# local food traditions around the US? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 8, 2013, 1:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/local-food-traditions-around-the-us/665699 "2013-08-08T13:03:52Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 7
**Author:** ![FuriousGeorge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ecae2f/32.png) [@FuriousGeorge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FuriousGeorge)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2013, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/local-food-traditions-around-the-us/665699/121 "2013-08-19T23:39:31Z")
> [@elmwood](#): > > - Cream ale. “[Gennycream’s](http://i.imgur.com/ejepYzb.jpg)” (a.k.a. Screamers, Bombers, Green Death) remains popular among old farts, and some hipsters seem are also fans. Am from Syracuse and was at a liquor store here in Denver with my wife picking up some wine and saw a lonely six pack of Genny Cream sitting in the cooler. Did, like, a triple take. I didn’t buy it as Genny is pretty awful when it is somewhat fresh. I can’t imagine how old it was there. Also, [Heid’s](http://heidsofliverpool.com/) is a pretty popular Upstate New York food attraction for snappies and franks with your Byrne Dairy chocolate milk. No ketchup! ---
**Author:** ![typoink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ecb155/32.png) [@typoink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/typoink)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2013, 12:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/local-food-traditions-around-the-us/665699/122 "2013-08-20T00:25:52Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > ETA: Oh, duh. The Chicago-style hot dog, of course, is an obvious one I’m missing. Ha, my blood pressure was rising reading your post until I got to the ETA. The Chicago-style hot dog is, in my view, an absolutely perfect masterpiece of takeaway food. Surprised you left off the Maxwell Street Polish sausage, which is a spicy polish sausage served either on French bread or a hot dug bun, slathered with grilled onions and yellow mustard. Another Chicago street food thing are elotes, which is sweetcorn covered in mayonaise, lime juice, chili powder, and cotilla cheese (which is a Mexican hard goat cheese). Absolutely delicious. It comes from Mexico originally, but I’ve heard there’s only a few places in the US where it’s easily available, and it’s downright ubiquitious in Chicago. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2013, 3:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/local-food-traditions-around-the-us/665699/123 "2013-08-20T03:27:27Z")
> [@typoink](#): > > Surprised you left off the Maxwell Street Polish sausage, which is a spicy polish sausage served either on French bread or a hot dug bun, slathered with grilled onions and yellow mustard. Yeah, I was thinking of including it, but wasn’t sure if it was different enough to warrant inclusion. It probably is. > [@](#): > > Another Chicago street food thing are elotes, which is sweetcorn covered in mayonaise, lime juice, chili powder, and cotilla cheese (which is a Mexican hard goat cheese). Absolutely delicious. It comes from Mexico originally, but I’ve heard there’s only a few places in the US where it’s easily available, and it’s downright ubiquitious in Chicago. I didn’t think about that one. Ubiquitous here, definitely. I guess it’s just one of those things I assumed are popular everywhere where there’s a decent Mexican population, so I don’t really think of it as a “Chicagoan” tradition or a “Mexican-Chicagoan” tradition, but a more general one. ---
**Author:** ![Lightray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lightray/32/391_2.png) [@Lightray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lightray)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2013, 1:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/local-food-traditions-around-the-us/665699/124 "2013-08-20T13:31:33Z")
> [@Morbo](#): > > Growing up in St. Louis we had toasted ravioli, which I didn’t realize was regional until I moved away. > [@Southern\_Yankee](#): > > I have friends from St. Louis who introduced me to Gooey Butter Cake. Check your family history of diabetes before attempting this. St. Louis has quite a few local food oddities: [frozen custard](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frozen_custard) (yum), [pork steak](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pork_steak) (meh), St. Louis cut spareribs, [slingers](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slinger) (eggs, hasbrowns, & meat, covered in chili, cheese, & onions), [provel cheese](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Provel_cheese) and the godawful abomination that is St. Louis style pizza (Imo’s). Plus local producers like Vess soda. There’s even scarcer weirdness, like [St. Paul sandwiches](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Paul_sandwich) which I’ve seen a few times, or [fried brain sandwiches](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fried-brain_sandwich) which I’m not sure are even served anywhere anymore after mad cow disease. … it’s not exactly healthy cuisine. ---
