regional foods

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What food[s] is[are] your city [state, region, province, country, whatever] known for? Do you like those foods?

-- Anonymous, July 17, 2000

Answers

Texas is known for chili, hot sauce, pecans, peaches, and various combinations of those items. Oh, and foods we stole from Mexico. I like most of that stuff. I'm not so much into venison and other exotic meats, though.

The quintessential (is that how it's spelled?) Texas meal would probably be chicken fried steak, mashed potatoes, some kind of starchy vegetable, and iced tea. Then pecan pie or some kind of cobbler for dessert. If it were breakfast time, it'd be biscuits and gravy.

Mmm... Lone Star carbohydrates.

-- Anonymous, July 17, 2000

let's see. San Francisco...definitely sourdough french bread, which is so normal here that it always surprises me when people have never heard of it (like my friend from Philly, just yesterday). It is soft and chewy inside, crusty outside, and has a slightly sour taste that is divine, especially when served hot with butter on top. YUM. SF also has Ghirardelli Chocolate, but I prefer Cadbury and Hershey's myself. I'm sure there are plenty of local beers, but I don't drink, so I can't comment. *grin* Same goes for all the apparently fabulous wines just north of here, in the Napa-Sonoma Valley-- I wouldn't know a good wine if it pinched me.

Rice-a-Roni? The San Francisco treat? *wink*

-- Anonymous, July 17, 2000

I grew up in Maryland, and it was crabs, crabs, crabs, and there's about a million different ways to serve them. I love crabs, even though they're expensive as hell nowadays. One of the best things to do in the summer is get a bushel of crabs, spread newspaper out over the picnic table, and crack away with plenty of cold beer to drink. I don't usually drink beer, but it goes well with the crabs.

Now I live in Cincinnati, and they have something called a Three Way.

It's spaghetti with Greek chili on top, and then heaps of shredded cheddar cheese on top of that. If you want a four way, you get beans or onions, and you get both on a Five Way.

Greek chili is really different from other chili; it has chocolate and cinnamon and red wine vinegar in it. One of my very good friends who is a Born and Will Die There New Mexican tried the chili while visiting here and declared it vile, filthy stuff.

I think it tastes okay and I usually have it a few times a month, but it certainly is not for unadventurous people.

-- Anonymous, July 17, 2000

I am originally from New Orleans. I'm sure I'll miss something, but here are some good things.

Shrimp (boiled or prepared any of 1,000,000 other ways)
Crawfish (boiled, or I like them in omelettes)
Po Boys (the closest thing is a sub or hoagie)
Muffelattas(sp) (incredible sandwiches, I don't even know how to describe them)
Red Beans and Rice (every Monday)
Jambalaya
Gumbo
Etouffe
Blackened Redfish (or catfish or salmon... Mmmm!!)
Fried Catfish
Pecan Pie

Oh man, this has totally got me hungry now, and missing my homeland. :-( A not-untypical meal on a Sunday night would consist of a crawfish boil (boiled and highly seasoned crawfish, and sometimes shrimp, too) with corn on the cob and new potatoes that were also cooked in the same pot as the crawfish. Then you'd spread newspaper on your big long table and then dump out all the crawfish and shrimp on top and eat 'em with your fingers, just dumping the shells in a little pile in front of you... mmmmmm....

-- Anonymous, July 17, 2000

So now I live in Denver. Let's see, we have a lot of Mexican food here, some good, most bad. But the main thing we're known for food-wise is the game. It's not too hard to get elk in some restaurants. But the biggest one of all has got to be the buffalo. Some of the best steaks I've ever had were buffalo steaks. And I've had buffalo sausage and I've made hamburgers from ground buffalo. Mmm mmm, that's good! And nevermind about those mythical Rocky Mountain Oysters (you don't want to know).

-- Anonymous, July 17, 2000
Mmmmm, buffalo. Great tasting, and low fat!

I grew up in northern NJ, so I would say diner food would be the local delicacy. Or huge deli sandwiches. I've also found that you can't really get Taylor ham anywhere outside the tri-state area. A deli/restaurant where I live now in Virginia serves Taylor ham so when I get a hankerin' for some taylor ham I'll go there and get a sandwich. VA is known for it's greasy food - fried chicken, biscuits and gravy, Virginia Ham, and of course the combo of country ham biscuits, which is served at every social event that serves food. I have yet to go to a wedding south of the Mason-Dixon line that did not serve ham biscuits. Thank god I love country ham, and biscuits. I can deal with a wedding reception that only serves warm punch to drink as long as they have some good ham biscuits. (Not that I went to a wedding this past Saturday that only served warm punch. I'm just saying.)

-- Anonymous, July 17, 2000

Butter tarts are Canadian. Maple syrup is Canadian. Eating Kraft Dinner is Canadian. (It's called Kraft Macaroni and Cheese in the US, but up here it's called Kraft Dinner).

I almost forgot, poutine is Canadian!

However, I'm not really sure what Moose Logs are. I've haven't been loose at the Moose since Gwen came to visit.

-- Anonymous, July 17, 2000

Vegemite. Yes, I love it, but I've never met a non-Australian who could eat it without gagging. It is an acquired taste.

-- Anonymous, July 17, 2000
The area where I live is known as the Balti Belt, because there are so many Balti (Indian, Pakistani, Bangladeshi) restaurants here. Not exaggerating a bit, there are about thirty Balti restaurants for every pizza delivery place (of which there are only three in my town, whereas there are three full pages of listings for Balti restaurants in the local Yellow Pages). I'm not a fan of curry, so I never take advantage of my surroundings. But if you love curries, come visit me!

-- Anonymous, July 18, 2000
And I guess I should have mentioned that I live in Birmingham, UK.

-- Anonymous, July 18, 2000
Let's see...I like in Atlanta, where there's a state law which says all vegetables must be cooked with pork.

Grits: Not bad, but there's just not much there to hate. Most people eat them with butter or cheese, but I like 'em with milk. Greens: Collards, mustard, turnip greens. I *love* turnip greens, don't much care for the others for some reason. Fried okra: This is really God's punishment to mankind. It's like eating deep-fried snot with seeds in it. My husband likes it, though. Biscuits: It's hard to get a meal without a biscuit to go with it. And of course, white gravy. Tea: I've lived here so long now that I'm always surprised when I head up north and ask for tea, and they bring me a tea bag and some hot water. Tea is sweetened iced tea, no other kind. And sweetened with sugar. Boiled peanuts: Yuck. Vidalia onions: We eat these all summer long, whole onions just microwaved or baked or grilled with a little bit of butter. Yum... Vidalia season starts in May and ends by September, and they're so sweet they don't keep too well, so you've got to make the most of it.

