The Most Iconic Food from Every State – Massachusetts is a Surprise!

This list is actually a lot of fun. Taste of Home set out to find the most iconic food from every state. I don’t know about you but immediately I was hit with “here comes the clam chowdah for Massachusetts” vibes. Not that there is anything wrong with clam chowder. I love it! But I feel like the country’s view of Massachusetts is one big cliche. We’re all that cousin… from Bos-ton. We all are constantly parking random cars by random yards. And of course we’re guzzling clam chowdah constantly. I think we actually carry it in hiking backpacks with one of those water tubes running from it to our mouth with a constant flow of chowdah.

But rejoice, Taste of Home dodged the low-hanging chowdah!!

Alright, so here’s how it’ll shake out. I’ll give you the New England states first, then a few extras, then we’ll wrap up with the most iconic food from Massachusetts, which I think is a bit of a surprise. See if you can guess it.

Also, speaking of food, if you’re looking for another surprise – THIS was just named the best family pizza joint in Massachusetts… and it’s not the place you’re thinking.

• Most iconic food from RHODE ISLAND

  COFFEE MILK

  I think I’ve lived in New England for so long that this just seems like a part of life. But I remember the first time I saw it, then saw it again somewhere else, then again I thought I was in bizarro land because I had never seen it before. Now I crave that coffee syrup and milk mix pretty regularly.

• Most iconic food from MAINE

  WHOOPIE PIES

  Two chocolate hamburger-bun-shaped cake patties filled with whipped cream. Labadie’s Bakery in Lewiston made the original whoopie pie in 1925. You can still get them there or order them frozen RIGHT HERE.

• Most iconic food from CONNECTICUT

  STEAMED CHEESEBURGER

  Ted’s Restaurant in Meriden sounds legit. They are well-known for serving up these tasty steamed cheeseburgers and now I want one sooooo bad.

• Most iconic food from NEW HAMPSHIRE

  STEAMERS

  New Hampshire’s shoreline is small but mighty and bursting with amazing seafood! It’s a meal and drink in one! LOL

• Most iconic food from VERMONT

  SUGAR ON SNOW

  I grew up most of my childhood in Vermont and I can confirm that I know well-and-good what sugar on snow is and I have eaten it at least a dozen times in my life. It’s just fresh VERMONT snow with maple syrup drizzled on it. Grab a spoon and dig in! Also – every part is important – freshly fallen VERMONT snow and 100% real maple syrup. No Massachusetts snow from last week with Log Cabin on it. Nuh uh.

• Most iconic food from ALASKA

  ALASKAN KING CRAB LEGS

  Yo – my mom would routinely HOUSE these things at the buffet in my town. We loved the buffet steakhouse, and mom loooooovvvveeeddd her Alaskan King Crab Legs. I think I saw her fight another customer one time for the last leg. I may have imagined that but I may not have.

• Most iconic food from IDAHO

  ICE CREAM POTATO

  This one is hilarious to me and I need someone from Idaho to please confirm that this is truly a thing there: the ice cream potato. From all the pictures I just looked up it’s just what it sounds like: a scoop of ice cream on an opened-up baked potato. The end. For real though?

• Most iconic food from DELAWARE

  SCRAPPLE

  Do you know what goes IN scrapple? No? Don’t worry about it. Seriously. It’s a Pennsylvania Dutch treat. My father-in-law grew up in a Pennsylvania Dutch family and he loooovvveeddd scrapple. I loved my father-in-law so much that I ate it with him a couple times. Fatty salt fest to the max. But I’d do it again 1,000 times as long as it was with him. I love how food brings back memories. Now I’m teared up about freaking scrapple. Who even am I?

• Most iconic food from FLORIDA

  KEY LIME PIE

  I wonder if Key Lime Pie is Florida’s clam chowder. I wonder if they’re like “yeah we like it but enough already!!”

• Most iconic food from GEORGIA

  PEACH COBBLER

  I knew Georgia was the land of delish peaches but I had a peach cobbler in Georgia that made me consider moving there. Seriously. My waistline is very happy I opted to stay home in Massachusetts.

• Most iconic food from NEW YORK

  NEW YORK CHEESECAKE

  Juniors gets credit for inventing the New York Cheesecake back in the 1950’s and that standard still remains today. Silky silky silky.

• Most iconic food from TEXAS

  FAJITAS

  I’m telling you, I moved to Dallas for a radio job years ago. My family lived there for two years and Texas ruined fajitas for me. I have always loved fajitas but the fajitas that you can get in tiny neighborhood places that just feel like someone’s house (I honestly think many of them are run out of people’s houses) are so good that the great fajitas I enjoyed pre-Texas aren’t so great anymore. I sometimes dream about them.

• Most iconic food from MASSACHUSETTS

  CHOW MEIN SANDWICH

  I’m a little sad that I’ve lived here so long and have never had a proper Chow Mein Sandwich. Don’t get me wrong, I think it sounds revolting…. but I need one. The sandwich originated in the 1930’s in Fall River. I think you’re supposed to use a fork and knife to eat it but forget that! I’ll grab that big sloppy boy and cram it right in my face hole all day. That is, if I ever get the joy.