Favorite Foods Where You Are From

[WillFlyToDisney]

Well I noticed today that almost everything my kids and I ate was uniquely Southern fare...

I had tomato pie for lunch with sweet tea and a fried egg sandwich with sweet tea for dinner.

Jess had biscuits and gravy for dinner and Abbey had a big bowl of grits!

What foods are unique to where you are from that you just LOVE??

[LeslieDEN]

Home for me was west Texas, and Frito pie ruled! I think it's chili and cheese and Fritos. You get it at basketball games, and it's served in the Frito bag. Yum yum yum.

The memory came back to me recently because a little strip-mall Mexican food place in Denver had Frito pie on its menu. Frito pie! Gimme some! But it wasn't the same, they didn't know how to make it right. :(

I think I would have to go back to a small-town west Texas high school basketball game ever to get the real thing again.

(Kelley, your mention of "sweet tea" made me smile. A couple of years ago I went to a conference in Atlanta, and we all learned the difference between regular tea and sweet tea.)

[Jeff California]

Home for me was San Diego and no where I have been has better Carne Asada burritoes than the places in SD.

[noflyingfan]

Where I'm from in PA, the big thing is sandwiches. Sub sandwiches, which you can get anywhere, but not like the ones in PA. They're hardly ever served hot (although I have to say, I do enjoy a toasted sandwich), and the bread comes from pretty much just one bakery, which is why you can't get the same ones outside of central PA. Although there are lots of sandwiches in PA -- let's not forget the Philly cheesesteak, which they don't have in my hometown.

I also really miss thin, greasy pizza. I'm sure they have it everywhere, but I haven't found it yet in Chicago. I'm talking super thin crust, and so greasy that the cheese falls right off when you pick up a slice. So greasy that you could swim on the top of the pizza. One of the best guilty pleasures of my hometown, the other being the 24-hour Wal-Mart.

[kallieb]

hmmmmm....

Distinct cuisine.....

Well, what makes our area unique can't be found in local restaurants per se, but wild game and fish is a common staple to many diets here just because hunting/ fishing is part of the way-of-life so to speak. Many people rely upon hunting to provide them with their primary meat for their table.

When I can pry it out of someone's freezer I love to get some moose meat (burger, roasts - whatever is available). It is a bit drier than mainstream meat, but very nutritous and not filled with hormones etc. I guess you could call it organic! I went so far as to get my hunting license, and moose tag one year but passed because I knew I couldn't field-dress it. Shooting it... I can do that. Gutting it in the bush and then hauling it out in quarters...yuck. So, I'm left asking kindly for cuts of moose/deer meat!

I know some folks who smoke their own fish/game for sale and I'm quick to buy that when I get the craving for that taste.

Fresh fish - I can't stand the stuff in the supermarkets. It's not fresh - it stinks. I eat ffish when I catch it myself (or go to the commercial fisherman if I can't get out or get skunked on the lake). That is the only way to enjoy Pickerel!

Wild berry pie/jams. That's very common for me also. Come fall my freezer fills with saskatoons, blueberries, wild raspberries and chokecherries (jelly only for this crop).

I eat a fair bit of wild rice that is harvested locally.

There is a whole other list of foods common to First Nations diets that is common to my area, but I think that was covered long back in the "what's the weirdest thing you ever ate post" so I won't repeat again.

That's about it......

[Agne]

I am from Italy and of course I love pasta. But each Italian region has its typical and unique food. I am from Emilia-Romagna, or better, from Romagna.
I love piadina - with ham, or salami, or cheese, nutella, or plain - and tagliatelle al ragù, and lasagne.
I recently found out that people from Emilia come to Romagna to try our piadina.

Tagliatelle al ragù:

http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b162/Agne80/Tagliatelle.jpg

Lasagne:

http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b162/Agne80/do0006-lasagne-al-forno-2.jpg

Piadina:

http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b162/Agne80/piadina_romagnola.jpg

[EyesSkyward]

I don't know if Nashville has any unique claim to food fame. Well, except for the Goo Goo Cluster (http://www.googoo.com/), that is...
http://www.candyfavorites.com/shop/images/photo_usa_weekend.jpg


But I was born up the road in Louisville, Kentucky (http://gotolouisville.com/), a city that has several local favorites:

1) Derby Pie (http://www.derbypie.com/). This is a trademarked term for chocolate chip pecan pie, made by a particular Louisville bakery. Yum!
http://www.derbypie.com/images/pic_pic.gif


2) Mint Julep. The official drink of the Kentucky Derby! It's pretty much just bourbon, sugar, and mint, over lots and lots of crushed ice. Great in the summer.
http://www.kentuckyderby.com/2006/images/derby_experience/p_mint_julep_bottle.jpg


3) Hot Brown (http://www.brownhotel.com/hotbrown.php3). This is an open-face sandwich of turkey, bacon, and (sometimes) tomato, covered with a cheese sauce and heated up under a broiler so it gets all bubbly. I don't eat meat any more, so I haven't had one in quite awhile. But they're good in an artery-clogging sort of way. It was invented years ago at the Brown Hotel in downtown Louisville (which is where the name comes from).
http://www.hollyeats.com/images/South/Brown-HotBrown.jpg

- Jeff

[LeslieDEN]

Tagliatelle al ragù:

http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b162/Agne80/Tagliatelle.jpg


If you squint, tagliatelle al ragù looks a little bit like Frito pie. :)

[spiffyone]

Clam cakes! RI is all about clamcakes.

