Wow! Your ancestors brought this tradition from the Palatinate over to the New World. Pig stomach = Saumagen. That's a Palatinate specialty!
I'd never really thought about it that way, but of course it makes perfect sense! All those thrifty Calvinists who came to Pennsylvania from the Palatinate would never let any part of the pig go to waste!
I'd never heard the part about Helmut Kohl. That's pretty funny. I didn't know he was a Pfalzer.
I think in other parts of the U.S. (South?) pig stomach is called
hog maw. On the old 1960s situation comedy
The Beverly Hillbillies, they used to talk about eating hog maw--and also 'possum.
"My people" don't eat 'possum, but they do eat groundhog. I once asked my dad if he'd ever eaten groundhog. He said had once, and he didn't much care for it. The volunteer fire department where my maternal grandfather (hence my dad's father-in-law) was a member had a "Groundhog Supper." Dad said he couldn't get out of trying the roast groundhog--he said the meat is very dark--but my mother utterly refused to taste it!
Edit to add:Oh, gosh, Grandma once wanted to make pig stomach for Thanksgiving--my mother put a stop to that idea rather quick, volunteering to cook the dinner herself rather than have pig stomach for Thanksgiving!
I would bet, however, that it was just a coincidence; I doubt Grandma was aware that it was "traditional" among the Pennsylvania Germans for Thanksgiving. I've never heard it referred to as
hog maw in my part of Pennsylvania.
That's still pretty funny about Helmut Kohl.