-- Anonymous, July 18, 2000

"snot with seeds in it" heh. that made me laugh for about 10 minutes straight. I've never been able to stomach fried okra and I'm from South Arkansas. I do like grits...though I can't explain why..maybe it's the bacon grease. I was trying to think about this and I can't come up with anything that AR is really *known* for, but I can think of some stuff that just don't taste as good when I get them anywhere else:

watermelon (okay, well, they have a festival for them) catfish muscadine jelly

that's it, I think.

-- Anonymous, July 18, 2000

y'all just go ahead and insert some commas up there because watermeloncatfishmuscadinejelly would be pretty gross.

-- Anonymous, July 18, 2000

I live in Upstate NY (the real Upstate, not just "an hour north of New York City"). Besides the obvious chicken wings (a.k.a. Buffalo wings), I can't think of much the region is known for. Maybe you guys could tell me!

I do know some things that are regional because no one else has heard of them and I get funny looks.

Right on about iced tea, Mary Ellen. When I was growing up in Louisiana, not only did you have iced tea at every meal, but EVERY restaurant served it and it ALWAYS comes pre-sweetened with real sugar. And I don't mean a little bit sweet, either.

Oh, and salt. Yep, pretty much everything had to have salt on it, and that's just the way it was. My friends and I would heavily salt our McDonald's french fries before even tasting even one fry!

Speaking of salt, we absolutely could NOT eat watermelon without salting it first. Weird? I still have to salt watermelon to this day or it doesn't taste right. I used to sometimes salt cantalope or honeydew melon, too, but I don't anymore.

-- Anonymous, July 18, 2000

I salt watermelon, too.

Okay, I have to tell y'all that in Texas, iced tea is served unsweetened. But every single restaurant table has a huge sugar shaker and a million pastel packets of Sweet 'N' Low and Equal. I use one packet of Sweet 'N' Low because it dissolves more quickly and sweetens more than 300 tablespoons of sugar.

I didn't want to complain about this in my Toronto entry, but I'll do it here. Man, it was so funky to go to Asian restaurants and not get "real" iced tea. They gave me Tetley tea from the carton. I took a big swig of it, assuming that by "pre-sweetened tea", the waitress had meant real tea with sugar mixed in... and it was Nestea-in-a-box! (Nestea = nasty. You can only drink it from a can while pretending it's just some other variety of soda water.) Man, I almost cried. If I had known, I would have just ordered water.

-- Anonymous, July 18, 2000

Well just great. I go from the "favorite candy" forum to curb my appetite right to this one :). What is Vegemite? It sounds like a weed-killer. I am originally from Missouri where the key words are, starch, fat, fried, casserole and overcooked veges. Fried okra rules (I couldn't leave it all behind). Now I am in San Diego where you have your choice of everything from Cajun to Asian. I recently became an official San Diegian because I know a secret. We have these fast-food places called In 'N Out burgers. All they make are straight burgers or cheeseburgers, fries and milk shakes. And they're burgers are great. Well, if you order one "animal style" you get it with sauteed onions and a special sause. Yum.

-- Anonymous, July 18, 2000
Yup--at Wendy's in Savannah, where I worked back in the dark ages, we had two kinds of tea: Sweet and Cold. That baffles me to this day. What's wrong with "Unsweetened" as an adjective? Perhaps it was too hard to spell.

Getting a hot tea took a court order and a translator.

Delicacies from my home town:

Seafood, seafood, seafood! I can do without red meat, pork, chicken...but I can't see living the rest of my life without William's or Carey Hilliard's fried shrimp. Oh my god. *drool*

Ditto on the crabs, though my mom puts them on her head these days instead of eating them. ('Eat it or wear it' taken to a new level.) Long story. It involves polkas and accordions and PETA.

Flounder so flaky and tender and yummy that you have to say "Shut up! No way!" Way. It's the best fried flounder on the planet.

Rum cake! Oh my god.

Vidalia onions. Sweet enough to bite into like an apple, though I'm not going to do it! They are so mild that they don't make you cry when you cut them.

Pit-cooked BBQ. Johnny Harris' sells its sauce world-wide and Barnes' is also an institution. Be it fowl, cow or sow, they 'Q it.

Benne stuff. I'm not all that hot for the stuff, but Benne seed candy is a big deal. I have no idea what benne seed is, but the candy tastes like sesame seeds in molasses. I think it's also a Charleston, SC thing.

Salt water taffy. Strawberry is particularly tasty. Not indigenous to Savannah, but certainly yummy.

Lime coolers. A tart cookie, crispy, with powdered sugar on top.

Artillery Punch. I could tell you what was in it, but then they'd kill me. Suffice it to say that you leave without any legs below your knees. Demure little old ladies raised on the stuff can drink you under the table. (I myself can power down several shots of vodka without blinking but a beer lays me flat.) All the trees along both major throughfares are scarred at fender height because drinking and driving is a reality. I haven't, and I'm not proud of this, but it's true.

Oh, what the hell. HEre's how to make Artillery Punch. Next time you have a flock of unruly thirsty debutantes, get them schnockered.

1.5 oz Benedictine

1.0 cup Brandy

1.0 cup Lemon juice

2.0 cup Orange juice

26.0 oz Red Wine

2.0 cup dark Rum

1.0 quart Rye

1.0 quart Tea Directions: Combine all the ingredients in a large punch bowl with a block of ice. If found too dry, sugar syrup may be added. Decorate with twists of lemon peel. Makes 25-30 cups.

Translation: can get three Savannah natives drunk off their butts, and put a serious dent into 30 normal folk.

Low country shrimp, crab and oyster roasts are big social events. I personally find oysters foul and disgusting.

"The oyster roast is a staple of low-country cooking. Though traditionally accompanied with a few side dishes like eggplant caviar, okra pickles, and peach chutney, the oysters are the definite focus. Typically, the guests bring their own gloves and oyster knives- -short, broad blades with sharp points and sturdy handles that don't break or bend before the task of prying open the oyster's shell and extracting the morsel within. Getting oysters steamed to perfection-- not tough, nor too runny, is a matter of skill, art, and prayer. One minute too many or too few over the fire can make all the difference. Oyster roasts have their own specific etiquette. Small talk is not required--opening oyster shells takes a certain concentration and experience. Novices are usually lent a knife, some advice, and a band- aid when all does not go according to plan. Next time, they bring their own knives and, more importantly, a thick garden glove or two. Purists eat the oysters straight out of the shell. Others season with a drop or two of chili or cocktail sauce, heavy on the horse radish. Still others prefer to make a sandwich with dinner rolls. Rolls and dishes of cocktail sauce appear on the long communal tables at any oyster roast that's really done up right."

