# Help Me Like Yankee Food **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 14, 2005, 4:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-like-yankee-food/326185 "2005-10-14T04:58:13Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![ISiddiqui](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/97f17d/32.png) [@ISiddiqui](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ISiddiqui)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2005, 6:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-like-yankee-food/326185/61 "2005-10-16T06:14:08Z")
You don’t care for pizza?! Maybe it is because you haven’t tasted the real deal… And cornbread may have been invented in the South, but was made better in the North ;). ---
**Author:** ![Pixiesnix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/898d66/32.png) [@Pixiesnix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pixiesnix)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2005, 6:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-like-yankee-food/326185/62 "2005-10-16T06:15:39Z")
“Better” now means “disgusting?” 😉 Pizza I don’t care for because the ones I’ve tried were smothered in garlic. Garlic is the Devil’s testicles. ---
**Author:** ![ISiddiqui](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/97f17d/32.png) [@ISiddiqui](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ISiddiqui)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2005, 6:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-like-yankee-food/326185/63 "2005-10-16T06:18:15Z")
You don’t like garlic?!!! _faints_ I’m sorry, but we don’t have enough in common to discuss this any further (someone who doesn’t like garlic… who would have thunk!) ;). And you called it disgusting without even trying it… hmmm… I guess prejudging without facts is a trait Southerners tend to hold ;). ---
**Author:** ![Pixiesnix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/898d66/32.png) [@Pixiesnix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pixiesnix)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2005, 6:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-like-yankee-food/326185/64 "2005-10-16T06:23:26Z")
Actually, I’ve tried sugared cornbread. Blech. I went to a supposedly “country” restaurant up here and they served sugared cornbread. Blaphemy against nature! And yes, I admit it. I hate garlic. Even the smell turns my stomach. My uber-southern mother (who loves garlic) says I’m a vampire. So I skulk around under the cover of night and feed on the essence of the living. That means I can’t try Salmon Wiggle? ---
**Author:** ![ISiddiqui](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/97f17d/32.png) [@ISiddiqui](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ISiddiqui)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2005, 6:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-like-yankee-food/326185/65 "2005-10-16T06:29:40Z")
Back vampire, back! 😉 ---
**Author:** ![OtakuLoki](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ac8455/32.png) [@OtakuLoki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OtakuLoki)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2005, 8:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-like-yankee-food/326185/66 "2005-10-16T08:03:32Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > Remember to avoid iced tea in restaurants up thre; it will be day old. Day old! Day old? You’re under the impression that iced tea in most Northern restaurants is actually brewed? You poor, deluded fool. Most of it is from a powder mix. A crime against Man, God, and the Prime Directive. Of course, I hated trying to explain to Southern waitpersons that I wanted my iced tea unsweetened. Just like trying to explain it to Northern non-Rochesterian waitpersons. Here we can actually get it proper. Some places. > [@](#): > > Avoid cornbread under any circumstances; it will have sugar in it. Just out of curiousity, though - why is this unacceptable when it’s a Southern thing to serve cornbread after coating it with maple syrup? (Which, as damned Yankee, I found surprisingly good. And my cornbread doesn’t have sugar in it, thank you very much. I do not vouch for anything from restaurants, though.) ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2005, 8:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-like-yankee-food/326185/67 "2005-10-16T08:19:27Z")
> [@KCSuze](#): > > I’ve heard of that stuff, we put it in our primitive Rice Krispies treats. I’ve never thought of adding it with peanut butter, though. > > And before I clicked, I was sure you were referring to Marmite. I’m not sure which is more upsetting, the idea of putting fluff in Rice Krispie treats (how on earth do you get it to harden?), or Marmite and peanut butter. ::shudders:: I’ve tried “southern” cornbread. Belch. It tastes like that Johnny cake stuff they served now and then in college. So god awfully bland without the sugar. Corn bread is supposed to be sweet. ---