We made everyone eat them after our wedding. We all went to a clam shack, and...well...

My hub is from Alabama. Visiting his parents I have eaten the following exotic foods (to me):
cheese grits
country ham (!)
fried dill pickles
pot of greens
fried green tomatoes
okra
black-eyed peas
pralines :)

The other RI food, I guess, is cannoli (big Italian presence in RI). Unfortunately (I can just see Agne covering her eyes in horror), the RI people all say 'cannolis' for the plural. I bet it is the same in NY...Monica?

[acuradriveronr3train]

Among things I don't like to eat:

Cheese steaks
Hoagies (known as heroes or subs in other parts of the country)
Soft pretzels with mustard on them (the pretzels are okay, but the mustard isn't)
The peanut chews formerly known as Goldenberg's
Tastykake Krimpets

But I do like just about anything chocolate put out by Tastykake, which is a baked goods company headquarted in Philadelphia. Their products are distributed regionally. I know they're available in the Washington, DC, area, but I don't know exactly how far they extend.

Krispy Kreme doughnuts did not do well here. I posted here that the one in the public portion of the Philadelphia Airport closed recently. Perhaps it was overload of baked goods that have k's where c's should go in their name!

[LeslieDEN]

Spif, what about boiled peanuts? If you didn't get some, your Alabama hub is holding out on you! :)

[noflyingfan]

I don't like the Tastykake krimpets either, actually. But I do like the Peanut Butter Kandy Kakes. Those things are fantastic.

[WillFlyToDisney]

I have boiled peanuts here at my house!!! They started selling them in microwaveable bags - Southern alternative to popcorn, I guess. :rolleyes:

[acuradriveronr3train]

I don't like the Tastykake krimpets either, actually. But I do like the Peanut Butter Kandy Kakes. Those things are fantastic.

When I was typing my message last night, I knew there was one other popular Tastykake item (besides the Krimpets) that I didn't like. And you just said it.

[noflyingfan]

What???? You don't like the kandy kakes? Aw, man, those things are great!

Of course, I'll eat anything at all with peanut butter in it, so maybe I'm biased.

That's about the only Tastycake I like though. The regular cupcakes, in my opinion, are nothing special.

[spiffyone]

You are right, I have never had boiled peanuts. In RI, peanuts come in 2 forms: salted cocktail nuts in the Planters jars. And peanut butter.

Also, I am mystified by country-fried steak...what do they do to it exactly? Isn't steak unhealthy enough without...FRYING it? I always assumed that was a euphemism for something...like Rocky Mountain oysters or something. They can't actually be FRYING it, right?

Youse guys got any biscottis?

[EyesSkyward]

They can't actually be FRYING it, right?

Sure. Why not? It's like frying chicken. (In fact, some places call it "chicken-fried steak".)

Down here, we'll fry up just about anything that doesn't try to fry us first.

- Jeff

[WillFlyToDisney]

Country Fried Steak is also smothered in a wonderful white gravy! YUMMMMMY...

And fried pickles - heavenly!

[LeslieDEN]

We called it chicken-fried steak in Texas. There was white gravy, but it went on the white bread, at least at the kids' table.

I remember it being pretty gristly, but it was my brother's favorite food growing up. I didn't realize till now that it was a regional dish.

[Rebecca]

My goodness, I’ve never heard of some of these things, and I love to cook!

So, I have questions …

Boiled peanuts: Is that in the shell, out of the shell, just “boiled” or are they then fried or something? Salt or seasoning? Totally unknown here!

Fried pickles: As in, breaded and deep fried, sautéed, or what?

Tomato pie: In a crust? Cold or hot? Seasoned?

Why are mint juleps always served in silver cups?

Why is fried food so common in the South?

I love the image of Kallie out hunting for moose! Intrepid!!!

Here we have something known as Pacific Northwest cuisine, which usually just means things caught or grown here, like salmon, trout, potatoes, corn, berries, apples, locally made wines, all manner of many fruits and veggies (we have awesome farmer’s markets).

I can’t really think of anything that’s truly regional, such as you all describe! :(

Once we had a “southern” restaurant here. It lasted about three months. They literally breaded and fried EVERYTHING except the biscuits, and I wondered about those. Here, we really are not that into frying stuff. This must be the Raw or Lightly Sauteed Belt of the U.S.!!!

[WillFlyToDisney]

Sean - I had biscuits and gravy, sugar cured ham, dumplings, carrots and hash browns with sweet tea for lunch. Gotta love Cracker Barrell!!!

