Not a problem either. These $19k SUVs Will Make You Trade in Your Car, This is a slam dunk if you want a one-card wallet in 2021, New Policy For Cars Used Less Than 49 Miles/Day. Its meat is tough but tastes good and is often found in sushi bars. Find out, for example, what iconic Southern foods everyone should try, © Courtesy of the Arizona Diamondbacks / Twitter, © Courtesy of Evelyns Drive In / Facebook, © Courtesy of Caliche's Frozen Custard / Facebook, © Courtesy of Vinnie's Pizzeria / Twitter, © Courtesy of DogMahal DogHaus / Facebook, © Courtesy of Glier's Goettafest / goettafest.com, © Courtesy of The Sunglow Restaurant & Motel / Facebook. One popular way to serve it -- in Maryland as elsewhere -- is barbecued. When they're scrambled, pork brains take on a similar consistency to eggs, so the combination makes sense. They're considered an invasive species, destroying crops and levees in Louisiana, and sites like Can't Beat 'Em, Eat 'Em publish recipes for nutria -- though it hasn't really caught on. These factors add up to incredible variety in what we eat. You won't find them in Portland's trendy restaurants, though; while not (yet) on the endangered list, they are considered a species of concern. You can either throw a slab of Miracle Whip on salads and sandwiches. America has no shortage of excessive burger presentations, but this Las Vegas monstrosity has them all beat. Many people's vacation days tend to pile up as the months of 50-hour workweeks roll on. This American top-seller is a sweeter alternative that’s more of a dressing than mayo because of some extra ingredients like sugar, paprika, and garlic powder. It’s not beer, but it is (or was) made from plant roots. Why not just pile pizza on -- or rather into -- pizza. Spaghetti is good. Illinois: You can’t wear saggy pants. In its purest form, it's just a bag of Fritos corn chips (invented in Texas) -- one of those metallic-lined bags, not the plastic kind -- into which are spooned chili (no beans) and grated cheese. It’s a common misconception that America’s food is mainly composed of hamburgers, French fries, pizza, and all the stuff you can easily find on a fast-food menu. Their cheeseburger dog is a sausage-shaped "dog" formed out of char-grilled burgers, then deep fried and served with bacon, lettuce, tomato, and a "secret sauce." It’s a sin to turn cheese into something overly unnatural and Easy Cheese can already go to hell for being the processed cheese you just won’t find in shelves shaped as blocks or slices but in a pressurized can. Can you imagine marshmallows in spreadable form? The most vivid showcases for American regional food variations -- and imagination -- are state and county fairs, known for their sometimes silly but often tasty (and frequently heart-burning) inventions. Canned Bacon. This variation on crab Rangoon brings the two together, which sort of makes it seem like we're missing out on one or the other. No, we're not talking Hannibal Lecter here. 1. 12. These frosted pastries are packed in pairs inside foil packages designed to be warmed inside a toaster or microwave oven. After offering your friends with some PB&J goodness, bring out a box of s’mores to show how ‘weird’ your taste is. Well, the taste is honestly similar to a cake made of flour, eggs, buttermilk, and cocoa powder but with an oomph – thanks to cream cheese. Fast food is just part of the whole package together with home-cooked and microwaveable meals. Raw, sometimes green, peanuts are boiled in their shells in salted water. ALSO READ: Cities Where People Go Out to Eat All the Time. 9. A specialty of Ted's in Meriden but found elsewhere in the area, too, this is a burger that's topped with cheese and steamed on a tray in a custom steamer. The Western United States is the home of this delicacy, sometimes called Rocky Mountain Oysters. Hunters used to bring home squirrels for dinner when they couldn't catch anything better, and in fact, the meat is said to be quite good -- sweet and nutty, like a cross between rabbit and (what else?) Peas (almost always frozen) dressed with mayonnaise and mixed with diced onions and maybe some cheese are all that's needed for this popular picnic dish. The hotdish is a staple all over the Midwest. However, let’s not forget the weird edible stuff lurking in supermarket shelves. The 5th Bro is the most outré -- a beef frank topped with cream cheese, mango, relish, and Padang pineapple sriracha. Microsoft may earn an Affiliate Commission if you purchase something through recommended links in this article. The specialty at Vinnie's in Brooklyn is the Pizza Box Pizza, a small pepperoni pizza enclosed in a larger one that's folded over to form a box. Those hard little pebbles called Grape Nuts seem like the quintessential cereal for austere New Englanders, lacking color or sugary frosting. Have your lox on the side. In America, on the other hand, taking time off is often treated like a sin. NASCAR star Dale Earnhardt Jr., who calls this sandwich his favorite use