I live in the wheat-producing state of Kansas. I'd choose hard winter wheat as a local item, or mill some into flour for you. Most people have never experienced the delights of freshly-milled flour. Including the fine folks around here that produce it.... We're in the middle of wheat harvest right now.

I might even break into my stash of the granddaddy (earliest variety) of all hard red wheat varieties, Turkey Red, which was developed in central Kansas in the 1870's. You would certainly notice the difference in taste between Turkey Red and today's varieties of red or white wheat. Wheat Nuts are a novelty item made from "popped" wheat that might be a fun item to share with you.

We also have some great flour mills, including W-R Flour in McPherson, Kansas; the famous Hudson Cream Flour in Stafford Co.; and Heartland Mill in Marienthal, Kansas. Homestead Milling in New Cambria, Kansas mills the whole white wheat flour for King Arthur Flour, for distribution in this region. Farmer Direct Foods, in the birth place of aviatrix Amelia Earhart, Atchison, mills some wonderful Handcrafters Flour from Hard White Wheat that is in much demand these days. I've used grain and/or flour from all these mills.

Catfish would be the local favorite catch-of-the-day; while grass-fed bison or beef is also readily available. Kansas City-style BBQ and BBQ sauces are great.

Kansas is also known as the Sunflower State (our state flower) and we are the 3rd largest producer of sunflower seeds in the U.S. I use a lot of sunflower seeds in cooking and baking.

-Grainlady

I'd feed you locally raised lamb, beef or chicken, with cornbread made from locally raised and ground cornmeal (the very old variety called 'Bloody Butcher')and locally raised and ground wheat.

I am in upstate NY. Don't come to visit me in late August because I'd have to take you to our state fair and introduce you to such things as spaghetti and meatballs on a stick.
But, anyother time of the year is great. You'll taste a unique white hotdog called a white hot (or snappy griller). salt potatoes, and homegrown apple cider. For breakfast, I'll break out my locally milled New Hope pancake mix and fix some pancakes for you.

Great thread.

Jo

You can add Nanaimo bars to your list.

Another favourite is the local Spot Prawns and Halibut.

I didn't realize we had Pickerel here on our Island. I'll have to make sure that Moe never finds out since I don't care for it.

Where are you finding real Peameal bacon on the Island? The only source I've found for it out here is Walmart. (I know, go figure). One of our local Cowichan Valley butcher's also makes it but it isn't nearly as good as Peameal bacon from Ontario and the price is atrocious. Is someone making Peameal up Island, Nanaimo, Comox? Be worth a drive if that is the case.

Ann

This time of year I would feed you my family recipe of Edney BBQ Chicken, fresh local Silver Queen corn on the cob, German Johnson sliced tomatoes, fresh cucumber salad, coleslaw, hot biscuits and Mexican Cornbread from the MidState Mills in Newton and for dessert my mom's blueberry cream refrigerator pie made from Redbud farm's local blueberries.

If you stayed for more than one meal, we would have to drive west to Lexington for the "Lexington BBQ experience" and we would have to drive east to Chapel Hill to A Southern Season where you could buy lots of local goodies to take back home with you!

Teresa

Id feed you a Lobster Roll & Long Island fresh picked Corn!

I would show you how Marylanders eat blue crabs. Sit at a table covered with brown paper and a wooden mallet for each diner. Cold beer. Freshly Steamed blue crabs liberally covered in old bay or a secret crab house spice mixture.Brought in on a huge tray and dumped in the middle of the table. More beer, grab one by the leg and plop it in front of you and then the instruction on dissection begins!

First of all I would drag you down to the local Maid-Rite for lunch and order you one with everything....and since the Maid-Rite store also sells pastries made in Pella ( a very Dutch community) I would order a Dutch Letter for dessert.
Dinner might be an Iowa chop....a cut of loin chop about 1 1/2 inches thick, on the grill with corn, peaches and cream of course bought from the guy in the pick-up on the corner....and of course the salad would have Maytag Blue cheese dressing.
We may wash it all down with a Pasttime locally made beer and a Behind the Shed Red a locally made wine from grapes grown down the road. The bread would be buttered with butter from Kalona, a Mennonite community and as good as any European butter I have ever tasted....and better than several.
I would for sure ask you to come back in a couple of weeks and experience the Iowa State Fair and all the foods to be had there, tenderloin sandwiches as big as a Frisbee, pork chop on a stick, BBQ lamb sandwiches, nutty bar and deep fried everything you can imagine.
Linda C

forgot to add that if you visit me at my summer cottage on the Long Island sound, you'll have to work for your meal. We'll go clamming and I'll steam our catch for dinner. Simply stain the water at the bottom of the steamer, add some butter, salt and pepper and we're good to go.

