Funny names for foods

Where I grew up, Jimmies are chocolate (well, brown anyway) & sprinkles are colored.

 

My aunt used to make this hellaciously yummy desseert called TNT. All I remember is that it had angel food cake, chocolate sauce, and green stuff. My mom has given me the recipe on a number of occasions and I keep losing it, hence her description of me as a "loser."

Ah yeah... TNT. Haven't had that in probably 30 years or so. It's probabaly illegal nowadays, 'cause it was SO sickeningly sweet and delicious.

Dan

 

What was the green stuff? Wasabi? Guacamole? Wheat grass? America needs to know!

 

Where I come from, a toad in the hole is an egg fried in a piece of bread that's had a small hole cut out of it, usually with a drinking glass. Funny how the same name can apply to such different dishes, isn't it?
I remember calling canned ham 'square pig.'
And I made french toast as a kid, but we ran out of bread one time, so I used buns instead. I called them 'derrieres'.

 

There is a local variety of milkshake/frappe/cabinet in RI called an Awful-Awful, from a chain restaurant called Newport Creamery.

Also, we have clam cakes, which are fried doughballs with no clams. Very yummy and go straight to the arteries.

A common source of confusion around here is chowder:
New England clam chowder (more properly chowda) is white and cream based.
Manhattan clam chowder is red (tomato based)
Rhode Island clam chowder is clam soup (clear broth).

I've been places where all 3 are on the menu at the same time. I'm from MA and never heard of RI clam chowder until I moved here. Weirdest little state ever.

 

I'm sorry, if you put tomato in it, it is no longer chowder. It is tomato soup with clams.
</New England snob mode>

 

We call it soft drink in Adelaide.

 

Musk candy! (I can't believe you left this one out Pats).

Worse by far than Vegemite. It tastes like sugared soap.

 

Rooster Fries anyone? (Battered and fried rooster testicles)

 

"prarie oysters"

 

I'll take 12. Hold the ketchup.

 

What do you mean worse than Vegemite? Vegemite is nice, you just have to spread it very thin, see-through thin.
I also liked musk lollies, yum. My doctor would give us one when we went for injections.

There was an icecream range made by Amscol Icecream (no longer with us) called "Footy colours" This was a block of icecream about 4" x 2" x 3/4" and it was in the colours of the 10 South Australian football clubs. I only ever tried the Sturt colours, double blue and it tasted OK but the red and black of West Torrens FC looked yuk. Oh you got your footy colours with 2 wafer biscuits which you put the icecream between to eat it.

 

We mainly get the British version of Vegemite here called "Marmite". It's perhaps a little bit more bitter. I ate loads of the stuff as a kid. Which is good cause its' very nutritious.

I still like it, but I try not to eat so much bread these days.

How about this:

Cheddar cheese + Vegemite + Grill in the oven

 

My wife and I introduced our European relatives to the joys of peanut butter, ketchup, and marshmallows, none of which they have. They don't make s'mores when they go camping either (not that they camp much).

OTOH, pizza wasn't introduced to northern Minnesota until the late 60's apparently (according to my parents). I had heard of bagels, but never saw one until college (late 80's). But I grew up way out in the sticks (after moving from Montana as a little kid), so I might not be representative of most Minnesotans. Not many Italians or Jews in our area. Or Irish, Chinese, Greeks, etc. Just Scandihoovians, with the lefse and lutefisk, and Germans.

For ethnic food on the German (-from-Russia) side, my great-aunt would make strudel by stretching bread dough on the round oak dining room table until you could see the wood grain through the bread dough, then layer on the butter, sugar, apple cubes, etc. and roll it up. We would have halvah during the holidays (an acquired taste, I always said it was made of sweetened sawdust). We would have home-made kuchen (coo-khen) with wild blueberries for breakfast (kind of a pie without a top crust), rhubarb pies, and rhubarb jam, knepfla (semi-boiled bread dough, potatoes and pork if I remember correctly - the bread dough seemed to expand after you ate it, and it kept you full for a long time).

I don't see rhubarb out of the northern tier of states. If you see it in the Chicago area, it'll be mixed with strawberries. Just like grits don't get this far north.

Another item that varies regionally is the topping for french fries - ketchup, mayonaise (E. Ontario), feta cheese (Bulgaria), honey mustard, etc.

Toppings for pizza also have some local variations. I've seen peas on top in Bulgaria, Chicago is known for the deep-dish and stuffed crust types with lots of cheese.