Great Lakes
(Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio, Wisconsin):
|
|
Deep-Fried Cheese Curds - Most of America's cheese comes from Wisconsin. People in this state love their cheese and call themselves "cheese heads." Every restaurant in WI serves deep fried cheese curds. They are a by-product of the cheese making process and should be eaten absolutely fresh, which is why restaurants not near cheese manufacturing plants do not serve them. |
|
Chicken Booyah - This is a soup-stew made with chicken that is usually cooked outside over a wood fire. The first Belgian immigrants settled into WI in 1853 and speak their own language derived from French, but not a part of the French language. You can only find chicken booyah in this part of the country. |
|
Cincinnati Chili - Cincinnati prides itself on being the chili capitol of the U.S. The people of Cincinnati enjoy their chili spooned over a freshly made pasta (usually spaghetti). |
|
Cornish Pasties (pronounced pass-tee) - These are individual pies filled with meat and vegetables. What makes these pasties unique are the crimping of the dough. This dish became popular after Irish immigrants came to New England and made these for the towns' miners. It was an easy way to have a filling meal. They would also eat the pasty while holding the crimped part of the pasty, and then toss the crimped section away so as to not contaminate themselves with dirty hands. |
New England
(Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Vermont):
|
|
Boston Baked Beans - These beans are a variety of baked beans typically sweetened with molasses and flavored with salt pork or bacon. Boston has been tied to molasses since the colonial days. |
|
Boston Cream Pie - It's really a cake, not a pie. This cake consists of two layers of sponge cake that are filled with vanilla custard and topped with a chocolate glaze or just confectioner's sugar. It has Dutch origins. |
|
New England Clam Chowder - People in this area have been eating clam chowder here since the 1600s. It started out as a Native American dish and when the New Englanders added milk or cream to the soup, it became New England Clam Chowder. This dish typically has a milk or cream broth, potatoes, onions, clams and thickened with oyster crackers. Using tomatoes in this soup is shunned. |
|
Hasty Pudding (AKA Indian Pudding) - This typical pudding is usually served warm in the winter and served with vanilla ice cream. It has Native American origins (hence the name). It is typically cooked using cornmeal and in milk. |
|
Lobster Rolls - a sandwich filled with lobster meat soaked in butter and served on a steamed hot dog bun or similar roll, so that the opening is on the top rather than on the side. It first originated at a restaurant in Connecticut as early as 1929.
|
Mid-Atlantic
(Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, District of Columbia):
|
|
Bialys - Bialys came from Bialystok, Poland. Hundreds of thousands of Eastern European Jews immigrated to America and settled in New York City. They brought with them their love for bialys. Bialys don't have a hole in the middle but a depression. They are baked not boiled like bagels. Also, bialys never became popular outside of New York City.
|
|
Philly Cheesesteak - This is a sandwich that uses beef that is thinly sliced and cooked on a grill. In Philadelphia, people love their cheesesteak. If you have one without cheese it is just called a steak sandwich. If you order it with cheese, it is referred to as a cheese steak. This food staple was invented by two brothers who were hot dog vendors and were tired of serving hot dogs so they made the cheesesteak. The beef is usually cooked with onions and topped with Cheese Whiz.
|
|
Reuben Sandwich - A grilled sandwich made with corned beef, Swiss cheese, sauerkraut, and Russian dressing on rye bread, the history of this sandwich is somewhat unclear. The story goes that a restaurant owner with the surname Reuben, made this sandwich for an actress who was hungry. It is believed to have been invented around the 1920s.
|
|
Buffalo Chicken Wings - deep-fried chicken wings or drums that are then coated in vinegar based cayenne butter sauce. It came from Buffalo, New York. |
|
Knish - This is an Eastern European and Jewish snack food eaten widely throughout New York. The dough is either baked, grilled or deep fried and the filling can consist of mashed potatoes, ground meat, sauerkraut, onions, kasha, or cheese. It is usually sold by street vendors or butcher shops. Many cultures have a similar dish (Mexican empanadas, Indian samosas, Italian calzones, Jamaican patty, Scottish birdie, Cornish pasty). |