food regions new york state shannon glazer

New York State food regions map

food regions new york state shannon glazer

We kind of feel sorry for the "bark" regions of the state.

Check out this food map of New York State created by Shannon Glazer. She's divided the state into regions based on the foods for which they're known. For example: Utica and chicken riggies. She also marks the ever-important pop/soda demarcation.

Here's a large-format version of the map.

Shannon's started a Twitter feed related to the map: @NYS_food_map.

(Thanks, Shannon!)

Earlier on AOA: Martin on candidates for the quintessential Capital Region food.

Comments

Woo!

Missing Beef on Weck in WNY and Utica Greens, but otherwise pretty accurate and amusing. Props to Shannon.

I also love that Connecticut is blank, with no distinguishing cuisine. After living there, I can attest to that!

This is making me hungry.

I dispute this. I grew up in Orange County, and the first time I had an egg cream was last year. NO ONE in Orange County knows what an egg cream is. Probably best to extend the CIA loop around the OC, or just leave it blank. Glad I moved away from there.

I would also suggest adding a Fried Dough/Pizza Fritte circle around Schenectady.

This is a great combination! I love maps. I love food.

Jessica, isn't New Haven supposed to have good thin crust pizza? I haven't had it.. though I can attest to Hartford's complete blandness.

Syracuse really should be salt potatoes. When I came to Albany no one knew what salt potatoes were, they are the true regional food of Syracuse, it wasn't known at the "Salt City" for nothing.

Michigans for Plattsburgh and rest of North Country. Here is an article from Gourmet magazine talking about them:
http://www.gourmet.com/magazine/2000s/2006/10/putting-on-the-dog

Thank you to jh, who said michigans for the North Country. I can't believe the best the author could come up with was "bark," how very unoriginal and disappointing.

This map is a great mix of accuracy and tongue-in-cheek (bark, Long Island ice tea)! Well done!

And before somebody says it, no, an open face calzone is not just a pizza. It's made like a calzone, with a much higher cheese to sauce ratio than pizza, as well as ricotta. Then it's sorta chopped up, so it could be said to be "open face."

Also, the cartographer is hot. Wanna go out some time?

Given the translation of the word Adirondack, I think "bark" for that area is clever.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adirondacks#Naming.2C_spelling.2C_and_pronunciation

Love the list!

I love this map, especially the soda/pop line. But I am also from Orange County and the first time I ever heard of an Egg cream was on AOA. I can also assure you that there was no CIA influence on the cuisine of the OC when I lived there. I thought that maybe local foodies could replace the CIA polygon, as it is a hotspot for artisan farms, dairies, breweries, distilleries, wineries, etc, etc.

I also lived and worked in Orange County and never had an egg cream there, including in my dad's Brooklyn style shop. I'm not sure it migrated too far from Brooklyn.

I do love the designation of LI Iced Tea coming from Long Island. That is pretty awesome.

Also, since things like Brooks Chicken and Saratoga chips made it onto the map, can we get apple pie a la mode added for Cambridge? :)

Grew up in the "North Country" and poutine is NOT a thing up there. Michigans on the other hand is a big thing.

I'm disappointed.

Also no little hot dogs?!

I'm from Rockland County, and I have never seen egg creams on a menu, or hear people talk about them.

As for the Michigans, my boyfriend (from Michigan) told me that's what they also call them along the border in Canada.

I grew up in the "North Country" near the border of Canada and poutine is definitely a thing there. Olivia - maybe you weren't north enough in the North Country?

Also, I would love a delicious Sergi's pizza roll right now.

This is great! You can add white hots (white hot dogs) to the Syracuse area,

If you're doing local products like Croghan's bologna and Brooks' chicken, then the area around Warrensburg (from Glens Falls all around Lake George should be marked for Oscar's Bacon -- truly outstanding stuff.

I agree with @Barold, except that they're called coneys -- coneys are a white variety of hot dog popular around Syracuse and Oswego (and they're awesome). Coneys should totally be on the map.

Please add the Club Sandwich to the Saratoga Springs location !

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Club_sandwich

Yeah, right, foodwise there's nothing going on in Connecticut.

Yay Shanny!!!!!

3 suggestions:
1 - Queens, NY should have a small circle labeled "UN". You can get EVERYTHING there. Thai, Ethiopian, Viet, Polish, Egyptian, Brazilian, Russian.
2- Red Hot Dogs along the Northway, like in Maine.
3- Central CT: Steamed Cheeseburgers!

Why is Jersey the home of Diners? Diners were invented in, and remain a staple of Rhode Island. Not Jersey!

@Casey: I grew up in the Adirondacks and have known the translation most of my life; "bark" isn't clever, it's lazy and frankly somewhat derogatory.

RE: "Bark"
I, too, grew up in the ADKs, and think it was a clever addition to the map.

who said CT should be blank?!?!? They invented the hamburger for frick's sake. Not to mention the steamed cheeseburgers and Pepe's pizza. Damn I could go for some of that.
sorry people, I love the capital district but CT blows us away foodwise.

My two (or three) cents:

1. Adirondacks should be "Maple Syrup" (certainly not "bark").

2. "Brooklyn Egg Cream" should not extend into Orange County (probably not Westchester or Rockland either). If anything, "Diners" should extend into these counties.

