# What foods are unique to your area? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 2, 2011, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-foods-are-unique-to-your-area/591229 "2011-08-02T22:40:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 8
**Author:** ![x-ray\_vision](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/x-ray_vision/32/351_2.png) [@x-ray\_vision](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/x-ray_vision)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2011, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-foods-are-unique-to-your-area/591229/141 "2011-11-23T20:54:19Z")
> [@Cat\_Whisperer](#): > > Isn’t that [poutine?](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poutine) French Canadians would argue with you about how unique that is to your area. Close, but the difference is big enough that I really look forward to having poutine when I go to Montreal. The gravy is different and cheddar cheese curds and mozzarella are totally different. Another for the New Jersey/Philly area: [Taylor Ham](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pork_roll) ---
**Author:** ![Swords\_to\_Plowshares](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b38774/32.png) [@Swords\_to\_Plowshares](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Swords_to_Plowshares)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2011, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-foods-are-unique-to-your-area/591229/142 "2011-11-23T21:20:35Z")
It’s not Taylor Ham, it’s pork roll! (South Jersey calls it pork roll, North Jersey calls it Taylor ham.) ---
**Author:** ![Motorgirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e36b37/32.png) [@Motorgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Motorgirl)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2011, 10:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-foods-are-unique-to-your-area/591229/143 "2011-11-23T22:12:49Z")
> [@Swords\_to\_Plowshares](#): > > I came here to list Ithaca/Finger Lakes/Central NY foods but they’ve almost all been listed! > > I’ll add French bread pizza, aka Poor Man’s Pizza aka PMP. Originated at the Hot Truck at Cornell in 1960. I was a Louis Lunch girl, down with Hot Truck! (arts '92) ---
**Author:** ![Hazle\_Weatherfield](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Hazle\_Weatherfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hazle_Weatherfield)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2011, 5:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-foods-are-unique-to-your-area/591229/144 "2011-11-24T05:04:40Z")
Breaded, deep-fried ravioli, Imo’s Pizza. ---
**Author:** ![devilsknew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4da419/32.png) [@devilsknew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/devilsknew)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2011, 5:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-foods-are-unique-to-your-area/591229/145 "2011-11-24T05:16:19Z")
I’d say Hungarian Deli, Greek Dogs, Heinz Products (Ketchup, Chili Sauce, and Pickles) Sauerkraut, Diners, and the Country’s best Pickerel (Walleye) and Perch. That’s just an overview and a punctilious report…There is actually a lot more. It has a strong German, Polish, and Hungarian influence. ---
**Author:** ![devilsknew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4da419/32.png) [@devilsknew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/devilsknew)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2011, 5:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-foods-are-unique-to-your-area/591229/146 "2011-11-24T05:33:51Z")
In past times, we were the producers of Sturgeon (caviar and smoked) and Turtle (soup). Both delicacies we didn’t balance with nature as early urban settlers. Frogs too… ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2011, 12:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-foods-are-unique-to-your-area/591229/147 "2011-11-24T12:16:09Z")
I apologize for not reading the thread before posting this, but just the other day in another thread somebody posted the link to [The Food Timeline](http://www.foodtimeline.org/index.html) which leads to [Food history index](http://www.foodtimeline.org/foodfaqindex.html) which has a section on [State Foods](http://www.foodtimeline.org/statefoods.html) which might be fun to shoot holes in or add to. The section on Tennessee may be accurate as far as it goes, but I know there are many more distinctive dishes in these parts. Thinking of them as unique to the state is hard, though, since many are as plentiful in Alabama as here. One dish I remember well in central Alabama is [Camp Stew](http://southern.food.com/recipe/alabama-camp-stew-44570) which some could compare with Brunswick Stew or even Kentucky Burgoo. Whatever you call it, it’s great with barbecue and the fixings in the summer at big cookouts and community picnics. ---
**Author:** ![Bleach23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7ba0ec/32.png) [@Bleach23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bleach23)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2011, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-foods-are-unique-to-your-area/591229/148 "2011-11-25T16:46:35Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > Freihofer’s Chocolate Chip cookies. The best in the world. I used to live in upstate NY before moving to the South East. I can tell you how much I miss Freihofer’s Chocolate Chip cookies. ---
**Author:** ![Bleach23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7ba0ec/32.png) [@Bleach23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bleach23)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2011, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-foods-are-unique-to-your-area/591229/149 "2011-11-25T16:51:20Z")
I live in the South East so you can find fabulous BBQ. Ours is pork with either a vinegar or mustard sauce (depending on location). Lots of casual restaurants also offer Fried Pickles or Pimento Chess as appetizers. Very healthy. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2011, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-foods-are-unique-to-your-area/591229/150 "2011-11-25T17:56:24Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > I forgot about Country Sweet. (I still miss the Country Sweet on Monroe.) > > I always assumed the local sauces were the same idea as what they serve in the Carolinas. Am I mistaken on this? > > Anyway, now I have to go to a Birdland. I miss the Boss Sauce/Country Sweet sauce/Sal’s Sauce/ the late lamented Smitty’s Sauce. Noplace else in the country, as far as I know, has anything like it. Fortunately, you can order Boss Sauce over the internet. Spiedie Sauce, too. as for Grape Pies, as I’ve noted frequiently on this Board, I make 'em myself. I’ve never seen them for sale outside Naples, N.Y. ---
**Author:** ![aruvqan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aruvqan/32/2891_2.png) [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2011, 4:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-foods-are-unique-to-your-area/591229/151 "2011-11-26T04:11:51Z")
Damn, now I want some BBQ pork ribs, and some pulled pork BBQ :smack: ---
