Our title there first appeared in 1800, but the word "devil" as applied to food was in print as early as 1786. Basically it refers to highly season'd meat (Straight Dope).When I was a kid I ate a lot of Underwood's devil'd ham, and I always lov'd the logo. The product dates back to 1868, and past logos were a little less jaunty.
Anyway, given I've posted on "Lucifer" brands before, I thought I'd point this out.
Are we being play'd for suckers by the Prince of Darkness?
(Menacing chortle).
Ho ho! Underwood, the devil's minions, also produces Joan of Arc beans. Their website
Joan of Arc was an amazing woman – she lived and died for her beliefs. We think Joan would have been proud of the beans that bear her name.
What would the Front National think?
(Puzzled expression).
Weird that Joan of Ark beans are, according their website, "Midwestern." They're certainly well-shelved by my local Minneapolis grocers, but it hadn't occurred to me to think of canned goods as a regional operation.
ReplyDeleteAlso weird is that according to one of your links that "Today, the Underwood devil is the oldest existing trademark still in use in the United States."
Goes to show you what the history of trademarks are made of.
One final note. From the Sub Pop roster, here's the Supersucker's "Devil's Food"!!!
Gid lives! Glad to have you back....a lull in the studies?
ReplyDeleteRegarding your first point, I share the puzzlement. I thought the whole point of canned goods was that they could be shipp'd easily anywhere.
Despite the Midwestern bit, I seem to remember these beans in Florida supermarkets, so maybe they mean it's in the Midwest that sales are highest? Like maybe Pepsi is sold everywhere but in little pockets of the country it beats Coke in the ongoing Post Cola Cold War?
Also, ditto on the weirdness of this old logo. 1868: 150 years of spicy, spreadable meat!
Surprisingly, there doesn't seem to be too much Christian internet chatter about this. People go crazy over Proctor and Gamble's man in the moon, but the devil himself gets a free ride....