**Author:** ![Harmonious\_Discord](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/74df32/32.png) [@Harmonious\_Discord](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harmonious_Discord)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2005, 12:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-like-yankee-food/326185/68 "2005-10-16T12:01:43Z")
> [@KCSuze](#): > > I thought pasties were little caps you put on stripper nipples. It’s all in the pronunciation as to what you order, and if you want to try eating a nipple cover that’s up to you. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2005, 2:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-like-yankee-food/326185/69 "2005-10-16T14:14:14Z")
> [@elfkin477](#): > > Corn bread is supposed to be sweet. If I were still a goy I’d hold a crucifix in front of you… 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2005, 2:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-like-yankee-food/326185/70 "2005-10-16T14:18:05Z")
> [@KCSuze](#): > > And what part of Arkansas are you from? 🙂 Just West of LR. RE garlic: Cook a clove in your mashed potatoes, use some fake chicken soup made by Telma in the water. It’s good. ---
**Author:** ![Tentacle\_Monster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ba9def/32.png) [@Tentacle\_Monster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tentacle_Monster)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2005, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-like-yankee-food/326185/71 "2005-10-16T15:29:51Z")
If garlic is the devil’s testicles, I wanna be teabagged by him. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2005, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-like-yankee-food/326185/72 "2005-10-16T16:23:56Z")
> [@elfkin477](#): > > Corn bread is supposed to be sweet. Blasphemy! That has to rank right up there with calling someone the “T-word” as rating a warning at the very least. 😃 Non-UK-based Yankee food can be good. Sometimes. But it is really Italian, German, Dutch, Russian, etc. food. Yankee food involves culinary traditions from Engand, where they boil everything, or worse, Scotland, where they consider oatmeal and chopped organ meats to be a delicacy. Give be good old Southern cooking any day. Fried chicken, greens, grits, BBQ, sweet potato pie, iced tea sweet as a virgin’s kiss, chili hot as the Devil’s hooves, Shiner Bock…now I’m hungry. ---
**Author:** ![zweisamkeit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zweisamkeit/32/4360_2.png) [@zweisamkeit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zweisamkeit)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2005, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-like-yankee-food/326185/73 "2005-10-16T16:38:58Z")
> [@ISiddiqui](#): > > Indeed the most famous reference to pasty in a book was in _American Gods_, where they had it in Wisconsin. Though they did refer to it as an Upper Penninsula Michigan food… never had one, but sounds like it tastes utterly amazing! Like a pierogie on steriods ;). Naw. Pasties are great, but they’re not really like pierogi at all. They have a harder pastry crust instead of a noodle-dough and are a lot bigger. I’m a lifelong (so far) Michiganian of Polish, Slovak and German descent. I have a weird fusion cuisine since my grandma’s family moved to the UP for some years before moving down under the bridge. Pierogi, cabbage rolls, kolachi, spaetzle (man, making that by hand is a pain), kielbasa (not Kowalski junk), good German peasant food, pasties, etc. Each Christmas, my Slovak (who married my Polish grandfather) grandmother and I make the holiday pierogi. We always make at least 200. That lasts Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Zabali\_Clawbane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/ecd19e/32.png) [@Zabali\_Clawbane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zabali_Clawbane)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2005, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-like-yankee-food/326185/74 "2005-10-16T16:47:23Z")
> [@KCSuze](#): > > I thought pasties were little caps you put on stripper nipples. It rhymes with nasty, not tastey. 