“Local” foods that international friends don’t understand!

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Replies

  • LeeAWatt2021
    LeeAWatt2021 Posts: 14 Member
    I grew up in Cape Breton, NS where many Scottish migrants settled so there was a lot of Scottish influence in our daily lives. My grandfather and his siblings still spoke gaelic (he was from Ayr, Scotland) as did many of the older generation in my village. We have a Gaelic college, there were always bagpipes and fiddles. (Big Irish influence there too). I had tablet and biscuits made by my great-aunt. I had blood pudding for breakfast with kippers on toast. I knew of haggis but never really had it until I went to Scotland as an adult. We ate porridge every morning. Oatcakes and treacle toffee.
  • Speakeasy76
    Speakeasy76 Posts: 961 Member
    Thoin wrote: »
    I find, anywhere but the South, people don't know what I'm talking about.

    Moonpies and Cheerwine

    3uu5sqlajumi.jpg

    I didn't grow up in the South, but my mom grew up in NC and my grandparents lived there,so I definitely know about Moonpies,and especially Cheerwine! We'd always take Cheerwine and Sundrop back with us to Indiana after visiting them.

    I was happy to see Cheerwine in my local suburban Chicago grocery store a few years ago.
  • Kupla71
    Kupla71 Posts: 1,080 Member
    Poutine! For those outside of Canada or who don’t know it’s French fries, gravy and cheese curds. A tasty satisfying indulgence. I don’t know if it has spread to the rest of the world yet. I haven’t had it for years but I’m getting a craving for it just about now! 😃
  • springlering62
    springlering62 Posts: 7,342 Member
    edited March 2021
    Thoin wrote: »
    I find, anywhere but the South, people don't know what I'm talking about.

    Moonpies and Cheerwine

    3uu5sqlajumi.jpg

    I didn't grow up in the South, but my mom grew up in NC and my grandparents lived there,so I definitely know about Moonpies,and especially Cheerwine! We'd always take Cheerwine and Sundrop back with us to Indiana after visiting them.

    I was happy to see Cheerwine in my local suburban Chicago grocery store a few years ago.

    The Cookout burger chain - which is outstanding, btw- has Cheerwine on fountain.

    There was also a brand called Bloodwine, which was really good. Another good one was Nehi, especially the peach.

    I regularly ship chocolate Moonpies to my daughter in Europe. Her husband and in-laws were like,”What ARE these things?!”
  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 31,721 Member
    So, I posted this in a tangent on another thread, and @claireychn074 suggested I post it here. It's . . . hyper-local, and was limited release. I thought it was wonderful, personally, but definitely would not be for everyone. 1yqd73km1757.jpg
  • BarbaraHelen2013
    BarbaraHelen2013 Posts: 1,940 Member
    Lietchi wrote: »
    festerw wrote: »
    festerw wrote: »
    Sponge candy, ox roast, and pepperoni balls.

    Okay what’s sponge candy then?!

    Best way I can describe it is like fluffy caramel covered in chocolate.
    https://www.yourerie.com/digital-first/digital-exclusive/digital-exclusive-sponge-candy-explained/

    Oh that’s hilarious - I clicked on the link but the content is banned for Europeans 🤣🤣 so I can’t even find out what it is!

    It's caramel (corn syrup, sugar and butter) that you add baking soda to in the final stage .. it bubbles up. You pour it on baking paper to set then break it in chunks and dip in melted chocolate. It's bubbly and airy but crunchy too. I used to make it in the microwave many years ago but haven't made it in years.

    Also known as honeycomb? Seen it on TV shows lots of times, it looks like a science experiment to make it :smiley:

    Honeycomb, Cinder Toffee, or in some parts of the U.K. - Hokey-Pokey! Goodness knows where that last came from and it always slightly disturbs me to hear fully grown adults (I’m looking at you, Nigella Lawson) refer to it as such! 😱😂
  • anna_nintey3
    anna_nintey3 Posts: 843 Member
    Parma
    Barra
    Banger
    Sanga
  • springlering62
    springlering62 Posts: 7,342 Member
    Parma
    Barra
    Banger
    Sanga

    That just sounds so nice tripping off the tongue.
  • goal06082021
    goal06082021 Posts: 2,130 Member
    @AnnPT77 Oh, that beer looks really interesting! Presumably you had a chance to try it? How was it?
  • Antiopelle
    Antiopelle Posts: 1,184 Member
    Another Belgian here. I agree on the "muizenstrontjes". Superdelish!

    As for kwark/quark, we have always known it here, but my French family didn't know what it was.
    When we went to France to visit them, we always brought Belgian pickles (pickalily), chocolate and also "dried meat". It's the animal that this dried meat is from that is controversial, as it is horse meat.

    We have a history of boating transporting goods through canals, and before boats were powered with engines, horses used to pull the boats. Arriving at destination (around the Brussels area), the horses that were not good enough to make another trip were slaughtered. This make a long tradition of eating horse meat in our region. I ate it a lot as a child and I remember it was our favorite meat. You can still order it at local restaurants, or find it in the supermarkets. You can imagine the reaction of some of our international guests when we help them read the menu!
  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 31,721 Member
    @AnnPT77 Oh, that beer looks really interesting! Presumably you had a chance to try it? How was it?

