What food is special to your region?

[anchor31]

We have a few things in Québec that I believe are unique to our region.

Maple taffee on snow

I think this is probably what I mentioned eating in Connecticut as a child and JewelFreak mentioned eating in northern New York State as a child!

Deb


Diamonds Are A Girl's Best Friend

My grandparents did this too, with bramble syrup (made from hedgerow blackberries that we collected on a ritual day out and picnic every autumn). My daughter and I made this last time it snowed here. She loved it, and it brought back a lot of happy memories.

AGBF - Yes, I guess anywhere where there's maple syrup, there can be taffee on snow. "Sugarsharcks" or "sugar houses" are a big traditional part of our culture here.

Jennifer - It must be yummy with fruit syrup! I'd never thought of it.

Which reminds me, we do something called "sucre à la crème" (literally "cream sugar"), which is a bit like a fudge. 1 part heavy cream and 1 part sugar, cook it for a couple of hours and pour it in a pan like a fudge. We do pies with that too, but a little less cooked so it's softer. It's really really sweet, a little too much for my taste. My MIL loves to eat that on snow.

 

[elrohwen]

Has anybody had sponge candy? I think it's specific to the Buffalo/Rochester area. DH and his family are obsessed and his mom gets him and his sister boxes of it for Christmas every year. It's some kind of cooked sugar that forms an open honeycomb-type structure, then the piece is dipped in chocolate.

 

[Jennifer W]

Like a Cadbury's crunchie bar? It's honeycomb puff candy covered in chocolate. It would probably be nice deep fried.

 

[AGBF]

One "delicacy" special to the New England area (US) is Fluff. I lived in WA state for a few months and no one knew what it was.

How funny! I had no idea it was regional! If one always has it, one takes it for granted! Like stone walls and weathered shingles. Some of my husband's relatives were here from Israel and asked me why people had, "dirty houses". I asked them to point out a dirty house the next time they saw one: it was one with weathered shingles, the kind we treasure here in New England, particularly on the water! People from other regions are amazed by how many stone walls we we have, too. We live in rocky country. A New England farm is likely to be a bunch of hills full of rocks. People in Iowa and Kansas don't get it.

Deb/AGBF


Diamonds Are A Girl's Best Friend

 

[elrohwen]

Like a Cadbury's crunchie bar? It's honeycomb puff candy covered in chocolate. It would probably be nice deep fried.

I had to look this up, but it does look very similar! How cool. According to wiki, sponge candy is called "puff candy" in Scotland - does that sound familiar? Also known as honeycomb toffee in the UK. It also lists some alternative US names for the candy, but I've never seen it anywhere outside of western NY.

 

[Prana]

One "delicacy" special to the New England area (US) is Fluff. I lived in WA state for a few months and no one knew what it was.

How funny! I had no idea it was regional! If one always has it, one takes it for granted! Like stone walls and weathered shingles. Some of my husband's relatives were here from Israel and asked me why people had, "dirty houses". I asked them to point out a dirty house the next time they saw one: it was one with weathered shingles, the kind we treasure here in New England, particularly on the water! People from other regions are amazed by how many stone walls we we have, too. We live in rocky country. A New England farm is likely to be a bunch of hills full of rocks. People in Iowa and Kansas don't get it.

Deb/AGBF


Diamonds Are A Girl's Best Friend

I've heard of people coming in the dead of night to steal our beloved stone walls to sell them. I've yet to actually see this happening, but the thought of a bunch of people lurking in the woods and loading up their truck with a bunch hefty rocks is pretty amusing

 

[Jennifer W]

Yes! Puff or honeycomb candy is popular here, with Cadbury's being probably the best known. It's really, really good and actually not too calorific (compared to the deep fried mars bar).

 

[elrohwen]

Yes! Puff or honeycomb candy is popular here, with Cadbury's being probably the best known. It's really, really good and actually not too calorific (compared to the deep fried mars bar).

I'll have to use this information to get DH to take a trip to the UK. He'll go anywhere that serves sponge candy!

 

[Jennifer W]

Yay! Come over! We have all sorts of really good candy (and corresponding obesity rates, but that's just a small detail... ).