We also like Entermann's cookies (a bit too dry for me), blue crab cakes, butter beans, cole slaw, red rice, pecan pie, pralines, devilled eggs, she-crab bisque (soup), sweet potato pie, pork- seasoned collard greens, buttermilk biscuits (sopped in the aforementioned white gravy if you like--I don't), sauteed chanterelles (yellow mushrooms), & non-indigenous but still popular Key lime pie.

I've never had or seen any fried green tomatoes.

Desserts are popular, like Bourbon balls. Are you noticing a trend? Alcohol and sugar are very popular. There's also a dessert which is basically vanilla, egg whites and sherry. I believe it is called trifle, not to be confused with the British version. Either that or my mom forgot to buy the angel food cake that normally goes along with Savannah cream cake.

Divinity. White sweet grainy crap with pecans in it. Some people love it. Pecans are a big thing. Don't ask me if it is PEE-can or puh- CAHN, wars were fought over less. (I say it the second way, but I'm not the one to ask, my accent is non-standard.)

Shoo Fly Pie. Sort of like mud pie. Sloppy, spicey. Nutmeg, cinnamon, ginger, brown sugar molasses. May not be indigenous.

Hoppin' John. Black eyed peas, white rice and red tomatoes mixed together. You eat it on New Year's Day and each pea you power down represents money. To eschew it is to risk bad luck.

Hush puppies. Corn meal dipped into fat and fried. Greasy. Not to be mistaken for the shoes.

Fried steak, fried chicken. Did we mention that everything is fried?

If in doubt, consult the Fannie Farmer Cookbook. Basically, boil vegetables until they give up the ghost, preferably with a ham hock or bacon grease. Then just add a cup of sugar to everything. There you have it, Southern cooking.

Grits. There is no such thing as a 'grit'. Once you get around the fact that you're eating something that has no singular tense, it's not so bad. Hominy and grits are about the same thing, difference is coarseness of bits of corn.

Savannah also imported some British cuisine and then never let it go, so I have had British dishes that were eventually renamed...like sausages cooked into biscuit mix, etc.

Now I live in Atlanta, and Mary Ellen! You forgot Krispy Kreme donuts, babygirl! You can't forget the Krispy Kremes. People get addicted to them. I personally can take 'em or leave 'em unless they are hot and gooey, at which point they are manna. They are popping up all over, but are still a Southern thang.

-- Anonymous, July 18, 2000

Ah yes, the unsweetened tea in TX... I had to get used to it. I normally use the blue packets. (At my house we don't refer to them as SweetNLow or Equal, we just say "pink or blue"). When I went home the last time I got my sugared tea and almost coughed it up. That's what TX has done to me. It has also ruined my idea of barbecued beans. Just a tip: barbecued beans are NOT pinto beans (I know that seems petty and small, but when you've grown up having *real* barbecued beans made with a sauce and then you move to Texas and some Yahoo at Stubbs or County Line or hands you a bowl of pinto beans when you so *clearly* asked for barbecued beans, it just makes you want to cry, well, okay maybe I'm over reacting, but it drove me crazy the first two years I lived here. I can no longer order anything barbecued. It's too harsh.)Also, apparently in Texas, "Hot Sauce" is a term that covers just about anything that isn't ketchup. Other small subtle differences I've noted between southern food and texas food: where I'm from, the term "chicken fried chicken" is redundant. I see it on menus here all the time. Don't get me wrong though, I love Texas. I just think they're weird sometimes with food.

-- Anonymous, July 18, 2000
Iced tea is the house wine of the south and maple syrup is the house wine of the north. Or so I have been told.

Kim, that garbage plate sounds good, except that I'd eat it without the burgers or dogs on it.

The thing I love most about travelling to the south is that biscuits abound with every meal. I love the buffet at Shoney's even though I'm basically paying $4.99 to eat biscuits and fried potatoes.

I'd like a recipe for Shoefly pie, it sounds good.

-- Anonymous, July 18, 2000

Maggie: here's all the variations of Shoo Fly Pie you could desire.

http://www.globalgourmet.com/food/sleuth/0499/spiced.html

-- Anonymous, July 18, 2000

Hey ya'll....talking about tea..don't you Texans and Georgians have "half and half" tea? (half sweet half unsweet) We do in North Florida but we've ordered it before out of state and they've brought us non-dairy creamers!!! (and really weird looks!)

-- Anonymous, July 18, 2000
For whoever asked: vegemite is a spread made with yeast. It's vile; I have actually witnessed native Australians eating it, though.

I currently live in Philly, the Land of the Cheesesteak. No, you *can't* get a decent cheesesteak anywhere else. I think it's got to do with the nasty Philly water used to make the bread. I prefer provalone for the cheese, but purists insist on Cheez Whiz.

Of course, we also have Tastykakes, the world's most wonderful snake cake. I'm a chocolate Kandy Kake girl myself, but will admit to the occasional Raspberry Krimpet.

-- Anonymous, July 18, 2000
You can get Tasty Kakes (and Birch Beer, yum) at Philly Connection fast food places, but no, they don't use Cheez Whiz. They are tasty sandwiches, but I don't know if a Philly native would like 'em.

-- Anonymous, July 18, 2000
Am I the only one who thinks brewed iced tea is gross? I love the stuff from a mix (sweetened, with lemon), but real iced tea makes me ill. (My husband refuses to believe that McDonald's in America serves iced tea, and says the very thought of any tea that's less than steaming hot makes him ill.)

This might be stretching the regional thing a bit, but I would move back to northern Ohio if only for the fact that all of the churches and schools always have pierogi sales and stuffed cabbage sales, because there's so many Polish (like me!), Ukrainian and Czech (like me!) people up there. Travel about 100 miles south, and there's not a pierogi in sight, unless you count the frozen Mrs T's ones. It's so sad.

-- Anonymous, July 18, 2000

Jacki, I hate fresh brewed tea also. Nothing but powdered instant tea for me! My husband is like that, but with lemonade - he wants no real lemons in his lemonade, only lemon-flavored granules.

One of the things I loved about moving to the south is that everything comes with bisucits. I seriously thought that when we closed on our house, it was going to come with a biscuit.

-- Anonymous, July 18, 2000

Yeah, there is something about biscuits... But I have to say I've abandoned them in favor of the almighty homemade tortilla (another Texas change). But now that I think about it, they are both made with lard... hmmm, I seem to have a thing for stuff cooked with lard.