**Author:** ![Oslo\_Ostragoth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/a9a28c/32.png) [@Oslo\_Ostragoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oslo_Ostragoth)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2011, 4:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-foods-are-unique-to-your-area/591229/152 "2011-11-26T04:28:01Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > as for Grape Pies, as I’ve noted frequiently on this Board, I make 'em myself. I’ve never seen them for sale outside Naples, N.Y. Dish, please. Is there some reason that the only recipes I’ve seen call for Concord grapes? ---
**Author:** ![devilsknew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4da419/32.png) [@devilsknew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/devilsknew)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2011, 4:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-foods-are-unique-to-your-area/591229/153 "2011-11-26T04:37:15Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > as for Grape Pies, as I’ve noted frequiently on this Board, I make 'em myself. I’ve never seen them for sale outside Naples, N.Y. My Alabaman neighbor grew his own grapes and made jelly and pies. Here in Ohio, we share a Winemaking coastline and micro-climate/Environment with PA and NY. Foxy American Grape strains are popular home cuttings. ---
**Author:** ![devilsknew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4da419/32.png) [@devilsknew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/devilsknew)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2011, 5:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-foods-are-unique-to-your-area/591229/154 "2011-11-26T05:10:57Z")
> [@devilsknew](#): > > In past times, we were the producers of Sturgeon (caviar and smoked) and Turtle (soup). Both delicacies we didn’t balance with nature as early urban settlers. Frogs too… Speaking of microclimates and similar environments, it would seem that we might have had and still do have something in common with Iranian Caviar production and Caspian towns, even here in the Lake Erie Basin. We could learn from them, or they could learn from us… Caviar for World Peace. Seriously, I would love to be able to restore the Sturgeon to Lake Erie for both profit and conservation here in Lake Erie to pre 1800’s levels. Because I’m confident we would/did put out a world class product, perhaps better than Caspian Beluga. But, right now it doesn’t look good with the Asian Carp Epidemic breathing down our back… If Lake Erie Falls… well, just forgetabouttit. Barely to mention gobis and foreign Crustaceans, water grabs and export, and restocking hundred year old fish?-not in my lifetime. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2011, 5:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-foods-are-unique-to-your-area/591229/155 "2011-11-26T05:11:34Z")
Kringle was largely unknown outside the Racine/North Chicago area for years but it’s been spreading. I was surprised to see a few in a local (Northern Virginia) Harris Teeter a while back. ---
**Author:** ![Merejane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a6a055/32.png) [@Merejane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Merejane)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2011, 5:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-foods-are-unique-to-your-area/591229/156 "2011-11-26T05:24:13Z")
> [@x-ray\_vision](#): > > Another for the New Jersey/Philly area: > > [Taylor Ham](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pork_roll) I grew up in New Jersey, but never knew it was a Jersey/Philly product. I was dismayed when I moved to New York after college and could not find it anywhere! ---
**Author:** ![foolsguinea](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foolsguinea/32/14751_2.png) [@foolsguinea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/foolsguinea)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2011, 5:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-foods-are-unique-to-your-area/591229/157 "2011-11-26T05:42:18Z")
nm ---
**Author:** ![devilsknew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4da419/32.png) [@devilsknew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/devilsknew)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2011, 6:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-foods-are-unique-to-your-area/591229/158 "2011-11-26T06:00:33Z")
> [@devilsknew](#): > > foreign Crustaceans. Zebra Mussels, I meant… not crustaceans. ---
**Author:** ![Martini\_Enfield](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/martini_enfield/32/11123_2.png) [@Martini\_Enfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martini_Enfield)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2011, 6:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-foods-are-unique-to-your-area/591229/159 "2011-11-26T06:00:51Z")
> [@MikeG](#): > > Our deep dish pizza is also unheard of outside the area. Really? I’ve been eating deep-pan pizza from Dominoes, Pizza Hut, and Eagle Boys in Australia for years. Some of our local pizza places (even the Italian-style ones) do them as well. A lot of the food from New Zealand (Marmite, Reduced Cream & Maggi Onion Soup Mix Dip, Cookie Time Biscuits, and so on) used to be really hard to get outside New Zealand. Now it shows up regularly in international food stores, meaning I don’t have to pester everyone I know heading to NZ to stock up on goodies from the supermarket before they return. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Bites\_When\_Provoked](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bites_when_provoked/32/18073_2.png) [@Bites\_When\_Provoked](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bites_When_Provoked)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2011, 10:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-foods-are-unique-to-your-area/591229/160 "2011-11-26T10:26:05Z")
> [@MikeG](#): > > Our deep dish pizza is also unheard of outside the area. > [@Martini\_Enfield](#): > > Really? I’ve been eating deep-pan pizza from Dominoes, Pizza Hut, and Eagle Boys in Australia for years. Some of our local pizza places (even the Italian-style ones) do them as well I reckon MikeG might be talking more about this style, more so than what we normally consider deep pan of the Dominos/Pizza Hut variety: ie, realllly deep pan. > **[Crust Pizza](https://www.crust.com.au/)** > > Crust Pizza reimagines pizza, with pizzas that are adventurous in flavour but authentic in taste. Made by hand the old fashioned way; measuring by feel and experience rather than cups and weights. Try something new tonight and order now at... [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-foods-are-unique-to-your-area/591229.md?page=7) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-foods-are-unique-to-your-area/591229.md?page=9)