Well the wild rice here in MN doesn't taste like dirt, so we'd have a feast of pan-fried walleye, corn on the cob and wild rice. And of course dinner would have to include Bongaard's cheese and any number of bottles of Minnesota wine! LOL

Linda

Sadly, I think the local specialty around Dallas is food court food at the mall, lol. Dallas and Garland, the suburb I live in, are so dull. There are, however, lots of taquerias around town that serve the Hispanic immigrants, so we'd have to hit one of those for authentic tacos. There's a Honduran place not far from me I haven't visited yet. I just noticed it the other day. But in a way, all of that is still imported food.

What do we have here that we're know for? Steak, chile, and barbecue, (yawn) but that's all stuff we're well known for, not little known secrets. There are some good cheese makers in the area, the most locally famous being the Mozzarella Factory. We could visit their place and have some really good fresh mozzarella.

Y'all are all making me want to come visit you!

Sally

Alabama is famous for it's White Barbecue Sauce. We put it on grilled/smoked chicken. There are lots of recipes for it floating around out there but this Southern Living version is the best I've found by far.

White Barbecue Sauce

1-1/2 cups mayonnaise
1/4 cup water (less for thicker sauce)
1/4 cup white wine vinegar
1 Tbsp coarsely ground black pepper
1 Tbsp Creole mustard
1 tsp salt
1 tsp sugar
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 tsp prepared horseradish

Whisk together all ingredients until blended. Store in the refrigerator up to 1 week.

Yield: Makes 2 cups

Lindac,

I think that I will have to come visit you. I would kill for a maid-rite, especially with some onion chips if they have them:) There used to be tons of them in Nebraska but sadly have all closed up shop. I do have a recipe for them, maybe for supper tonight.

If you came to Nebraska we would have a dinner of a big t-bone steak, salad from the garden, and tons of sweet corn. Also on our salad we would have some Dorthy Lynch salad dressing.

Stacie

I didn't realize we had Pickerel here on our Island. I'll have to make sure that Moe never finds out since I don't care for it.

That whole list was mostly Canadian things...then I narrowed it down. No pickerel on the Island that I know of.

Where are you finding real Peameal bacon on the Island?

Ronald Orr and Sons, butchers in the Brentwood Bay area down Island. Just prior to Christmas we go down, take the Malahat/Brentwood ferry across and load up. Haven't done it for a few years but the sons took over from Dad and operated for years so I'd expect them to still be there. Scottish butchers. real stuff.

Come to find a somewhat good article on the Globe and Mail on Canadian food. Linked below. I love this kind of stuff...post em if you got em, eh?

One of my dreams is a trip around the counties (both) eating regionally and finding the specialties.

Here is a link that might be useful: Canada's Food.

I usually stop at that butcher when I'm over that way. Just never thought to look for Peameal bacon. Peameal bacon is the one thing I miss from Ontario.

Ann

I would feed you a bowl of locally harvested, cooked, sterilized, and packaged CANNED SOUP from one of the fine ''hand-crafted artisan'' commercial canning and hot-fill operations right here in Oregon.

Like, say, XXXX's [name discreetly obscured] ''Fresh New England Clam Chowder''. Cooked in ''small kettles [just 55 gallons!] by professionally trained chefs'', using vegetables, meats, pasta and herbs at their ''peak of freshness'' with ''full flavor'' [so that each 16 oz package contains only 2,040mg sodium!]

Sorry, I have canned soup on the brain lately.

Smoked sucker is probably the most popular very local fish. I'm about 25-30 miles from either Saginaw Bay or Lake Huron with a wider variety of fish. Out here the suckers migrate up rivers in the spring and are taken by the ton by local fisherpeoples. This often involves parties. In the old days it was not uncommon for a bottle of cheap wine to be passed down a line of strangers... each taking a swig while tending lines. Home built smoke houses are common... some people have two so one is just for fish. Tourists can find smoked fish sold along M-25 which runs along the bay. There used to be a commercial fish company that is probably still there... I've not been over there in awhile.

