How appropriate that we've come full circle on our tour of regional American cooking right before Thanksgiving! Thanks, everyone, for sharing your own insight and stories (and corrections!) along the way. Now that we've given you some inspiration, we'd love to hear - wherever you live now, wherever you grew up, what dish or foods or flavors always say "home"?
We've had a lot of fun putting these posts together and learned a lot in the process. We hope we've been able to delight and educate you as well. Regional cooking is important to us as a community and something we intend to continue featuring here on the Kitchn. We've definitely only scratched the surface!
New England
Ingredients and Flavors
Food and Cuisine
The South
Ingredients and Flavors
Food and Cuisine
Florida
Ingredients and Flavors
Food and Cuisine
The Midwest
Ingredients and Flavors
Food and Cuisine
Louisiana
Ingredients and Flavors
Food and Cuisine
The Pacific Northwest
Ingredients and Flavors
Food and Cuisine
California
Ingredients and Flavors
Food and Cuisine
The Southwest
Ingredients and Flavors
Food and Cuisine
Hawaii
Ingredients and Flavors
Food and Cuisine
Alaska
Ingredients and Flavors
Food and Cuisine
Consider this Phase 1 with more to come...
Related: Regional Specialty: Kentucky Derby Pie
(Image: Courtesy of Time Life and Google)
Coming from California, fresh produce like avocados, strawberries, and citrus are on the list, as are fresh, light Mexican food and my mom's Filipino home-cooking, but mostly, I think of the sun-kissed briny taste that comes with fresh seafood, often picked and fished with our own hands--bottleneck clams, black mussels, sea urchins, red snapper, calico bass, halibut, and sea vegetables.
view OneWallKitchen's profile
Thanksgiving with my fam in Alabama is all about cornbread sage stuffing, green bean casserole, glazed ham, deep fried turkey, deviled eggs, macaroni and cheese, and "pretzel salad" - a chilled layered dessert of stawberries (in gelatin), cream cheese, and a pretzel crust. Can't wait to get there!
view stolichnaya's profile
I'm from New Brunswick.
Nothing says home to me like my Mother's split pea and ham soup, thick and hot and filling.
Close second: my English dad's beef stew with tomatoes, turnip, and big hunks and potato, all topped with fat dumplings.
view teacupnosaucer's profile