Rebecca - Tomato pie consists of a pie crust filled with thick slices of ripe beefsteak tomatoes smothered in about 6 types of cheese and baked until the cheese melts. OH MAN it is sooooooo good. There is a diner in Charleston that serves this and has a waiting list of people to call whenever they have it ready (I'm on the list!). :thumbsup:

[WillFlyToDisney]

Slurping is acceptable during step #2 above. I usually have 2 bowls - 1 full of hot boiled peanuts and an empty bowl for the shells. :thumbsup:

Warning they are SALTY so have a drink on hand.

[WillFlyToDisney]

Thanks! I now feel qualified to live in Florida.

Florida is NOT the South!!!

[acuradriveronr3train]

What???? You don't like the kandy kakes? Aw, man, those things are great!

Of course, I'll eat anything at all with peanut butter in it, so maybe I'm biased.

That's about the only Tastycake I like though. The regular cupcakes, in my opinion, are nothing special.

I don't like anything with peanut butter or peanuts in them at all. I'd be great for sitting in a buffer row on a plane between the people with peanut allergies and the ones who want peanuts. Please serve me pretzels! (But hold the mustard, please.)

I loved the Tastykake cupcakes when I was a kid. I liked the cake part of them better than those of the Hostess Cream-Filled Cupcakes. But I liked having the cream filling of the Hostess ones, which had the effect of making both brands of cupcakes equal favorites of mine. Some years later, Tastykake finally introduced cream-filled cupcakes, so they became my clear favorite.

[acuradriveronr3train]

Now, here's where I belong.

Here we have something known as Pacific Northwest cuisine, which usually just means things caught or grown here, like salmon, trout, potatoes, corn, berries, apples, locally made wines, all manner of many fruits and veggies (we have awesome farmer’s markets).

It sounds pretty healthy. Of course, in my younger days, I wouldn't want this type of food, but of the items you mentioned, salmon, trout, corn, berries, and apples all make make my mouth water today. I'm not much of a potato eater today, preferring rice or pasta for my starches now. (Not being one who partakes of alcholic beverages, I don't care if a wine is locally made or not, however.)

We also have awesome farmers' markets in Pennsylvania. But they have the obligatory funnel cakes and other Pennsylvania Dutch items I've never developed a taste for.

(One time when I was a teenager, my mother and an older cousin whose house we sometimes ate at got a recipe out of one of the women's magazines for something called a tunnel-of-fudge cake, a chocolate delight. The recipe called for nuts, but since we kids weren't keen on them, the adults left them out of the recipe. After I moved to Philadelphia, I got fooled by the name "funnel cake" - I expected something chocolate because the name sounded familiar from my younger days. After I saw one, though, I remembered the real name of the earlier delicacy and realized it wasn't "funnel cake".)

[LeslieDEN]

Parts of it are. You do have to go north to get to the South from where I live, though.

Hee hee, yeah, I think parts of the panhandle count as the South?

I'm concerned that Spif's Alabama hub didn't introduce her to boiled peanuts when they visited his home state for the first time. It was the first thing my Alabama hub introduced me to, as if it were a requirement for new visitors and returning sons: "First thing we do, we get some boiled peanuts."

They're really good, but as I understand it, they are a special kind of peanut. I mean, you couldn't just toss a bunch of Planters into salty boiling water and get the same result.

[WillFlyToDisney]

Eh, Sean, I disagree. I lived in FL for 7 years and never found a decent glass of sweet tea anywhere in the state!

Les - yep I think you use green peanuts (obviously still in the shell) BUT everyone in the South knows that the best place to get boiled peanuts are from roadside vendors who make them in big vats. Mmmmmmmm.... There is a guy in Charleston that has been around as long as I can remember - he has 3 flavors of boiled peanuts to choose from - cajun, regular and ham. The "ham flavored" ones just taste saltier than the others. We usually buy 3 or 4 lbs at a time. My kids devour them! I prefer them cold actually.

[LeslieDEN]

BUT everyone in the South knows that the best place to get boiled peanuts are from roadside vendors who make them in big vats. Mmmmmmmm....

That's what we did! We were driving, and we stopped at the first roadside stand we saw. As I remember it, they're oddly addictive ... you just keep eating them till the bag's empty.

[EyesSkyward]

Kel, You're going to make me go get some of them now. We have them in farmer's markets and in gas stations around here

Just so you know... if you go up and asked for "boy-eld" peanuts, you'll probably just get a puzzled look.

In the south, it's pronounced "bold" peanuts. :tongue:

- Jeff

[WillFlyToDisney]

Just so you know... if you go up and asked for "boy-eld" peanuts, you'll probably just get a puzzled look.

In the south, it's pronounced "bold" peanuts. :tongue:

- Jeff

Thanks for pointing that out to the non-Southerners on this thread, Jeff.

Hey, where's the best place in Nash to get some of these addictive things?? I havent seen a roadside vendor in all of music city nor have I seen any in the gas stations here. :( Harris Teeter sells the microwave in a bag kind but that just runs a close 2nd to ones made the "real" way!