These Are America’s Weirdest Regional Foods

American food gets a bad rap, but it’s pretty undeserved. Where else can you get a three-course meal at the gas station and a burger the size of a toddler? American food is all about cultural amalgamation, and that blending of cultures yields some… let’s just call them “unique” recipes. These dishes become staples in their respective regions either for being incredibly delicious, exceptionally weird, or both. They’re the foods that make us stop for a bite when we’re in town and brag to the neighboring state that we do it better (even if we know we don’t). From New York to New Mexico, let’s take a look at some of America’s strangest epicurean oddities. 

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Cincinnati Chili

Chili over spaghetti? What’s so weird about that? On paper, nothing. But Cinniciati’s version of chili—made famous by Skyline—involves warm spices like clove and nutmeg instead of traditional cumin and chili powder. The metaphorical icing on top is the cold, bagged, cheap shredded cheddar that’s served in an unsettling 1:1 cheese-to-chili ratio on top of this concoction. But Ohioans love their Skyline—there’s even a Skyline Chili-flavored ice cream and it’s weirdly tasty and very Ohio.

Rocky Mountain Oysters

“How are you getting oysters from two landlocked states?” It’s a misnomer. Rocky Mountain oysters are actually bull gonads breaded, deep-fried, and served with some kind of dipping sauce. Both Colorado and Montana stake their claim in this delicacy. They started off as a waste-reduction tradition in the American West and now they exist mostly as a novelty at pubs and tourist restaurants. If you’re brave enough to go balls-to-the-wall and order up a platter of bull ‘nads, you’ll be glad to know that they taste like non-descript fried meat and not whatever it is you’re thinking.

Garbage Plate

In a roundabout kind of way, the humble garbage plate of Rochester, New York, is more American than apple pie. It consists of a small mountain of carbs and meats that you’d find at a diner—think macaroni salad, homefries, hamburger meat, and chili—before it’s finished off with a drizzle of mustard and onions. Mix everything into a horrifying brown slop before going in for a bite for the authentic garbage plate experience.

Geoducks

Washington is famous for geoducks (pronounced gooey-duck), where the delicacy is native to the Pacific waters and easily the state’s most idiosyncratic species. What is it? It’s an absolutely massive clam. In fact, it’s the largest burrowing clam in the world. It can be over 3 feet long and weigh 7 pounds—New England’s clam chowder cowers in fear at the sight of the PNW’s geoduck. The animal’s body juts out of the shell like a humongous worm that’s as thick as your forearm, but it’s said to be tasty as sashimi.

Green Chili Sundae

New Mexico’s green Hatch chiles are one natives take very, very seriously. New Mexicans are known to put green chile sauce on everything, most iconically burgers, but most weirdly ice cream sundaes. The peppers—which grow only in the Hatch Valley in the state’s high desert—have a unique smoky-sweet quality that pairs shockingly well with vanilla soft serve and toasty walnuts. 

Scrapple

Scrapple calls both Pennsylvania and Delaware home, but as a Pennsylvanian, I say Delaware can have it. This Great Depression-coded dish is made up of pork scraps (like the heart, liver, and other parts no one wants to eat) and cornmeal fried in bacon grease or lard. It’s served at breakfast with eggs and potatoes, but it also makes an appearance as a pizza topping from time to time.

Chili And Cinnamon Rolls

Both chili and cinnamon rolls are quintessentially American, but who ever thought to enjoy them together? The Midwest, that’s who. To a child of the flyover states, a steamy bowl of chili alongside a gooey, fresh-out-the-oven cinnamon roll is the ultimate nostalgic comfort meal. The pairing is usually associated with childhood and is even served in school cafeterias in states like Kansas and Nebraska.