Wild raspberries grew up along my back deck. I let them go and this year I have a wall of red raspberries. Funny because I planted raspberries three times and they died off every time. About a two acre patch of wild stawberries which are tiny but have a concentrated flavor. Morels in the spring down in my low spot. Puffballs in a few spots that are very good. Three volunteer apple trees for fresh apples later in the year. Lots of frogs and turtles that can be eaten if you like frog legs or turtle soup. A flyway for waterfowl with ducks and geese. Wild rabbits are very plentiful and I bought a particular rifle just for taking them. Deer inhabit the area and a few live on my property... some "dog bones" left in my freezer from a deer. A farm 5 miles from my house that grows and sells vegtables. Locals know of Victor Drag company where they sell the best peanuts that can be had.... imported from out-state but they know peanuts.

When I read the news I know how lucky I am to live where food will walk into my house if I leave the door open.

Local ground beef from a farm down the road in my frying pan at the moment ($2/lb and "whole" cow meaning the steaks got ground in). Potted tomatoes and jalapeno peppers available on the back deck.... won't be long and the garden will be going strong. That is what is for supper today!

: )
lyra

I'm another born and bred Vancouver Islander but living elsewhere for many years.
I would have to mention the salmon my brother catches down the west coast and the great local corn on the cob, as well as the wild blackberries that grow in my daughter's back garden.

Here in Tenerife I would feed you the wrinkled, salted

Still much more, including the wonderful year round Canary Island tomatoes, always ripe and ready.

SharonCb

What in the world is Dorothy Lynch salad dressing? Dirundermyfingers...you have got to post the recipe!!!
Joann

Pepper and Egg Sandwiches
Scrapple
Cheesesteak's "Wit" - translation, fried onions and Cheeze Whiz, from Pat's King of Steaks
Tastykakes
Hanks Root Beer
Yeungling Lager - from America;s oldest brewery

and if you are really brave and visit in April, then Shad & Shad roe.

Alexa

Hangtown Fry and Apple Pie! I live in Placerville, CA (aka known as "Hangtown"). I'm also near Apple Hill, an association of over 50 ranches with fruit orchards, wineries, Christmas tree farms, olive groves, etc.

Hangtown Fry

Here is a link that might be useful: Apple Hill

First of all, I'd take you to our fish market for you to pick out what fresh filet's you what me to cook...Lake Perch? Walleye? Whitefish? Lake salmon? Lake Trout? I would also buy some smoked whitefish spread to go with the crackers I have in the car. We can enjoy that on a Lake Michigan beach or on a beach on Lake Charlevoix....

We can also enjoy some Michigan wine, from any of the excellent wineries located by Traverse City.

This is a major fruit growing area...visit next week and we can enjoy the National Cherry Festival. Along the road are many farm markets at the orchards, we can find many goodies! Come in the fall and apples take over the spot light. Fruit plays an important role in much of my cooking and baking, I always have a freezer full. I'll probably send you home with a jar of my special black raspberry jam...

Nancy

Well, while we snacked on some stuffed jalapenos, I'd put some baby back ribs (grown locally by a farmer friend) on the grill to smoke, give you a Shiner's Bock beer to enjoy, and we could watch the cows in the field. When the ribs were ready, we'd mop them with a little homemade barbecue sauce, have some grill roasted home-grown red potatoes, a salad of peppers, onions and greens (also from our garden) and home-made dried tomato bread. We'd have a nice red wine from the winery down the road, and for dessert, Blue Bell Ice Cream!
Welcome to the best meal in Central Texas (if I do say so myself).

Well, if it were a tad bit later in the season we'd put you on the boat & haul you out 50-70 miles offshore to tuna fish for 3 days to earn your special meal. I'd toss whatever you'd caught during the day that wasn't destined for the tuna box onto the BBQ hanging off the stern & we'd spend the evening eating, telling fish stories, & maybe reading a bit from our onboard library of spooky boat books.