I lived in Ohio once. That's where I met pierogies. I love those little guys. And the Stadium Mustard. Oh yum.

-- Anonymous, July 18, 2000

I miss Jacobs Field and Cleveland Stadium hot dogs. Oh man. Thanks for reminding me.

I always used to get biscuits from Bob Evans, and drowned them in honey. Yum.

-- Anonymous, July 18, 2000

Jackie.....I did a short stint in Parma Heights at the end of college. The Parma Heights Mall did the best Polish Festival. The food was fantastic but the accordian music was what kept me there!

I also used to go to a BBQ place in Shaker Heights, which gave you a white cardboard box (all orders to go) lined with 2 sheets of wax paper. They'd toss in the ribs, fill it with sauce, throw in a paper thimble (what are those things called) of slaw and smash one piece of white bread on top before closing the box. The first thing you did while driving down the road was throw that nasty piece of whitebread out the window (doing about 60 mph - frisbee style.) Man, those ribs were good.

-- Anonymous, July 18, 2000

Oh, and I moved south so I could get Iced Tea year-round. Does that mean I'm going to get nasty looks in London when I dump my hot tea over ice?

-- Anonymous, July 18, 2000
Churchs (I'm not the illiterate, THEY dropped the possessive apostrophe, not ME) has honey-dipped biscuits. I'm not that big of a biscuit fan (I prefer whump biscuits* to scratch biscuits** any day) but those Churchs biscuits are like little desserts.

M

*Translation: De biscuit what gets whumped out of a can. Has flaky layers and a little white puffy giggly man on the side of the can.

**Translation: De biscuit what does NOT get whumped out of a can. Reportedly involves standing over a hot oven and dealing with loose flour, real eggs, washing dishes. Not me, man.

-- Anonymous, July 18, 2000

(Of course there's de limp biscuit, which would be de biscuit what needs a good whump upside de head.

I hate Limp Bizkit.)

-- Anonymous, July 18, 2000

You will be forgiven much eccentricity in London if you claim to be Canadian, up to and including screwing with that holiest of holies, the cuppa. Of course, getting ice in the first place might be a feat.

I'm not sure I'd recommend fessing up to being a Yank or not.

Also, I think asking for ketchup and/or ranch dressing will get you sneered at faster...

-- Anonymous, July 18, 2000

Man, it does my Southern heart good to see so many people enamored of my homeland's culinary delights! :-)

So, speaking of the South, I was reminded just now of a couple of items I forgot to mention.

Coming from New Orleans, I was remiss in omitting pralines. I hated them at first, so sugary just breathing near one makes you jittery. But I grew to love them by missing them so bad when I moved to Denver.

Frozen Daiquiris. I know, that's not so odd, and perhaps people not from extreme southern Louisiana haven't heard anything special about them. But while I lived there, especially from 1983-1987, there was a total frozen daiquiri craze and literally there was a daiquiri stand on EVERY corner. You drive or walk up, plunk down a couple of bucks, and drive away or walk off with your very own flavored frozen daiquiri. These stands were as commonplace as snowball stands anywhere else, only more so. My wife still doesn't believe me, and my brother's wife still doesn't believe him. But it really was that way, honest.

Finally, there's king cake. That's a Mardi Gras tradition. It's an oval shaped cake, more like a very sweet bread than cake. Almost like doughnuts in texture. You can't hardly get authentic king cake like they used to make up until about 20 years ago. These days it's so popular that most places are looking for the fastest and cheapest way to get out a viable substitute that people who don't know any better will buy up. Mmmm..... there's nothing in this world like king cake....

Oh shit, I almost forgot! Beignets! And cafe au lait! If you're ever in New Orleans, you've got to stop at Cafe du Monde and have an order of beignets and cafe au lait. Beignets are French doughnuts, square puffy pastries deep fried and served smothered under MOUNDS of powdered sugar, so much powdered sugar you damn near choke on it. Seriously, to someone who grew up on this stuff, there is something very nearly like magic that happens when you're eating them in the French Quarter that is impossible to explain to anyone not from there.

And it took me so long to get used to coffee without chicory in it. Chicory is a somewhat bitter root that people used to add to coffee during WWII in order to make it last longer. Chicory makes ordinary coffee much stronger and bolder, and it's the only kind of coffee I drank until I moved away and couldn't get it anymore. Thank goodness I can once again get French Market brand coffee here. Or Community Coffee dark roast. Ooohhhhh....

Oh yeah, and sugar cane. You can buy it lots of places. I used to get mine at the Farmer's Market in the Quarter. Makes a nice snack.

-- Anonymous, July 18, 2000

Oh yeah, I was in Australia in February and had some vegemite for the first time. "Concentrated yeast extract" is what the package said. "Yeeeucck" is what I said. :-P

This is NOT your father's peanut butter, don't be misled.

-- Anonymous, July 18, 2000

No one ever sneers at me when I ask for ketchup, except for my husband. He's very weird about food and loathes ketchup. Can you imagine how fun it is to go to a restaurant with him? Needless to say, we eat in a lot.

Lisa D, I am all about Polish food. In Lorain, where I was born and lived till I was 10, they had the International Festival every summer. It's a really ethnically diverse area (I believe it also has the highest concentration of Puerto Ricans in the US, outside of NYC), and the International Festival was the highlight of my summer. But I'd give anything to have my Gramma Danicki back for just one day...especially if I could hang out with her in the kitchen while she makes stuffed cabbage and pierogies with sour cream, sautied onions and that wicked porcini mushroom sauce. I think I might cry.

And as for having your tea cold, the sort of people who would give a shit are wankers anyway. People are much more horrified when I tell them I don't drink tea (or coffee) very often -- as in about three times in my whole life -- so I think they'd be glad you're even drinking it.

-- Anonymous, July 18, 2000

Heh, Jackie, I've some friends from London, and every time I visit them, I'm asked "cuppa tea, luv?" before I'm even inside the front door. I've learnt to say yes. ;-)

-- Anonymous, July 18, 2000
Gardanna, are you talking about ranch-style beans, like the ones in the black can with the happy-faced guy?

Maggie and Nicole -- ha!

Lisa D, I've never heard of half'n'half tea. And I love you to death, but I will love you even more if you spell it "y'all". [kiss!]

Paul W, the best pralines here are the ones they sell at Mexican restaurants. Mmm, sugar! A couple of years ago my aunt in NO had a King cake shipped to me from a special, famous bakery, the name of which I forget. It was like you said -- like sweetbread. Then they were selling some at our local grocery store that looked like bundt cakes.