for mayo, may have been born in North Carolina, but the sandwich is identified primarily with Alabama. The Bugitos are toasted mealworms glazed with melted sugar and topped with organic coconut. Other Floridian restaurants use actual jelly. This Canadian twist on a Bloody Mary takes the classic breakfast drink to a whole new level! Sausage and mozzarella are also involved. It's still appreciated in West Virginia, which hosts an annual Squirrel Fest, and where frying is a preferred method of preparation. Get notified about exclusive offers every week! Chopped, battered and deep fried testicles definitely deserve a spot on any list of strange American foods. Its ingredients include corn syrup, sugar syrup, vanilla flavor, and egg whites. Cheese curds aren't all that strange as long as you don't mind eating something that squeaks. There are plenty of foods eaten around the world that Americans find strange. > Weird food: Belly of the Beast Burger. It is so popular that there is even an annual festival- The Testy Festy- … Related to North Carolina's livermush and Pennsylvania's scrapple, this German-inspired sausage made of ground pork (sometimes mixed with beef) and pinhead oats is a specialty of Cincinnati and of Covington, Kentucky, just across the Ohio River. The products created by imaginative minds that remain as American favorites while continuing to play tricks on a foreigner’s mind and tongue. ALSO READ: The Most Iconic Items at America’s Biggest Fast Food Chains. ), > Weird food: Banana and mayonnaise sandwich. Muskrats look sort of like small versions of nutria (to which they are not related), and they too get eaten. Pronounced "gooey-duck," this is a giant clam with an obscene-looking protruding body that it can't retract into its shell. 1. Cheddar and bacon too, because Florida. Our collective workaholism is totally bizarre to outsiders—and quite frankly, we can see why. They're considered a delicacy by the indigenous Yupik people but are most likely an acquired taste (and aroma) for the rest of us. Sometimes the meat is marinated first and/or battered before frying. In making cheese, milk is acidified and coagulated, separating out the whey from the solid part -- the curd. If you’re not familiar with what a red velvet cake, cupcake, pancake, or everything red velvet is, you should be curious about its taste once you see it. Though it might seem like most of the things we do are pretty normal, other countries often find American practices to be extremely odd. DogMahal DogHaus in Grand Forks offers a number of variations on the theme. These are just a few foods … 22 Food Quirks Americans Don't Realize Are Super Weird From Easy Cheese to red velvet cake, here's what the French think is kinda strange about American food. Biscuits and gravy aren’t complex at all and what you see is what you get. Caliche's in Las Cruces is known for its frozen custard, but it doesn't just top the various flavors with the usual sweet sauces, sprinkles, and the like. 5. Curds that don't get pressed just stay curds -- and in Wisconsin and other dairy states, they're enjoyed fresh by the handful like popcorn. In South America, eating guinea pigs is a centuries-old practice; they would never be kept as pets. Available at Chinese-American restaurants throughout southeastern Massachusetts, this is just what it sounds like: a heap of chow mein on a hamburger bun. It sounds strange, but it is a total game changer. Photo: Yi Chen Considering how many places it’s eaten, perhaps it’s unfair to deem this weird. Olive Loaf. The company makes a hickory-smoked salami-like summer sausage from "jackalope" that's actually a not-inappropriate blend of rabbit, venison, and pork. However, this doesn’t stop people in North Dakota from enjoying this bizarre delicacy. In New Hampshire, though, they are turned toward indulgence -- not with milk and sugar but by stirring them into ice cream. In fact, it somehow seems like a baby-food version of the cucumber sandwiches served at English teatime. This curious concoction is a relative of the chow mein sandwich popular in parts of Massachusetts, except that this is made with an egg foo young patty on white bread, with such condiments as dill pickles slices, mayonnaise, and lettuce and tomato. Our site uses cookies. Ohio's goetta and North Carolina's livermush (see above) are not dissimilar. What makes Easy Cheese easy and perfectly squeezable? The thing is, some people eat cow brains without thinking twice. The Girl Scouts should sue. Idaho is not only the top producer for potatoes (duh), but also lentils.. 13. There are only two ingredients in this wintertime dessert: fresh-fallen clean snow and maple syrup, ladled over it. Florida is the sacred ground of America’s first avocado tree, imported there in 1833.. 10. Despite the unstoppable expansion of homogenous fast-food places across the land, every region, every state, probably almost every town and city has its own way of cooking and combining foods and discovering things to eat that other places disdain or ignore. 