Land lubbers can relax...we have nice staterooms, a head complete with separate stand-up shower stall, a fully appointed galley, & a nice selection of movies, games, books, etc. You would feel safe & secure with state of the art electronics & safety gear including EPIRB, motored dingy, plenty of life jackets, & a fully-equipped survival kit at the ready in the wheel house to toss in the raft. But, we wouldn't need any of that emergency stuff because you'd have a great crew...us! :)

On our way back to port we'd radio ahead from Montauk & get your "Welcome to Mystic" party started. The marina folks would get the BBQ pit started for the tuna & everybody would pitch in & make side dishes to go with your freshly caught tuna! When we rounded the bend into our fairway there would be plenty of folks around to toss lines, help scrub the boat down, & unload the tuna(s). So, you could spend your time getting ready to party!

It's "lights out" at our marina at 10:00 p.m. (hey, we're all getting older!). So, we'd hand you the keys to the boat (not the engine!) & tell you to sleep well. DH & I would walk home. You'd stay on the boat because there's more room than in our house...sadly, that's true. :( You'd be comfy though 'cause in port you have cable & AC. Our only request would be for you to sign our guest book before disembarking.

Next morning, I'd make you lobster crepes for breakfast served with grilled watermelon & cantelope, & asparagus. Then, we'd go to Mystic Seaport where you could show off your new seamen skills. (By now, you will know the difference between "port" & "starboard" and, more importantly, you'll know how to flush a marine head!.) :) Then, a final meal in Mystic at S&P Oyster House on the patio next to Mystic Harbor. After dinner, we'd walk back to the house, grab your luggage, & walk you to the train station for your trip to NYC or Boston to catch your flight. We'd send your tuna (either canned or frozen) for your enjoyment at home all year long.

/tricia

Oh my!

These all sound lovely. From the sublimely simple to the simply sublime, eh?

Amazing how many of us go to our local waters for our fav special things. Makes current events even all the more disheartening.

I live in a small community...so when a local joint offers clams, that is what it is, clams. I well remember the trips to larger places with more population where if you ordered clams the server rattled off a list of about 12 different kinds. Now, I know where to get clams and the real local and indigenous oysters. (Most of our oysters are Japanese spat grown in oyster farms) but the bounty available to some of you is breathtaking. And we have to seek it out, the restaurants can't have the whole selection on offer as there isn't the pressure of population to sell it all.

That said I have farm gates, markets and small scale stuff all within easy reach and you all are making me think. I go so casually to the market garden place, the cheese place, the seafood spot and sometimes I take it for granted.

I am a prairie girl living in the eastern side of Canada and if I had to list something it would be from my prairie roots (Manitoba) so I have to say smoked Goldeye, wild rice, pickerel, and of course, Old Dutch Chips. Funny, before I moved to Ottawa I saw a little show on the city and they were saying Beaver Tails were a big thing and I was all grossed out because at the time we did have a real beaver tail frozen in our freezer which I avoided ever pulling anything out of the freezer because it grossed me out. I thought it was a jerky type of thing and found out it really was a sweet pastry.

Oh my...Dorothy Linch...! LOL!
Sorry ...no recipe it comes in a bottle...but it's ataste all it's own!

First, I have to take issue. Peameal bacon is not the same as what we call Canadian Bacon. Canadian Bacon is brined and then smoked, peameal bacon is only brined. Canadian bacon doesn't have the coating that peameal bacon does either. What I ate in Toronto for breakfast was peameal bacon, what Elery and I just took out of the smoker last week was Canadian bacon.

So anyway, what would I feed you? Let's see, we could start with your choice of a homegrown Porterhouse steak, or some fresh walleye, which I think you call Pickerel. A salad with the first romaine, some Sungold tomatoes from the local farm market's hoop house, and I just pulled a few of the first radishes. Beets are fresh too, or snap peas.

Michigan is the 2nd most agriculturally diverse state in the U.S., so you could have anything from bean soup (we grow a lot of dried beans) with cornbread (the Jiffy company is in Michigan), to potatoes in any form, lots of onions. Dessert could be nearly anything baked, we have dairies and wheat farms and beet sugar from about 50 miles from my house.

Right now it could be strawberry shortcake or sweet cherry pie or torte, or ice cream made from local cream.

Want breakfast? Let me run over to the neighbors and get some local maple syrup and you could have waffles, some home smoked bacon and maple syrup.