**Author:** ![Jeff\_Lichtman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jeff_lichtman/32/1531_2.png) [@Jeff\_Lichtman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jeff_Lichtman)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2013, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/local-food-traditions-around-the-us/665699/125 "2013-08-20T16:50:53Z")
> [@Lightray](#): > > St. Louis has quite a few local food oddities: . . . How about [snoots](http://eatocracy.cnn.com/2012/10/04/barbecue-digest-snoot-sandwich/)? ---
**Author:** ![Lightray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lightray/32/391_2.png) [@Lightray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lightray)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2013, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/local-food-traditions-around-the-us/665699/126 "2013-08-20T18:12:37Z")
Oh, yeah. I used to work with a PhD chemist who loved coming back to St. Louis for the pig snouts in various forms. He particularly liked crispy deep-fried and… hairy. _shudder_ ---
**Author:** ![Labrador\_Deceiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7c8e57/32.png) [@Labrador\_Deceiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Labrador_Deceiver)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2013, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/local-food-traditions-around-the-us/665699/127 "2013-08-20T18:32:47Z")
> [@JohnM](#): > > Growing up in southern W.Va., a fully dressed hot dog was chili, yellow mustard, raw white onion, and coleslaw. I’ve never seen that combination anywhere else. That’s pretty normal in the rest of the South, in my experience. Mustard may or may not be on the table. ---
**Author:** ![Labrador\_Deceiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7c8e57/32.png) [@Labrador\_Deceiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Labrador_Deceiver)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2013, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/local-food-traditions-around-the-us/665699/128 "2013-08-20T18:39:06Z")
> [@Lightray](#): > > St. Louis has quite a few local food oddities: [frozen custard](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frozen_custard) (yum), You guys just call ice cream by a different name. A lot of what is served in the US is based on a custard recipe. ---
**Author:** ![Jeff\_Lichtman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jeff_lichtman/32/1531_2.png) [@Jeff\_Lichtman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jeff_Lichtman)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2013, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/local-food-traditions-around-the-us/665699/129 "2013-08-20T19:15:39Z")
> [@Labrador\_Deceiver](#): > > You guys just call ice cream by a different name. A lot of what is served in the US is based on a custard recipe. I have had frozen custard in both St. Louis and Milwaukee, and it’s different from regular custard-based ice cream. The consistency is lighter and eggier. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2013, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/local-food-traditions-around-the-us/665699/130 "2013-08-20T19:58:54Z")
> [@NGC2024](#): > > In Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, we have red beet eggs, hog maw (pig’s stomach) and chicken pot pie (the right way, with noodles, not a crust). My wife’s parents are from Chambersburg, and she has some Mennonite ancestry, so we had pig’s stomach often when we lived in NJ. But you can’t get a whole stomach here - the ones you can buy in the Housewife’s Market in Oakland are full of holes. Lebanon bologna might slowly be spreading. I lived in SW Louisiana before cajun food became a fad, and we ate boudin and lots of crawfish dishes. Cajun and creole food are totally different. When I was growing up we had “appetizing” Sunday mornings - bagels of course, and lox, but also whitefish and sable, things you don’t see anyplace else. However the deli in the Trump Plaza in Atlantic City had at one time really good whitefish salad, which is all the good stuff I’m ever going to say about the Donald. ---
**Author:** ![Labrador\_Deceiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7c8e57/32.png) [@Labrador\_Deceiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Labrador_Deceiver)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2013, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/local-food-traditions-around-the-us/665699/131 "2013-08-20T20:02:22Z")
> [@Jeff\_Lichtman](#): > > I have had frozen custard in both St. Louis and Milwaukee, and it’s different from regular custard-based ice cream. The consistency is lighter and eggier. Well, there you go. I’ve only had it once and thought it was similar to most premium ice creams. Compare [this](http://www.stltoday.com/lifestyles/food-and-cooking/recipes/recipe-vanilla-frozen-custard/article_13898c1f-cf87-5f48-b089-9573c49c6a18.html) recipe & [this](http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alton-brown/vanilla-ice-cream-recipe/index.html) one. ---