😉 I nominate [au gratin potatoes](http://www.recipezaar.com/recipe/getrecipe.zsp?id=8749) and [Sweet Pickle Potato Salad](http://www.guamdiner.com/recipe/recipe.php?recipe=680) for you to try. They are actually good. I make both kinds of potato salad depending on who I’m cooking for, my mom likes the sweet pickle kind. I prefer something along these lines myself though: [Spicy Dill Pickle Potato Salad](http://www.foodtv.com/food/cda/recipe_print/0,1946,FOOD_9936_18616_PRINT-RECIPE-FULL-PAGE,00.html) (Not nearly so fancy, but with a good bite to it. I do think I may try this recipe one day though.) If I’ve reversed my regions regarding who uses sweet and who uses dill my apologies. In Kansas we get both kinds of cuisine, though I’ve noticed that actually mom made a lot of Southern style dishes while looking at recipies. I enjoyed things like [apple butter](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple_butter) and [shepherd’s pie](http://cuisinedumonde.com/shepherds_pie.html) (Ok, we had cottage pie, still good. Mom put carrots, celery and onions in her pies too.) and [Amish Friendship bread](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amish_Friendship_Bread) though. ( I once had a culture that had been going for a hundred years, but my “baby sitter” stirred it with a [metal spoon](http://www.freewisdom.org/archives/2003/05/01/amish_bread_howto/) and killed it. _sniffle_) Mmmm! There are quite a few Amish in Kansas, [Yoder](http://www.yoderkansas.com/) is an Amish town. **Tentacle Monster** I agree, I love garlic. One day I will dine in [The Stinking Rose](http://www.thestinkingrose.com/) if I have my way. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Pixiesnix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/898d66/32.png) [@Pixiesnix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pixiesnix)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2005, 5:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-like-yankee-food/326185/75 "2005-10-17T05:01:54Z")
> [@](#): > > OtakuLoki wrote: > Just out of curiousity, though - why is this unacceptable when it’s a Southern thing to serve cornbread after coating it with maple syrup? I apologize for bumping this back up to page one, but I must disavow any knowledge of any syrup/cornbread interaction. The only thing I put on my cornbread is butter. It’s also good for dunking in soups and stews. And while I’m here… > [@](#): > > elfkin477 wrote: > I’ve tried “southern” cornbread. Belch. It tastes like that Johnny cake stuff they served now and then in college. So god awfully bland without the sugar. Corn bread is supposed to be sweet. Are you sure it was made the right way? Some degenerate cooks will use cornbread mix instead of corn meal. **carnivorousplant** , I’m from NE Arkansas, around Blytheville. Always good to see a fellow Arky. > [@](#): > > silenus wrote: > Give be good old Southern cooking any day. Fried chicken, greens, grits, BBQ, sweet potato pie, iced tea sweet as a virgin’s kiss, chili hot as the Devil’s hooves, Shiner Bock…now I’m hungry. Me too. Stop that! 😉 Don’t some folks call sweet tea “Baptist Iced Tea?” ---
**Author:** ![OtakuLoki](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ac8455/32.png) [@OtakuLoki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OtakuLoki)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2005, 5:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-like-yankee-food/326185/76 "2005-10-17T05:49:07Z")
> [@zweisamkeit](#): > > spaetzle (man, making that by hand is a pain) How on earth are spaetzle hard to make? Get a [spaetzle press/potato ricer](http://www.ekitchengadgets.com/vilpotric365.html), and they’re a snap. They’re a bit messy to make and clean up afterwards, but - a snap to make. ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2005, 6:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-like-yankee-food/326185/77 "2005-10-17T06:50:24Z")
To get a little beyond Yankeedom, but the two most wide-spread cuisines throughout the world appear to be Italian and Indian. I recommend both heartily. I would also recommend Philly cheesesteaks–which is perfectly Yank. ---
**Author:** ![zweisamkeit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zweisamkeit/32/4360_2.png) [@zweisamkeit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zweisamkeit)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2005, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-like-yankee-food/326185/78 "2005-10-17T14:29:38Z")
> [@OtakuLoki](#): > > How on earth are spaetzle hard to make? Get a [spaetzle press/potato ricer](http://www.ekitchengadgets.com/vilpotric365.html), and they’re a snap. They’re a bit messy to make and clean up afterwards, but - a snap to make. Fine, let me rephrase: “Boy, making spaetzle sure is hard to do when you don’t have a spaetzle press/potato ricer on hand.” 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2005, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-like-yankee-food/326185/79 "2005-10-17T15:28:40Z")
> [@MyNameIsEarl](#): > > Dear God… Macaroni? _Macaroni?_ And here this Georgia boy though he was committing the ultimate sin by putting _beans_ in his chili. I’ve got news for you. “Chili” is Spanish for _ **bean** _. ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2005, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-like-yankee-food/326185/80 "2005-10-17T15:31:42Z")
P.S. for literal-minded: That’s a joke. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-like-yankee-food/326185.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-like-yankee-food/326185.md?page=5)