A serious answer to that question is that it is about as cheap a meat as is available.
The poor (80 or more years ago) purchased the cheapest cuts of meat because that is what they could afford. The of course learned ways to prepare these cuts to make them palatable.
Welfare has of course changed the mathematics of the food supply and now the poor can afford better quality cuts of meat. However eating habits of families change slowly because eating habits are passed down from parent to child.
Other cheap cuts of meat that you will still find people buying because of family or ethnic traditions are; pigs feet, pigs skin (prepared by pan or deep frying to make pork rinds or cracklings), Rocky Mountain Oysters (do I need to tell you what these are?), tong (most often pickled).
I would be surprised if most people in this country, if they thought about it seriously could not think of an ethnic dish that their family enjoys that fit in this category of cheap meat dish that is now an ethnic delicacy.
Akk! I'm reminded of pickled pigs feet that would sometimes make an appearance at my Polish Grandparent's house. I loved kelbasa, golumki, and kapusta. I drew the line at little pig's feet bobbing round in brine. Just plain scary.
You ever heard of souse?
There is an ethnic food many in my German heritage family eats to this day: Braunschweiger. I loved it as a kid until I learned that it is really “liver sausage”. I still eat hot dogs because I refuse to know what goes in them. You can’t have my beloved hot dog with sauerkraut.