 

[gemgirl]

In NY I'd say we are known for our bagels, (just discovered flagels love them!) our pizza and apples -we have a ton of orchards a bit furher upstate. Ohh and NY style cheesecake

Ooooo fun thread!

In NYC, we're definitely known for our bagels, which are water bagels. You can't get a bagel anywhere else in the country that looks or tastes like a NY bagel. Our bagels don't have air holes and they're not spongey. Same thing with Italian bread. The best Italian bread is shipped to stores and restaurants in the surrounding suburbs from Manhattan.

Pizza? You only get the real thing in NYC. Even in suburban areas of NYC, the pizza is not the same. The dough, crust and sauce is just not up to par. I hate to sound biased, but Domino's and Pizza Hut haven't got a clue!

Cannolis? Canal Street! Ferrara's makes the best in the world. We have places here on Long Island that bring in only imported cannoli cream from Italy, and it's good, it's just not Ferrara's.

New York cheesecake! The best comes from Junior's in lower Brooklyn. Junior's has been in the same location for literally decades and I think they still have their original counter with stools where you can have lunch, or a coffee and cheesecake .

Fresh pasta, stuffed shells, manicotti (man-na-gought-a), ravioli and fresh pasta, the best all come from Pastosa in Bensonhurst, Brooklyn.

Nathan's famous all beef franks and the "egg cream" both come from Coney Island in my home town- Brooklyn.

Dr. Brown's cream soda and Cel-Ray can be found in all of the Jewish delis in NY. There's nothing like Dr. Brown's cream soda. And speaking of delis, there's none better than the Carnegie and Stage Delis in upper Manhattan. Talking about delis is making me crave a good hot NY knish.

Manhattan Special is a Brooklyn original. It's pure espresso soda. It's pretty strong, high octane stuff, but if you're Italian, you've been drinking it since you were a kid and it tastes pretty normal. Also if you're Italian, your used to drinking "milk and Pepsi". The restaurants on Canal St., Mott St., and Mulberry St. in lower Manhattan are accustomed to putting both ice and milk in their cola for customers. It tastes really good!

On Long Island, we grow our own sweet, bi-color Long Island corn. It's a staple all summer long.

In Sheepshead Bay in Brooklyn and on Long Island we have clams and mussels. They can be bought closed, shucked on a half shell, steamed (mussells) or stuffed and baked (clams). Some of my fondest memories as a kid, were of me and my Dad driving down to Lundy's in Sheepshead Bay to bring home clams so my Mom could make fresh clam sauce, and while we were there, my Dad used to pop me onto a counter stool and we used to split a dozen freshly shucked clams to hold use over until we got home. Those were really good times.

 

[Lady_Disdain]

The easiest ways to find out regional specials that we take for granted is either to show someone from outside around and watch them say "what is that?!" or "oooh, that is great", depending on you local cuisine, or to travel away and suddenly be unable to get that obvious, everyone eats it staple.

One thing that I strongly associate with the US is peanut butter. Nowhere I have been seems to have the same love for it and it is quite unusual here. I miss the Nature Valley Peanut Butter granola bar so badly.

Around here, I would say the little savoury pasties you can get anywhere. Warm, quick to eat and way too many calories. Chicken, palm heart, shrimp, ham, cheese or pretty much anything you can imagine wrapped in a fluffy dough and deep fried. And cheese bread. When I travel, I get frustrated that most coffee places have only sweets for sale or prepackaged snacks.

Freshly squeezed orange juice. If you order orange juice here, it will be freshly squeezed. Sooo good and so much healthier. I can't stand the processed, bottled stuff that claims to be "all natural".

 

[jjc]

We have Rolled Tacos here in San Diego. They are called taquitos everywhere else but here, they are called rolled tacos.

I loved carne asada fries when i lived in SD. (midnight runs to coti's and roberto's!) can't find them anywhere in LA, and when you request it, they look at you funny

Alberto's (and all variations thereof...Alerto's, Alberta's, etc.) and Benito's have carne asada fries. In fact, I'm hard pressed to think of similar places that don't have them..

 

[dragonfly411]

This thread is making me.... . I have a question. Do you guys see fried pickles in your areas?

 

[AGBF]

This thread is making me.... . I have a question. Do you guys see fried pickles in your areas?

