Does anyone have memories of Gaston County's famous 'Bingo' sandwich?
If you're under the age of 60, odds are you won't remember Gastonia's famous "Bingo" sandwich. And if you don't remember the sandwich, odds are you also don't remember the man who invented the Bingo and made it famous, Bill Leigh. And if you don't remember the sandwich or its inventor, it's almost certain you won't remember his company, Leigh Food Products. But if you do remember, I'd like to hear from you about when and where you ate the famous Bingo and what made it so good. But first, some background. John McDonald, who lives at Gastonia's Covenant Village retirement community, contacted me last week and asked me to do some detective work, i.e. tracking down the recipe for the famous Bingo. I'll let John make the request:  "Over our evening cocktails at Covenant Village," he wrote, "we've asked all the wise sages, and although most remember the sandwich, no one remembers the contents. We've been discussing this mystery for the past year." John also told me that Joan Leigh Sellers, daughter of Bill Leigh, is also a resident at Covenant Village. She helped her dad with making sandwiches while in high school, John said, but, "She either never knew or has forgotten the Bingo recipe." OK. Putting my finest detective skills to work, I turned to Google. And, sure enough, deep within the recesses of the Dark Web, I found a recipe for the Bingo:  "A head of cabbage, pressed meat of some sort, a bottle of Texas Pete, mayonnaise, and ketchup. Run the cabbage and the meat through a grinder with a fine blade and mix in the remainder of the ingredients. Then spread the mixture between white bread." I didn't want to go public with my discovery, however, until talking to Joan to make sure that recipe was at least in the ballpark. "That sounds about right," she responded. "The meat came from the rounded ends of the long rolls of pressed meat that otherwise would have gone to waste. Daddy didn't want anything to go to waste." Since we were chatting anyway, I asked Joan to tell me about her father and his business. Her dad, she recounted, quit school in the eighth grade and went to work for his mother, Hattie Leigh, who ran a sandwich business out of her home in Charlotte. As he grew older, Bill Leigh looked to expand on that business and saw Gaston County as a virtual promised land, with hundreds of textile mills and thousands of workers needing to be fed each day. Mr. Leigh made his way across the Catawba River in the 1930s and his business expanded as the nation fought its way out of the Great Depression. "He had trucks delivering sandwiches all over the county," Joan said of her dad's business. He eventually expanded to deliveries all over the region, from Rutherfordton all the way up to Blowing Rock." "When I was in high school, yes," she responded. "Dad would have me work in the summertime. I probably made a million sandwiches. But I enjoyed it, mainly because I got to work with my dad." The bulk of the sandwiches were delivered to Gaston County's many textile mills, but were also popular with country markets and mom 'n' pop grocery stores around the county. Joan doesn't remember exactly when her dad retired, but she did say that the business was so successful he sold it to Coca-Cola. So, back to the Bingo. As noted, it's been decades since it's been produced, sold, and enjoyed in Gaston County. But, if you do remember it and would like to share that memory, give me a call at 704-869-1855, shoot me an email at bpoteat@gastongazette.com, or drop me a note at 1893 Remount Road, Gastonia, 28054. And many thanks to John McDonald and Joan Leigh Sellers for helping to bring the story of the Bingo to light. Bill Poteat, who will eat most anything that doesn't eat him first, would love to sample the Bingo.