One of the Christmas gifts I gave my nephew was a Compendium of Indispensable Facts, a book of random and imminently useful trivia ranging from dance steps to the waltz to the Semaphore alphabet.
One of the lists in this book was a of foods named for places — perfect for a lazy holiday filled with too much to eat and remotely related to travel and dining. I’ve added a few more to the original list and I’m sure you can too.
Anjou Pear
Baked Alaska
Bologna
Bolognese sauce
Boston cream pie
Brazil nut
Brussels sprout
Buffalo wings
Insalata Caprese (Capri)
Canadian bacon
Cheddar cheese
Chicken Kiev
Cornish pasty
Danish pastry
Dijon mustard
French fries
Hamburgers
Hollandaise sauce
Hungarian goulash
Jerusalem artichoke
Lima beans
London broil
Manhattan clam chowder
Mississippi mud pie
New England clam chowder
Peking duck
Philadelphia cream cheese
Quiche Lorraine
Salad Niçoise
Salsibury steak
Santa Fe chicken or steak
Swiss cheese
Valencia oranges
Waldorf salad
Welsh rarebit
Wiener schnitzel
Worchestershire sauce
Yorkshire pudding
Looking at this list again, I ended up spending far more time on this than originally planned, but it was fun thinking of these places and these foods. Naturally, many more food names can be included if we consider cheeses such as Munster, Stilton, Chimay, etc. and wines that are naturally linked with regions and towns.
Add any others. The exercise is entertaining. Next plan a trip to dine on the dish in the place from which it derives its name. It seems to be as good a reason to travel as any other.
{ 10 comments… read them below or add one }
How about Frankfurters?
I don’t think the name really came from England, but you could add English muffins to the list. In my area of the country, steak-eaters like to order the Kansas City strip. Since I don’t eat steak, I have no idea how that might differ from steaks offered in other parts of the US or the rest of the world. There are all of the types of dressings–Italian, French, Russian. There is a drink called the White Russian. Irish stew and Irish whiskey and English walnuts also come to mind.
American cheese
Boston baked beans
Concord grapes (maybe)
Cornish game hen
Dover sole
English sole
French dressing
French toast
Irish stew
Lyonnaise potatoes
Paris-Brest (a French dessert)
Parker House rolls
Parma ham
Rocky Mountain oysters
Russian dressing
Swiss cheese
MAKE ME STOP!
P.S. to Marilyn – What we call English muffins are what the Brits call cumpets.
Nanaimo bars (yummy!)
Prague hams
I know it was a typo, but call them “crumpets.”
Swedish Meatballs anyone?
… and how did we overlook Scotch? :o)
Sorry, you got me going now…. will shut up after Chicken(or veal) Marsala, NY Strip Steak, Eccles Cakes and New England Boiled Dinner.
Thanks for a fun topic Charlie!
How about Parmigiano Reggiano – name comes from the town of Parma -, Grana Padano – Padania being the original name of the area of production -, Gorgonzola – name taken from the town of production -, Jewish-style Artichokes – prepared originally in the Jewish area of Rome -, Amatriciana – sauce originally from the town with the same name……………..In Italy there are hundreds of locally-named products, it would be way too long to list them all!
Turkish Delight?