True foodies might already know these fun food facts about their state. Learn a little piece of food history from each of the 50 states.
Alabama
Marcel Proust had his madeleine; Alabama has the Lane cake. The layered bourbon-laced confection makes a cameo in several books, including Alabama native Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird and the memoirs of former president Jimmy Carter. If you’re already hungry, you need to try the most delicious food from every state.
Alaska
Alaska is renowned for its wild salmon, but the wild salmonberries are plenty tasty too. Be careful, though—bears also adore them. In fact, many Alaskans wear “bear bells” when they go picking to avoid surprising their large berry-loving rivals.
Arizona
Yuma County is known as the Winter Salad Bowl. Arizona is America’s second-largest producer of lettuce, behind California. Don’t miss the one food you have to try in every state.
Arkansas
Quiz: What’s the self-proclaimed edamame capital of the world?
A. Tokyo.
B. Beijing.
C. Mulberry, Arkansas.
Mulberry it is! Of the top ten soybean-producing states in the United States, Arkansas is the only one not in the Midwest.
California
Food trucks are an urban staple today, but when Kogi BBQ hit the streets of LA in 2008, finding customers was an adventure. Kogi did it by posting its daily menu and whereabouts on Twitter. The smell of spicy, kimchi-covered Kogi Dogs helped too. “At every stop, it’ll be hundreds of young people and 12 middle-aged copycats in suits and ties asking where I buy my cabbage,” chef Roy Choi told Newsweek. Here’s what all 50 states look like designed out of food.
Colorado
The Fool’s Gold Loaf—featuring peanut butter, blueberry jam, and a pound of bacon in a sourdough loaf—isn’t everyone’s cup of tea. But when Elvis tried one in Denver, he loved it so much that he returned in his private jet to get more for daughter Lisa Marie’s eighth birthday.
Connecticut
The first Subway sandwich shop opened in 1965 in Bridgeport, and it’s fair to say the idea was genius. That original eatery was the brainchild of a nuclear physicist named Peter Buck. Today, Subway is the biggest fast-food franchise in the United States, with more locations than McDonald’s. Check out the strangest food laws in every state.
Delaware
Until the 1920s, people raised chickens primarily for the eggs. That changed in 1923, when Cecile Steele of Ocean View ordered 50 chicks for her backyard flock—but received 500 by mistake. Undeterred, the entrepreneurial Steele sold the excess birds four months later at 62 cents a pound, effectively hatching the broiler chicken industry.
Florida
During World War II, the U.S. Department of Agriculture asked Florida orange growers to ramp up production in order to get vitamin C to the troops. Not long after, a Florida-based company started selling a new product called Minute Maid. If you head out on a road trip, make sure to hit up the best buffet in every state.
Georgia
Georgia is also home to a lot of kale. It’s the number two producer (after California), as well as the birthplace of the growing health-food chain Kale Me Crazy.
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