I've never had pierogies. They sound exciting, though.

I just got a "Texas recipes" cookbook at some tourist trap. I was gonna gift it to someone but now I'm thinking I'd like to keep it. Would y'all be interested in any of the recipes? I can go through it tomorrow maybe and list the most interesting ones. The one that caught my eye was Watermelon Cake.

Jackie D and Nicole, I don't think brewed tea is any grosser than coffee.

-- Anonymous, July 18, 2000

I'm from Kansas but have been here in Dallas for 3 years. Sometimes when I order iced tea here they'll give it to me sweetened without forwarning me and I have to gag. In California at a lot of places I'd order an iced tea and end up with a fruit flavored one. Ick! How can they neglect to mention that?! Fried, starchy, barbequed Texas food is tasty, but I pine for more diversity. In Lawrence, Ks there were plenty of yummy Chinese and Indian places, as well as lots of earthy veggie hippy cuisine. I have yet to run across an Indian restaurant here and all the Chinese places except P.F. Chang's are shamefully nasty.

-- Anonymous, July 19, 2000
Has anyone ever gone to one of the calabash restaurants in Myrtle Beach, SC? They're only, like, twelve to a city block. I avoided them when I was there, because I've heard a lot of bad things.

Gwen, you really need some pierogies. If you have to, get the frozen Mrs T's ones, boil them and slather with sautied onions and sour cream.

-- Anonymous, July 19, 2000

Gwen, post those recipes! We northerners need to learn us some Texas cookin'! Chicken-fried steak, yummmmm.

A guy I work with, New Jersey-bred, once ordered a chicken-fried steak medium rare. He didn't understand why I laughed at him.

-- Anonymous, July 19, 2000
Whump biscuits, I love it! I'm a big fan of whump biscuits, too.

Oh, and I've been to the calabash restaurants in Mytle Beach, SC. They're not horrible, but they're nothing special, either. Just lots of fried seafood, served buffet style. So it's really all about eating too much mediocre food.

There is a fabulous restaurant in Myrtle Beach,though, and I can't think of the name. It's a pretty small place, right on the beach, name is "Captain's Cove" or something with "Captain" in it, I think. They serve hush puppies as an appetizer that I still dream about. Lots of places in Calabash country do that, but these are small, and sweet, and oniony, and so tender. Not like the little rock-hard dough nuggets you get most places that I suspect are really Civil War Minie balls.

-- Anonymous, July 19, 2000

Yeah, Pinto beans are the Ranch Style. About the closest thing I can think of to real barbecued beans (at least what I consider real) and I even shudder to put these in the same paragraph are... (shudder) the Pork and Beans in a can. It's *sortof* the same concept. Smaller beans, red sauce. There's a place in Little Rock (okay, two places) Sims and Hoggs Meat Market that make the most divine barbecued beans you've ever tasted. I bet I could drudge up a recipe...

-- Anonymous, July 19, 2000
Lay it on us, Gardanna.

Oh, I wanted to tell y'all... chicken-fried chicken isn't the same as fried chicken. It's chicken-fried steak, but with boneless chicken breast instead of beef inside the breading. I think it's supposed to be a lighter alternative to the steak.

-- Anonymous, July 19, 2000

My mum's next door neighbour is Ukrainian and when I was growing up I spent many happy dinner hours eating her pierogies (except she used the Ukrainian word for them: varenke) and cabbage rolls (holubtsee). My best friend in highschool was also Ukrainian so when I wasn't eating next door, I was eating at my friend's house.

There are several brands of frozen pierogies available around here. Some are pretty good and some are horrible. I avoid altogether the ones that are made with chicken fat. Bleah.

-- Anonymous, July 19, 2000

My kingdom for Polish neighbours...

-- Anonymous, July 19, 2000
Alrighty: This is from a friend of mine back home. I've only made this one twice. Once we added chipotles (you have to chop them up and add just a little)to make it more spicy, but I think it rocks even without the spicy. mmmmm, bacon drippings...

6 bacon slices 1 1/2 cups chopped onion 1 1/4 cups purchased barbecue sauce *it goes without saying that the better the bbq sauce you buy, the better it will be... I don't particularly like Stubbs. If you can get it, try the Elgin sauce. 3/4 cup dark beer 1/4 cup mild-flavored (light) molasses 3 tablespoons Dijon mustard 3 tablespoons (packed) dark brown sugar 2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce 1 tablespoon soy sauce 6 15- to 16-ounce cans Great Northern beans, drained

Preheat oven to 3500F. Cook bacon in large skillet over medium heat until crisp. Transfer to paper towels and drain. Transfer 2 1/2 tablespoons bacon drippings from skillet to large bowl. Finely chop bacon; add to bowl. Add onion and next 7 ingredients to bowl and whisk to blend. Stir in beans. Transfer bean mixture to 13 x 9 x 2- inch glass baking dish. Bake uncovered until liquid bubbles and thickens slightly, about 1 hour. Cool 10 minutes.

-- Anonymous, July 19, 2000

oh and I forgot:

we use Guiness for the dark beer, but you can do whichever you like (just not budweiser, people). and my friend adds that if you'd really like, you can add a drop or two of Liquid Smoke, or some cayenne-- just a tad, since it cooks for an hour you can really overdue it. Also, don't add salt. There's already salt in the bacon and in the soy sauce. I have to add to that: if you get an already smoky or mesquite bbq sauce, forget the Liquid Smoke.

-- Anonymous, July 19, 2000

Gwen I've almost lost my "y'all" from writing on UK bulletin boards so much!

My friend here at work is giving me, what he says, is the recipe for the best jammie dodgers in the world. Does anyone want it posted?

Oh yeah, Milla.......whump biscuits! That's the best post. I keep going back to it and laughing.

-- Anonymous, July 19, 2000

Lisa, training myself not to say "y'all" once I moved here was so hard. Sometimes I slip, and my husband totally rips the piss out of me. Whenever I talk on the phone to American people, I totally revert back to my old manner of speaking, while Ian walks past and goes, 'Yee-haw, y'all, have a nice day!' That's his impression of how I -- and, apparently, every American -- talk, and it's lame, but it never fails to crack me up.

-- Anonymous, July 19, 2000
Well, I feel so naove and deprived. What is pierogies? And Gardanna, by the time I got to your post, I couldn't remember what it was for. Jill, did you know anyone in Lawrence, KS, by the name of Lance Tomlin? He is my cousin. I love him dearly, but I take no responsibility for whatever view you have of him :). I'm going to go eat something.

