The Food Timeline history notes--state foods

Food Timeline FAQs: state foods balloon picture

Have questions? Ask!

What is the "state food" of Nevada? That's a difficult question to answer. Why? Because cuisine is not easily defined by political boundaries. It is a complicated mix of history, cultural/ethnic influence, and local commodities. Some states and cities are commonly associated with foods (Maryland crab cakes, Boston baked beans, Philly cheese steak, New York style pizza) others are harder to connect with a particular dish. If your teacher asks you to bring in a food that represents a particular state, you have several options:

State-specific cookbooks
Official state foods
Popular commodities
Other ideas
Quick list of traditional state foods
Historic notes & recipes
Key Ingredeints: America by Food/Smithsonian Institution

State cookbooks
Most states have recipe books. Some of these are current (New Jersey Cookery, David & Gail Trimble), others are historic (History from the Hearth: A Colonial Michilimachinac Cookbook, Sally Eustice), and some concentrate on ethnic heritage (The Melting pot: Ethnic Cuisine in Texas, University of Texas at San Antonio). You can use the Library of Congress catalog to find these state-specific cookbooks. Run a subject search with these terms: cookery-state name (cookery-New Jersey or cookery-Iowa). Your librarian can help you find these books and bring them to your library. Old community/church cookbooks and restaurant menus are the best guides to the foods really enjoyed by local people at a particular time. These can be hard to find. Local libraries and historical societies are your best bet.

We recommend:

The American History Cookbook, Mark H. Zanger
The American Regional Cookbook, Nancy & Arthur Hawkins
The Fifty States Cookbook, Culinary Arts Institute
Foods from the Founding Fathers, Helen Newbury Burke
I Hear America Cooking, Betty Fussell
The National Cookbook: A Kitchen Americana, Sheila Hibben
New York World's Fair Cook Book: The American Kitchen, Crosby Gaige
Taste of the States: A Food History of America, Hilde Gabriel Lee
The Thirteen Colonies Cookbook, Mary Donovan

All of these books offer classic recipes adapted for modern kitchens.

State recipes on the Web
1. Check the state's Dept. of Agriculture, or type "recipe" in the search Services Web site. Just click on the state you need.

2. Local Legacies from the Library of Congress--select your state & check for food festivals, (Lettuce Days, Yuma AZ) and historic restaurants (Louis' Lunch, New Haven CT). No recipes here...but a great place to identify popular foods & culinary claims. Use Google to find more information: keyword "yuma lettuce days" or "gilroy garlic" returns festival page and history.

3. Check foodways notes from Living History Museums in your state. Sometimes you will find recipes. If not, you can always contact the museum for suggestions.

Official state foods
Many states have adopted (by law!) official state beverages, fruits, vegetables, fish, etc. You will usually find these symbols on the kid's page or FAQ page. You can use your own recipe with the state symbol (Alabama's state fruit is the blackberry) as the featured ingredient. The standard URL format for each state is www.state.postalcode.us (EXAMPLES: www.state.nj.us, www.state.az.us). If you want to conduct a survey of all states (which ones have adoped milk as the official beverage?) use the symbols link on this site to go directly to all 50 states. Yes, this will take some time.

A small handful of states have adopted official state dishes or baked goods. NOTE: there are no "official" recipes in recorded in state laws.

Georgia
State prepared food: Grits

Maryland
State dessert: Smith Island Cake
Description & recipe here.

Massachusetts
State Muffin
The schoolchildren of Massachusetts petitioned for the CORN MUFFIN, a staple of New England cooking, and the Legislature made it official in 1986.
State Dessert
The BOSTON CREAM PIE, created in the 19th century, was chosen as the official state dessert on December 12, 1996. A civics class from Norton High School sponsored the bill. The pie beat out other candidates, including the toll house cookie and Indian pudding.
State Cookie
The CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIE was designated the official cookie of the Commonwealth on July 9, 1997. A third grade class from Somerset proposed the bill to honor the cookie invented in 1930 at the Toll House Restaurant in Whitman.
Minnesota
The blueberry muffin is adopted as the official muffin of the state of Minnesota.
New Mexico
State Cookie - Biscochito (type bizcochito the search box):
12-3-4. J. The bizcochito is adopted as the official cookie of New Mexico.
1989, ch. 154, § 1;
New York
State Muffin-- Apple Muffin--1987
" 84. State muffin. The apple muffin shall be the official muffin of the state of New York."
Ohio

5.08. Official State beverage. The canned, processed juice and pulp of the fruit of the herb Lycopersicon esculentum, commonly known as tomato juice, is hereby adopted as the official beverage of the state."
History 131 v 5. Eff 10-6-65
Oklahoma

State meal, H.C.R. 1083, 1988
Rhode Island
"State Drink
Coffee Milk is the official State Drink.
Adopted on July 29, 1993.
Coffee Milk is similar to chocolate milk but is made with coffee syrup. A coffee "cabinet" is coffee milk with ice cream (a coffee flavored milk shake). The main ingredient of this shake is "coffee milk," first introduced to Rhode Islanders in the early 1920's. Coffee milk became so popular in Rhode Island that in 1993 the Rhode Island state legislature voted coffee milk as the official state drink. It's called a "cabinet" because its originator kept his blender in a "kitchen cabinet." Autocrat Coffee Syrup is the preferred syrup in Rhode Island. Autocrat of Rhode Island is a leading provider of premium coffee, syrup, and coffee extract since 1895."
Rhode Island State Symbols
South Dakota
State Dessert is kuchen, recipe included
1-6-16.7. State dessert. Kuchen is hereby designated as the official state dessert of South Dakota.
Vermont
Title 1 Chapter 11 § 512. State pie.
The state pie shall be apple pie.
Added 1999, No. 15, § 1

Major commodities
If you need to know which commodities (fruits, vegetables) are produced in a particular state you can use the U.S. Dept. of Agriculture's National Agriculture Statistics database. States Which Produce the Most of Popular Kids Food, from the Comsumers Union.

What if your state does not seem to have an *obvious* traditional food/recipe?
Excellent...this gives you quite a lot of latitude. All you have to do is make the connection between the food and your state.

When was it settled?--the National Park Service is a great place to go for historic food information
By whom?--Moravians in North Carolina, Portuguese in Rhode Island, Italians in Pennsylvania, Germans in Texas, Acadians in Louisiana, Swedish in Wisconsin, Basque sheepherders in Nevada, Welsh copper miners in upper Michigan...
Major celebrations?--St. Louis & Chicago Expositions, New York's World's Fairs, Kentucky Derby
Local specialties?--Cincinnati chili, Buffalo Wings, Philly cheese-steak, Iowa's loose meat sandwiches, Boston cream pie, Springfield-style cashew chicken, Chicago-style pizza
Famous people?--George Washington Carver (GA), Clarence Birdseye (NY), Milton Hershey (PA), Henry Perky (CO)
Significant landmarks?--The Corn Palace (Mitchell, SD), Gouldings Trading Post (Monument Valley, UT), Wall Drug (Wall, SD)
Restaurants?--Diners (RI), Fred Harvey's (KS), Nathan's (Brooklyn), Automats (Philadelphia)
Innovations?--Shredded wheat (CO), powedered gelatin (NY), breakfast cereal (MI), TV dinners (NE)
Famous products?--Campbell's soup (NJ), Van Camp's Pork & Beans (IN), Kellogg's Corn Flakes (MI), Corsicana fruitcake (TX), Tabasco Sauce (LA), SPAM (MN).

A selected list of traditional state foods
The following list was culled from a variety of sources and provides selections for every course: appetizer, bread, soup, salad, entree & dessert. It is by no means exhaustive. Some states/cities are well known for several foods. In these cases, we selected a few representative dishes. For states not commonly associated with a particular popular dish we selected a commodity from its state symbols. Please note: this list does not reflect the rich ethnic diversity and cultural heritage that blends together to compose American cuisine as a whole. It is meant only as a starting point. If you have any suggestions or comments about the traditional foods in your state please let us know!

The following foods work for quick projects or tight deadlines.
If you are writing a state report and want more information
or concentrating on a specific period (colonial Connecticut? Civil war Ohio? Gold Rush California?)
please let us know!

Baltimore [MD] Pit Beef
Battle Creek [MI] Kellogg's cereals I & II
Boston [MA] baked beans & brown bread, Boston cream pie & Parker House rolls
Brooklyn [NY] corned beef on rye, Coney Island hot dogs & egg creams
Buffalo [NY] Chicken Wings &
Charleston [SC] Huguenot torte
Chicago [IL] Cracker Jacks, deep dish pizza, Italian beef sandwiches, Chicken Vesuvio, Oscar Mayer brand products & more!
Cincinnati [OH] pork, Skyline chili & opera creams
Denver [CO] Denver sandwich
Hartford [CT] election cake
Kansas City [MO] Kansas City Style Barbeque
Los Angeles [CA] California rolls
Long Island [NY] duck & potatoes
Mackinac Island[MI] fudge
Miami [FL] Cuban food, Miami style
Milwaukee [WI] German [Fest] dishes & popular fare
Monterey [CA] jack cheese
New Orleans [LA] Gumbo, Po'Boys, Muffulettas, Bananas Foster
New York City NYC-style pizza, black & whites (cookies), deli foods & Waldorf Salad
Philadelphia [PA] cheese steak, sticky buns, Philadelphia-style vanilla ice cream, soft hot pretzels with mustard, pepper pot soup
Pittsburgh [PA] City chicken, cookie tables, Italian wedding soup, & Pittsburgh-style steaks (black on the outside, red on the inside)
Portland [OR] Portland Cremes Portsmouth [NH] orange cake
Providence [RI] Diners I & II
St. Louis [MO] toasted ravioli & gooey butter cake
San Antonio [TX] chili
San Francisco [CA] sourdough bread & Cioppino
Sheboygan [WI] bratwurst
Springfield [IL] Horseshoe sandwiches Thousand Islands [NY] dressing

USA apple pie

Sources used for recipes & history:
American Heritage Cookbook, Meals & Recipes, volume 2, American Heritage [magazine]
American Regional Cookbook, Nancy & Arthur Hawkins
Encyclopedia of American Food & Drink, John F. Mariani
Fifty States Cook Book, Culinary Arts Insititute
Recipes from America's Restored Villages, Jean Anderson
Thirteen Colonies Cookbook, Mary Donovan et al.

About these notes: Food history can be a complicated topic. These notes are not meant to be a comprehensive treatment of the subject, but a summary of salient points supported with culinary evidence. If you need more information we suggest you start by asking your librarian to help you find the books and articles cited in these notes. Article databases are good for locating current recipes, consumer trends, and new products.

About culinary research & about copyright.
Research conducted by Lynne Olver, editor The Food Timeline. About this site.