There are certain foods that define a region. This is a bit less true today than it was 40 years ago, but there are still a few foods so associated with a place that they help define it.

Beignets are an example. They belong so completely to New Orleans that I rarely even consider having one in my day-to-day life. But get me to New Orleans, and beignets will be one of the first stops I make.

Other examples are Philly cheese steaks and Boston clam chowder.

There are also regional differences between foods. In Pascagoula, Mississippi barbeque (the noun not the verb) is meat in a vinegary sauce. But not too far north in Memphis, Tennessee, people would roll their eyes at that. Because barbeque to them is smoked meat, with a dry spice rub.

There are other examples of this, and in this highly homogenized world we live in it’s fun to seek out the new, the different or the culinarily unique. And despite the chain restaurant syndrome, there still are a few “local” food traditions left in this world.