PrintA Map of Regional Foods
National Geographic rounds up some of the nation's regional foods, from Rhode Island's beloved coffee milk to Hawaii's Spam musubi. You'd think National Geographic, of all learned societies, could be counted on to properly place Buffalo, New York, on a map (the pinpoint actually marks Rochester). As our source for this link, Fred S., points out, "People are going to show up in Rochester looking for beef on Weck and leave in tears!"
Hey: Where's New England's bread in a can or New York City's egg cream? Is your regional favorite missing from this map?
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19 Comments:
no one ever remembers buffalo unless snow or super bowl losses are involved. we're a tough bunch. ;-)
altosaxchica at 6:49PM on 09/24/07
Well, they could always stop at Nick Tahou's for a Garbage Plate Special, get back on the NYS Thruway westbound and drive 65 miles to eat a beef on Weck.
Eamon at 7:01PM on 09/24/07
Oh, for goodness sakes! Toasted ravioli instead of gooey butter cake! How dumb!
lemons at 7:31PM on 09/24/07
oh super hooray for the spam musubi! But they also forgot saimin and lau lau!
Kathy_yl at 8:34PM on 09/24/07
Key West's Conch Fritters and Miami's Cuban Coffee. Fried Green Tomatoes anywhere in the South, but you'd probably locate them in Georgia.
thepictsie at 10:39PM on 09/24/07
Yeah, DC ends up way up the Potomac, in Frederick or Hagerstown or thereabouts, and Baltimore is almost in Pennsylvania... lousy map! Can't argue with the Half Smoke, though... and coffee milk is the only thing they could come up with all of New England?? Other ideas: pasties for the UP of Michigan, fried clams for Northeastern Mass., Cincinnati chili.
emily20008 at 10:52PM on 09/24/07
Not to mention baked beans, Maine lobsters or Vermont maple syrup. New England has plenty of things other than coffee milk and "bread in a can" (which I happen to like, but not as much as my mom's homemade brown bread).
Are snowballs a regional thing for Maryland? I think of them as such, but maybe that's just because we don't have them around here.
macknitter at 11:27PM on 09/24/07
The Jucy Lucy in Minneapolis is missing. How dare they pass us up?
churchka at 9:15AM on 09/25/07
I think—and I maybe should have excerpted some of the intro text for National Geographic's map—that by regional, they meant foods that you pretty much have to go there to eat. Foods that aren't merely grown or raised there and then shipped all over, but things or practices that exist in a "micro region" of sorts.
Adam Kuban at 9:35AM on 09/25/07
Pardon my ignorance: Bread in a can? Boston brown bread, or is there something else by that name?
lemons at 9:51AM on 09/25/07
Cornell Chicken in Ithaca, NY; cornish pasties in Northern MI; salt potatoes in central NY state; Isaly's chip-chopped ham in Pittsburgh.
latteaday at 10:40AM on 09/25/07
Ummm... they completely left new orleans off the map...let's see...for gumbo, po-boys, muffaletta...just to name a few.
malenky at 11:25AM on 09/25/07
I thought other places have half-smokes, but clearly I am wrong. Whatever though. DC Half-smokes are delicious. I'm partial to mumbo sauce, that mystery wing sauce that can only be found in DC. There's a mumbo bbq sauce in Chicago, but I guarantee you that it's not the same thing by a longshot.
acespeed at 11:34AM on 09/25/07
malenky: Like I said, their map highlights items that haven't spread beyond their traditional regions. However bad non-NO gumbo, po'boys, or muffaletta might be, they've certainly reached a wider audience. (Think Philly cheesesteaks as an example.)
Adam Kuban at 11:41AM on 09/25/07
From the coal region around Shamokin, PA: faggots, soupies, and Polish pidgeons!
1stmakearoux at 12:04PM on 09/25/07
They chose the eponymous Buckeyes for Columbus, but overlooked the delicious Sauerkraut Balls from Akron--delicious rounds of sauerkraut and corned beef breaded and deep fried. They're just about the only think I miss from home.
slogger at 12:38PM on 09/25/07
slogger: Sauerkraut balls sound amazing.
Adam Kuban at 1:39PM on 09/25/07
okay, I'll have to redeem my little state...what about boudin balls, pistolettes (pistolette bread stuffed with seafood mixture in a cream sauces then deep fried), tasso (okay you maybe able to find this other places)...all from cajun country (southeast Louisiana). Or what about Louisville's hot brown or rolled oysters???
malenky at 2:14PM on 09/25/07
I'm in the Rockies (specifically, Wyoming) and they left off at least one definite regional specialty: Rocky Mountain Oysters, anyone?
lo82070 at 6:44PM on 09/25/07