I know I just wrote a post like an hour ago, but the baby is taking an extra long nap and it’s my blog, so I can do whatever I want.
Thinking about my grandmother has led me to thinking about food-if you knew her you know why- and lately I have been especially appreciative of the amazing local food in my hometown of Baltimore. Seriously. Almost once a week I am shocked to discover that the rest of the country is being deprived of something I never knew was a “Baltimore thing.” (Or more appropriately a Balmer thang, hon)
A few days ago I was watching “The Best Thing I Ever Ate” on Food Network & Guy Fieri was talking about Baltimore’s pit beef. I never realized this was unique to Baltimore. In fact, until we moved to Florida a few years ago I didn’t realize just how many of my staple childhood memory foods were totally local. My new friends looked at me like I was crazy when I asked if there were any snowball stands nearby. Seriously, in Tampa, FL you would think that shaved ice treats would be a big hit, but they’re nowhere to be found. I was shocked to discover that children everywhere weren’t lining up at shacks in crowded parking lots for egg custard w/marshmallow the same way I did.
I knew that steamed crabs, crab cakes, Maryland-style crab soup, crab dip, and virtually anything worth eating made from crab meat was local food, but there is so much else to which the rest of the world must be exposed! C’mon now!
And thus I have created my Top 10 list of local foods which I wish would become more readily available around the country. I stole some from central, PA but most of them are Maryland classics.
1. Crab stuff made correctly, i.e. so it actually tastes good.
2. Steamed crabs (They need their own spot)
3. Snowballs
4. Burgers cookies
5. Lemon sticks
6. Pit beef
7. Utz chips
8. Tasty Cakes (I’m not sure where these are from, actually, but I couldn’t get them in FL)
9. Snyder’s pretzels
10. Scrapple
Eddie would probably want me to add Yuengling beer to the list, but it’s my list and I don’t drink beer so that’s not happening.
Baltimore leaves a lot to be desired in other areas, but it’s worth visiting just for the food, unless I get my way and the rest of the country learns how to cook.
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