(no subject)

[catslash]

You know what's weird? Regional foods. Especially things that seriously should not be regional because wtf.

Like, I understand about Moxie soda being regional, because it has a very distinctive flavor that people either love or hate. There is no "meh" about Moxie. People don't say, "Okay, I guess I'll have a Moxie, then," when it turns out that a restaurant doesn't have their first choice of soda. I can appreciate that it wouldn't catch on on a national level. It used to be wider spread, but now it's just a Maine product.

But things that should not be regional:

* Italian sandwiches. People, it is cheese, ham, pickles, onions, olives, tomatoes, and green peppers, with salt, pepper, and oil on top. (NOT lettuce. Add lettuce to your Italian and it is no longer an Italian.) This is not exactly a sandwich filled with mystical ingredients that are hard to find outside of New England. Apparently, however, you can't get the right kind of rolls to make them with. I don't. Get it. It's like a hot dog roll, but bigger! How hard is that?

* Red hot dogs. I mean bright red. Dyed. They are more savory than brown hot dog and the skin snaps when you bite into them. Surely bright red hot dogs are not too weird for the general populace. They are, however, manufactured exclusively by a regional meat company, Jordan's. Perhaps the mystery only goes as far as Jordan's holding the patent.

* And the one that inspired this post, that I just found about yesterday: whoopie pies. WHAT THE HELL. Wiki tells me that these have at least spread out to a certain extent and can occasionally be found in restaurants (which, a whoopie pie is not a restaurant dessert, I am sorry), BUT STILL. I don't even like whoopie pies very much and I am appalled. A whoopie pie is two round pieces of (usually) chocolate cakelike pastry held together with a whole bunch of frosting. (I've never been much for frosting. Yeah, I know, shut up.) How is this not a national treasure?

I am curious to hear from people outside New England, about their regional foods or if they have found the stuff I am talking about in their area. Or if it's just called something different.

Comments

Maryland:

[appleredhair.livejournal.com]

- Sauerkraut with your Thanksgiving turkey. God help you if you don't have a bowl of hot sauerkraut placed on the table.

- National Bohemian beer. It's disgusting, but people of my grandparents' generation love it.

- Silver Queen corn, native to the Eastern Shore. Delishus, especially when served with blue crabs. Which are steamed with beer and cider vinegar, never ever boiled, and seasoned with ground mustard and Old Bay.

- Berger cookies. Holy shit, they are the best things ever and even though like you, I'm not a huge fan of frosting, words cannot express how much I love them. Imagine lovely soft vanilla cookies with AN ENTIRE INCH OF HOMEMADE FUDGE FROSTING ON TOP. They're just amazing.

- Stewart's root beer. It's like crack in a bottle, and nobody doesn't like it. Unless you don't like root beer in general - in which case they also make cream soda, orange soda, grape soda, and key lime soda.

Re: Maryland:

[catslash.livejournal.com]

Mm, those cookies do sound good. I will eat frosting, if it's the right kind. I had this devil's food cupcake with chocolate frosting that was all melty, like truffle filling. It was the best frosting ever.

We have Stewart's! We also have Captain Eli's, which I like way better - they use an old-fashioned root beer recipe that tastes almost nothing like modern root beer and is SO fucking good - but I'll take Stewart's over a national brand any day.

Re: Maryland:

[glendaglamazon.livejournal.com]

Sadly, Natty Boh (which wouldn't be my first choice of beer for tasty drinking, but was always essential for steaming crabs) is no longer made in Baltimore and is only made in San Antonio, Texas. Now, the Natty Boh brewery in Camden is filled with expensive loft apartments. *facepalm* (Fortunately, there are amazing microbreweries all over Maryland.)

Silver Queen corn! God, my favorite summer meal is Silver Queen corn, farmstand tomatoes (sliced with salt and pepper) and crabcakes. It's one of the only things that make me sad about moving to the West Coast last spring.

Re: Maryland:

[chocolate-frapp.livejournal.com]

they sell Stewart's soda here in Calif, too. I like the orange a lot.

[apiphile.livejournal.com]

Red Hot Dogs = Saveloys. They sell them in every fish & chips shop in the UK. I was banjaxed when an American on LJ claimed never to have heard of such a thing.

[catslash.livejournal.com]

THANK GOD. Also, how random. I guess we're called New England for a reason?

[bakoo.livejournal.com]

Really? Really? I had no idea whoopie pies were a regional thing. And like you, I'm not a huge fan. But still. WTF?

[catslash.livejournal.com]

I know! It's not like they're some weird crazy food! They're whoopie pies! Chocolate + frosting! How has this not caught on?

