Weird local foods/snacks

[Mark]

So, I saw this post and it made me think about different weird local foods or snacks…



It’s exactly what it looks like, a peppermint stick stuffed in a lemon. A traditional summertime treat going back generations.

Honorable mention: The snowball (finely crushed ice, not shaved ice, flavor syrup, with marshmallow fluff or chocolate/strawberry syrup as an extra) rose to popularity here.

What weird stuff do y’all eat?

 

[Kat]

I'm going to need a little more explanation for the peppermint lemon. How exactly are you meant to eat that?

 

[finlandguy]

I guess there's some similar stuff to snowballs here in upstate NY. Kind of depends on what kind of machine they have for the ice, you know? Def many different syrups available.

"Michigans" is the thing quite a few in the north east might say is their thing. Maybe not through the whole area, but at least it's here. Essentially a hotdog with meat sauce on it. Folks have many of their own sauce recipes ranking from just a can of sloppy joes to making it from scratch with ground beef, worchestershire sauce, mustard, honey, and some secret spice mix. User optional onions, relish, condiments.

 

[Mark]

I'm going to need a little more explanation for the peppermint lemon. How exactly are you meant to eat that?

Basically… the peppermint stick becomes a straw from the acid of the lemon. The core of the stick is kinda lighter than the rest, like those soft mints you get at some restaurants. Some people eat them by “drinking” the lemon juice through it, some treat it like a lollipop, dipping it in the lemon juice.

 

[Kat]

I never would've guessed it would become a straw! Fucking wild. I don't think Oregon has anything that can compete with that. Do a lot of people like it?

 

[Mark]

I never would've guessed it would become a straw! Fucking wild. I don't think Oregon has anything that can compete with that. Do a lot of people like it?

It gets a lot of side-eyes from transplants, especially since the resurgence among the hipster niches in the city because it’s “authentic” or some shit, but it’s interesting to see something odd like that make a comeback.

Bob's Peppermint Candy Sugar Sticks – 2Lbs Pack Delicious Candy Sticks with red and White Stripes – Cute Candy Canes Peppermints Candy for Candy Display, Basket Stuffers, Candy Party Favors https://a.co/d/6ymUaAK

When life gives you lemons…

 

[finlandguy]

Oh, one interesting one from finland, especially in cities around the coast, you can buy freshly caught and fried small herrings. Ones only like 2-3 inches long. They're quickly gutted and depending on the seller, just straight up fried like that in a big pan with butter, or some folks have an egg wash and bread crumb treatment for them. The more basic straight fried ones are usually a bit more interesting for folks. The fish is so small so none of the bones are really a bother since they're so small so you just eat them. Some folks don't even cut the head off, only gutting them. Pretty good stuff, especially when freshly caught there in good clean waters.

 

[Mark]

Oh, one interesting one from finland, especially in cities around the coast, you can buy freshly caught and fried small herrings. Ones only like 2-3 inches long. They're quickly gutted and depending on the seller, just straight up fried like that in a big pan with butter, or some folks have an egg wash and bread crumb treatment for them. The more basic straight fried ones are usually a bit more interesting for folks. The fish is so small so none of the bones are really a bother since they're so small so you just eat them. Some folks don't even cut the head off, only gutting them. Pretty good stuff, especially when freshly caught there in good clean waters.

I think Sweden wins with the fish… I have a friend that brought some Surströmming back from there.

If you know, you know.

 

[finlandguy]

I think Sweden wins with the fish… I have a friend that brought some Surströmming back from there.

If you know, you know.

 

[The Eye in the Sky!]

When I was in Sweden we avoided that, lol. But I did buy a tube of shrimp cheese which was weird. My brother tried to bring so much pickled herring home they stopped him at customs in Munich to check.

 

[shortkut]

When I lived in Erie, PA they had something called “sponge candy” which kind of sucked but they liked it. @Fool's Requiem might be familiar with it since I think he’s in Cleveland

 

[Fool's Requiem]

When I lived in Erie, PA they had something called “sponge candy” which kind of sucked but they liked it. @Fool's Requiem might be familiar with it since I think he’s in Cleveland

I'm in STL now. Was in Cleveland from 14-17. Grew up in NW PA, though. Never heard of "sponge candy". Got a picture by any chance?

Also, Erie fucking sucks. Only good things about Erie are Waldemeer and Presque Isle.

 

[shortkut]

I'm in STL now. Was in Cleveland from 14-17. Grew up in NW PA, though. Never heard of "sponge candy". Got a picture by any chance?

Also, Erie fucking sucks. Only good things about Erie are Waldemeer and Presque Isle.

SPONGE CANDY

Some call it sponge candy… others call it seafoam, honeycomb or even cinderblock. We simply call it melt-in-your-mouth delicious! Light, airy and covered in a thick layer of our signature chocolate, sponge candy is a specialty for which Pulakos is famed. Available in your choice of milk or dark...

pulakoschocolates.com

 

[Fool's Requiem]

Never seen that before in my life. TBF, my mom was raised in Cleveland, my dad in central CA, and they never really integrated themselves into the location they moved to. When they moved to North Carolina, they didn't become North Carolinans, they became people who moved to NC. They're like those boomers who move to Florida because they're old and don't like the cold. They're can't day they're from FL, but that they live in FL.

 

[Nae'blis]

When I was in Sweden we avoided that, lol. But I did buy a tube of shrimp cheese which was weird. My brother tried to bring so much pickled herring home they stopped him at customs in Munich to check.

Us Swedes love our tubed cheeses.