**Author:** ![Quercus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/7ab992/32.png) [@Quercus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quercus)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2013, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/local-food-traditions-around-the-us/665699/132 "2013-08-20T20:34:37Z")
> [@Southern\_Yankee](#): > > NJ has the best pizza in the country. I’m afraid Saint Frankie (Sinatra) would disagree, as he used to send his driver to New Haven to get pizza. Anyway, Boston/New England has Boston baked beans and Boston brown bread. Is broiled scrod too generic to be regional? Plus it has frappes and jimmies (if you say milkshakes and sprinkles are the same thing, I’m going to ignore you). Are NECCO wafers countrywide? (New England Confectionary COmpany wafers, you know). Lots of southern food hasn’t been mentioned yet, I don’ think: hush puppies, fried catfish, boiled-to-death greens, proper cornbread that’s not sweetened up to dessert levels, fried okra (heck, any other kind of okra too, I guess), grits, pork rinds, moon pies, fried pies (the small, fried, pie-dough around fruit filling; most people have only seen the Hostess version, but the real version is worth trying some time). Are chess pie and pecan pie common in the midwest? (they’re really southern imports to the northeast, I know). Key lime pie, too, now that I think about it. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2013, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/local-food-traditions-around-the-us/665699/133 "2013-08-20T20:41:03Z")
> [@Labrador\_Deceiver](#): > > Well, there you go. I’ve only had it once and thought it was similar to most premium ice creams. > > Compare [this](http://www.stltoday.com/lifestyles/food-and-cooking/recipes/recipe-vanilla-frozen-custard/article_13898c1f-cf87-5f48-b089-9573c49c6a18.html) recipe & [this](http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alton-brown/vanilla-ice-cream-recipe/index.html) one. I would definitely call Alton Brown’s recipe frozen custard, but I’m fine with “ice cream” including both custard-based and non-custard based frozen dairy desserts. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2013, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/local-food-traditions-around-the-us/665699/134 "2013-08-20T20:46:54Z")
> [@Labrador\_Deceiver](#): > > That’s pretty normal in the rest of the South, in my experience. Mustard may or may not be on the table. I never knew that (and can’t say I’ve ever noticed it, but I’m usually on the hunt for other foods when I’m in the South), but it is true that chili-slaw-mustard is very strongly associated with West Virginia. I’ve never had that dog myself, but I know that it’s a West Virginia dog. ETA: Actually, here’s a [Wikipedia article with regional hot dog variations](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hot_dog_variations), and West Virginia is its own category. ---
**Author:** ![Labrador\_Deceiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7c8e57/32.png) [@Labrador\_Deceiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Labrador_Deceiver)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2013, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/local-food-traditions-around-the-us/665699/135 "2013-08-20T20:55:29Z")
In NC, it’s chili, slaw and onions. Mustard is served on the side. ETA: I just saw your link: > [@](#): > > In North Carolina, hot dogs are prepared Carolina style which includes chili, slaw and onions; locally, mustard sometimes replaces slaw, or is added as a fourth item. Merrit’s Burger House has been serving Carolina hot dogs since 1958. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2013, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/local-food-traditions-around-the-us/665699/136 "2013-08-20T21:00:14Z")
> [@Labrador\_Deceiver](#): > > In NC, it’s chili, slaw and onions. Mustard is served on the side. I could see that being popular in NC. Is it a creamy slaw or a vinegary slaw? ---
