oops - forgot the salt potatoes.
A meal of spiedies & salt potatoes, maybe throw in some Cornell recipe chicken… that’s about 2 month’s worth of sodium.
Roast beef on weck. I was introduced to this delicacy when I first met my in-laws in Buffalo in '91. Since then, whenever I get out to Buffalo, I have to get roast beef on weck at least two or three times before I return to Texas.
And whaddaya know, I’m going to Buffalo in a few weeks! 
Speaking of which, guess what I didn’t realize was regional until I got to Arizona?
24-packs of Coke/Pepsi shaped like rectangles. I’m talking 6 rows, 4 cans across.
Out here, we’re just now starting to see them in grocery stores. All they had for the longest time were the “cubes.”
…but up in New York, Conch (pronounced Kahnk) is (for all intents & purposes) not available up here. I’ve only seen it in Bahamian/Southeastern restaurants & seafood markets. You figure for a shellfish, shipping them points north wouldn’t be such an issue…I guess it’s the law of supply and demand (i e. What they have no idea they’re missing, can’t be missed)
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I miss fried dough, covered in lots of powdered sugar. Yum. It’s a relative of the funnel cake but not as fluffy. Every time a carnival came around or we did our yearly 4th of July celebration on the common, there would be a fried dough booth. (I’m from New England.)
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Not just yes, but hell yes.
Going to Funtown Amusement Park in Maine, we’d get it all the time, same with the local fairs. Best part was, as a teenager, working at Hampton Beach and making it for customers. Sure didn’t help my complexion or weight, but it was good eating.
Barbecued mutton. It’s very much a specifically western Kentucky thing, very hard to find even on the other end of the state, so it’s entirely out of the question to find anything of the sort around here. We bring some back to freeze every time we go home, but it’s just not the same as walking into a restaurant and letting the smell wash over you, you know? The nearest hot, fresh mutton I know of is in Lexington, and by that point we might as well wait till we get to Mom and Dad’s and get the really good stuff.
South Carolina: ‘Real’ fried pork rinds. Except when you eat them while drinking Mountain Dew. Something must react chemically, it’s just a nasty nasty taste.
Also, and more importantly, boiled peanuts. Sold only by the register of a few select country stores in BFE, South Carolina, at least that I know of. Miss those. Also really miss Coke and Mt. Dew in 16-ounce glass bottles. They just taste better.
Skyline Chili. Or ANY Cincinnati-style chili, for that matter.
I’ve been to chili restaurants in the Bay Area that say that have lots and lots of varieties of chilis but when I ask about Cincinnati-style they just look at me like I have 17 and a half heads!
I can get it canned and shipped to me but it’s not even close to the restaurant stuff.
Yum.
F**kin’ A, Bubba. When I go back to Ohio the first thing I do is go to Skyline for a jumbo 3-way and a cheese coney. Then I visit my dear family.
There’s a place in Fashion Island in Newport Beach, CA that sells something they call Cincinnati-style chili, but it isn’t even close.
I also like White Water soft drink from Japan. I can’t find it even in Japanese grocery stores like Mitsuwa. Crap, I don’t even think I can remember how it tastes, only that I liked it.
Here in Baton Rouge, I miss…
From the UK:
McVities Milk Chocolate/Caramel biscuits - although I found some at the World Market last week, ate them up, and was instantly filled with a feeling of nostalgia.
Walkers salt & vinegar crisps - There’s something about them, they’re much saltier and vinegarier than Lays!
Good, cheap Indian food!
From Florida:
Good Cuban food! - most especially Puerco Asado (Roast Pork) - ohhh my heart is melting just thinking about it.
"Authentic" Key Lime Pie
From Italy:
There is this candy that I had in Italy, and I don’t entirely remember what it’s called - something like “Fondant” or something. It’s made by Perugina. It’s like little flavored sugar granules that are stuck together with sugary glue, formed into a sweet sugary cube that just melts in your mouth!! Absolutely divine!
I hate Florida in many respects, but I do miss grouper fingers. There’s nothing quite like going into The Lazy Flamingo after a day on the boat or beach and recovering from a sunburn with a basket of grouper fingers, fries and tartar sauce.
The two things I really miss from Texas are Blue Bell Ice Cream and Big Red. I never thought Big Red was a regional thing, but I never see it anywhere else. And what about Cima Red? I guess they quit making that because I haven’t seen it in years.
I’ve seen two people talk about this stuff so far, and I actually live close enough to try some. I guess I’ll have to make a stop sometime.
That’s regional? I did not know that.
I love pickled okra (my mom says it’s her South Dakota heritage showing through—otherwise I’m pretty California in my tastes). Plenty of pickled okra to be found here in Hooterville. You can get big jars of it. Yum yum yum. I am sorry you are having trouble finding this delectible treat!