-- Anonymous, July 19, 2000
Oh duh Gardanna, I just found it. BBQ beans. OK, now I'm off to eat something.

-- Anonymous, July 19, 2000
Lawrence is a big place, Vicki; I never met your cousin Lance. You should go visit him, though, it is an awesome town. Go eat at Glass Onion or Jerusalem Cafe!

-- Anonymous, July 20, 2000
I'm from Wisconsin, America's Dairyland, where besides the obvious CHEESE and milk and butter we are known for bratwurst and beer (football tailgate parties and backyard barbeques). That's some good stuff, no wonder everyone is AMPLE here. I'm told we also eat all manner of wild critters like deer, squirrel, rabbit, etc. But I don't. Yuck.

-- Anonymous, July 20, 2000
Differences from Northern New Jersey Food and Indiana food:

New Jersey - Great bagels, pizza, deli, Italian and coffee. Indiana - Bad, bad, bad, bad, bad. New Jersey - Birch beer, pierogies (YUM) , pasties (YUM YUM), buttered roll as a meal, diner food (fries with mozzarella and brown gravy, Taylor Ham, Egg and Cheese on a hard roll with SPK) Indiana - Biscuits and gravy (which I had never heard of before I moved there) and corn dogs. And I'm reaching here, to think of anything. New Jersey - Soda. Indiana - Pop.

I'm back in NJ/NYC now and happy as happy can be.

-- Anonymous, July 20, 2000

OK, Here's Rhoodie's recipe for Jammie Dodgers from north of London. I havn't tried this recipe yet, so I can't vouch for it:

topping: 1 cup margarine 1 cup coconut .75 cup self rising flour .5 cup sugar 1 egg 2 tsp vanilla

Bottom: use pie pastry (like whump pastry?)

filling: any type of jam

grease minimuffin pan. put in a piece of pie pastry. put in a dollop of jam. put on the mixed up top ingrediants.

Here's the best part.: cook at about 350, and "poodle around until they've risen and brown on the top"

ha!

-- Anonymous, July 20, 2000

I can't imagine being motivated enough to make Jammie Dodgers from scratch. That's like that Amy Dacyczyn (spelt wrong, I know) from The Tightwad Gazette, who makes her own crackers. Life's too short, people!

If you want Jammie Dodgers, send me your address and I'll post you some.

-- Anonymous, July 20, 2000

I've never heard of jammie dodgers. Is it a British thing? (i'm guessing). I know this is sort of off topic, but have y'all ever noticed the food stereotypes of different places? I mean, for example, that people assume that you like certain foods or eat certain foods all the time just because you're from somewhere. One of my dumber assumptions is that I've always thought that people in England only ate two dishes: fish and chips or bangers and mash. It's stupid, I know. For my part, I'm from the South, but truly hate moonpies and have never even tasted a mint julep...

-- Anonymous, July 20, 2000
Well, you'd have to know Rhoodie, but he just swoons when he talks about these (he said they are the best he's ever had.) I'll probably give it a shot to make them, if just to have Rhoodie in debt to me! Plus, it's always fun to have something else burning in the stove, now and then (other than frozen pizza.)

-- Anonymous, July 20, 2000
I think people in the UK eat more Indian food than fish and chips these days, to be honest. Except for in my household, where we don't even eat fish and chips that much, but only because there are no chip shops near our house. They're dead cheap -- you can get a huge portion of freshly fried fish and chips for about $2 per person -- and kind of hard to mess up. The only thing I don't like is that most people eat theirs as they walk down the street, and I cannot bear to eat like that.

-- Anonymous, July 20, 2000
Jackie I just read in a book that "meat and 2 veg" is slang for boys bits. Is that true?

-- Anonymous, July 20, 2000
boy bits. giggle.

I forgot to mention earlier that in New Mexico they sold watermelon juice lots of places, something I have never run across elsewhere. Don't be mistaken, it is not like some nasty watermelon flavored kool- aid or gatoraid, it's real juice and it is so refreshing. Wish I knew where to find it here!

-- Anonymous, July 20, 2000

Watermelon juice is also sold wherever you find "aquas refrescas" (I think that's what they're called), which are popular in Mexico. Watermelon's my fave, too. They also do lemon, tamarind, papaya or guava or something, and something called "orchata" which is like rice and milk. I know lots of people who adore orchata, but I never tried it.

-- Anonymous, July 20, 2000
This is all so helpful, my husband and I are going to Mexico in November and I am so terrified I am going to be drinking beer the whole time, nothing else for fear of the water, paranoid huh? OOOOh this is the first time I have posted on Gwen's new forum, all I have to say is you go girl! I am Gwen's biggest scariest stalker ever. I am from Washington state and I guess I would have to say for our regional food it would have to be apple pie, smoked salmon, BBQed oysters on the half shell with deepfried garlic butter, and who could have a holiday with Applets and Cotlets?

-- Anonymous, July 21, 2000
Changos on Guadalupe (in Austin) has some fairly tasty aqua frescas. I had the watermelon last week, but they also had Cantaloupe and strawberry. I'm not wild about the food, but the drinks are yum.

-- Anonymous, July 21, 2000
D'oh! First I typed "frescas" and then I was like, "No, it must be refrescas." Dude, I suck.

Rachel, they have billions of sodas in Mexico. No one there drinks the water, either. When I went to my friend's tiny home town back in 1990, every single household had several cases of Fanta and Coke bottles in a corner of the kitchen. That's all we drank.

-- Anonymous, July 21, 2000

God, Milla, you never cease to amaze and delight me...!

I'm a native SoCal girl who has spent the last two years on the East Coast (Philly and New York). I never knew I would miss REAL Mexican Food so much. Don't tell me there're good Mexican places in NY. I know the truth. I mean REAL Mexican places... the "don't touch the plate, it's hot" type of joints... "six rolled tacos with guacamole" places.... And, oh, that San Diego Delicacy, fish tacos. FISH TACOS! No, it's not slang for Girl Thingies... it's grilled or cornmeal-breaded-and-fried cod served on a small corn tortilla with shredded cabbage, sometimes a creamy dressing, and a sqirt of lemon juice. So scrummy.

I have to admit, I don't get the New York pizza thing. It's kinda blach. Although Grimaldi's in Brooklyn is some of the best pizza I've ever had.

We're getting ready to move back to LA, and I'm going to miss decent hot dogs, REAL Deli Food, REAL Bagels, and (*sob*) Krispy Kreme donuts... not to metion the all-around better food stores where you can get all sorts of kick ass things (Zabar's, Dean & Delouca, Garden of Eden)....

