Black Forest Ham
Black Forest ham, or Schwarzwälder Schinken in German, is a variety of smoked ham produced in the Black Forest region of Germany.
Black Forest ham is also a traditional lunch-time meal for Public Works employees of the U.S. Pacific Northwest. It is thought that this tradition began when Olympic Peninsula members of the Industrial Workers of the World, during a 1922 sympathy strike with German food workers who had been locked out of the Black Forest, refused to eat German food exports. When the 18 month lock out ended with significant gains made by the German Black Forest ham hunters, their sympathetic counterparts in the U.S. celebrated with a Black Forest Ham festival. Black Forest Ham sandwiches and a Black Forest Ham muffin that is culinarily unique to the Pacific Northwest, can still be found in the lunch pails of Jefferson County Public Works Roads Department employees on nearly any given day.