New Jersey Devils serve Garden State staple at home games

An evening at a hockey game conjures up images of hot dogs, popcorn and beer. But the New Jersey Devils have put something else on the menu this season: breakfast.

The Devils announced this week that they will sell Taylor ham, egg and cheese sandwiches – New Jersey's iconic breakfast staple – at the “Downtown Diner” stands near Sections 1 and 118 at the Prudential Center. The sandwich was only available for a limited time in previous seasons, but will now become a staple at all games.

Most importantly, the Devils may have chosen their side in the biggest food debate in the Garden State.

For the uninitiated, Taylor Ham is a slice of processed meat available throughout New Jersey and surrounding states. It was created in 1856 by a man named John Taylor and was originally called the Taylor's Prepared Ham. But the Pure Food and Drug Act of 1906 changed the definition of “ham” and forced the product to be renamed the “Taylor Pork Roll” – a slightly less appetizing but entirely accurate description.

The current labels of Taylor Provisions Company's best-selling product still call it the “Taylor Pork Roll.”

What should it be called?

Like Bruce Springsteen's albums and the ban on pumping your own gas (an actual law in the state), the decades-long debate over processed meat has come to define the state's culture. Many in North Jersey, where the Devils play, still call it Taylor Ham. Other parts of the state prefer pork rolls.

Ultimately they are interchangeable. If you go to a deli or restaurant and ask for either dish, you will be served fried slices of meat. But don't tell a Taylor ham lover that “pork roll” is just as valid and vice versa.

It turns out the Devils are trying to do both.

At their official Arena Cuisine tasting this week, the item on the menu was called the “Taylor Ham, Egg and Cheese Sandwich.” But the item's description read, “Made with freshly shaved pork bun, fried egg, American cheese on a freshly baked Kaiser roll.”

So here we go: “Taylor ham made from pork buns.” Will that be enough to satisfy both sides of this debate? Or will this rivalry eventually eclipse that between Devils fans and invading Rangers fans as the most intense within The Rock?

Perhaps everyone can agree on one thing: breakfast at hockey games is awesome.