Which Famous Food Was Invented in Your State?

From sea to shining sea, American states have invented a huge variety of foods. From fast foods enjoyed around the world to legendary local cuisine, we've rounded up the most famous food from every state.

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Grilled chicken breast and vegetables
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Alabama

White barbecue sauce

Barbecue culture is rich in the South, and debates about the exact origins of those savory, saucy meats can stretch into the night. But one thing’s for certain, Alabaman Robert “Big Bob” Gibson created the iconic white barbecue sauce featuring mayonnaise and apple cider vinegar. First brewed in 1925, it’s still gracing Alabama dinner tables today. Learn how to make your own white barbecue sauce.

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Whale fat drying in the sun in the Indonesian whaling village Lamalera
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Alaska

Muktuk

Whale may not be the first thing we think of when we think of sushi, but for the native Inuits of Alaska, muktuk—bite-sized cubes of whale skin and blubber, often served raw—has been an integral part of the diet for centuries. For beginners, muktuk’s also delicious deep-fried.

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Beef Chimichangas
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Arizona

Chimichanga

The chimichanga, that burrito transformed to crispy perfection after a trip to the deep fryer, is famous for its Tucson origins. Most origin stories attribute its creation to Monica Flin, whose niece accidentally bumped a bean burrito out of her hands and into a pot of cooking oil. The fallout from that innocent encounter turned out to be a gift to us all.

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Skippy brand chunky peanut butter
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Arkansas

Skippy peanut butter

It’s no wonder that all of the Skippy peanut butter in the United States has come from Little Rock, Arkansas for decades. The Natural State’s proximity to peanut production—a staple of the American South—make it the ideal location for making this iconic brand. PB lovers will savor these sweet and salty recipes.

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French Dip
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California

French dip sandwich

Two Los Angeles restaurants claim to have invented this favorite beef sandwich served with a bowl of au jus. Interestingly, they claim to have first served a sandwich with au jus with different motives: one to mask stale bread, and the other to help a customer with sensitive teeth. Regardless, we’re happy to eat a French dip like this today.

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Homemade Soda Black Cow Ice Cream Float with a Straw
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Colorado

Root beer float

This delicious treat dates all the way back to 1893 in Cripple Creek, when a bartender gazing upon the moonlit snow-covered Rocky Mountains saw visions of vanilla ice cream scoops floating on root beer. We’re not sure what he was drinking that night, but the result of his epiphany is a true American classic. Love root beer? We taste-tested a bunch to find the best brand.

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Two fresh submarine sandwiches with ham, cheese, bacon, tomatoes, lettuce, cucumbers and onions on dark wooden background
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Connecticut

Subway sandwiches

The country’s most ubiquitous fast food chain has its origins in the Nutmeg State. The very first Subway opened in Bridgeport in 1965 when a 17-year-old teamed up with a family friend to offer the first footlong, for only 49 cents. Did you know that Subway is the world’s largest chain restaurant?

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Amish Apple Scrapple
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Delaware

Scrapple

Similar to Spam, the recipe for scrapple is made with pork and served in slices. Its origins trace back to Delaware’s early German settlers. The meat product may be due for a popularity surge, given its “nose to tail” ethos. Discover more regional foods you’ve never heard of.

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Slow Cooker Cubano Sandwich
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Florida

The Cuban sandwich

Florida residents know that the Cuban isn’t strictly Cuban. In fact, it was invented in Tampa for the city’s early Cuban immigrant workers in the cigar industry. Today, you can make this delightful varietal of the ham, cheese and pickle sandwich in a slow cooker.

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Pimiento Cheddar Spread
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Georgia

Pimiento cheese

Pimiento cheese? Yes please! This versatile cheese spread owes its popularity to a Macon, Georgia lawyer who used his influence to strike a deal with the Spanish consulate to obtain authentic pimiento pepper seeds from Spain for Georgia’s farmers to grow. By the early 20th century, 90% of the pimiento peppers in the U.S. came from Georgia. Here are more of our favorite Southern recipes.

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Homemade Baked Sweet Hawaiian Buns Ready to Eat
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Hawaii

Sweet bread

Hawaii’s historical sugar plantations produced the sweetness, and Portuguese laborers arriving to work on the sugar plantations brought traditional bread baking techniques. The result was pure magic: light, fluffy and a hint of sweet.

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Blueberry Ice Cream
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Idaho

Huckleberry ice cream

Don’t tell anyone from Idaho that the huckleberry is a minor league berry. The state fruit of Idaho works wonders as the prime ingredient in this purple summery treat. Learn about more famous regional berries, including gooseberries and marionberries.