The things I miss from Southern California:
Most things from Trader Joe’s. No Trader Joes out here in Hooterville. A friend of mine just sent out a box of Trader Joe’s “UFOs,” a mint chocolate candy. Yum.
I know it sounds odd, but Knudsen Cottage Cheese. No Knudsen out here. Hooterville has pretty good cottage cheese, but it’s completely different from the creamy wonderfulness of Knudsen.
Salt Rising Bread. The company that made it slips my mind for a moment, but it’s a pretty big name and I do see other things from them out here in Hooterville. But not salt rising bread. Though, I don’t know if this company’s salt rising bread is the same as it used to be—last time I was in L.A. and had some, it didn’t taste quite as good as I remember.
Cactus Cooler. According to my Internet research, this is a Southern California-exclusive soft drink. (Pineapple/Orange—yummy.) The information I keep reading could be incorrect, of course. Fortunately, I was able to order several cases of Cactus Cooler through www.drsoda.com, so I’m all set for Cactus Cooler for a while.
It must have been my second day here in Auckland, I walked into a bakery and asked for a pasty. “what, a pastry?” me, “no a pasty” “sorry, never heard of them” agghhhh.
Bitter Lemon, it may be here but I haven’t found it yet. Dim sims, Alaska bars and I miss the large variety of fruit & veg available in Australia. I have however discovered feijoas, kumara, and Big Fish.
The Flying Pig Pub in San Jose serves Cincinnati Chili, and they claim to be the “only place west of the Mississippi” to do so.
I’ve eaten it there and enjoyed it, but would not claim the expertise necessary to declare it authentic or not. Still, at least you won’t get the “seventeen-and-a-half-head” look if you order it there.
Better make sure your car has new tires and a good tune up. You’ll be making the trip from Norfolk on a regular basis once you get a taste of Carl’s.
The place is strictly a stand - there aren’t any seats at all (not even outside). The line will snake around the building, but don’t let that dissuade you. You can get a little paper cup of water if you need it, but no beverages are sold. Once you been there a few times, the counter help will know what you’re going to buy and how you’re going to pay for it (not kidding here - the woman that used to work there never once asked for my order. The stuff really is worth a trip from Norfolk.
You can actually order Blue Bell Ice Cream from the dairy…it’s pricey at $85 for 4 half gallons, but that includes shipping. So if you really needed a fix, you could get it.
This page claims to be able to ship regional specialties…I’ve never used them, and don’t know if they have any of the things that people are mentioning.
That said, the one thing that I really miss about Atlanta is the occasional trip to the Varsity. Sometimes you just need that chili dog, onion rings and peach fried pie.
Oh yes! When Karl Ehmer’s/Schaller & Webber’s were still around here (Bronx/Lower Westchester) it was easy to get a fix, but those places are pretty much either gone or unrecognizable, i.e. everything’s gone Boar’s Head. Fortunately, my parents live out in Bethpage and have located a source, so I can still get some whenever I go out to visit.
Things I miss:
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When away from home: good bagels; Arthur Ave. bread; New York deli chips or Cape Cod kettle cooked chips (Utz chips are special, but sometimes I just want one of the other two); a good Reuben sandwich (with pastrami!)
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From Australia: Cornish pasties; fish and chips made with whiting; Tim-Tams (sooooo damned addictive)
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From India: Indian-style Chinese food (something about the spicing I can’t quite explain); really good naan, rotis, and butter chicken
I’m hungry now.
I was hoping that with moving to SE Virginia from Indiana that I’d find fried dill pickles, but I must not have come far enough south.
I couldn’t find pickled herring for Christmas/New Year’s dinners down here. Must not be enough Scandinavians in the area…
Also, being a recovering Hoosier, the Chesapeake Bay crabs taste fine to me, probably because I don’t know any better.
Old Bay and Utz products are readily available in Hampton grocery stores. BTW, Utz has taken over my potato chip loyalty from Mikesell’s in Indiana.
I miss:
From Northern CA:
Clover-Stornetta milk, especially the organic 1% milk. I grew up on Clover milk. I also miss their billboards. My favorite one ever was “Tip Clo through your two lips.”
It’s-Its: Ice cream sandwiched by two oatmeal cookies. My favorite kind was the mint ice cream one. Damn, I miss those sometimes.
From San Francisco/Bay Area:
Really good sourdough bread. Potato rosemary bread that I used to get at Berkeley Bowl. Bread is just not the same here in CO because it’s so dry out here.
Amazing chocolate chip cookies from Specialty’s Bakery. MMMMM Specialty’s cookies.
Pan Chocolat from Boniere Bakery in Alameda. I haven’t tasted any that good outside of France.
I miss Berkeley Bowl the most, with Trader Joe’s a close second. When I was out in LA for the marathon last month, I stocked up on TJs stuff. But nothing compares to the wonderousness that is Berkeley Bowl’s produce section. sniff Whenever I go back to the Bay Area for a visit, I make a special point of shopping at Berkeley Bowl.