**Author:** ![Labrador\_Deceiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7c8e57/32.png) [@Labrador\_Deceiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Labrador_Deceiver)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2013, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/local-food-traditions-around-the-us/665699/137 "2013-08-20T21:04:46Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > I could see that being popular in NC. Is it a creamy slaw or a vinegary slaw? Ummm…in between, maybe? It might have a little mayo, but it usually isn’t creamy. Probably more on the vinegar side. I was always more of a chili and cheese guy, so I’m having a hard time recalling the slaw. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2013, 10:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/local-food-traditions-around-the-us/665699/138 "2013-08-20T22:15:56Z")
In Tampa we have a “Cuban” cuisine which, I discovered from living in Miami-Dade County for a year, is rather different from Miami “Cuban” cuisine. Miami Cuban sandwiches are made with some kinda sugary Wonder-bread in bun-form (the bread for a Tampa Cuban is much crustier and chewier), and the Miamians seem never to have heard of garbanzo-bean soup or _arroz con pollo._ (Tampa’s Cuban community is 60 or 70 years older than Miami’s, BTW.) ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2013, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/local-food-traditions-around-the-us/665699/139 "2013-08-20T22:26:34Z")
Of course, not counting Indian cuisine, Tampa’s real indigenous cuisine is Florida Cracker cuisine. [New restaurant opening here.](http://tbo.com/dining/couple-prepares-florida-cracker-restaurant-b82490184z1) > [@](#): > > TAMPA - Greg and Michelle Baker would very much like to introduce the world to the concept of “Florida Cracker Cuisine.” > > The pair of nationally known restaurateurs have already made their Seminole Heights restaurant The Refinery one of the hottest gourmet spots in the Southeast. Now they’ve bought land nearby and plan a second, much larger restaurant to be called Fodder & Shine. > > If all goes well, they could be open around New Year’s, transforming a former auto repair center into an indoor-outdoor hotspot with decidedly old-school Florida foods like gator, heirloom beef, pickled veggies, special charcuterie sausages and Gulf-caught seafood – plus craft cocktails in an outdoor-yet-shaded portico. > > \ > > Much of the menu is still in development, but while the Refinery has a lineup of dishes that changes every week, Fodder & Shine will have a more stable lineup. Baker aims to take advantage of the best Florida veggies, meats and seafood as well as the state’s heritage of African-American, Native American and Spanish influences. > > \ > > “It’s going to be wild game, it’s going to be quail, there’s going to be lots of seafood,” Michelle Baker said. “He’s going to be doing a lot of preservation, from charcuterie to canning. We’re getting the farms lined up. We have fields that will be growing for us.” > > \ > > What it won’t be is a southern food restaurant. Greg Baker intends to delve into old Cracker cuisine using native ingredients. To do so, he is researching old cookbooks and taking oral histories from pioneer families. > > “This is not shrimp and grits,” she said. “If there is fried chicken, it will be because it was an African influence. It will be cooked in the manner it was done back in the day.” Don’t delve **too** deep, Mr. Baker. My Mom used to tell me how my Grandpa would drink [clabber](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clabber_(food)) . . . would drink collard-greens potliquor . . . the family actually ate possum whenever Grandpa shot one (greasy stuff, she remembered) . . . and, yes, chitlins . . . (and we’re **white,** you understand). ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2013, 2:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/local-food-traditions-around-the-us/665699/140 "2013-09-07T02:46:50Z")
Bump this because I just remembered a wonderful book I read a few years ago that’ll be of interest to some folks here: [The Food of a Younger Land: The WPA’s Portrait of Food in Pre-World War II America.](http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/5070865-the-food-of-a-younger-land) It’s a collection of essays, menus, interviews, and recipes from all over the US during the 1930s or thereabout, everything from what’s served at the Waldorf to a Kansas beef barbecue (IIRC; I may be getting a couple of details wrong, but that’s the general idea). Definitely worth checking out! Also: > [@california\_jobcase](#): > > Here in the southeast we have pimiento cheese. It’s mayo, grated cheese, and chopped pimiento. To me, it’s just another way for Georgians to consume their daily cup of mayo, but the ladies seem to like it. Bless their hearts! Bad pimento (not “pimiento,” most of the time) cheese is nasty, and most pimento cheese is bad pimento cheese. But good pimento cheese is wonderful. My food processor recipe: -1 clove garlic and some cumin and paprika and cayenne all blended together. -Add some sharp chedder and chop fine. -Add a chunk of cream cheese and a big old spoonful of mayo and blend. -Add a tiny jar of pimentos and blend just a bit. The spices and the sharp cheese make a world of difference, turning the nasty bland mayo blend into an attention-grabber that goes great with beer. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/local-food-traditions-around-the-us/665699.md?page=6) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/local-food-traditions-around-the-us/665699.md?page=8)