3. Warwick NY (in Orange County) should be identified with a little circle labeled "Black Dirt Onions".

Glad to see Albany Sticks made the map ;-)

I'm so glad that other mentioned the need to include Michigans for the Plattsburgh region of the state: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michigan_hot_dog

Where the hell did these "North Country" people grow up that they're mystified by poutine? Also... as a born-and-bred on-the-border northerner I have to ask: What the hell is a Michigan?

Michigans and poutine and pizza rolls (coughfatbagscough), the official food of the North Country. Anyone who says differently is wrong.

White Hots are a Rochester thing. And I do not believe salt potatoes are solely a Syracuse thing. I come from Rochester and have probably eaten more salt potatoes than my Syracuse born boyfriend. Must be more like a central/western NY thing.

I also have to say, Rochester loves its hot sauce, and on everything.

If nothing else, let this be proof: New Yorkers give a sh*t about food.

Attention those who are upset by this map: Pretty sure this is meant to be tongue-in-cheek and not an accurate historical record meant for the library of congress.

WOW "Arielle", seriously?? you mean to tell me this is NOT a historical account of every single food eaten in every region of the state of New York??? whoaa, thanks SO MUCH for that information!!!!!!

(p.s. - the official food of Albany is beer)

@smally bigz
The history of the Hamburger is highly contested. As a former resident, I've been taught it was invented in Hamburg, NY.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_hamburger_in_the_United_States

Also for Binghamton area - City chicken (breaded/battered veal on a stick) & Sharkeys mussels

Wine! You nailed the Finger Lakes.

I'd recommend Wegmans, especially around the Rochester area.

Salt potatoes might not be a solely Syracuse thing anymore, but they certainly originated there. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salt_potatoes

In fact there are many recipes online that are specifically called "Syracuse Salt Potatoes".

Every time I come back to this post to catch up on comments, I get hungry!

You are missing white hots from the Rochester area. And no, we don't call them coneys, we call them white hots.

I had those raspberry sticks for the first time a couple weeks ago and they were mighty disgusting. Please don't tell the world that's what we're know for. It makes us look bad.

But you forgot about Chicken French, another Rochester tradition in Italian restaurants.

Fried cakes around Rochester

Turkey Joints (candy) - Rome, NY
Mexican Hots (Burger with special sauce) - Central NY
I am from the New Hartford-Utica area, can't you tell?

Fish Fry is a Rochester/Buffalo custom on Friday nights. Rochester cuisine is so much more than Garbage Plates.

Grew up in Keeseville, went to school in Plattsburgh. Poutine is not common in Plattsburgh. Maybe in Champlain or Rousses Point. :P


I wish the Adirondacks got labeled with maple syrup instead of bark. I grew up there and almost every family had their own sap boiler.

@Tim where did you have bad mozz/razz sticks??? They serve some great ones at Beff's, and I'm sure others have recommendations on other local places with tasty versions. It's not a weird combo at all - think warm brie + fruit. Maybe it's not your thing, that's fine, but they aren't universally disgusting, not at all!

This map ROCKS! Makes me homesick. Any food listed is better than I can find in WI! I miss REAL pizza & hot dogs/w the greek meat sauce @ Broadway Diner in Schenectady. And anything from Petta's!

Glens Falls: Breakfast at Poopie's, Dirty John's Hot Dogs,
Martha's Dandee Cream, Zak's Hot Dogs and definitely maple syrup on anything. We try to hit all of them when we are "home" on vacation.

Great Map!

Two comments:

1. You nailed the Pop/Soda dividing line! I have always placed it around Auburn or so.

2. Connecticut should be Grinders.

what's peppermint pig? Never have seen it on a menu.

Umm, the white hot dog was invented in Rochester NY who had a rather large German community so it really should not be in the Syracuse circle to whoever mentioned that.

Seem to be missing Salt Rising Bread also around the cheese curd area.

Yes to bark for the North Country!!

I actually HAVE eaten a lot of bark there, though it was mainly bits that fell into the homemade balls of spruce gum. It's good and turns purple.

I would have put that soda/pop line a little further east- closer to Syracuse

Where's the Salt Rising Bread! It is a western NY staple.

Personally I love the fact that Canada has Labatts!

Syracuse, would be Hoffman Dogs FIRST, then Dinosaur BBQ!!! Around A LOT longer!!!!! But that's my opinion!!!

Hello! No Glaziers hot dogs? The quintessential regional food.

I lived in Ithaca for 6 years and seen salt potatoes but never tried them to see what the fuss was about.

Friends, Syracuse is salt potatoes. Salt city, salt potatoes. Served with an obscene amount of melted butter.

Up until recently I would have agreed to share that with Hoffman's hot dogs, but since they've gone national they just aren't the same. Still love the annual pilgrimage to Heid's, though.

Much as I enjoy the (one, true,) original Dinosaur, referring to it as Syracuse's regional food is kind of like saying that Nick Tahou's or Wegman's is Rochester's regional food. That Duff's or The Anchor Bar is Buffalo's. It doesn't work.

Ok,,,Western NY should be:
Niagara County (Niagara falls and Lockport) Vernors Ginger Ale and Beef on Weck
Buffalo...Genesee 12 horse Ale and Polish Sausage (Kielbasa)

Chocolate Jumbles for the Schoharie County area!
Just about every family that has been living in the area for several generations has an heirloom recipe.

Western NY / Finger Lakes area also has the Cornell recipe Chicken BBQ. Found at many firehall cookouts during the summer.

Delaware/Greene co. Stuffed Pizza.

Let's not forget Buffalo Wings . . . that's a huge one.

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