Oh, Vickie, if you're in San Diego and love hamburgers, GO TO HODAD'S IN OCEAN BEACH! E-mail me if you want more Good Food recommendations... the Best Pizza I've Ever Had was in San Diego, too!

-- Anonymous, July 23, 2000

Horchata is sweetened rice milk. It's mild and pleasant, refreshing. Kind of like what rice pudding would taste like if it was liquified. You can get it at a lot of grocery stores here in SF/California.
Watermelon agua frescas is available at most any good burrito place in California (there are tons up here in the Bay Area, anyway)-- they have huge glass jugs of it on ice, and use a ladle to fill your cup.

Funny how iced tea came up in so many postings. I can't stomach sweetened iced tea, so I always ask before ordering, is it sweetened or plain? And Jill, most times when I ask, it is plain. Maybe it's a NorCal vs SoCal thing, I don't know where you were in California when all you could get was (nasty [imho]) fruit teas. And I grew up on powdered instant iced tea-- funny, I hadn't thought about that in a long time. Nowadays I either drink hot tea or cold water, so it's kinda moot.

The jammie dodgers sound gorgeous (I love how British English uses that word to describe a delicious food or meal :) ), and now you've got me thinking about another English delicacy I miss terribly: Sainsbury's Apple Tarts. They're like mini apple pies, freshly made, with sugared crusts, yummmmmmmmmmmmmm...okay, now I'm wrecked. It's official.

(and I don't think they'd post very well, Jackie, else I'd be begging you to send me some! ;) )

-- Anonymous, July 24, 2000

Woo hoo! I'm going for the all-time record in Most Words Misspelled on Your Own Fricking Forum!

Can I blame my tooth? It's all swollen and I just took my 22nd Vicodin since Saturday AM.

Oh, y'all know I always misspell stuff. Boo hoo, I'm so lame.

-- Anonymous, July 24, 2000

getting off-topic here, but since I'm replying to The Forum Goddess Herself, it's okay, right? First, Gwen-bunny-head, you are a far better speller and grammarian than 95% (or more) of the people in www.land, so stop thinking you suck, or I will smack you with a soft flour tortilla. Second, Yes, it is the tooth's fault. Third, I don't know if this will help with a root canal, but several friends have sworn that if you eat a whole pineapple the night before wisdom tooth extraction surgery, you will have very reduced pain and swelling afterwards. I don't know if it applies to all oral surgery, but my friends swear it's true, and they are in the group of my friends whom I actually trust 100% of the time, so. I suppose if you like pineapple, it couldn't hurt to eat a heap of it regardless. But anyway, root canals aren't nearly as bad these days as they were when our parents got them 20 years ago-- my best friend has had a couple, and while they weren't exactly occasions to rejoice, they weren't as bad as she expected, either time. See if they can give you Demerol. *wink*

-- Anonymous, July 24, 2000
I'm originally from southern Indiana, home of overcooked canned vegetables, iced tea, and everything fried to shit. Imagine the culinary culture clash when our brood relocated to southern California in the early 70s.

I'm in San Diego now, and indeed the Mexican food is just absolutely wonderful; we lived in Northern California for fifteen months and couldn't believe how difficult it was to find decent Mexican food! I eschew the fish tacos, tho...that just sounds incredibly wrong.

When we have guests from afar, we always take them out for Mexican to give them that SoCal vibe. We stuff 'em full of chips and salsa (to provide the obligatory pre-meal corn clot), margaritas, and enchiladas with rice and beans, then roll 'em out the door.

Other than that, the hallmark of southern California cuisine--besides the emphasis on Fresh and Free Range and Organic, no-fat, low-fat, and teeny tiny portions (the more they charge, the less you're gonna get)--is the incredible range of foods from Other Lands. If you'd have told me 30 years ago that I'd *ever* eat at a Thai, Indian, or Vietnamese restaurant, I'd have said no way Jose.

Unfortunately it's hard to find good bagels here in San Diego; the only halfway decent place is in La Jolla and it's a pain in the ass to get there. So when the weather is a bit cooler I make my own bagels. Yes, it's ridiculous-- but the results are spectacular. I just will not eat one of those huge, frisbee sized, pumped full of air dinner rolls that Einstein Bros. is passing off as bagels.

And to whoever said they're moving back to LA--never fear, dear, Krispy Kremes have made it to the west coast!

-- Anonymous, August 03, 2000

San Francisco Bay Area here - Oakland, to be exact. SF is known, as Klee mentioned, for sourdough bread; I know a monk who is using the same starter going on 16 years now. Starter is the yeast concoction that gives sourdough its sourness. The starter like, breeds more yeast, or something. I'm not too sure how it works. But if you're ever in SF mosey on down to Fisherman's wharf and get yourself some garlic crab, or seafood cocktail, and warm sourdough. Mmm.

We've got great Mexican food here. In Oakland, almost nothing beats the taco trucks. Especially since the city requires them all to have sinks now :) But really, I hear that the taco truck tortas are second only to those actually sold in Mexico. They're yummy. A soft Mexican roll with that sour cream/mayo stuff, whatever meat strikes your fancy (you can even get tongue or brains at most of our taco trucks). I usually get carne asada, or carnitas. A tomato and shredded cabbage makes it complete. Heaven...and speaking of Mexican food, there's nothing like going to the panaderia on Fruitvale and getting Mexican pastry, oh yeah...

Love fish tacos, and there are TWO taquerias on Piedmont ave that sell not only fish, but LOBSTER tacos! Shit you not...

-- Anonymous, September 11, 2000

Welcome to San Diego Vicki. Here we have of course the aforementioned In n Out. Best burgers in the world. As a teener I used to go cruisin through IN n Out or Bob's Big Boy on Whittier Blvd or up in Pasadena, Burbank or Hawthorne. Was way cool and very heavy if you had a big block cruiser. And then there's "Rubio's". Best fish tacos going. Unless you go to the South Beach Bar and Grill in OB. Then you get fish or shrimp or lobster tacos and some of the best micro brews around. James

-- Anonymous, September 11, 2000
Hey Starmama, Gilda's on the pier in Santa Cruz has some of the best clam chowder going. I eat there all the time when I'm surfing at Steamers. Check it out girl. james

-- Anonymous, September 11, 2000
James! Yes! I used to live in S'Cruz (1986) and loooooved the chowder at the pier (but for some reason I thought the place was called...something else...). Even though I ate some on acid once and swore the stuff in the cup was swimming around in there...the sea lions were talking to me that day, too...

Remember Pizza My Heart? On the old mall? Greasiest slices this side of Berkeley...yum!

