While obviously many of us end up eating the same things on a daily basis as folks across state lines and even in different countries, we all know and love the traditional food of our home. From variations in whether rice, potatoes, quinoa, or something else entirely feature as the prominent carbohydrate, to differences in levels of pepper and other hot flavors, to variations on how we cook our food, each American state has its own cuisine.
Sometimes it's even localized to a city, with regional and urban dishes such as the Philly cheesesteak, the juicy Lucy of Minneapolis (a cheeseburger where the cheese is INSIDE the meat patty), or the original po'boy which hails from New Orleans.
A state's specific foods are shaped by several things, such as the lifestyle of the state, the culture of the immigrants who came there, and the climate that dictated what could be grown in an easily-transported distance in the age before refrigeration.
In places like California where the climate is ideal for farming bountiful fresh fruit and veg, raising cattle and other meat thanks to the copious water, that meant a Mediterranean-style diet informed first by Spanish and Mexican cultures and later by waves of immigration from East Asia and across the Pacific.
In Maine, it meant learning to do miraculous things with lobsters, while in Florida it was all about citrus, seafood, and Caribbean spices. So tell us about the food that haunts your culinary dreams, and we'll figure out where you're hanging your hat!