[piney61.livejournal.com]

While I am in New England, Rhode Island has its own cornucopia of odd foods that are pretty much made of awesome.

Del's Frozen Lemonade: Seriously it's like snow with pieces of lemon in it. It's so freaking good.

Coffee Milk: It's like milk but with coffee syrup instead of chocolate syrup like you'd see with chocolate milk. Not my favoritest thing but it's pretty good.

Clamcakes: Seriously, why these things have not caught on elsewhere is beyond me. It's basically like fried dough with chopped clams in them. Sooo good.

Stuffies: Basically clams with mixture of peppers, onions, breadstuff, some other ish...but it's really good and it's served in a quahog shell.

Quahogs: Giant fucking clams. That's all I got about this. They're good like other clams.

Linguicia: Portugese sausage. Especially good w/ eggs. YUMMY.

New York Systems: Seriously, how can people NOT hear of this. They're also called Hot Wieners (http://i168.photobucket.com/albums/u187/starryrose1956/hot_wieners.jpg). It's basically a red hot dog with meatsauce, onions, mustard and celery salt. Seriously I can down like 3 of these in one sitting. Though I usually skip the onions part.

[bakoo.livejournal.com]

We had coffee milk in school! Your choice was chocolate milk, 1%, or coffee milk.

Also, Del's is the best thing ever.

[catslash.livejournal.com]

*nodnod* We have coffee milk and clamcakes. The rest of those don't sound familiar, but they do sound delicious. Especially the New York Systems.

[wakeupnew]

Oh man, I love Del's. There was a stand in my hometown (in Maine) for a while; broke my heart when it closed.

[caruso.livejournal.com]

For us, the one thing I can think of is Faygo Pop.

And I'm pretty sure I've had something that might've been a whoopie pie? Or something similar.

Oh, maybe paczki!

[catslash.livejournal.com]

What's paczki? I would Google, but I can't even spell it when I'm looking right at it. XD

[owllover711.livejournal.com]

You forgot the Coney Island dogs! :-)

[wakeupnew]

... Whoopie pies aren't regional. They can't be! I don't believe this! I don't even like them, and I still think that's weird as shit! And you can't get snapper hot dogs everywhere? WHAT IS WRONG WITH THE WORLD

Okay, Moxie is foul, though.

[catslash.livejournal.com]

I learned about the red hot dogs a while back when I was visiting with some Canadian friends, was told there were hot dogs for lunch, and asked what color.

". . . sort of pinkish brown?"

We are going to have to agree to disagree on Moxie, though. I love it. My grandfather got me started on it when I was little. :D

[fiareynne.livejournal.com]

It's like the lady said -- either you love it or hate it. Guess which category I fall into? :D

Whoopie pies are totally regional, though. I was shocked, too. New England regional, I assume, since I'm from Maine but my mom is from Mass and it's her recipe (http://fiareynne.livejournal.com/169397.html) that I use.

[vivien]

Way out West, we have some interesting regional foods.

In Oklahoma, the one that comes immediately to mind is Indian fry bread/Indian tacos. They are served at all the powwows, rodeos, fairs, carnivals, festivals, etc. and consist of fried bread (sort of like sopapillas) with either powdered sugar or honey (for the plain) or taco fixings. Whenever we go back for visits, we stock up on Griffin's pancake syrup and Cain's coffee, both local companies of supreme goodness.

Here in Denver, hmmm. I'm not sure. Northern Mexican food is kind of our regional food. Breakfast burritos with green chile sauce are ubiquitous. And delicious! I can't think of any specific brands that are strictly regional, although I imagine there could be some. La Flavorita tortillas are a local company, and their products are way better than icky Mission brand.

[new-world-smurf.livejournal.com]

I can't get a good New Jersey sub roll here. About as close as I can come is going to, of all places, Wawa (super-awesome convenience store that used to be strictly in the Philly area but is branching out across the mid-Atlantic). It's not the same, though. I can get pork roll here in a tiny four slice package--again, not the same as slicing off a big chunk. I miss hard rolls (kaiser rolls baked until the top is crusty) and disco fries (fries with gravy and cheese, related to Canadian poutine) and cannolis. Damn, now I'm hungry.

[aloha-moira.livejournal.com]

There are no sub shops in California. It is ridiculous. So we do not have Italian subs, or even turkey subs or whatever. We have Subway and Quiznos, but it is not the same. We also do not have Dunkies, and none of the donut shops around here makes a Boston Cream donut properly. The filling is all wrong. Anyway.

