Unique local/regional foods?

Upper MIchigan (and probably N.WI and N.MN too): Pasties - nope not the kind you find at strip clubs
Meat and root vegetables baked inside of a basically a pie crust.

Pronounced "pass tee" was a common lunch for miners because they had to eat with filthy hands and the crust on the outside gave them something to grip. they just ate around the part that was being held and then threw that part away.
 
2014304_051917-wabc-shutterstock-shakeshack-img.jpg
 
Chicago "pizza" and Italian beef sandwiches. Pizza in quotes only because, although tasty, it's a bit different from a flatbread with various toppings that is cooked in a few minutes.
Hawaii- Spam(!) musubi (from McDonalds, no less too!)
 
From eastern NC, obviously barbecue. From western NC, something similar that is still pretty good, but too red. Also Bojangles, you're welcome.

Was in Cincinnati a couple of weeks back and saw "goetta", which I now know is smashed up breakfast sausage + oats and a few other minor things, herbs and such, then cooked back together into a casserole. Never heard of it anywhere else I've been.
 
Obviously Pizza and BBQ deserves it's own thread, so I'll skip that.

But I do like:
Baltimore Pit Beef Sandwiches (which I don't consider to be a style of BBQ)
Steamed Chesapeake Bay Blue Crabs and Real Maryland Style Crabcakes
Danish Kringles from Racine WI
Italian Pit Beef Sandwiches from Chicago (favorite is Johnnies in Elmwood Park)
Montreal bagels (I'm not a fan of Smoked meat sandwiches, or poutine for that matter)
+1000 on NM Hatch chiles, specifically a hatch chile burger
An "It's It" Ice Cream treat from San Francisco (and surrounding areas)
Philadelphia Hoagies and Cheesesteaks (stay out of the touristy areas for the best)
 
Upper MIchigan (and probably N.WI and N.MN too): Pasties - nope not the kind you find at strip clubs
Meat and root vegetables baked inside of a basically a pie crust.

Tried one for the first time last week, a traditional pastie at Roy's Pasties and Bakery Shop in Houghton. Very good! Cheese curds are awesome as well.

I'll add poutine and pierogis to the list.

1383239551554.jpeg

1750-4-facebook.jpg
 
Reindeer sausage.
 
Reindeer sausage.

I had some Eskimo friends that tried to get me to eat Walrus flippers. The ones that they wrapped in tundra grass and then buried for a number of days. Then they boil them and eat them. That stuff kills white people so I passed.

I did try muktuk once. It was like eating rubberized barf.
 
Goetta in Cincinnati. Trail Bologna in farm country of NE Ohio. Primanti's in Pittsburgh. Awful-Awful in Rhode Island.

Some would call NY Pizza a unique food and not in a good way (this is where Scott M's input would be helpful....)

And, of course, chicken fried steak in Texas (with gravy)
 
Where do you find the stuff? I see the factory sign on 101 south of KSFO but I don't recall seeing it in stores.
With a name that is so easily transmogrified simply by adding an "sh" to the middle, I wondered if it was exceptional ice cream.
It's been years since I've been out there, but I found them in Safeways. It's basically a chipwich dipped in dark chocolate, but replace the chocolate chip cookie with an oatmeal cookie. It's a regional thing, but apparently there are a handful of places in the northeast that you can get them now, because nothing is truly regional anymore.
 
Here in North Dakota, Knoephla (yeah, try pronouncing that one....it's "nef-lah"...lol) is a dish I'd never heard of or tried before moving here. It's pretty good, but don't even think about eating it if you're counting calories :yikes:

Please share your unique cuisine. I thought about this while visiting Madison, WI last week- I don't recall cheese curds being common elsewhere.

In Nebraska (mainly)- runza- ground beef, cabbage, and onion baked into small roll.

Upper MIchigan (and probably N.WI and N.MN too): Pasties - nope not the kind you find at strip clubs
Meat and root vegetables baked inside of a basically a pie crust.

Before @EdFred posted that, I was gonna say it sounds almost like a pasty.
 
