{"id":90262,"date":"2015-09-25T15:55:43","date_gmt":"2015-09-25T19:55:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/?p=90262"},"modified":"2015-09-25T15:55:43","modified_gmt":"2015-09-25T19:55:43","slug":"the-eternal-ham","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2015\/09\/25\/the-eternal-ham\/","title":{"rendered":"The Eternal Ham"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>

Anne Vallayer-Coster, Still Life with a Ham<\/i>, 1767.<\/p><\/div>\n

Dorothy Parker is said to have been the author of one of the best quotes in history:\u00a0\u201cEternity\u00a0is a\u00a0ham\u00a0and two people.\u201d Like many such quips, it\u2019s hard to find the original source\u2014although in this case,\u00a0we can safely assume that life<\/em>\u00a0was certainly the direct inspiration.\u00a0<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not just that hams are big\u2014they were even more massive in Parker\u2019s day than they are now\u2014or that a little of the salty meat goes a long way. It\u2019s also the fact that a ham goes immediately from a thing of festive beauty (cue pineapple rings, scored surfaces studded with cloves, glistening patina) to a professional leftover. It goes\u00a0very<\/em>\u00a0gentle into that good night. And, because it is cured, and because it can be used in so many ways, and because you can always, always scrape more meat off that bone\u2014well, you\u2019re really never justified in throwing it away. It\u2019s with you for eternity.\u00a0<\/p>\n

And to think of those two hapless people, staring forever at the leftovers of a festive, glazed love turned cold! Knowing that, however the ham is ground and gratined and loafed and sandwiched, it will basically taste the same. And that this is their lives.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Anyway, I knew ham was deathless, but until very recently, I didn\u2019t realize its true historic import.\u00a0Ham, in its near-infinite preservability, is responsible for the birth of America<\/a>. Without ham, we would have no independence, no history, no \u2026 no\u00a0us<\/em>. It\u2019s basically\u00a0It\u2019s a Wonderful Life: Ham Edition<\/em>. Thanks to ham, we have \u2026 well, eternity. Make of it what you will.<\/p>\n

Sadie Stein is contributing editor of <\/em>The Paris Review, and the <\/em>Daily\u2019s correspondent.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Dorothy Parker is said to have been the author of one of the best quotes in history:\u00a0\u201cEternity\u00a0is a\u00a0ham\u00a0and two people.\u201d Like many such quips, it\u2019s hard to find the original source\u2014although in this case,\u00a0we can safely assume that life\u00a0was certainly the direct inspiration.\u00a0 It\u2019s not just that hams are big\u2014they were even more massive in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":178,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[13115],"tags":[142,13987,5023,19560,19559,13231,2111,657,10395],"class_list":["post-90262","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-our-daily-correspondent","tag-america","tag-aphorisms","tag-dorothy-parker","tag-eternity","tag-ham","tag-longevity","tag-love","tag-marriage","tag-quotations"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nOn Ham, Eternity, and a 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