Chewing the Fat

Where in the world did an expression like "chewing the fat" come from? When I was a kid in the South, my Mother would cook "Fat Back" every morning. She cooked it and saved the grease in a can so she could flavor her green beans and other vegetables with the taste of the fat. We would have the fried Fat Back pieces on biscuits for breakfast. The fried fat is very, very tasty. From time to time in Southern cafes you'll find it on the buffet or the main menu as an "entre". It was easy to chew the fat. What wasn't easy was to chew the sliver of pig hide that the fat back was attached too. In fact, we used to see how long we could chew it...sometimes I could chew it all the way to school which was a two mile walk before it disintegrated...or before I spit it out. In Frederick, Maryland, a friend and I used to love to go to a cafe called, CHAT AND CHEW. My friend loved it more than I did, and he definetly loved the name. In the little town of Bluffton, S.C., they have a place called the SQUAT AND GOBBLE. I keep trying to get my Maryland friend to come down so I can take him to lunch there. I know he would like to chew the fat at the Squat and Gobble.