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

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Replies

  • springlering62
    springlering62 Posts: 7,340 Member
    smithker75 wrote: »
    Grits
    Hominy
    Boiled peanuts
    Corn pones
    Mud pie
    Hummingbird Cake
    Icebox pie
    Fried okra
    Fried green tomatoes (to die for when properly cooked with cornmeal- a pox upon any menu that adds blue cheese or anything else wet and runny)
    Fried squash
    Fried cauliflower (noticing a trend here?)
    Naked dog walking, preferably with a Frosted Orange
    Co-Cola 😂😂😂

    FYI don't Google 'naked dog walking' on your work computer. Learn from me...

    That’s so funny. I did Google it before adding it to the list to make sure no one would get anything sketchy and it came right up as what it was “supposed” to be. Google knows where I live. 😱

    A naked dog walking is a plain hotdog from a local fast food joint, which happens to be the largest in the world.
  • claireychn074
    claireychn074 Posts: 1,311 Member
    Quark is awesome for low fat creamy sauces, really good for pasta and chicken. I love it!
  • Speakeasy76
    Speakeasy76 Posts: 961 Member
    edited March 2021
    lkpducky wrote: »
    When I lived in Indiana, I had sugar cream pie for the first time. It was so good! Is that strictly Indiana?

    I've read that that's like the # 1 desert there. However, I grew up in Indiana and don't remember ever having it, and certainly my parents (or mom) never made it. I I'm guessing that's because both of my parents are transplants--my mom being from North Carolina, and my dad from Michigan.

  • Speakeasy76
    Speakeasy76 Posts: 961 Member
    I live in Chicago suburbs, so the ones I think of in Chicago are:

    Deep Dish Chicago-style pizza (although there are no chains branching out in the midwest),
    Italian beef sandwich
    Chicago hot dog
  • 75in2013
    75in2013 Posts: 360 Member
    Quark is awesome for low fat creamy sauces, really good for pasta and chicken. I love it!

    That's awesome. The world is really changing. 20 years ago there was no chance to get Quark outside of Germany/Austria (not sure about the Netherlands).

    Now you have to check out Mettbrötchen too :D
  • BarbaraHelen2013
    BarbaraHelen2013 Posts: 1,940 Member
    75in2013 wrote: »
    Quark is awesome for low fat creamy sauces, really good for pasta and chicken. I love it!

    That's awesome. The world is really changing. 20 years ago there was no chance to get Quark outside of Germany/Austria (not sure about the Netherlands).

    Now you have to check out Mettbrötchen too :D

    I’m in the U.K. and we’ve been able to easily get Quark in the supermarket for as long as I remember (which is a very long time!). I remember using it as low fat dairy for a load of dishes when I first left home in the late 1970’s. It’s something I still buy and use from time to time. Not sure why you think it’s specific to Germany. 🤷‍♀️
  • Noreenmarie1234
    Noreenmarie1234 Posts: 7,493 Member
    75in2013 wrote: »
    Quark is awesome for low fat creamy sauces, really good for pasta and chicken. I love it!

    That's awesome. The world is really changing. 20 years ago there was no chance to get Quark outside of Germany/Austria (not sure about the Netherlands).

    Now you have to check out Mettbrötchen too :D

    I’m in the U.K. and we’ve been able to easily get Quark in the supermarket for as long as I remember (which is a very long time!). I remember using it as low fat dairy for a load of dishes when I first left home in the late 1970’s. It’s something I still buy and use from time to time. Not sure why you think it’s specific to Germany. 🤷‍♀️

    I am in the US and my aunt has bought quark her whole life from the regular stores here!
  • 75in2013
    75in2013 Posts: 360 Member
    I’m in the U.K. and we’ve been able to easily get Quark in the supermarket for as long as I remember (which is a very long time!). I remember using it as low fat dairy for a load of dishes when I first left home in the late 1970’s. It’s something I still buy and use from time to time. Not sure why you think it’s specific to Germany. 🤷‍♀️

    Well, quark is a German product. The word "quark" is actually a German word dating back to the 14th century.

    I was never able to get quark on my travels. But I mostly travelled in Southern Europe, Africa and Asia. That must have skewed my perception.

    I am in the US and my aunt has bought quark her whole life from the regular stores here!

    Interesting. Maybe it came to the US with all the German immigrants?

  • Lietchi
    Lietchi Posts: 6,033 Member
    It's not just in Germany, also the Netherlands, Northern Europe...
  • AndreaTamira
    AndreaTamira Posts: 272 Member
    edited March 2021
    75in2013 wrote: »
    Two typical German foods:

    Mettbrötchen - Raw minced meat (pork) with onion on bread rolls for breakfast

    also

    Quark - a special form of fresh cheese. Every German that likes to bake has searched for this at least once in a foreign supermarket.