    Yes. That was my photo of my own personal bottle (well, one of them). I'm mostly an IPA gal, but will try a sour ale now and then. Usually they're fruity, and not what I'd think of as beer-y, flavor wise

    I thought this was wonderful, but it would be a niche taste, I think. Hard to describe: Flavor profile over in the direction of a margarita (tartly sour, salty), but with cucumber tones (with the sourness, a hint of cucumber/vinegar salad flavor, but not strictly vinegar-y). I love cucumbers, salt, so it worked for me.
  • hipari
    hipari Posts: 1,367 Member
    We’re nearing Easter, so I was just reminded of two traditional Finnish Easter delicacies, one of which I love and one I loathe with all my heart. Starting with the bad so we can end with good, I’d like to introduce you to mämmi. It’s essentially cold sweetened rye porridge that looks like, well, mud or runny poop and is eaten with heavy cream. Here’s a wikipedia link for those interested. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mämmi

    My actual favorite is pasha, which is a ridiculously calorific dessert made out of quark, cream, sugar and butter. All the ingredients are mixed together and put in a mold to set overnight, and it becomes a firm sponge-like thing you can cut into. It’s delicious, but I’ve only had pasha a few times since my grandma passed away in 2015. She used to make it every Easter and had a specific pasha mold that made some beautiful ornamentation in the pasha. She always served it with fresh fruit, like grapes.
  • MarttaHP
    MarttaHP Posts: 68 Member
    hipari wrote: »
    We’re nearing Easter, so I was just reminded of two traditional Finnish Easter delicacies, one of which I love and one I loathe with all my heart. Starting with the bad so we can end with good, I’d like to introduce you to mämmi. It’s essentially cold sweetened rye porridge that looks like, well, mud or runny poop and is eaten with heavy cream. Here’s a wikipedia link for those interested. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mämmi

    My actual favorite is pasha, which is a ridiculously calorific dessert made out of quark, cream, sugar and butter. All the ingredients are mixed together and put in a mold to set overnight, and it becomes a firm sponge-like thing you can cut into. It’s delicious, but I’ve only had pasha a few times since my grandma passed away in 2015. She used to make it every Easter and had a specific pasha mold that made some beautiful ornamentation in the pasha. She always served it with fresh fruit, like grapes.

    Another Finn here! I actually don't mind mämmi and often eat it a couple of times around Easter. It's pretty low-calorie and filling, which is how I like my desserts and food in general. I eat mine with vanilla custard.

    I actually can't readily think of another food that is as exclusively Finnish as mämmi. Even pasha apparently is eaten in Eastern Orthodox countries (I had to google this after the discussion of quark availability upthread - I figured that since pasha is traditional and uses quark as an ingredient, quark has to have been available in the countries that make pasha for much longer than a few decades).

    Maybe kalakukko (fish baked into a loaf of bread) might be another only-found-in-Finland food?
  • hipari
    hipari Posts: 1,367 Member
    @MarttaHP you might be right! Most ”traditional” delicacies I can think of are shared with either Sweden or Russia. Kalakukko might be, but I’d imagine baking fish into a bread is done around the world in different ways. Christmas casseroles like lanttulaatikko, porkkanalaatikko and imelletty perunalaatikko (rutabaga, carrot and sweetened potato casseroles) might be quite exclusively Finnish, and possibly munajuusto (a type of fresh cheese made with eggs)?

    The biggest upside of my IBS-caused rye and barley intolerance is that I have a non-arguable health reason to decline mämmi... yes, I loathe it that much.
  • ageingtechno
    ageingtechno Posts: 22 Member
    Clapshot
    And
    Cranachan
    (Though not in the same dish!)
  • kristingjertsen
    kristingjertsen Posts: 239 Member
    Southern items here. Scrapple, Head Cheese, Stone Milled Hominy Grits, Raw Oysters in season, collards, mustard greens, beet greens, kale, BBQ in infinite variations and styles, southern slaw, pimiento cheese, funeral cake and funeral pudding. Foods I craved when I lived in South Korea because so many of them were not available. Briefly lived up north and these were no where to be found in Connecticut and Colorado 20 plus years ago. I loved living in Columbus, Ohio because with so many Southern transplants whose families had moved north to escape Jim Crow. Found many of my family favorites there and restaurants serving the foods I craved.
  • Thoin
    Thoin Posts: 942 Member
    Thoin wrote: »
    I find, anywhere but the South, people don't know what I'm talking about.

    Moonpies and Cheerwine

    3uu5sqlajumi.jpg

    I didn't grow up in the South, but my mom grew up in NC and my grandparents lived there,so I definitely know about Moonpies,and especially Cheerwine! We'd always take Cheerwine and Sundrop back with us to Indiana after visiting them.

    I was happy to see Cheerwine in my local suburban Chicago grocery store a few years ago.

    Oh wow, it's made it up there now?
  • obx1bag
    obx1bag Posts: 24 Member
    Walking Tacos, I'm in Austin TX.
    You just crack open a bag of Doritos or Fritos, crunch them up a bit, then directly add in cooked beef, shredded cheese, lettuce, sour cream, salsa, and jalapenos.
    They're a hit at Friday night football games too.
  • Noreenmarie1234
    Noreenmarie1234 Posts: 7,493 Member
    edited April 2021
    atx1bag wrote: »
    Walking Tacos, I'm in Austin TX.
    You just crack open a bag of Doritos or Fritos, crunch them up a bit, then directly add in cooked beef, shredded cheese, lettuce, sour cream, salsa, and jalapenos.
    They're a hit at Friday night football games too.

    This was my favorite as a kid!
  • JoDavo66
    JoDavo66 Posts: 526 Member
    Apple pie and cheddar cheese is definitely not country-wide, I always thought of that as a Vermont thing specifically though? Maybe just the first person to tell me about it was a Vermonter.
    My Dad always had cheddar cheese with apple pie- he said it was a Yorkshire thing (UK). I don't know about that as I've never seen it in Yorkshire! He always used to say (& apologies if this no longer politically correct), "Apple pie without cheese, is like a kiss without a squeeze"!