Tuesday, January 18, 2011
Fun and Games My State Haz Gud Foood
Posted by Nicki Wood on Tue, Jan 18, 2011 at 11:43 AM
The map illustrates each state with a food. Some are pretty obvious: steak for Texas, pineapple for Hawaii and potatoes for Idaho. Others are inspired: buffets for Nevada, and Jell-O for Utah, which reminds me of an airplane ride I took from the Four Corners area with some Bavarians who had stayed at a Mormon B&B in Utah that served Jell-O every day to the confused Europeans.
Others are harder to verify, really, like coffee milk in Rhode Island.
I prepared to cringe when I looked for Tennessee (the way you cringe when a tornado hits the state, and the national media manage to find a barely coherent, nearly tooth-free Tennessean to offer the usual it-sounded-like-a-freight train with an optional it-done-tore-up-mama's-trailer).
Such relief, then, that our state is represented by sliced ripe tomatoes. (Testimony, perhaps, to the growing power of East Nashville's Tomato Art Fest?)
Other states weren't so happy, judging from the comments. South Carolinians, for instance, felt benne wafers didn't adequately represent the state, and several Arkansans claim never to even have heard of jelly pie. Don't get the Illinois folks started on that slice of pizza in New York. (The fact that "Chicago-style pizza" is also included doesn't necessarily soothe the aggrieved.)
What do you think, Bites Nation? And has anybody ever tried Minnesota fried-food-on-a-stick?
Comments (17)
Showing 1-17 of 17
I saw this yesterday ... I was frankly puzzled by the tomato designation. I mean, yeah sure, we grows us some good maters, but ... as a state food? huh?
Then again, I couldn't think of anything else representative that wouldn't cause other states to get up in arms, so ...
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I was initially puzzled by Michigan. My husband's from Detroit, and he never mentioned anything about pasties. (Insert burlesque joke here.) But thanks to my pan-globally knowledgeable colleague J.R. Lind, I now know that Michigan's pasties are the same as Cornish pasties, indigenous to parts of Michigan where Cornish miners settled.
"I'll take obscure Food History for $500, Alex."
You have gotta love that JR. When's he gonna start contributing to Bites?
Clearly you have never been to Rhode Island, because it's definitely on the menus there and I don't know that I've ever seen it anywhere else - and I've been everywhere, man.
You might be thinking that coffee milk is something different. I'm from RI originally and coffee milk is definitely a RI thing. I've never been able to find it anywhere else (I've lived all over the country). It's just like chocolate milk, only coffee flavored. They even have coffee milk cartons in the school cafeterias. Autocrat coffee syrup is a staple in every home in RI.
South Carolina should have been either shrimp & grits or boiled peanuts. Doesn't look like any other state got bacon as it's representative - maybe we could make a case for Benton's bacon. Personally, I would have voted for pimiento cheese...
Not sure if there is a more comprehensive tomato farm than this one in good ol' Dickson, TN
http://www.mariseeds.com/
Frankly, I prefer Michigan apples to Washington and South Carolina peaches to Georgia. I would have given Georgia the Vidalia onion and Washington the blackberry.
As for Tennessee, Ripley is known far and wide for having the best tomatoes. Though I think New Jersey actually produces more. But really, I think if any state loves a tomato, it's Tennessee. Tomato sandwich FTW!
I also have no idea what the foods from the Dakotas are. And I have never heard of jelly pie and I have spent far more time in Arkansas than I really care to admit. Which is why I know it's a leading producer of rice for the world (a better choice).
Florida Oranges? From the land of either the Cuban or the fried Grouper sandwich??
@deepfriedgreen, I bought some mariseeds-grown tomatoes last year -- there were some wild varieties!
@pseudonym, me too on the salmon/Washington connection.
Coffee milk is the nectar of the gods, though I would have gone with Marshmallow Fluff for Massachusettes and Moxie for the state of Maine. New Englanders do some weird things with sugar.
Pseudo, Chislic (South Dakota) is typically deer meat cut from the back strip, sliced into small cubes, spiced with game seasoning, and either grilled or fried. It is fantastic. Often served as bar food in South Dakota.
BW, Cincinnati chili is the bomb, don't mess.
I think it's something you have to be raised on to enjoy, but I have turned a few Nashvillians onto the stuff.
