A Fun and Frolicking Family Festival in Shelby, North Carolina
One year ago, my husband and I spent a day experiencing the 2018 Shelby, North Carolina…Liver Mush Festival. Our senses were showered with the intoxicating aroma of frying food, the comical sight of a tuxedo-clad dog walking placidly by its human’s side and sounds of music and laughter everywhere. So, we joined the lines of hungry festival goers waiting for their taste of gastronomic nirvana piedmont style.
This was the warm welcome that embraced us at the Shelby, North Carolina Liver Mush Festival. It was like a journey back to a simpler time. No one seemed to be in a bad mood, children laughed and played as if they didn’t have a care in the world, and approximately 200 dogs – in costume or naked – wagged, woofed, and wandered to the delight of everyone.
What is Liver Mush?
Liver mush is a combination of boiled pig’s head meat and ground up pig’s liver, cornmeal, seasoned with sage, black pepper, red pepper, and salt. Its seasoning is similar to sausage, but that’s where the similarity ends. Instead of links or patties, the liver mush concoction is pressed into a loaf for slicing. It’s fully cooked and ready to eat but is best fried to a crunchy crispness. The liver mush has a subtle liver flavor that is not at all overwhelming, and we found our first experience with this Shelby heritage food to be surprisingly tasty.
While we were at the Liver Mush Festival, we sought out the local expert on the subject, Ron McKee, owner of Mac’s Livermush. He and his employees were frantically cutting slices from loaves of liver mush, deep frying them, placing them on buns, and selling them to a horde of liver mush devotees. Ron was kind enough to break away for a few moments to give us the liver mush low-down.
Ron’s grandfather began selling liver mush in 1933 during the darkest days of the depression. People were hungry, and liver mush was an inexpensive way to use less desirable parts of the pig. Then, in 1985, Ron’s father decided his Piedmont comfort food needed to be celebrated, and the Liver Mush Festival was born. By 2008, 2,000 attendees flocked to the festival, and by 2017, the number had risen to 16,000.
How Do You Eat Liver Mush?
The traditional way to eat liver mush is deep fried, on a bun or white bread, and slathered with mayo, mustard, or grape jelly. Liver mush is also scrumptious under spicy salsa or Charlotte’s comfort food, pimento cheese. It is eaten as an accompaniment for eggs, a filling for quiche, and as a pizza topping.
Aside from its flavor, liver mush is 99 percent fat free and gluten free. Whether or not this puts liver mush in the healthy eating category, the folks in and around Shelby love it. Liver mush is sold within a 100-mile radius of Shelby, and most people have never heard of it. Despite this, Mac’s produces and sells between 60,000 and 80,000 pounds a month. That’s a lot of luscious liver mush.
Throughout the festival day, a Little Miss Liver Mush pageant, canine demonstrations, and a parade of costumed dogs were big hits with festival goers. By the time we left, my face hurt from smiling. I would definitely do this again, and I recommend you make tracks to Shelby, too.
Penny Zibula is a freelance travel writer and blogger based in New Bern. Visit her blog at SixLegsWillTravel.
By Contributing Author, Penny Zibula