 

[Crystal]

SPONGE CANDY

Some call it sponge candy… others call it seafoam, honeycomb or even cinderblock. We simply call it melt-in-your-mouth delicious! Light, airy and covered in a thick layer of our signature chocolate, sponge candy is a specialty for which Pulakos is famed. Available in your choice of milk or dark...

pulakoschocolates.com

View attachment 2861

Looks like a Crunchie

 

[Fool's Requiem]

I don't have any local snacks, but some region food items that most aren't familiar with outside of that region.

In PA, there's breakfast meat called "scrapple" or Pennsylvania Dutch "sausage". It's a mush mix of ground up pork and cornmeal that is formed into a very loose patty and plopped in the grill. I hadn't heard of it until I had it in a diner in Arlington, VA of all places. Oddly enough, there's a place here in STL that has it for some reason, too.

In STL, almost every Chinese restaurant has these things called "St Paul sandwiches" which is basically egg foo young slotted between two slices of bread. You will not find these outside of MO.

Also, popular in STL is provel cheese and Saint Louis Style pizza, which is thin crust pizza with shitty provel cheese as the cheese topping. A "popular" local pizza chain known as Imo's relies almost solely on this shitty pizza style. Imo's is by far the worst local pizza chain I have ever had... hell, worst local restaurant chain in general... and Cleveland has Mr. Hero. Imo's is pretty much hated here in STL, as well, but it's cheap compared to other places. Their baked spaghetti and meatballs is a bowl of sadness.

In Cleveland, pierogis are pretty popular because there is a sizable Eastern European population (only place I've been to that has a 100% Hungarian restaurant), in Jacob's Field, there used to be a hot dog stand that sold "pierogi hot dogs" and they were amazing. They closed down the stand so I never got to have them again, but you can search pierogi hot dogs and recipes are out there. They look a lot different from what I remember. At the ballpark, they seemed to make the pierogi the "bun" but in the recipes, they just throw a couple pierogis on top.

 

[Mark]

I don't have any local snacks, but some region food items that most aren't familiar with outside of that region.

In PA, there's breakfast meat called "scrapple" or Pennsylvania Dutch "sausage". It's a mush mix of ground up pork and cornmeal that is formed into a very loose patty and plopped in the grill. I hadn't heard of it until I had it in a diner in Arlington, VA of all places. Oddly enough, there's a place here in STL that has it for some reason, too.

Scrapple is huge here in MD as well. They’re all about that Rapa brand. I never cared for it, though.

 

[Smacktard]

There aren't really any Saudi-specific sweets here since everything comes from countries with actual manufacturing.

People eat a lot of dates, which, if you've ever had dates from Saudi, you'd understand why. They're REALLY good, soft, gooey, sweet. Just delicious.

Saudi's national dish is... chicken and rice (kabsa). Granted, it's joujed-up a bit, but it's still just chicken and rice. Gather 5 Saudis around a huge plate of it, and they'll tear off chicken meat with their bare hands, squeeze some rice into a ball, and eat it that way, hands dripping with cooking oil and spices. No thanks.

A lot of Saudis eat Yemeni desserts, or Yemeni-adjacent deserts. They're really good, super high in calories. Masoob is a good one. Think banana bread, but covered in honey, thick cream, and banana slices. Popular during Ramadan when people need something to fill their stomachs for the whole day.

 

[Benzine]

There aren't really any Saudi-specific sweets here since everything comes from countries with actual manufacturing.

People eat a lot of dates, which, if you've ever had dates from Saudi, you'd understand why. They're REALLY good, soft, gooey, sweet. Just delicious.

Saudi's national dish is... chicken and rice (kabsa). Granted, it's joujed-up a bit, but it's still just chicken and rice. Gather 5 Saudis around a huge plate of it, and they'll tear off chicken meat with their bare hands, squeeze some rice into a ball, and eat it that way, hands dripping with cooking oil and spices. No thanks.

A lot of Saudis eat Yemeni desserts, or Yemeni-adjacent deserts. They're really good, super high in calories. Masoob is a good one. Think banana bread, but covered in honey, thick cream, and banana slices. Popular during Ramadan when people need something to fill their stomachs for the whole day.

I love Yemeni food, although I only have it in Malaysia. Some of the stews are so far up my alley.

I love tearing meat apart and shoveling handfuls of rice down my gullet.

This isn’t to the same scale as some of the others in the thread, but in New Zealand our thing is pies. Meat filled pastries. The best.

 

[Kat]

Gather 5 Saudis around a huge plate of it, and they'll tear off chicken meat with their bare hands, squeeze some rice into a ball, and eat it that way, hands dripping with cooking oil and spices. No thanks.

You make it sound weird, but is it any different than chicken wings or pizza or burgers, messiness-wise? It's so arbitrary what we will and won't eat with our hands. Although eating rice with your hands sounds kind of annoying.

I still can't think of anything specific to Oregon. Maybe something marionberry related? But that's just a variety of blackberry, and I assume blackberries are generally popular elsewhere. They put them in everything here though.

 

[Smacktard]

You make it sound weird, but is it any different than chicken wings or pizza or burgers, messiness-wise?

I think it is very different. Those examples aren't really comparable. When I eat pizza, I take my own slice. I don't run my fingers through the same food others will be eating. I don't run my hands and fingers all over and around their slices.

I love Yemeni food, although I only have it in Malaysia. Some of the stews are so far up my alley.

Yeah they have some really great dishes. I never would've thought, especially when seeing how uninteresting Gulf food is.