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Chicago-Style Deep-Dish Pizza
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Illinois

Deep-dish pizza

If you’ve ever been to the Windy City, you know that the locals take their pizza seriously. It’s hard to say who invented this food for sure, but legend has it that deep-dish was first created at Pizzeria Uno. It offered the hungry hordes a super-sized pie with an extra-deep crust and plenty of cheese. Here’s how to make deep-dish pizza at home.

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A box of Orville Redenbacher's Smart Pop Buttered Popcorn on a wood table
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Indiana

Orville Redenbacher popcorn

The so-called “King of Popcorn” oversaw his empire from Valparaiso, Indiana, using the state’s plentiful corn fields as a laboratory for creating the perfect pop. A bronze statue of Orville sitting on a park bench remains today in the city’s downtown square. Here’s our favorite method for making popcorn.

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popsicle with grated chocolate on a wooden background
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Iowa

Eskimo Pie

You won’t often see an Eskimo in Iowa, but their namesake “pie” was invented in Onawa, Iowa in 1920. It’s similar to an ice cream sandwich, but not quite. The concept came about when a kid didn’t have the requisite two nickels to buy both an ice cream and a chocolate bar. The proprietor of the shop set about creating an all-inclusive ice cream and chocolate treat, and the rest is history.

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Pizza Hut sign.
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Kansas

Pizza Hut

The first ever Pizza Hut opened in Wichita in 1958. It’s now a museum on the campus of Wichita State University. From its humble beginnings, Pizza Hut became the largest pizza chain in the world.

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Kentucky

Bourbon

Known as “America’s Native Spirit,” bourbon is a special kind of whiskey. 95% of the world’s supply comes from the Bluegrass State. The secret is the aging process, which can only occur in new charred white oak barrels to produce that dark and rich flavor. Kentuckians even use it in their cake!

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Louisiana Jambalaya
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Louisiana

Jambalaya

Louisiana’s rich Cajun, Creole and French roots have yielded a unique cuisine, and it’s hard to pick just one dish. We’ve got to go with classic jambalaya, the rice and meat-based stew that’s been made in New Orleans’ French Quarter since at least the late 1800s.

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Maine Potato Candy
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Maine

Potato candy

Maine was (and, depending who you ask, still is) the top potato producer of the nation. What to do with all those extra spuds? Make candy, of course! With mashed potato and coconut in the center and a dark chocolate topper, potato candy has been a Maine delicacy since the late 19th century.

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Maryland

Berger cookies

Similar to New York’s “black and white” cookie, this Baltimore delight combines a simple shortbread cookie with a rich fudge topping. A tried and true recipe, Berger cookies have been made the same for nearly 175 years. Here’s a way to copycat ’em at home.

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Boston Baked Beans
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Massachusetts

Boston baked beans

Molasses is the secret to a great Boston baked beans dish, which dates from colonial days when molasses played a large role in New England trade. The Puritans of Massachusetts, whose religion prevented them from cooking on Sundays, would make a large bean pot on Saturday and leave it to sit overnight, soaking up all those delicious flavors and juices.

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Michigan

Vernors ginger ale

James Vernor’s drugstore in Detroit started selling the “original ginger ale” back in 1866, and the sweet and spicy soda has been soothing stomachs and adding pep to cocktails ever since. Some even consider Vernors to be the world’s oldest soft drink. The original recipe was aged for four years in wood to provide fizzy fermentation. Have you tried any of these regional sodas?

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Plain Cheerios
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Minnesota

Cheerios

Minnesota is home to General Mills, which created “CheeriOats” in 1941. The iconic “o” shape comes from a “puffing gun” used to puff grains into cereal shapes. This classic soon became Cheerios and remains the top selling cereal brand today.

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Dressing thousand islands surrounded by ingredients on a table close-up.
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Mississippi

Comeback sauce

Known as Mississippi’s “house dressing,” this tangy dipping sauce is made from a combination of mayonnaise, ketchup and chili sauce. Described as a mix between remoulade sauce and Thousand Island dressing, you can use it on meats, french fries and even salads.

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Toasted Ravioli Puffs
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Missouri

Toasted ravioli

This St. Louis specialty comes from The Hill neighborhood, where the city’s Italian immigrants first took root and opened a bevy of traditional Italian restaurants that remain to this day. Classic toasted ravioli should have meat in the middle, not cheese, and should be served dipped in a rich marinara sauce. Here’s an easy recipe to try at home.

