"The Etymology of Slumgullion" by Judith Mikesch-McKenzie

The Etymology of Slumgullion

Slum-gul-lion — slәm’-gәl-ən/ informal noun US
origin — Old English slum meaning slime and
Old English, Celtic, Scots and Irish goilin
meaning mud or quagmire, cesspool.

My knife rocks back and forth on the cutting board, that same
rhythmic motion my mother used. I push the stack of thin
onion slices under its moving edge, as bit by bit the diced
pieces fall away into the pool of liquid on the board.

History: Used by sailors on whaling ships to name the offal
left after processing dead whales. Also used in mining
camps during the gold rush to name the sludge left
after mine processing, and the thin weak stew
served in the camps.

The ground meat sizzles in the pan, and I lift the cutting board
and slide the onions in, the aroma lifting in the steam
above the pan, I breathe it in and remember her

sitting in the circle, her voice shadowed by tight-gripped tears
as she told of the “nutrition board” in her childhood classroom,
where the students who ate healthy foods at home got a gold
star, and the ones who did not got a black X. “We ate pasta,” she
says, her eyes defiant, “because it was all we could afford.”

In the circle I cannot take my eyes from her, cannot look at the others,
cannot speak or offer her comfort. I pour drained pasta and
home-canned tomato sauce into the pan, sprinkling as I do
garlic, oregano, rosemary, and black pepper, the taste the
home-baked bread my mother would serve with it, awash
in butter, warm and rich in my mouth.

Over time, the term used for a variety of regional stew
recipes using whatever was on hand, varying from
region to region.

Slumgullion — offal from whale processing, refuse from mining, or a
weak, cheap stew. It means unwanted, nasty, vile, like the
dark black ‘X’ next to our names on the nutrition board.

Judith Mikesch-McKenzie

Judith Mikesch-McKenzie has traveled much of the world but is always drawn to the Rocky Mountains as one place that feeds her soul. She loves change—new places, new people, new challenges—but writing is her home. Her poems have been published in Wild Roof Journal, Halcyone Literary Review, Plainsongs Magazine, Elevation Review, Scribblerus, Cathexis Northwest Press, Meat for Tea Valley Review, and several others. She is a wee bit of an Irish curmudgeon, but her friends seem to like that about her.

Headshot: Emily Hart

Photo Credit: Staff