Oh, and on your way down through the UP, be sure to pick up a pasty and some fudge near Mackinac and don't forget to stop at a winery or two near Traverse City, either on the Leelanau Peninsula or the Old Mission Peninsula. If you go to Leelanau, you could get some fresh raclette at Black Star Farms to go with the wine and hold you over until you get here.

Annie

Smoked Winnipeg Goldeye, yes!

Fished out of Lake Winnipeg...that brings back memories of going to school in Manitoba. Those things are good.

On that Globe and Mail link I posted above there sure is a preponderance of folks advocating pirogi as a uniquely Canadian food. I guess more what we stuff into it as opposed to the actual dish.

Annie, I think that is what Chase and I were trying to say about peameal/Canadian bacon...what you said. I happened to look for it tonight as I was getting supper things, both packages, one from Freybe's and one from ??? called it Canadian bacon (news to me) and both were cured and smoked and both were rolled in cornmeal.
Both looked like cottage roll or some kind of ham. Anyway, as stated, the real thing is hard to get out West, so its a treat.

Yup, big difference between Canadian Back Bacon and Peameal bacon.

Are there some posts missing?

Ann

Geez....where is my head? I forgot about the FUDGE!!!! Fudge has been a big deal around here forever... there are four fugde shops everywhere in Northern Michigan and also wonderful locally made ice cream.

When I walk downtown, most tourists are carrying boxes of fudge and/or eating a ice cream cone....

Nancy

If you wait until next week, IÂll take you to the Kutztown Folk Festival here in eastern PA, where youÂll be able to sample a huge variety of PA Dutch specialties all in one place (link below) and be tempted to take home one of the 2000+ locally made quilts on display. Some of your choices will include chicken pot pie, schnitz un knepp (ham cooked with dried apples and dumplings), Lebanon bologna (a type of summer sausage) sandwiches, potato cakes, sausage and pepper sandwiches, shoofly, cherry crumb or other crumb-topped fruit pies, corn pie, fried scrapple and/or corn meal mush, roast ox, and pickles and preserves of many varieties.

On the way home, weÂll stop at one of the farmers markets for thinly sliced dried beef, applewood smoked bacon and ham, Lodi apples, Uncle HenryÂs hard pretzels, any one of a dozen varieties of potato chips still fried in lard, sticky buns, chip steak, freshly picked corn, untrimmed celery, pickled eggs and red beets, pot pie noodles, whoopie pies and Moravian sugar cakes.

I confess that I wonÂt feel much like cooking dinner since IÂll be tired from volunteering at the festival. We can go out for dinner at any one of a score of diners or 100+ year old still-operating village hotels/taverns, where itÂs possible that some of the nightly specials may be stuffed beef heart with gravy or pig stomach stuffed with potatoes, onions, smoked and fresh sausage. YouÂll have to remember that many of the vegetables or items like steamed clams will be served with addiction-inducing browned butter.

Yuengling beer will be on tap everywhere but you can also have prize-winning Chambourcin wine from one of the Lehigh ValleyÂs vineyards.

Here is a link that might be useful: Kutztown PA German Folk Festival

Next week, we're heading to the Amalfi Coast. Many folks in our small town (engulfed by Los Angeles) are fishing families from the island of Ischia. So if you visited this week, I would feed you an Ischian-inspired meal.

- fresh caught and grilled sardines
- grilled octopus salad
- fresh fig and goat cheese tart drizzled with honey and topped with a bit of lemon zest (figs are just starting to ripen this week on our tree; lemons, we have year-round)
- spaghetti with anchovies and olive oil
- fried zucchini flowers (from the garden) stuffed with ricotta
- blackberries (from our yard) with sliced peaches (picked last night at a friends house)
- limoncello made from our lemons

They all sounds delicious, but I'm on a mission to go to the Canary Islands now. I take it all for granted, so I can't think of anything! I'll tell you what the cliche is, but something I've never done. The meal would be sweet tea, fried catfish, grits spiced up in all the right ways, corn bread, fried okra, and green beans cooked to death with bacon (it's in no way healthy, but it sure fire tastes good). Dessert would be sliced peaches and freshly churned vanilla ice cream or banana pudding made with vanilla wafers and sliced bananas, but with vanilla pudding. Only served with whipped cream; no one puts meringue on it here. All right before heading over to the Grand Ole Opry where they'd have a Goo-Goo cluster. I don't drink iced tea, never been to the Opry, and I don't make/eat banana pudding, but most folks here sure do those things!!!

