269 Comments

Cincinnati chili is good, end of story!

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May 17, 2021Liked by Scott Hines

Honestly, weird regional foods are everything that's great about America, since so many of them have their origins in immigrant communities attempting traditional/favorite dishes with different and new (and often more abundant) ingredients found in the US.

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May 17, 2021Liked by Scott Hines

Sorry if this is already somewhere in the comments, but I only learned in recent years that the cheesy potato dish I bake twice a year for holidays is also known as Funeral Potatoes, and is possibly regional to the Midwest. It’s basically hash brown cubes baked with cheddar cheese, sour cream, cream of chicken soup, and crushed corn flakes on top. There’s no nutritional value, but the delicious taste provides holiday comfort once your racist uncle starts going at it.

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". . . when I moved to southwest Ohio’s premier city for my freshman year of college." When did you live in Oxford? (Speaking of making people mad on the internet.)

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May 17, 2021Liked by Scott Hines

I LOVE THIS SO MUCH. Americans care WAY too much about how other people eat, dress, and order their family lives as a rule, so I am ALL IN on "eat what makes you happy." Especially because my favorite thing is going to a new place and learning about their local deliciousness.

I have 3 entries: Alabama white BBQ sauce on chicken (which is having a trend moment, and everyone outside of north Alabama is doing WAY too much with what is a very simple thing). Also, slugburgers from C.F. Penn's in Decatur, AL, which are a) delicious broke-people food, b) horrific for you in the best ways, and c) one of the few things that can make my hyper-stoic beloved teary-eyed and sentimental thinking about eating with his granddaddy. Finally, for others (I cannot eat it due to allergies), Mobile offers West Indies salad to the world, which is delicious crabmeat salad served on lettuce.

Really, just come to Alabama and eat. We do a lot wrong here, but food is one thing we REALLY do well.

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May 17, 2021Liked by Scott Hines

Why Jucy Lucy isn't more widely available, with America's love of cheese and ground meat, entirely perplexes me.

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May 17, 2021Liked by Scott Hines

This is like old home week, especially the comment section with pizzas, shout out to Steubenville style. Skyline gets a bad reputation, sort of like White Castle.

Weird regional foods need to exist because we need to feel that sense of home. Just reading this today put me in a better mood as I look forward to going home in here a couple of weeks. And I wish there was more weird regional food instead of mono-monolopy chain food pits. And that "weird foods" had more to do with a region/culture than what can be combined together at some chef's tasting menu. We should celebrate it more beyond the eternal BBQ battles.

Small town fried chicken, generally from a gas station convenience store is divine and everyone has a place. They will throw down to say which one is supreme.

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May 17, 2021Liked by Scott Hines

My beloved scrapple is truly a food I would be willing to burn a small European nation to the ground to defend

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Also I just thought of one of my own that I have to throw in here: it is borderline criminal that one of Nashville's greatest cultural contributions to the world, the Goo Goo Cluster (and its superior offshoot, the Peanut Butter Goo Goo) are not available in every store in America.

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May 17, 2021Liked by Scott Hines

Cincinnati chili is a form of gumbo

/ducks

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May 17, 2021Liked by Scott Hines

Eastern Carolina pulled pork. I've been guilty of bbq purism in the past because I like it so much. I've come around on the regional thing you articulate and I think my caginess over this particular bbq is because it's hard for me to disentangle the food and the place and love for both, if that makes sense.

I think I started following you because the chili trolling was funny. Please keep that up.

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May 17, 2021Liked by Scott Hines

The Garbage Plate of Rochester NY

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May 17, 2021Liked by Scott Hines

Does pork roll count as regional food? Because I will defend pork roll to the death. Also scrapple is gross, sorry.

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May 17, 2021Liked by Scott Hines

Are Coney dogs specific to Michigan? Recently, a group of friends sat in stunned silence as my wife and I described the beauty of the meat sauce—not chili!—poured over a natural casing hot dog and topped with diced onions and mustard. We even made some homemade the next day because we talked ourselves into a craving! Coney dogs are delicious, and I encourage anyone to try them should they be in southeastern Michigan for a spell.

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The "barbecue" most likely to start a fight on the internet? "Chipped Ham Barbecue" that my Yinzer in-laws make.

And remember, if it isn't Isaly's, it isn't chipped ham.

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May 17, 2021Liked by Scott Hines

Some of my favorite bbq sandwiches put coleslaw on them.

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