Hush Puppies Origin Name
I ve heard two tales about the origin of the name but i don t know if either one is true.
Hush puppies origin name. Hush puppy shoes were produced by the us shoe company wolverine world wide from 1958 onward. Why it is actually called a hushpuppy is debated but most agree it s either. The story goes that they derived their name from old fishing and hunting expeditions when the white folks ate to repletion the negro help ate beyond repletion 1 i m just the messenger here this is what she wrote and the hunting dogs already fed smelled the delectable odors of human rations and howled for the things the remaining cornmeal patties to the dogs calling hush puppies and the dogs devouring them could ask no more of life and hushed. The hush puppies brand was founded in 1958 following extensive work by wolverine to develop a practical method of pigskin tanning for the us military.
They were given the name hush puppies as eating such humble food wasn t something people wanted to discuss. The name is often attributed to hunters fishermen or other cooks who would fry some basic cornmeal mixture possibly that they had been bread coating or battering their own food with and feed it to their dogs to hush the puppies during cook outs or fish fries. The company had developed a method of tanning pigskin and were looking for an outlet for the soft pigskin suede. These were eaten as part of poor people s diet deep fried with cornmeal.
Pigskin is considered one of the most durable leathers and the government was interested in its use in gloves and other protective materials for soldiers. With the command to hush puppies so that they wouldn t disturb. The first recorded use of the word hush puppy dates to 1899.