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American born in the Northeast, summered in the South. In my adult life I have lived and cooked in France, Hong Kong, England and Singapore. When I first went overseas, you ate what was there, used a substitute or you made it yourself--very little American food made it to the markets.
We eat almost anything! And the most important thing I have learned is that almost (not eveything) is better if you make it yourself and use what is fresh and in season.

Born in Northern California, spent most of my life on the east coast, currently residing mainly in New York. We have a flat in London (he's British) and will most like retire in the UK.

Born and raised in Brooklyn, currently attend school in Chicago, and have been studying abroad Florence this fall. My love of Italian food, which has seemingly been with me since birth, has increased exponentially in the past three months, although I am looking forward to returning to peanut butter, spicy ethnic food (all sorts), and cheddar cheese.

I live in Davis, California which is great for its high community interest in fresh, local, organic food. At home, we eat food from many, many cultures. My mother's parents were Croatian immigrants and I lived in Malaysia and Hong Kong for several years eating happily the whole time. I really learned to love food, however, during the 15 or so years I lived in the San Francisco Bay Area. Now, I find the best food is what I make at home!

Born and raised on the east coast of Iowa I strayed a bit, but am back again. Sure, I loves me some fresh corn and two-inch-thick pork chops, but after wandering for a few years I crave the exotic ethnic foods that weren't available to me as a kid.

Wow, I feel like such a small town girl, comparatively! I grew up in State College, PA and now attend the the university there--go Nittany Lions!

Eastern Shore of MD!

Born in Texas, grew up eating wonderful chicken fried steak and Texas BBQ alongside yummy TexMex. Went to Alaska and ate salmon, crab, halibut, moose, fresh berries, fireweed honey - I have never had food so fresh. Currently living in the Caribbean, have been for the last five years. The land of conch fritters, patties (Jamaican meat pies), fried plantain, curried goat, jerk chicken with white bread and hot sauce devoured with Heneikens or Red Stripe, usually with sand and sea around. Can't wait to eat in France, Italty and Asia. But at the end of the day, give me enchiladas with the greasy orange cheese pool on top along with some refried beans and I am a happy girl, haha!

canada. oops, did i say canada? sorry, i meant washington heights!

{grew up in chicago, spent about 20 years in the bay area, lived in austin for a year in the early nineties, stayed in paris for all too brief a time, moved to brooklyn for grad school about 11 years ago, now have a real manhattan address as of a few months ago, but a much, much longer commute to my office in the village}.

I live in Rockville, MD, a suburb of Washington, DC. This is not home for me.. this is my husband's hometown but I yearn to return to my roots in the northeast (NY) or midwest (Chicago).

I was born and raised in Sarnia, Ontario - Canada. This is where my heart is, in every way shape and form. This little town has alot to offer - while I can't wait to travel and find other culinary delights - I'll always head back to this little place in the world.

Cybercita -"canada. oops, did i say canada? sorry, i meant washington heights!" I don't get it...Am I missing something???

Live in NE Indiana. Born in Colorado & raised in Wyo. & Texas. My heart & stomach would love to reside in a cabin in the Colo. mountains!

It's really fun reading all the comments! I was born and raised and currently live in the Bay Area. My parents are first generation Chinese immigrants, and they were the ones who imparted upon their children a love of good food and cooking. My fiance is Arab, and it's been fun learning about each other's cultures, especially foodwise.

toronto. love to eat, travel, try different things but i always love coming back home.

Born in Brooklyn, NY to Italian parents, and now live in Clearwater, FL. Wow - I can't believe the far reaches of this group! :D

Born and raised in London, UK, have lived in Istanbul, Turkey (for 3 years when I was a kid) and Tel Aviv, Israel (for 8 years as an adult), now I live in New Jersey (hubby is an American who didn't fancy the idea of crossing the pond) and miss living in a big city with bakeries, markets, shops and restaurants within walking distance. Can you tell that I am still getting used to the idea of having to drive everywhere:-)?

Great question and the answers are even better. I had no idea this was such a wide-ranging community. I was born in Jersey City, grew up in the Jersey suburbs right outside NYC, lived in NYC for many years and didn't want to leave. But we needed more space so we moved as close to the city as I could get, to Jersey City. I am just a ten minute train ride to NYC where I do the bulk of my food shopping and much of my restaurant-going. If I had to leave this area, I would miss it terribly.

That being said, part of my heart (and stomach) is in Paris, where I lived, on and off, for a few years.

Karen: Your story is so interesting I would love to hear more. You have lived in so many different places. What do you do for a living? And where in Appalachia? That is a vast area...

Orginally from the Midwest US, I now live in (and love) Las Vegas which is quite surprisingly global in it's ethnic population. It's not difficult to find a market or restaurant specializing in just about any cuisine from every continent.

lilartist,

manhattan is a very long and skinny city. washington heights is on the northernmost tip, so that's why i call it canada. also because it's such a long subway ride downtown!