I have never heard of them.

Deb


Diamonds Are A Girl's Best Friend

 

[Jennifer W]

This thread is making me.... . I have a question. Do you guys see fried pickles in your areas?

I'm prepared to bet that there's a fish and chip shop somewhere in Scotland that will sell them deep-fried in batter...

 

[Skippy123]

Ooooo fun thread!

In NYC, we're definitely known for our bagels, which are water bagels. You can't get a bagel anywhere else in the country that looks or tastes like a NY bagel. Our bagels don't have air holes and they're not spongey. Same thing with Italian bread. The best Italian bread is shipped to stores and restaurants in the surrounding suburbs from Manhattan.

Pizza? You only get the real thing in NYC. Even in suburban areas of NYC, the pizza is not the same. The dough, crust and sauce is just not up to par. I hate to sound biased, but Domino's and Pizza Hut haven't got a clue!

Cannolis? Canal Street! Ferrara's makes the best in the world. We have places here on Long Island that bring in only imported cannoli cream from Italy, and it's good, it's just not Ferrara's.

New York cheesecake! The best comes from Junior's in lower Brooklyn. Junior's has been in the same location for literally decades and I think they still have their original counter with stools where you can have lunch, or a coffee and cheesecake .

Fresh pasta, stuffed shells, manicotti (man-na-gought-a), ravioli and fresh pasta, the best all come from Pastosa in Bensonhurst, Brooklyn.

Nathan's famous all beef franks and the "egg cream" both come from Coney Island in my home town- Brooklyn.

Dr. Brown's cream soda and Cel-Ray can be found in all of the Jewish delis in NY. There's nothing like Dr. Brown's cream soda. And speaking of delis, there's none better than the Carnegie and Stage Delis in upper Manhattan. Talking about delis is making me crave a good hot NY knish.

Manhattan Special is a Brooklyn original. It's pure espresso soda. It's pretty strong, high octane stuff, but if you're Italian, you've been drinking it since you were a kid and it tastes pretty normal. Also if you're Italian, your used to drinking "milk and Pepsi". The restaurants on Canal St., Mott St., and Mulberry St. in lower Manhattan are accustomed to putting both ice and milk in their cola for customers. It tastes really good!

On Long Island, we grow our own sweet, bi-color Long Island corn. It's a staple all summer long.

In Sheepshead Bay in Brooklyn and on Long Island we have clams and mussels. They can be bought closed, shucked on a half shell, steamed (mussells) or stuffed and baked (clams). Some of my fondest memories as a kid, were of me and my Dad driving down to Lundy's in Sheepshead Bay to bring home clams so my Mom could make fresh clam sauce, and while we were there, my Dad used to pop me onto a counter stool and we used to split a dozen freshly shucked clams to hold use over until we got home. Those were really good times.

I have had Cel-Ray soda and Love it!!! I loved reading your list and reasons why they are the best! I am dying to try one of those bagels and pasta Oh and I love fresh corn. mmmm Yum to clams! Agh, now I am getting hungry! LOL

 

[artdecogirl]

This thread is making me.... . I have a question. Do you guys see fried pickles in your areas?

They have fried pickle chips at Buffalo Wild Wings here and of course you can get them on a stick at the state fair

 

[charbie]

This thread is making me.... . I have a question. Do you guys see fried pickles in your areas?

We do....love 'em, especially when dipped in ranch dressing. You can get spears or slices depending on the restaurant.

 

[charbie]

Gemgirl. I love your list. While im not running to NYC to get some "milk and pepsi" I love that there are so many fun foods you relate to! Thanks!

Lady D: its funny you mention the PB: when I lived in Europe, my other exchange student friends had their parents send them PB. I had my family send me oreo cookies. My favorite. another "american" food people say is ketchup and also ranch dressing. Two things I couldn't live without.

Tho European mayo and mustard in a tube are prettty incredible condiments!

 

[Haven]

I LOVE CINCINNATI CHILI!!!! YUM. We order special seasoning in the mail just so we can make it. I take my Skyline chili 3-way, thankyouverymuch.

I'm from Chicago, and we really love our food here. We are known for our steakhouses, our Chicago-style hotdogs, and our amazing Chicago-style pizza. All of which I'm proud to partake in quite regularly.

