Food Food specialties in your geographical area...

This isn't so much about who's got the best but food that is most fresh in your area.... for example, I live in Alberta, the mountains are nearby and there's alot of beef around here.

Best meals to be had in Alberta:

Elk, Moose, Steak.... don't worry about vegetables, Alberta is red meat territory.... although I will say root veggies do well here, potatoes, turnip, onion, beets.... and we had a weed of an asparagus plant growing up.... also being close to the mountains, river fish, trout is big here but people don't like fish here for some odd reason.

Now what about your area? What could be the best because of freshness?

 

We have darn good beer in Colorado, it's pretty much a wasteland for food.

 

Just reading these posts so far makes me grateful for living in SE Pennsylvania. In the area around Philadelphia, the immediate farms to the east in New Jersey, and the most fertile farm land in the U.S. just west of us in the Lancaster area, we have a lot of local small farms producing readily available fruits and vegetables, as well as responsibly raised cows, pigs, chickens, ducks, lambs, all sorts of great cheeses ...pretty much anything you could want except tropical vegetation. If you shop for the cheapest price you won't get the best quality. But if you find the outlets and are willing to spend a little bit more, you can get the best stuff and support your local farmers to boot.

I just make a very quick pasta dish with some really great Jersey tomatoes. Blanch the tom's, peal the skin, chop up coarsely; put into frying pan with some EVOO, salt, pepper, chopped up fresh basil, throw on angel hair, eat. Beer, too. We have plenty of great beer around here.

 

Peaches are just about to come into season in the Niagara region. I've had some local peaches in the past week and, even though they are small, they are like flavour bombs. Can't wait fro the main harvest to show up.

 

I believe Chicken Tikka Masala was invented in Birmingham, which is the nearest city to me.
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I didnt even know they made cheese in America?

What American cheeses are there? The only one Ive ever heard of is Monterry Jack (sic?) and to fair its barely a cheese really.

 

Fry sauce, funeral potatoes, "salads" that don't include vegetables (and rarely fruit), and green jello.

In all seriousness, I don't know what the hell is good in Utah. Northern Utah/Southern Idaho has some pretty fine raspberries, and there are lots of dairies here if you want to get fresh milk.

 

S-F, wrt to American cheeses, can't say for sure but if it's anything like here in Canada, there are myriads of different cheddars, colby, brick, brie... all the ones made in Europe. Especially amongst the Bretheren folk of Pennsylvania & Ontario. I have to love their Montery Jack with jalapeno. Reminds me of a nice havarti.

Artisan cheeses are a big deal. Eastern Ontario, south of Ottawa, is known for it cheddar as well. Quebec has its famous Oka (a Trappist monk specialty from the town of the same name) amongst many others.

see http://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/on-the-quebec-cheese-trail/article472231/

No, it isn't all about Stilton, Wensleydale and Sage Derby.....

 

Quebec Maple Syrup is the only syrup in my world...

 

When I was in grade 10, I took a school trip to Quebec, and I was pretty much sold from that point.... I will say, that compared to the US, there are some foods that are very Canadiana....

 

Ohio? Hmm. We've got a ton of variety and agriculture, really. Local farmer's markets everywhere, with everything from honey to meats (beef is popular, as well as lamb, chicken, and pork) to veggies and greens of all kinds to milk and other dairy products. The sweet corn from a farmer's market near home is amazing all summer, and the pick-your-own strawberries as usually awesome, too. The peaches from our orchard at home were awesome last year.. unfortunately, I missed their ripening this summer.

Columbus, especially, has a lot of small and creative restaurants set on utilizing locally grown or produced food items. Jeni's Ice Cream, in particular, uses nearly entirely local ingredients and produces fucking amazing flavors of ice cream. The business's popularity is growing, as she has been featured in quite a few home & garden or food magazines/programs (i.e. the Splendid Table from NPR) just this summer. The flavors really are quite amazing.. I live just a few blocks from one of the locations in town, so I'll walk down there with my roommate, wait in line, and get a different flavor every time. We then eat our ice cream as we walk home past the park. It's a good pastime, we just have to make sure to limit its frequency.