What we DO have: Dunno if this counts as 'regional', but we have the super burrito (meat, rice, beans, cheese, sour cream, guacamole and salsa - regular burrito does not have cheese/sour cream/guac and is a tragedy). Semifreddis and Acme are two local bakeries that have fantastic breads and pastries; I will be so sad when we no longer have access to Semifreddi's cinnamon bread.

We also have a lot of places in Berkeley that sell a huge variety of bottled sodas, including Stewarts, Thomas Kempers, Jones, Faygo (!!! the red cola that I had never seen outside of Michigan), etc. The other day I bought a bunch, including a rhubarb soda that I have not tried and orange-ginger "bionade" which was bad. Right now I am drinking Rat Bastard Root Beer, and our favorite ginger beer is Bundaberg, which hails from Australia. I love these shops.

Fun post! :)

[chocolate-frapp.livejournal.com]

there is an old school NYC type sub shop called Molinari's in the North beach neighborhood of SF. I agree that Subway sucks and Quizno's is not much better.

[kleenexwoman.livejournal.com]

Faygo! All the amazing flavors of Faygo, not even just red pop. The only reason people outside of Michigan seem to have heard of it is because of the Insane Clown Posse. Sadness :( Also, Vernor's, which is like ginger ale, but much sweeter and more bubbly. It's really hard not to sneeze if you open a can and have your face anywhere near the opening.

Bumpy cake. It's yellow cake with lots of chocolate frosting except that there are lines of cream on top of the cake but UNDER the frosting. They're just big puffy lines instead of being spread out, hence the bumpiness of the cake. They usually come from Sander's, but other bakeries have developed their own versions.

I find it really weird that other states don't have coney islands on every corner--little diners that serve Greek food along with the usual basic diner fare. It's just craziness.

[chocolate-frapp.livejournal.com]

they sell vernor's here in Calif, my roomie drinks it.

[americanleaguer.livejournal.com]

Vernor's is regional to the Midwest, or maybe just Michigan. It's like ginger ale but spicier and kind of bubblier. Definitely an acquired taste.

I didn't think that lime and lime/raspberry rickeys were regional, but some of my midwestern friends visited MA this summer and had never had them, or even heard of them before, so I guess they're a New England thing.... or maybe a coastal thing? I dunno if they're on the west coast.

[owllover711.livejournal.com]

Vernor's! I am an unofficial Vernor's importer. :-D

See, it used to be sold here in Upstate New York, but then it disappeared from all our stores. It's my aunt's favorite ginger ale (also was my grandmother's) and when she found out it was a Michigan staple, she started giving me money to buy as much as I could stuff in the trunk whenever I go on my Michigan gigs. I agree with you though, definitely an acquired taste. (my mother loathes it.)

Not a regional food, but related: Olga's Kitchen used to be around here too, and then vanished. I was shocked to see them in the Birmingham/Royal Oak area; I'd thought they'd gone out of business.

[fiareynne.livejournal.com]

I had no idea whoopie pies were regional... until I posted my mom's recipe in my LJ and found I needed to provide an illustration.

[owllover711.livejournal.com]

(NOT lettuce. Add lettuce to your Italian and it is no longer an Italian.)

LOL, that's totally counterintuitive; lettuce is such an important foodstuff in Italy! But that sandwich sounds amazing. I wouldn't know about the rolls, though.

Red hot dogs. I mean bright red. Dyed. They are more savory than brown hot dog and the skin snaps when you bite into them. Surely bright red hot dogs are not too weird for the general populace.

The only possible thing I could guess about the color putting people off is leftover paranoia from the controversy in the 1970s over the dyes in various meats and meat products and their effects on human health. But since only the casing is dyed (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hot_dog_variations), it doesn't sound unsafe to me!

I will see your red hots, though, and raise you our very own white hots (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_hot). Why THESE aren't nationally popular, I cannot fathom. My grandmother loved these, and I still do. I was flabbergasted to find out they don't exist outside of Upstate New York. They do look a bit strange to the uninitiated, but their seasoning is more mellow and there's a really nice savory tang to the general flavor that I like a lot. And I think they take ketchup better than normal hot dogs.

Interestingly enough, The company that makes white hots (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zweigle's) also makes pop-opens (what we call the skin-snapping type of hot dog) that are normal hot dog color, but we call them "red hots" to differentiate between the two! So I will make sure to order a "red snapper" instead if I ever eat out in Maine. ;-)

This most beloved local restaurant (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nick_Tahou_Hots) serves up our only other unique local culinary treat: the Garbage Plate. (not as heinous as it sounds.)