-- Anonymous, September 11, 2000

"Pizza My Heart" is an excellent name for a pizza restaurant! *laugh* Wish I'd thought of it first. Our best (midrange) pizza place is probably Savage Pizza or Everybody's Pizza (though they vary from location to location).

Everyone raves over the In 'n' Out Burgers. What's their secret? (Besides a no-doubt thriving tee-shirt and bumper sticker market?) Good beef, onion shards/herbs/spices in the patty meat, Liquid Smoke [tm]...? Apparently they are manna on a bun.

-- Anonymous, September 12, 2000

Pittsburgh is also like Northern Ohio as you can feast on all of the Eastern European foods like the aforementioned pierogi, stuffed cabbage (also known as pigs-in-a-blanket here), and halushki, which is fried cabbage, onions and noodles in butter. Indigenous to Pittsburgh is the infamous Isaly's chipped ham, which is greasy cooked ham sliced wafer thin into a greyish mass which is picked up in huge clumps and stuffed into plastic bags at the deli counter. It's also known as chipped chopped ham. There also is a lunchmeat known as jumbo which I think is a weird amalgamation of baloney and funky spice chunks thrown into it (I never got past the smell). I think steak salad is also a regional quirk, but I'm not sure. Steak salad is cooked strips of steak on a bed of lettuce with cheese, salad vegetables and french fries. Sounds gross but is delicious. Pittsburgers also like to put french fries on deli sandwiches and hamburgers, a trend I believe was started by a restaurant on the strip district named Primanti's. And that leads me to the ever- present Heinz ketchup. Any other brand around here is sacrilege. The factory has sat on the North Side for the last 130-odd years. Lots of stuff gets doused with ketchup, including eggs and home fries. There's lots of other weird regional munchies but I can't think of any more. Can anyone else?

-- Anonymous, November 19, 2000
Halushki rocks -- especially with lots of salt and pepper. Even Ian loves it.

-- Anonymous, November 19, 2000
Jackie D, FYI, I just got a Polish food catalogue in the mail: www.polana.com

-- Anonymous, November 20, 2000
Thanks, Lisa! I'll check it out.

-- Anonymous, November 20, 2000
I'm from Boston/Cambridge and here are some regional foods:

Boiled or broiled lobster served w/ lemon butter - I *LOVE* it

Boston baked beans and brown bread - as a child this was not one of my favorite meals, but I think I could get into it now.

New England Boiled Dinner - Boil a corn beef, turnips, parsnips, cabbage and potatoes in a big pot for a while and serve on a plate w/ butter, mustard and horseradish for condiments. - My sibs thought I was crazy for liking this - but I did.

Clams - steamed w/ lemon butter - delicious. Raw w/ a shot of lemon and tobasco.

"Indian pudding" aka "hasty pudding" - a corn-meal mushlike concoction flavored w/ maple sugar and cinamon and nutmeg

Apple pie for breakfast - my step-father tried to convince me that this was a venerable New England tradition - but I've never verified it.

Fresh pressed apple cider - not pasturized! It's delicious and after a few days develops a lovely fizzy bite.

Here where I live now...

Congee (rice porridge) Char siu (roast pork) Many varieties of dimsum Lo Ba Go (savory turnip/radish pudding - delicious fried or steamed) - I like these

-- Anonymous, November 26, 2000

Some regional foods we have just sit wrong with me. Like "oyster pie". We went to the Yacht Club for T-giving buffet and that just looked damn foul. Bleurgh. And that NAME!

I was assured that it was traditional, which it is, but I still think I'll pass should I ever be asked again if I want any.

The rest of the meal was fairly traditional, except for the lamb (I don't think they had an over- abundance of lamb to spare at the time) and salmon with cranberry butter (no cranberries at the first feast, or so I'm told).

"Oyster pie". I am still shaking my head over that.

-- Anonymous, November 27, 2000

I'm from London, and I would say my favourite 'British' food would be curry, (all sorts). I also am a big fan of sheps pie, meat pies, and because it's the holidays, whelsh rarebit.

On another note, I love Guiness punch, but I am unable to find a recipe for it. Could anyone help?

-- Anonymous, December 15, 2000

Christopher, from doing a quick search it looks like Guiness Punch is just Guiness with condensed milk. The Guniess site had much better drinks that that one sounds!

-- Anonymous, December 15, 2000
Growing up in the Houston/Galveston area, I just avoided seafood at all costs and lived off of Jack n the Box supertacos (no meat inside, perfect for the vegetarian-junk-food-junkie-teenager). At home, every meal came with homemade biscuits, which was the first food I ever learned to cook. Unfortunately, I didn't learn how to make my own tea, so at 18 years old, freshly married and living a continent away from my mommy, I had to call home to find out how to make tea.

Note to southerners: I make my tea the exact same way everywhere I am-4-5 Lipton teabags, bring to boil and immediately turn off heat, steep for a bit, then 1 cup of sugar and diluted with water to fill up the pitcher. No shit, everywhere I have lived (Memphis, Galveston, Atlanta, Germany, Omaha, and now Central Pennsylvania) the tea tastes different. I STILL can't get used to the funky taste here, it HAS to be the water. Beware of this problem in your travels!

Here in Central PA, I live with my Slovenian boyfriend and we eat a LOT of halushki. There is a special place in the afterlife for all of those sweet Bubbas (grandmothers) who make loads of this stuff and sell it by the pound frozen at church functions .Halushki is absolutely the best thing I have ever put in my mouth. I'm not talking about Polish style halushki though, this is with dumplings, not noodles. Pierogies are yummy, although I don't understand why people here don't smother them with cheddar cheese? They seem designed for it. Did I mention that I've gained 25 pounds in my year in Central PA?

Not a big fan of halupkis - also called pigs in a blanket but they aren't weiners wrapped in biscuit dough like the name leads you to believe! Halupkis (spelled wrong) are cabbage rolled around ground pork or beef with tomato sauce and onions and stuff. And I haven't yet been to the Primanti's restraunt, and I know they put EVERYTHING on the burger: cole slaw, onion rings, everything! I think that's awesome.

Pig meat and cabbage seem to be the staples of life here. I think that's weird. And yet I cannot stop eating.

-- Anonymous, December 15, 2000

Another good dish enjoyed here in N.E. Ohio is sauerkraut & kielbasa. It is best when simmered for a while or cooked in a crockpot. Put in a sandwich roll (or hamburger bun) and you have a hearty sandwich, especially when you wash it down with a beer. Pirohy is good and so is stuffed cabbage.

-- Anonymous, December 17, 2000
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