Special Report
These Are the Strangest Foods From Every State
September 19, 2021 10:00 am
Kansas
> Weird food: S’more burger
The Girl Scouts should sue. Yes, it’s actually topped with marshmallows, chocolate, and graham crackers.
Kentucky
> Weird food: Benedictine
Intimately associated with the Kentucky Derby — and not related to the French liqueur of the same name — this is a spread made with cucumber, onion, cream cheese, mayonnaise, and sometimes green food coloring. It’s used on canapés, as a dip, and in sandwiches. In fact, it somehow seems like a baby-food version of the cucumber sandwiches served at English teatime.
Louisiana
> Weird food: Nutria
“Dinner” is not the first thing you’d think of when you see one of these large, aquatic, web-footed reptiles. They’re considered an invasive species, destroying crops and levees in Louisiana, and sites like Can’t Beat ‘Em, Eat ‘Em publish recipes for nutria — though it hasn’t really caught on.
Maine
> Weird food: Tomalley
Tomalley, that pungent green goop in the body of a lobster, is the creature’s digestive gland. Most people probably throw it away, but connoisseurs in Maine save it to spread on toast or whisk into sauces or softened butter.
Maryland
> Weird food: Barbecue muskrat
Muskrats look sort of like small versions of nutria (to which they are not related), and they too get eaten. There are even a couple of festivals featuring muskrat in the state. The creature has lean, dark meat, full of tiny bones. One popular way to serve it — in Maryland as elsewhere — is barbecued.
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