Here in North Dakota, Knoephla (yeah, try pronouncing that one....it's "nef-lah"...lol) is a dish I'd never heard of or tried before moving here. It's pretty good, but don't even think about eating it if you're counting calories :yikes:
Before @EdFred posted that, I was gonna say it sounds almost like a pasty.
I had to look that one up- looks like chicken dumpling soup. Also looks tasty.
upload_2019-7-28_8-20-7.jpeg
 
We have Tony packos.

Yep those Hungarian hot dogs that Klinger talked about on mash. They're good. Just a little pricey 2 for$6.99 when on special.

NW Ohio
 
My favorite, breakfast tacos made from pork salivary glands, lymph nodes, (chorizo) and scrambled eggs, in a flour tortilla.
Of course, there's also potato and egg, bacon and egg, refried bean and egg, or any other combination you'd like. Salsa to taste.

(Word of caution) If you use the drive thru, don't sit the sack on the seat. Good tacos will leak red grease on your seat covers and ruin them.

Not the imitation crap they made on Cooks Country, or the garbage dished out by Taco Bell.
 
Central NYS - "Utica Greens" - many variations, but basically sauteed escarole w/ proscuitto, hot peppers, bread crumbs, and pecorino. MUCH better than it sounds.

Nashville - "Hot Chicken" - Basically a hot spicy greasy chicken breast served on a slice of white bread. Again..better than it sounds, and some places make it as hot as even the most nuclear version of Buffalo wings.

Ceviche - listed just 'cause I love it. Fresh fish, lime juice, cilantro, jalapenos, and maybe some onion, w/ Yucateca green or black hot sauce. I get upset when folks start trying to get groovy and stir in guacamole or other stuff to make it look less like chopped raw fish.

Hattaras chowder - clams, broth, and a few potatoes. Tastes like clams..a good thing.
 
I had some Eskimo friends that tried to get me to eat Walrus flippers. The ones that they wrapped in tundra grass and then buried for a number of days. Then they boil them and eat them. That stuff kills white people so I passed.

I did try muktuk once. It was like eating rubberized barf.

Stinkflipper and Muktuk are the old school version of what the hipsters now think is cool, such as Surströmming...

I had some Muktuk mixed with blueberries in Bethel, since I was adopted by the Chief's family and it was actually pretty good. :eek::eek::eek:
 
I had some Muktuk mixed with blueberries in Bethel, since I was adopted by the Chief's family and it was actually pretty good. :eek::eek::eek:

I think Muktuk is one of those foods some people develop a like for. I never did. Did it have sugar and berries in it, like Eskimo ice cream.??

I had a mechanical in Noatak once. After I notified the dispatch and got the cavalry on the way for a rescue, the village agent took me to his house. He asked if I wanted a bite to eat. I said yeah, I could use a little something.

He got a small Styrofoam bowl out of the fridge, stuck a plastic spoon it in, which plastic utensils and Styrofoam dishes are considered fine china in the bush, and handed it to me. It looked and smelled like rotting seal intestines. I looked at it, smelled it and told him, "I don't mean to be rude or ungrateful, but I really don't think I can eat this.''

He laughed, took it from me and tossed it into the trash. He then told me, ''Yeah, we don't eat this crap either. My wifes grandparents visited this weekend and they brought their own traditional Eskimo food. They don't like what we eat...''
 
In the Pacific Northwest it's geoduck -- pronounced "gooey-duck". No kidding. And it's not a duck, it's a clam.

https://www.seriouseats.com/2015/05...pacific-northwest-how-geoduck-are-farmed.html

View attachment 76326

The smaller version in New England are called steamers. Growing up as a kid in NYC we called steamers **** Clams never imagining people ate them. The way you found **** clams was to walk the beach at low tide and stamp your feet and then watched for the water to squirt out of the sand. In New England they call that thing sticking out of the clam a "neck" I think the **** clam moniker better describes the appendage coming out of the shell ;) ****= a 4 letter word for taking a leak
 
Last edited:
Spargel... I'm going to miss it!

Jede Tag ist Spargeltag!

Germans are like "Bubba" Blue when it comes to their Spargel. Spargelsuppe, gebraten Spargen, gekochter Spargel, Spargel-Quiche... and so on.
During Spargel season I think they have it in the cafeteria every day of the week in some form. My area is Spargel und Erdbeere land.
 
Back
Top