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Grass Fed Bison Hamburger with Lettuce and Cheese
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Montana

Bison burgers

Big Sky country is truly where the buffalo still roam, and Montana continues to be one of the nation’s top producers of bison. Healthier than beef but with much of the flavor, Montanans have been enjoying the benefits of their native meat for centuries.

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Homemade Reuben Sandwich with Corned Beef and Sauerkraut
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Nebraska

Reuben sandwich

Omaha’s Blackstone Hotel was the site of the world’s first ever Reuben sandwich, created by Reuben Kulakofsky during a poker game in the 1920s. Soon after, the sandwich was featured on the hotel’s lunch menu, and word spread about the corned beef, Thousand Island and sauerkraut stack.

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Beef Tenderloin with Sauteed Vegetables
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Nevada

The Chateaubriand

The original Chateaubriand was invented in France in the 1800s, but surged in popularity in the 1950s in Las Vegas. This famous tenderloin “for two” is carved at your table and often served with mushrooms and a white wine sauce. Try this easy version for date night.

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Apple Cider Doughnuts
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New Hampshire

Apple cider doughnuts

Nothing evokes autumn like apple cider sipped while taking in the colored foliage of New England. Perhaps it’s not surprising that apple cider donuts were invented here. Their delicious aromas fill the air near New Hampshire’s cafes and farmers markets every autumn.

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Background of salt water taffy in various flavors and colors wrapped in white transparent paper. Salt water taffy is sold widely on the boardwalks in the U.S. and Canada.; Shutterstock ID 1312539896; Job (TFH, TOH, RD, BNB, CWM, CM): Taste of Home
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New Jersey

Salt water taffy

This salty-sweet treat comes from the boardwalk of Atlantic City. Legend has it that the phrase originated when the ocean jumped the boardwalk during a storm in 1883 and soaked a candy store’s inventory. Fortunately, making saltwater taffy today requires significantly less drastic measures.

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Green and Red New Mexican Chile Peppers in a Colander
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New Mexico

Red and green chile sauce

Chiles are ubiquitous in New Mexican cuisine. Ordering red and green chiles together is called “Christmas” in the Land of Enchantment, where the locals order this delectable combo to accompany their burritos or enchiladas.

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Simple Waldorf Salad
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New York

Waldorf salad

One of the world’s most famous hotels gave its name to this salad made with chopped apples, celery, lettuce and mayonnaise. This simple yet brilliant mix is credited to the Waldorf’s maitre d, who created it for the hotel’s first ever charity ball in 1893. Variations abound: Try walnuts to add a savory crunch to the mix.

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A can and a glass of Pepsi, a carbonated soft drink produced and manufactured by PepsiCo.
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North Carolina

Pepsi

Small-town pharmacist Caleb Bradham created the formula for this popular soda, sold then as “Brad’s drink” and made with nutmeg, lemon oil and kola nuts. Seizing on its early popularity among the drugstore kid crowd, Bradham soon changed the name to Pepsi-Cola, an homage to the stomach enzyme pepsin, to advertise the drink’s qualities as a digestive aid.

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Knoephla Soup
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North Dakota

Knoephla

This simple yet sumptuous potato and dumpling soup is just what’s needed to get through those long North Dakota winters. Brought to the northern plains by German immigrants, the name knoephla translates roughly to little knob, or button.

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Rolled oats, healthy breakfast cereal oat flakes in bowl on wooden table
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Ohio

Quaker Oats

The original Quaker Oats Company began milling in Akron, Ohio over a hundred years ago. By the late 1800s, the company produced up to 360,000 pounds of oats each day. See the inspiration for the real Quaker Oats man.

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Chicken-Fried Steak & Gravy 120399
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Oklahoma

Chicken fried steak

Oklahoma is one of just two states with an official “state meal,” meant to highlight the Sooner State’s agricultural production. The hearty and crowd-pleasing chicken fried steak is the main course of this meal, which also includes fried okra, cornbread and pecan pie for dessert.

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Tillamook logo in the cafe at the Tillamook Creamery
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Oregon

Tillamook cheese

A farmer-owner co-op called the Tillamook County Creamery Association makes renowned cheeses, ice cream and butter. The Oregon co-op been collectively producing for over a century along the Pacific coast, just to the west of Portland.

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Easy Philly Cheesesteaks
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Pennsylvania

Philly cheesesteak

This classic sandwich from the City of Brotherly Love combines ribeye steak slices with melted cheese on a crusty Italian roll. Just make sure you know the “right” way to order if you go to Pat’s King of Steaks, the Philadelphia spot where it all started back in the 1940s.