1. If you like leftover cold pizza for breakfast, you'll like these. Copyright © 2013 - 2020 When On Earth Magazine. Associated with the state fair and with the Indianapolis 500, these are a mix of sauerkraut, pork sausage, and cream cheese, with mustard added, formed into spheres, breaded, and plunged into boiling oil until crisp and brown. ALSO READ: The Most Iconic Southern Foods You Have to Try at Least Once, > Weird food: Peanut butter and jelly burger, The version of this burger at Brgr Stop in Coconut Grove cheats a little: the "jelly" is tomato jam. They’re pretty tasty when flavoured properly, but the bones get on your nerves after a while. Then it's cut into strips and eaten at room temperature, to the delight of many Rhode Islanders. A s’more was a favorite nighttime campfire and now an anywhere-anytime favorite treat which is composed of a roasted marshmallow and a layer of chocolate sandwiched between two pieces of graham crackers. Pre-cooked meat in a can already sounds convenient yet fake. Angelo's Pizzeria, which has three locations west of Chicago, claims credit for the invention. Thanks "iCarly," for making up something that actually sounds somewhat good to eat. But only Southerners -- especially South Carolinians, for whom they are the official state snack food -- understand these. (They're also the correct cheesey component of Quebec's famous poutine.). Rocky Mountain oysters -- also known as prairie oysters, cowboy caviar, and Montana tendergroin, among other things, and eaten all over the West and parts of the Midwest -- are bull calf testicles, breaded and fried and usually served with a dipping sauce. 17 Crawfish Any food that is affectionately referred to as mudbugs has to be on this list. ALSO READ: The Best Ice Cream Parlor in Every State. For instance, most of us don’t eat a lot of the more specialized organ meats -- pig’s intestines (chitterlings), fish liver, duck tongues -- but to people in whose cultures these are daily fare, they’re anything but weird. One of the world’s more unusual soups, Gaeng Kai Mot Daeng combines a mixture of ant eggs and partial embryos from the white ant, plus a few baby ants to add sourness. So here are some strange meals that you’d have to be American to appreciate… Sweet Potato Casserole With Marshmallows We’re all gung-ho for foods that are sweet and sour or sweet and salty. Lamprey are long, eel-like fish with sucker-like mouths and no scales, long an important food source for Indian tribes in the Columbia River Basin, prized for their rich, fatty meat. It's a main course casserole, sometimes called Minnesota's unofficial state dish, involving some combination of starch, protein, and vegetable. A popular breakfast and dinner staple in the Southern United States, grits are coarsely ground white or yellow corn that is simply prepared by boiling it into a soft porridge-like side combined with milk, cream, butter, salt, and white pepper. Food wasn’t just for fun — it was literally necessary for energy and survival. Find out, for example, what iconic Southern foods everyone should try. Here are some foods Americans eat that some individuals from other countries apparently find fairly strange. > Weird food: Diamondbacks' Cheeseburger Dog. There are even a couple of festivals featuring muskrat in the state. In Collinsville, Illinois, saggy pants have been banned since 2011. Pizza is good. Two slices of toast with jelly or jam in between? It’s not really a shocker if you read the label indicating its basic ingredients include pork shoulder and ham. Pizza strips are basically thickish pizza dough, almost like a focaccia, formed into a rectangle, covered with tomato sauce (no cheese), and baked. L et's start off by agreeing there's plenty of international foods that many Americans will never understand. Its wings, however, are almost as much of a delicacy as those bivalves. (Some versions add bacon.) Yes, it's actually topped with marshmallows, chocolate, and graham crackers. They're easy to peel and soft and good if you eat them right away, but they grow slimy quickly. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. The late great Presley is honored (dissed?) One popular way of eating it is in the form of musubi, a variation on Japanese onigiri, in which grilled Spam is enclosed in a square of sushi rice and wrapped in nori seaweed. It's a joke animal, a jackrabbit with antlers. One of the most popular marshmallow crème brands you can find in the market is Marshmallow Fluff. Spam. America has a knack for frying just about any food it can get its hands on – Oreos, bubblegum, pig ears, beer. It's a Vermonter's sno-cone. 24/7 Tempo has assembled a list of some of the strangest foods not just at fairs but in America in general, state by state. They’re often eaten as breakfast or snack. Ethan started traveling with his family at the age of 10 and has since visited dozens of countries on six continents. 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