pork roll AND scrapple.

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Most Jersey people would admit that pork roll is their favorite of the two. Listen, I totally understand. It's basically against Garden State policy to claim any distaste towards the Garden State's most popular breakfast meat. Here's the thing, though.... as previously stated, I don't dislike pork roll.

Quite the contrary, actually.

I happen to LOVE pork roll sandwiches. You'll never see me order a breakfast sandwich with scrapple on it. You won't, however, catch me ordering my eggs with a side of pork roll out at a diner, either. When it comes to pork roll, I prefer to make it at home. If I'm out to breakfast, I'll be ordering a side of scrapple.

Why do South Jersey and Philly love scrapple?

What makes scrapple so mouthwateringly delicious? Well, some would say nothing. It looks, quite frankly, like a roof shingle. Whatever they do at NJ diners to give it that taste, that's what does it for me. They get it so much fluffier than I ever can at home, too.

Is scrapple better than pork roll?

I know, it's probably weird to hear someone who grew up in South Jersey say that they prefer scrapple. If you think about it, though, the two are like distant cousins. After all, the same things go into making both meats. To keep it simple, both pork roll and scrapple are made by combining all the left-over parts of the pig. I just prefer to order scrapple over pork roll when I'm out to breakfast because it's harder to make at home.

Now, don't get me wrong - pork roll's awesome. You'll just experience hell freezing over before I'll order it out at a restaurant. You can probably thank my Philly-born-and-raised parents for that. I am who I am.

Now, if you want to know where to find some of the BEST breakfast in South Jersey, we can definitely help you out with that: