We all know Southern food like fried chicken, black eyed peas, and collards. Is there typical Northern food?
The only thing I can think of is lobster rolls and different variations of fried seafood in the summer.
Edit: If there isn’t a singular “Northern” monolith, what are some regional foods or things you think of that stand out?
32 comments
The South is a cultural region.
The “North” is not.
Union states encompass a huge variety of local culture.
In terms of local food, this encompasses Maine lobster, New England Clam Chowder, New York style pizza, Philly cheese steak sandwiches, Chicago and Detroit style pizza, the Chicago hot dog, Cincinnati chili, and San Francisco style burritos, among much more
Squeaky cheese
New England north or Midwest north?
There’s really no “the North” the same way there’s “the South”.
New York Style Pizza, Lobster Stew, Boston Cream Pie, Lobster Rolls, Reuben Sandwich, New York Cheesecake, Vermont Apple Pie, Cod Fish Cakes, Eggs Benedict, Clam Chowder, Fried Soft-Shell Crab, Deep Dish Pizza, Stromboli, Scrapple, Buffalo wings, Sloppy joe, Philly Cheesesteak, etc.
Well I dunno about “northern” cause “the North” isn’t really one distinct region like “the South” there’s new England and the great lakes area and the Pacific Northwest.
I’ll answer for New England. I’ve never heard of anyone outside new England who liked or even heard of canned brown bread.
Also Boston baked beans.
Fluffernutter apparently is a new England thing.
Fiddleheads
Lobster, clam chowder, fish n Chips for sure
pizza
bagels
cheese steaks
clam chowder
reuben sandwich
good italian-american food
crab cakes
new jersey diners
Bagels
Unsweetened Tea
Ironic, isn’t it?
smoked salmon on everything
– Pacific Northwest
I grew up the NYC metro area and I think of Italian American and Jewish foods (and Greek diner food!): bagels, lox, pastrami, Reuben sandwiches, chicken parm hero, Sunday gravy (red sauce), ny style lasagna (not Italian style)- and ditto baked ziti, eggplant parm with spaghetti, NY pizza and calzones, etc. Other foods of NY origin- buffalo wings, cheesecake (the same guy who invented Reubens invented Ny style cheesecake!), Manhattan clam chowder, black and white cookies, eggs Benedict …
“Famous” Roast Beef Sandwiches from Boston.
Tenderloin sandwich in Indiana
Food from various immigrant groups like Italian American food
Duncan Donuts
Bagels?
Roasts, skyline chili, hotdogs, pizza, stews
There’s about a dozen “North”s in the US. New England, Nothern Midwest, Pacific Northwest … on down the list. The list of “typical foods” would blow up Reddit’s post limit.
But to answer the question in your edit, freshly-caught Maine lobster is a slice of heaven. Apart from being super-tasty on its own merits, it’s pretty much impossible to get outside of making friends with a local lobsterman.
I don’t have the right to call myself a “Mainer,” since I only lived there for about 10 years. That’s legit enough to say I appreciate the cuisine in Maine, but I’d get laughed at if I called myself a Mainer.
Poutine? How far north you talking?
Boiled dinners
Seems like most of the answers in this thread are for the New England area. As someone from Michigan, “northern” food is pasties, coney dogs, Detroit style pizza, comfort food. Stuff that keeps ya warm in the winter.
Uh, I suppose coffee shacks.
I think everybody from the Great Lakes Area; Ohio to Kansas-ish, knows how to make some of potato chip casserole.
Rueben, clam chowder, NY pizza, cheesesteak
I’m not from Philly but ya gotta recognize the cheese steak
Whatever we want, since we won.
Scrapple
“southern” food really means the historical south, which mostly translates into the southeast. It’s not quite the same in the southern plains, very different in the southwest, there are differences between coastal, inland and river areas. It’s not really a monolith.
The north is much they same, they have a bevy of smaller regions where the food that was historically locally available (and for seafood in particular what’s available fresh NOW) influence the cuisine heavily.
For both North and south the immigration history in the area has a big impact as well.
In the bay area nowadays, Poke is really big. It’s a Hawaiian-Japanese fusion food I believe, and it’s a very popular food for lunch.
Meatloaf
Hot dish/goulash
Roast chicken and potatoes
Steak and potatoes
Pork chops and potatoes
Sorry, I got on a roll.
Mmmm, rolls…
In my area it’s hotdish some people call it a casserole.
If you consider anything outside the south to be the north, it includes everything from Maine to California. If you only mean the Midwest and Northeast, Basic, bland 1950s family style meals like meatloaf and vegetables, seafood, in NYC, Detroit, and Chicago, and other places with Italians, pizza and spaghetti, idk what else