It seems that almost every area of the country has a few regional delicacies that cannot be found anywhere else. People are very mobile nowadays, and often they cannot find some of their favorite foods in these new areas.
Midwest
The Midwest is the heart of America, and it is a melting pot of many influences, most notably immigrant groups from northern Europe. German immigrants brought pork sausage and schnitzel, the Swedes introduced their special pancakes, and many Greek immigrants imparted their Mediterranean influence in the restaurants they opened. Comfort foods to most people are those that Momma used to make for them, so it’s no wonder we crave those things when we move to an area where they aren’t as common.
If you are from the Midwest or have a Polish grandmother, chances are you have had the chance to eat the puffy little pockets of dough called pierogi that can be filled with fruit, or cheese, or potatoes. The traditional pierogi was typically made with mashed potatoes, sometimes mixed with cheese. Making pierogis is a time-consuming process as they are rolled out and cut by hand, then filled and boiled. Of course, those are just the initial steps. The best way to prepare them is to fry them with butter and onions, and serve with sour cream. They are absolutely delicious; they also take an afternoon to put together and prepare.
Luckily, there is an easy way to get the taste you love and remember without all of the work. A quick and easy alternative is lazy day pierogis. It is a casserole dish put together like lasagna with mashed potatoes, cheese, and onions layered in, and topped with cold sour cream and bacon crumbles. They can be put together in 15 minutes, and you can have them on the table in less than an hour. Expect the family to request them again and again.
South
Below the Mason-Dixon line, food has been influenced by African Americans, the Scottish, French, Irish, Spanish, and Native Americans for the most part. There are many regional dishes that you won’t find in restaurants up north, in fact I had never heard of country ham or fried dill pickles before living in the south. Other traditional southern foods like chicken fried steak, sweet tea, and biscuits with sausage gravy have caught on around most of the country and are also fairly easy to make at home. One major difference you will still find is that southern meals often consist solely of vegetables; beans and cornbread or beans and greens can be the entire meal, northern people will likely consider that an incomplete meal. This does not mean that southern food is lean; on the contrary, southern cooks often add pork fat when cooking greens or beans.
Southern sweet tea is made with plenty of sugar while the liquid is hot; when allowed to cool as is customary in northern states, you cannot properly sweeten it. Sweet tea is hands down the most popular drink in the south, following by coke. (That ‘c’ is lower case on purpose, as you will be asked what kind of coke you want in restaurants—orange, root beer, ginger ale?) Fried chicken, buttermilk biscuits, and pit barbecue all originated in the south, but can be found most places in the US today. There are differences in cornbread between the northern and southern states also; northern cornbread is sweet and cakelike, in the south it is less sweet and drier. Southern desserts tend toward fruit pies and cobblers to utilize all of the fresh varieties that grow in the area. Baked apples, banana pudding, strawberry shortcake, and pumpkin pie are perennial favorites.
A quick and easy alternative to fruit cobblers that is just as satisfying, keep a box of golden yellow cake mix in your pantry. When you get a taste for a fruity cobbler, put together a simple “dump” cake –all that is required, is the cake mix, a stick of butter, and a large can of fruit pie filling and no mixing is required. You simply “dump” the ingredients, pie filling first, into an eight inch square pan. The butter is melted and drizzled over the top. You can also add additional ingredients like nuts, coconut, and crushed pineapple depending on the flavors you want. There are dozens of different recipes on this site—from cherry to pumpkin and everything between it as well.
Chances are, if you are missing a certain dish that was previously a part of your life, you will be able to find it or a reasonable facsimile that will satisfy your cravings with just a few clicks of your mouse. Be sure that you compare home insurance after any relocation as rates can vary considerably.
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