I love Maine lobster, even tho I’m allergic. Oregon oysters from the oyster farm were fabulous too.
There’s a lot of places to go for BBQ, we’ve tried most of them!
Things I can think of:
Portuguese fisherman’s stew - Gloucester MA
Soft served ice cream - most of New England
Taylor ham - New Jersey
Scrapple - Pennsylvania
Soft shell crabs - Eastern shore (Md, Delaware)
Virginia ham is amazing
Rocky Mountain Oysters
Hangman’s Fry - Oregon
I spent a good part of my gap year between college and grad school eating all the recommendations from Calvin Trillin’s* Alice Lets Eat. *It’s a wonderful ode to regional cooking.
I also love fried seafood from the Boston region in general.
@GKUnion I’ll have to give the ham a go. I have heard about the country hams here. My dad used to smoke some great hams.
No to the pickles though. Love cukes, but don’t like pickles!
In addition to Maine lobsters, I made sure my friend from Germany tried New England clam chowder when she visited me here in MA. She loved both.
Lau Lau… Mmmmm… Also the shrimp trucks.
Somerville, Massachusetts is proudly home of the fluffernutter. They have a fluff festival every year!
Bay scallops—smaller, sweeter, and more flavorful than the larger sea scallops. Bay scallops are available from December to March. You can find them on the east coast of the US. IMO the best are from Nantucket Sound.
Rhode Island - Besides stuffies try Del’s Lemonade, Coffee Milk, NY System Hot Weiners
Rest of New England - lobster steamed, lobster rolls, lobster pie, clam chowder, Indian Pudding, belly fried clams, steamers, ployes, tourtiere, apple cider doughnuts, potato doughnuts, whoopie pies, brown bread
New Orleans - gumbo!
BBQs are so different everywhere that we enjoy trying those regionally. VA is different from eastern/western NC which varies from SC and GA, etc. That’s just in one region. Then add TX, Memphis, and more. Just be wary in PA. Apparently here BBQ is synonymous with Sloppy Joe. We skip it here unless it specifically says they’re going with another state’s style.
IN PA many people like “Amish” foods like Amish Potato or Macaroni Salad. Beware that it mainly means they added extra sugar to a normal recipe. For those of us without a sweet tooth it means stay away! For those with one, it seems to mean delicious.
Locally I love the pork and sauerkraut and most versions of chicken corn soup.
In HI we love Kalua Pork and anything Lilikoi, like Lilikoi pie or shaved ice. Saimin is also a must.
I’m possibly the only human on the planet who can’t stand any form of crab, blue or otherwise, or lobster, or clams. It could be due to getting violently sick when I was young after eating at my aunt/uncle’s summer clam roast. I like shrimp and a fair number of fish, so it didn’t affect all seafood, but what it affected in my mind it really affected.
Oh… and no one beats River Rat’s cheese curd in northern NY for my taste preferences. We try cheese curd everywhere we go that has it (including Wisconsin and Oregon, etc), which reminds me, add Poutine to anyone’s Quebec or parts of Ontario list. Smoke’s Poutine if there’s one around.
Fried cheese curds are good anywhere. Fresh cheese curd - River Rat wins. It’s a requirement that we bring some home for neighbors when we head north.
Confirming you are not the only one!
I see where several people have already mentioned NC BBQ (go eastern style!) - but what about hush puppies? Fried okra? Peach cobbler? Collard greens? SHRIMP AND GRITS???
All with sweet tea, of course.
Hush puppies and greens are very dependent upon the recipe used. I love some and detest others. Ditto with coleslaw.
Sweet tea and cobblers, like blue crabs, etc, are for others. I can blame that one on my lack of sweet tooth. H loves them (and was born in VA, but lived in eastern NC most of growing up years).
We both love eastern NC BBQ. We just ate some (from a previously frozen stash) last night for dinner.
Wasn’t NM where we had to choose between red vs green? If I’m remembering correctly, the first place we chose to eat at in this state was a place where the waitress had never met anyone from PA before and she happily explained the critical question bringing us both options to test. This would have been a 2004 cross country on mostly back roads trip, so my mind could be a little foggy on the specific state, but I’m thinking NM.
I had a hard time picking. I liked them both, but red probably would win most days for me.
I have enjoyed reading through all these replies. It is interesting to see similarities and differences in regions.
Who knew I would feel at home eating in Oklahoma? And Pizza and BBQ seem very widespread and yet each region has a different style.
Food from childhood can ground us, and as adults, the smell of these foods can bring us back home.
Thanks for joining in. This has been a distraction from the real world for me.
Hey @scout59 ! I mentioned fried okra! But re Oklahoma. It is Southern in cooking style to a point, but no collard greens or grits at all in my family growing up.
^^ fried okra is the best!!
Adding to the list from Maryland:
- Smith Island Cake
- Pit Beef
- Thrashers Fries w/vinegar
- Utz Crab Chips (Old Bay seasoned potato chips)
- Old Bay Bloody Mary
- Rockfish
For those that like Guinness, Maryland has the only Guinness brewery in the U.S.
Southern California (very southern!)
Fish tacos and California burritos.