 

There's a lot of Maple Syrup made in Ontario. We usually get a supply of it from around out cottage in the Ottawa Valley.

Living abroad, I am frequently asked about Canadian cuisine. I can usually point to things like Butter Tarts, Nanaimo Bars, Poutine and Tortiere but inevitably, as B_G suggests, it is the produce and the diversity of cuisines that shine through.

I don't even know where to start in explaining how important food is to the average Singaporean. The best way to think about it is this: In Canada, when one has little say, we make small talk by talking about the weather. In Singapore, these same idle conversations are filled with talk of food. In fact, in Canada, a common greeting is, How's it Going?. In Singapore, the equivalent greeting is, Have you eaten? (I am not making this up).

The one thing that should be noted about Singapore, and the Malaysian peninsula in general, is that it has been a hub of trade for centuries and, as a result, has felt the influence of many different cultures and cuisines -- Chinese, Indian, Portuguese, English, Thai, Malay... to name a few. There is also a strong Peranakan influence. The Peranakan are the decendants of the mixing of Chinese traders with local Malaysians. In short, Singapore is a melting pot of cuisines.

Some of the great dishes:

Fish Head Curry - just what it sounds like
Bak Kut Teh - an herbal soup with pork ribs
Carrot Cake - this is not the sweet dessert but rather a mix of white radishes and eggs.
Char Kway Teow - a noodle dish served with cockles, fish slices, prawns and chinese sausage (amongst other things)
Chicken Rice - just want it sounds like but prepared in a specific way. It's really all about the dipping sauces and the savoury rice.
Laksa - a kind of noodle, curry soup with all sorts of ingredients. Many variations up and down the Malay Peninsula.
Roti Prata - a crispy on the outside, chewy on the inside flat bread that one dips into a savoury curry sauce.
Teh Tarik - Pulled Tea. It's strong black tea mixed with sweetened condensed milk that is poured from a height between two vessels. It's frothy.

 

don't you mean "How's it Going, eh?"

eh?

 

I like the sound of the Roti Prata.

I wanted to highlight Shepherd's Pie. I myself think that this is basically a variation on some old English fare (ground meat baked with a layer of veggies & onions, topped with mashed potatoes) which was transplanted to the new world and subsequently embraced as family cuisine everywhere.

But, in Canada we have a French translation for everything and Shepherd's Pie is known as Pate Chinoise. The story I've been told is that this meal was invented by labour pool cooks who were all Chinese and were working on the building of the trans-Canada railroad in the late 1800's, early 1900's.

So perhaps Shepherd's Pie or Pate Chinoise can be called a Canadian dish -but given it's generic nature, I highly doubt it. Nice story tho.

 

It would be very difficult for Canada to claim Shepherd's or Cottage Pie. They are both *very* British. It's one thing with Canadian cuisine, we are truly a mish-mash of the many cultures that make up our nation.

We made perogies for some of our friends here and they'd never heard of them. Perogies are quite common in Canada but barely known in Australia or Asia. Our Ukrainian and Polish immigrants brought them to Canada and have made them part of our cuisine.

Roti Prata, or Roti Canai, as the Malaysians call it, is one of my favourties. I hear you can sample Malaysian food and Roti Canai at this place just north of Toronto -- Restora Malaysia at Bayview and Major Mackenzie.

http://www.restoranmalaysia.com/

 

colorado road kill

 

I love Laksa.

Oz is a bit like Canada - not too much cuisine of our own, but lots of access to fresh ingredients. Sydney has a really good fish market, but also access to good meat, and seasonal fruit/veges. We also have a hugely diverse cross section of cultures. If you want to find a restaurant serving food from just about anywhere in the world, you'll probably find it in Sydney. Lots of Malaysian places, so it is pretty easy to get a good Laksa