    Hate Mettbrötchen. Always did, even when I still was eating meat.

    Quark is still elusive in NZ where I now live. My partner's mum fell in love with it while travelling in Europe, so I now keep my eyes out for it just in case.

    Things I noticed people where I live now find weird or just don't know:

    White asparagus. Asparagus here is basically always green. I do not like green asparagus very much.

    Eating potato fritters with apple sauce. There are places that make potato fritters here, but they serve them with tomato sauce (which is near-identical to ketchup. Not the stuff you put on spaghetti.)

    They don't cook kale into a weird mush here. But I am ok with that.
  • 75in2013
    75in2013 Posts: 360 Member
    Quark is still elusive in NZ where I now live. My partner's mum fell in love with it while travelling in Europe, so I now keep my eyes out for it just in case.

    If you want to surprise your partner's mum. It's quite easy to make quark. You just need fresh milk (can be pasteurized but not UHT) and buttermilk. You don't need rennet.

  • kenyonhaff
    kenyonhaff Posts: 1,377 Member
    lemurcat2 wrote: »
    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.

    Like I said, it was common among my midwestern relatives -- definitely not New England specific.

    Grew up on East Coast of US, ended up marrying a native Vermonter who introduced me to apple pie accompanied by the sharpest cheddar you can obtain....OMG why haven't I been doing this all along? (Also, add maple syrup to the pie/cheese matrix.)
  • vanmep
    vanmep Posts: 406 Member
    Any Dutch people? Hagelslaag (chocolate or candy sprinkles to put on toast) and dropjes (salted black licorice).
  • Lietchi
    Lietchi Posts: 6,033 Member
    vanmep wrote: »
    Any Dutch people? Hagelslag (chocolate or candy sprinkles to put on toast) and dropjes (salted black licorice).

    Also called "muizenstrontjes" here in Belgium (mouse droppings :D cause it looks similar)
  • MsCzar
    MsCzar Posts: 1,039 Member
    Haluški!
  • elmusho1989
    elmusho1989 Posts: 321 Member
    kshama2001 wrote: »
    I'm not sure someone from Ireland would recognize what we in Massachusetts have for St. Patrick's Day - are there really supposed to be raisins in Irish Soda Bread? ;)

    I also make New England Boiled Dinner: corned beef, potatoes, onions, carrots, cabbage.

    Never had raisins but I wouldn't be adverse to trying!

    Cheese and onion tayto sandwiches
  • BarbaraHelen2013
    BarbaraHelen2013 Posts: 1,940 Member
    Lietchi wrote: »
    vanmep wrote: »
    Any Dutch people? Hagelslag (chocolate or candy sprinkles to put on toast) and dropjes (salted black licorice).

    Also called "muizenstrontjes" here in Belgium (mouse droppings :D cause it looks similar)

    Known as ‘Fairy Bread’ in the U.K. - or parts of the U.K. anyway. Wasn’t something I knew about as a child but learnt about later when I had children of my own. Lots of their friends were given it by parents who had had it as children. Not appealing to me, as a child or an adult!
  • Theo166
    Theo166 Posts: 2,564 Member
    Here is my weird fried list, that even I don't understand
    • Fried Butter (Iowa)
    • Fried Pig Ears (Minnesota)
    • Fried Beer (Texas)
    • Fried Kool Aid (California)
    • Fried Ice Cream Cheeseburger (Florida)
    • Fried Salsa (Texas)
    • Fried Bubblegum (Texas)
    • Fried Jelly Beans (Massachusetts)
  • GummiMundi
    GummiMundi Posts: 396 Member
    vanmep wrote: »
    Any Dutch people? Hagelslaag (chocolate or candy sprinkles to put on toast) and dropjes (salted black licorice).

    Hagelslag is the best! Gosh, now I want it! :D
  • Lietchi
    Lietchi Posts: 6,033 Member
    edited March 2021
    Lietchi wrote: »
    vanmep wrote: »
    Any Dutch people? Hagelslag (chocolate or candy sprinkles to put on toast) and dropjes (salted black licorice).

    Also called "muizenstrontjes" here in Belgium (mouse droppings :D cause it looks similar)

    Known as ‘Fairy Bread’ in the U.K. - or parts of the U.K. anyway. Wasn’t something I knew about as a child but learnt about later when I had children of my own. Lots of their friends were given it by parents who had had it as children. Not appealing to me, as a child or an adult!

    I googled it, but what I found is white bread with butter and colored sprinkles? Not my thing either.
    While hagelslag can be sugary colored sprinkles, the real stuff (in my mind anyway) is chocolate!
    I used to put it on bread with, instead of butter which I hate, nutella! Chocolate OD but so yummy 🙂