Karen: Your story is so interesting I would love to hear more. You have lived in so many different places. What do you do for a living? And where in Appalachia? That is a vast area...
izzy's mama at 8:41PM on 12/01/07

Everyone's story is interesting, really, izzy's mama. Isn't there a quote about how everyone has a book inside them to write based on their lives? True, very true. :)

I left home at fourteen and went to NYC and started to work. First at odd office jobs (the one at New York Magazine when Clay Felker was editor was one of the most interesting - that was in the days when the Horn and Hardart Cafeteria was still open -though barely - and lunch could be had very nicely and cheaply at Zum-Zum or Chock-Full-Of-Nuts) then finally after marrying an Italian guy who loved to eat and becoming completely possessed with food and cooking while reading Larousse from A to Z interspersed with Gourmet magazines that I found at the thrift shop in Darien Connecticut mixed in with the vintage 1940's dresses, I taught myself to cook fairly well and got a job as a pastry chef in a place in Connecticut. Then I insisted that I had to learn everything there and finally after proceeding down the trail of working at other restaurants in other positions I ended up as executive chef for Goldman Sachs when they opened what was their then "new" headquarters on Broad St. Eventually they made me a VP and the corporate drone-ness did not suit me so I left and travelled a bit. Then I settled down married (yes, again) had children, unmarried, and now am a Mom just like you but my children are teenagers. I do some consulting but mostly I just am a Mom as that seems to be the strongest urge in me. Plus I've decided against my better judgement to be a Writer (capitalized) of something-or-other so I write and then I think about submitting pieces to be published and sometimes even do it.

I've lived in rural parts of Appalachia but now am living in a small university city in southwest Virginia. Great place to raise kids, moderately good place to buy food, I won't discuss the level of restaurant culture here, but have to say that you're pretty lucky to live in Jersey City!

Born and raised in Southern Connecticut. Culinary school in Providence, Rhode Island. New York (Long Island) for 5 years. Now back in Connecticut.

I live in Uptown New Orleans and I've been here for 4 years.

I grew up in Southeastern Arizona amid delicious Sonoran-style Mexican food. I guess you could say that my stomach lives there, but then again there is so much here in Louisiana that I can't live without. I wholeheartedly adore New Orleans and its mix of French, Spanish, Italian, Creole, and Cajun influences.

I've become a much better chef just by eating so many different, new foods, and being exposed to different perspectives and ideas when it comes to food. I also have a very, very deep love of ALL kinds of BBQ (esp. Memphis and Kansas City style), something I have come to appreciate much more now than I ever did before coming to the South.

Karen Resta, your story is fascinating!

Born in Germany, raised in Hawaii, and currently living in New York. I love New York, but pine away for good Hawaiian food. And maybe for not so good (but totally delicious) Hawiian food. I am a ridiculous food snob, but at the same time, will happily wax poetic about things you can do with Spam that actually taste good (it can, really), but which is, I think, a sentiment largely confined to people who grew up on the islands.

I made kalua pig this weekend. It was awesome. Took me right back home.

Brooklyn, baby!

Born and raised in New York (burbs, moved into the city as a teen), went to school in North Carolina for a year, then southern California for 4 years (finished college then worked for a year), culinary school in Philadelphia, followed a bf to St. Louis for a year, back to NYC for a couple of years, moved to San Francisco for 4 years, then back to NYC about 7 years ago.

Born in Pomona, California, but moved to Washington, DC with my family when I was 4, where my permanent home is with my parents and 15 year old brother. When I was 17, I ventured out to Chicago for college, where I'm currently living, a little over a year later. I'm a second year in college, studying music, and trying to cook and bake as much as possible!!

WOW! I am so glad I asked this question. So many interesting places, histories, etc. It was always evident that we had a lot of diversity here, but way more than I expected! I want to add other places my stomach likes to live besides the South...

NYC -- duh... we go at least once a year, almost exclusively to eat, eat, eat!
France -- another duh.
Vancouver, BC -- astonishingly good restaurant scene... check it out!

Come to think of it, when my heart isn't in the South, it's usually in NYC and France with my tummy. It spends a lot of time missing Bali, too. Sigh.

Oh. And if my body lived someplace other than So. Calif, I'd miss authentic Mexican food like crazy. Luckily, I've mastered most of the dishes I really love!!!

Compared to some, I've led a sheltered life! I have just moved all around Ontario, Canada. My most desperate time was in Thunder Bay, Ontario (a few hours north of Duluth, Minnesota) where it was cold and blah a lot of the time and fresh produce was difficult and very expensive to come by. Now I've moved back to Southern Ontario, living in London, Ontario, Canada where I'm surrounded my farmland and can get everything my little heart desires to cook with. It's also much more multicultural here than Thunder Bay, so I can get my hands on ingredients people had never heard of there. By far, though, I loved living in Waterloo, Ontario. If anyone travels to Toronto, its worth the 1.5 hour drive to go to the St. Jacob's Farmer's Market in the summer/fall. If you like to cook or eat, its amazing. I still drive over an hour from my home in London to attend at least monthly all year round.

East coast.......back and forth from PA-NJ-NY over the years. Spent part of every summer with Mom's family in various parts of Canada, mostly Ottawa.