By Rabbi Rachel Essserman

“What am I...” I’m betting many people can fill in the rest of that phrase. For those who can’t, it should read, “What am I, chopped liver?” I’ve said and heard that more times than I can count, but today for the first time, I wondered where it came from. People use it when they feel overlooked or ignored, which makes chopped liver a negative thing. Yet, chopped liver used to adorn the tables of Jewish celebrations. I wondered, why chopped liver and not something else? I don’t think I’ve ever heard anyone who wasn’t Jewish say it, although my experience is not definitive. Still, I was curious because I’m interested in speech and food customs.
First, my relationship to chopped liver. As a child, I refused to eat it. I have no idea if I ever tried it or if I just looked at that grey glop and said no. However, as an adult, I finally did try it and really liked it. By this point in my life, I rarely see chopped liver at celebrations, though, and, more recently, when I do, it’s usually vegetarian chopped liver.
For those unfamiliar with chopped liver (and I’m betting there are many in the younger generation who are), it’s a mixture of broiled chicken livers (for liver to be kosher, you have to let the blood drain so the livers have to be broiled or grilled, rather than fried), hard boiled eggs, spices and some kind of fat. (Traditionally, that fat was usually schmaltz, also known as rendered chicken fat. Hey, no one said that traditional Jewish food was heart healthy.)
While chopped liver may be looked down upon, there is the very fancy French variation known as pâté de foie gras, which is made from the livers of fattened geese and duck, a procedure that is considered cruel by the animal rights establishment. Some posit that since foie gras is for the upper crust, chopped liver would be considered far less important, meaning that a gourmet would consider chopped liver beneath his interest. Hence, a person being compared to chopped liver. 
Another theory is that chopped liver is only served as an appetizer, rather than a main course. That would make it less important than whatever meat was being served during dinner. A third theory addresses liver itself: not everyone likes liver. In fact, it’s been considered part of the offal (the internal organs of an animal) that many people see as not fit to eat.
Many believe the phrase has a Yiddish-flavored cadence, meaning that it’s hard to say without a typical Yiddish inflection. The articles I read seem to agree, though, that the phrase developed in the U.S. rather than Europe. I’m guessing that the phrase is not found in Yiddish writings, but only in American ones. It may also not be as old as one might expect. The first printed record the different writers found was its use in a cartoon in a 1971 newspaper. However, that doesn’t mean no one was using the phrase earlier.
I would say that we should change the phrase to reflect the fact that chopped liver is, in fact, not a bad thing, but that’s just complicating matters. However, all this discussion of food is making me hungry. But, no, I am not going to make chopped liver for dinner. Not only have I never made it, it’s been a while since I’ve even seen chicken livers in my grocery store. Yes, they used to sell a small box containing just chicken livers, maybe so people could make chopped liver without having to buy more than one chicken at a time. If, however, someone else wants to make some and share, well, I wouldn’t say no.