A Toms River Man Eats His Way Through New Jersey One Pork Roll, Egg, And Cheese Sandwich At A Time
While scrolling through Facebook, I came across a thread focused on a 25-year-old Toms River man’s quest to eat every pork roll, egg, and cheese sandwich in the state of New Jersey.
The comments section was an all-out war zone. A face-off between the Taylor Ham hooligans in North Jersey, and the pork roll ruffians in South Jersey. Personally, I don’t care if you call it pork roll or Taylor Ham and neither does Kyle. I feel the argument is old and tired. Just eat it and enjoy! My food warrior friends on social media avoid such confrontations by referring to this item as, “That controversial meat product.”
Enter Kyle Arenofsky of Toms River. Kyle has eaten well over 150 pork roll, egg, and cheese sandwiches from Asbury Park to Long Beach Island with stops in Clark, Bedminster, Bridgewater, and a handful of other New Jersey towns outside of Monmouth and Ocean Counties since starting this journey in November 2020.
I immediately tracked Kyle down to interview him to find out what sparked this pursuit.
It all started while Kyle was working from home during the Covid lockdown. Kyle would go out to lunch almost every day to get some fresh air and talk to other humans. Eventually, pork roll became the star of his lunchtime meals and the idea of putting pork roll on parade was born. I don’t think a single person working from home during the lockdown didn’t suffer from boredom from being cooped up all day. Lots of people focused on home renovations, some developed new at-home businesses and hobbies, and Kyle left the house in search of pork roll sandwiches.
Is it impossible to eat every pork roll sandwich in New Jersey? Kyle said, “Probably, but it’s all about the journey, not the destination.”
Within the first year, Kyle gained over 20 pounds, so now he limits his pork roll consumption to just 1 or 2 sandwiches per week.
Phew, as everyone’s Jewish mother I began to worry about Kyle’s blood pressure and cholesterol. All that salt and fat! Oy vey!! Thank goodness he has his weight and his vitals under control, Kinahora! That’s Yiddish for May no evil befall you.
Speaking of Yiddish, Kyle refers to himself on both his website and his Instagram page as, “The Pork Roll Yid.” A nod to his Jewish heritage.
On his website: https://www.porkrollyid.com/ Kyle applies a score to each and every pork roll creation he’s consumed throughout his journey. At press time Kyle had the Asbury Park sandwich shop, “The Speakeatery” sitting at #1 with a score of 9.4 out of 10. I was not surprised to see this establishment in the top 5. I have written about them a few times and have spoken to many foodies who have consistently given them glowing reviews.
During our interview Kyle informed me that he hasn’t updated his scoreboard in recent months, and he needs to add another 40 or so sandwiches to the mix. I asked him if there were any places not on the list that would rate in the top tier and he said, “Anthony’s From Brooklyn” on Route 37 in Toms River. I plan on keeping up with Kyle’s pork roll adventure and you can too by following him on Instagram.
You can listen to the entire interview to find out how Kyle rates these sandwiches and more by clicking the link below.