Being from Maine a beach lobster bake would be in order. Everything fresh caught that morning from the sea or from our local farmers. Dig a hole, large rocks in the bottom and then piles of wood are burned to make the rocks hot. Seaweed layered with corn on the cob, potatoes, sausage, clams, mussels and of course the lobsters. Tarp goes on top and then you wait. Take a drive up to the Nubble Lighthouse. Go for a shell hunt or find some colored beach glass (no sharpies thou. Throw those back in the ocean, they aren't done yet) Melted butter served on the side. Because this is a beach bake no lobster crackers/mallets...you have to use a stone to smash the shells to get to the meat. There would also be clam chowder and maybe a fish stew to "tide" you over 'til the bake is done. I only like Maine blueberries one way. Fresh just to pop in my mouth or with cold cream in a bowl. I don't care for them cook or baked. But for friends we will serve up a fresh baked blueberry pie or scones. I also love a good Indian pudding. Be it as an ice cream or the pudding itself. Yum!
P.S. We also have very good micro breweries here. Love a cold frosty one with the chowder. NancyLouise

When you come to Oregon, be sure to come in late summer or early fall.
We can feast on just about any fresh fruits and veggies you wish! Peaches, late raspberries, wild blackberries, early apples, tomatoes, peppers, Walla Walla onions all available.

A favorite meal would be homegrown T-bones, grilled zucchini and grilled onions, homemade whole wheat bread from freshly ground flour. Topped off with a Blackberry Cobbler or Crisp and a glass of Blackberry Liqueur. Or any number of local wines (6 wineries within 20 miles).

Breakfast might be fresh eggs, homemade sourdough pancakes and Oregon Huckleberry Syrup. Local, organic bacon.

A quick trip to the coast (45 minutes) gets you fresh Dungeness crab, salmon, albacore tuna, clams.

A couple of hours east to central Oregon and we can get the absolute best thuringer sausage and many other cured and smoked meats from Redmond Locker (my home town and my brother still lives there so it's local!!).

Just let me know when!! :-)
I've got plenty of room. Guest room or bring your tent!
Your choice!

Deanna

Stacie (dirtundermyfingers) is that you? You changed your name again? How are you and the little ones doing?

Ann

I've been following this thread and drooling! This morning, there was a segment on the Today show recommending that when vacationing, you should eat local foods and drink local wines. Well, duh! I would love to go to everywhere that everyone is from and eat and drink it all!

Northern Virginia is a pretty big metropolis, but I can find some of those huge blistered Virginia peanuts and a Virginia ham. I have to drive a ways to pick my own berries and fruits, but it can be a fun trip. Last time, I drove to Whites Ferry and took a 10-minute ride on the Gen. Jubal Early across the Potomac to Poolesville, MD. We can also go to a place near Thurmont, MD, not far from Camp David. This year's peach crop is supposed to be a good one and apples are plentiful in the fall.

Virginia does have some good wines and wineries and there are a lot of them in my neck of the woods. The views of the Shenandoah Valley are beautiful.

I've actually been to the Kutztown Folk Festival - about 20 years ago, I think - and had a great time. I also have 2 bottles of Dorothy Lynch dressing in my fridge right now. A friend who's a Kansas native brought it back with her. The firs ttime I tried it, I didn't think I liked it, but it's grown on me. Kind of homestyle French or Catalina dressing (?)

Vancouver is such a great city. I visit Vancouver a few times every year. I donÂt think there is anything here in NY you will be impressed with. Not with NY cheese cake, NY apples, or blue crabs. NathanÂs hot dog?

I think we will just go restaurant hoping. Starting with a soul food restaurant in Harlem, them all the ethnic restaurants. We have the United Nations here in NYC, and we have just about any first rate ethnic food you can think of. Polish town, German town, Little Italy, Russian town ------

If you come around July 14th, many great French restaurant will have reduced prix fixe menu to offer.

dcarch

Yep its me:) Had trouble with my email not working so had to start over. The little ones are growing up so much. Rhiannon just turned 7, Peyton will be 5 and Hayden 3 in July and Hudson is 18 months old. They keep my busy and grounded:)

Stacie