#Microblog Monday 327: Cuisine, State-by-State
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I rarely click anymore when lists for “your state’s most famous dish” pop up because I know that (1) it will be crabs, (2) I’ve never had crabs and never will, and (3) only know a handful of local people who do eat crabs. It just isn’t part of my universe.
But CNN Traveler lists our state food as Salvadoran, and I am totally here for that and agree wholeheartedly. It may be because we live in that mentioned area with plenty of Salvadoran options, but that IS the food I associate with my area much more than crabs. I’m aware I would have a different view of my state if we lived on the water. But since we don’t, and since every other cuisine-of-your-state list points to crabs, I’ll take this for a win.
If you live in the US, is your state accurate?
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12 comments
I have mixed feelings about California (my state of birth and many years of life). Yes, Oaxacan cuisine can be found in good supply in LA. My favorite Oaxacan joint closed down probably 10 years ago, but I can speak to the quality of the cuisine. On the other hand, the Asian populations of both the San Francisco Bay Area, and the San Gabriel Valley of SoCal have amazing cuisine. Thai, Vietnamese, Chinese. . . there are so many good Asian enclaves with fabulous restaurants that I don’t think CA can be reduced to just one cuisine!
As for Minnesota, yes, there is some good Hmong food. But the bulk of our population is Scandinavian in background. There’s even a town called “Finland” in Northern MN, which was completely populated with people from. . . wait for it. . . Finland! Thus, although I prefer Hmong food to Scandinavian, I don’t see it as the more accurate regional choice.
So I don’t live in the States but I do quite like crab cake! Like a fish pie but with crab meat.
I’ve never been to (or seen, for that matter) a Nigerian restaurant, but I know they exist. Chicago has a lot of immigrants and ethnic restaurants, but the rest of the state is probably more German than anything else. I would probably disagree with the list, but it’s clear they’re looking for unusual and noteworthy rather than predominant.
Michigan is Chaldean which was more specific than I expected. I predicted Middle Eastern as a whole, so I guess I was close? We are fortunate to have a lot of excellent, traditional Middle Eastern options around us. My family had carry out from one of our local faves this weekend and I’m already craving it again.
Unlike crabs, I don’t know what shows up for Michigan on most lists. Probably something very typically Midwestern.
Current state of Arizona: accurate-ish? You can definitely buy good Navajo (Dine’) food here (much of the Navajo reservation lies within Arizona, and there are a lot of Navajo people in Phoenix and other Arizona cities), but I wouldn’t necessarily say that it is the primary cuisine for which the state is known.
Home state of New Mexico: “New Mexican cuisine.” Well, duh. This is accurate, and this cuisine is not exactly like Mexican, Tex-Mex, Baja or other similar-but-different cuisines. New Mexican cuisine is a blend that is unique to my state, and it’s one of the things I miss most about New Mexico.
To echo Finally above, my first thought was “harrumph, LA is not all of California!” I would have guessed more generically Mexican food.
Slovenian??? I don’t recognize any of those dishes and I’ve eaten out a lot in Colorado.
Hmm. I get there are a lot of Hmong people here in Minnesota. I see I have some new restaurants to try, but man, I don’t know if it’s necessarily a popular cuisine here?
Michigan is Chaldean (the state before us, MA is Armenian). I didn’t know Chaldean was (if we’re summing) Iraqi–it sounded very Old Testament. I haven’t eaten at any of the restaurants in the article, but I live for Baklava and would be happy to be associated with it forever and ever and ever in the annals of CNN Traveler 😀
Nope. I can’t recall having Slovenia food any time during my lifetime living in Colorado. And that’s not because I’ve avoided it.
I agree with the other CO posters. I’ve lived in Colorado my entire life and have never had Slovenian cuisine. I would say that green chili is the most predominate ethnic food in the state, including Pueblo which has a large hispanic population.
Arghhhhh. In New York you are doomed to just NYC. I have never had Guyanese food, even when I lived outside of NYC and worked inside it. But in Rochester I’ve eaten delicious Indian, Thai, Ethiopian, Greek, Mexican (although our favorite Mexican restaurant is actually run by Salvadorans), and Puerto Rican food. Unfortunately we are just famous for an atrocity called a Garbage Plate.