 

[Po10472]

The deep fried mars bar was a one off request made to a 'chippy' in Aberdeen as a joke in the 90s. Journalists caught wind of this and wrote about it, further lambasting the Scottish diet which already is questionable and it just snowballed. This has given us a reputation for eating deep fried mars bars on a regular basis which is just not true. It's a shame, because even tho there are a few questionable foodstuffs in our diet, Scotland has some of the most amazing fish, seafood, meat and vegetables in the world but our reputation is for fried food and alcohol. Aberdeen Angus beef, Scottish smoked salmon, Scallops, Turnips, Potatoes. The best water for Whiskey..........

As Jennifer said earlier Irn-Bru is very much part of our culture and everyone and anyone drinks it. I find it amazing that you can see hard men as we call them or tough guys walking about with a newspaper rolled up in their back pocket and a bottle of ginger - a glass bottle of Irn-Bru. Glaswegians call fizzy juice or soda pop 'ginger'. This stemmed from the first legal case in Scotland where a woman sued a food and drinks company when she found a decomposing slug in her bottle of ginger beer. So the expression 'gie us a slug of yer ginger', referred to someone asking for a sip of your juice. So the collective term for soda became ginger and still used today.

Haggis - the very name either thrills or appauls a lot of people. The Scottish Government have been trying extremely hard to lift the ban that the US has had for years on the import of haggis into the country. This is due to the use of sheeps liver and entrails in the recipe which is banned in the US. I personally don't eat Haggis as I don't eat meat, but I eat veggie haggis which is gorgeous, but you either love it or loathe it. It's sheeps heart, livers and lungs all minced up with oatmeal, spices, pepper, onions carrots and then stuffed into a sheeps stomach. It's then etiher boiled, fried, steamed or even deep fried and served with neeps and tatties. That's Scottish turnip and mashed potatoes.

Red, White and Black pudding - these are fat or blood sausage made with oatmeal, spices and beef, tripe and blood.

Although these dishes sound disgusting, they are centuries old dishes. They epitomise the cold, wet terrain, the fact that there was no waste with any animals and were easily made and lasted a long time. They provided all the nutrients and vitamins people required at the time so became a staple in the diet. Nowadays our palattes have developed so much that the thought of eating offal, is well awful.

Tattie Scones - very like the Irish potato farls, and the equivalent to potato hash. It's basically mashed potato, flour, butter, salt and pepper, flatted into a triangular shape. They're then fried or toasted and served with eggs, bacon, mushrooms, square sausage and toast and the obligatory mug of tea. Alternatively, you can have a roll n tattie scone, no need to have a protein in with that. Magic!!

I'll not bore you with mutton pies and Bovril, a meat based hot drink.......think you've had enough for one day.

 

[anchor31]

Po, I know Bovril. It's mostly used as a soup base though, not a hot drink.

 

[dragonfly411]

Thanks guys! We have them served regularly. they deep fry sliced pickles (like for sandwiches). They are sooo good and are usually the only pickles I'll eat lol.

 

[VRBeauty]

From my Dutch roots (and home town):

hutspot, a "hash" made of boiled potatoes, carrots, and onions...
incredible french fries served with mayonaise...
candy sprinkles served on buttered bread (for breakfast)...
sausijsebrootjes ... pork sausage baked in buttery pastry, kinda like pigs in a blanket on cholesterol...

and the piece de la resistance:

SALTED LICORICE AND DOUBLE-SALTED LICORICE! (It's an acquired taste...)

Here in Sactown:

Lots of ethnic food! Sacramento's agricultural roots historically attracted a lot of ethnic groups, so we have great Asian foods of all kinds, from Chinese, Japanese, and Thai to Indian.

Sturgeon - delicious, when you can get it.

Fresh asparagus in the spring.

We also have wonderful farmer's markets in the summer, and one huge farmer's market that operates year-round. So the latest big thing is "locavore" restaurants - places that focus on locally grown, seasonal foods. Most are kinda high-end, but my favorite little cafe is very reasonably priced.

Almonds and Jelly Bellies!

When I travel down the San Joaquin Valley I always look for barbecued tri-tip, AKA "Santa Maria Tri-Tip." Can't be beat!