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Glee Gum
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Rhode Island

Glee Gum

This popular all-natural gum was invented in Providence. Instead of artificial sweeteners, Glee is based on chicle, a type of tree sap harvested in Mexico and Guatemala that’s a natural alternative to mainstream gums.

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Smooth Sweet Tea
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South Carolina

Sweet tea

Sweet tea, that wonderful Southern refresher, comes to us from the fittingly named town of Summerville, South Carolina. Most certainly not the stuff of British “high tea,” sweet tea is best enjoyed in a tall glass while lounging under a sun umbrella.

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Medium Rare Fried Diced Marinated Beef on Blue Ceramic Plate on Wood Panel with Sea Salt and Vegetable Decorated.
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South Dakota

Chislic

You’ve likely never heard of this South Dakota dish made of salted, cubed lamb or beef served with crackers. The area surrounding Sioux Falls is known as the “chislic circle” for its love of the dish, first popularized by German and Russian immigrants.

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Hot fried chicken
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Tennessee

Hot chicken

A Nashville favorite, hot chicken is increasingly popular around the nation. As simple and delicious as its name implies, the fried chicken is served with a cloud of cayenne pepper. Enjoy it atop white bread with pickles for an authentic Nashville experience.

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Texas

Frozen margarita

Nothing beats a frozen margarita on a hot day, and Texans know all about both of those. The cocktail was first made by hand in blenders, and Dallas restauranteur Mariano Martinez made it possible to serve frozen margs en masse when he converted a soft-serve ice cream machine into a drink blender. Learn more about the origins of your favorite cocktails.

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Rose Sauce / Fry Sauce Dip - Bowl of dipping sauce made with ketchup and mayonnaise.
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Utah

Fry sauce

This delicious combo of mayonnaise and ketchup was first invented at the Arctic Circle fast food chain, and remains Utah’s unofficial state condiment today. Try it yourself!

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Maple syrup in grocery store
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Vermont

Maple syrup

Vermont produces nearly half of all the maple syrup in the U.S., about 2 million gallons annually. The tradition dates back centuries in Vermont, where farmers used the sap from their trees in late winter to provide an added income source during the slow season. Here’s what to know about tricky syrup labeling.

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Hearty Brunswick Stew
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Virginia

Brunswick stew

There’s hot debate between Virginia and Georgia for who can claim the origins of this meat and veggie stew. Virginians believe the stew was first made in Brunswick County and included squirrel as the protein, not a surprising addition for the frontier days. Today, chicken’s the star of this savory classic.

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Cinnamon rolls or cinnabons with cream sauce, homemade recipe preparation sweet traditional dessert buns pastry food close up.
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Washington

Cinnabon

The first Cinnabon opened in 1985 in the SeaTac Mall, and their cinnamon rolls have appeared in shopping malls around the world ever since. Like many recipes, this one didn’t come easily: It took the creators months to perfect. Try our copycat version.

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Pepperoni Roll-Ups
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West Virginia

Pepperoni rolls

These hot and delicious bites are the West Virginia snack of choice, and date back to the days when Italian immigrants came to the state to work in the coal mines. Made simply from Italian bread with pepperoni baked in, they’re part “pizza roll” and part calzone. These days, they’re perfect for lunch boxes and cocktail parties alike.

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Cheese curds
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Wisconsin

Cheese curds

A visit to America’s Dairyland is not complete without a stop at a roadside cheese stand or farmers market to grab a bag of fresh cheese curds. The squeak you hear when you bite into a curd is the air escaping from tiny pockets, which is how you know it’s fresh. Try them aside a bratwurst and German beer for a true Wisconsin meal.

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Taco John's exterior and sign.
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Wyoming

Taco John’s

This fast food mainstay started as a humble taco stand run by a chef named John in 1968. Then, two entrepreneurs bought the rights to the stand and took the franchise national. They’ve even trademarked the phrase Taco Tuesday!

Kelsey Dimberg
A former senior digital editor at Taste of Home, Kelsey now writes articles and novels from her home in Chicago. Since 2010, she’s followed a gluten-free diet, and especially enjoys the challenge of baking sourdough bread and pizza dough. As a contributing writer for Taste of Home, she covers a broad range of topics but with a special emphasis on gluten-free cooking and baking. Outside of her gluten-free experiments in the kitchen, Kelsey is also the author of the thriller novel “Girl in the Rearview Mirror.”