I was just washing dishes, and one dirty pan started me thinking about regional names for foods. In this case, the pan was dirty from making sloppy joes. For some unknown reason, in this little village sloppy joes are called "snuggle bunnies". It's not a Michigan thing or Midwestern thing; as far as I can tell it's just in this little village of 600 people. I suppose someone here called them that and it stuck. My question, then, is what sort of funny names do you use for common foods and why? Tom
there's a snack that's called "puppy chow" up in the upper midwest. the first potluck i was invited to down south, i offered to make "puppy chow" for dessert. the folks from different regions looked at me like i was absolutely insane. i laughed and explained, then they got it and listed off THEIR names for it... i don't remember them though.
There's a type of tofu used by Chinese that's commonly called "stinky tofu". It literally smells like sh*t. Tastes great, but it's very stinky.
In Lancashire, England a flat bread roll, I guess something like a burger bun but flat on top and no seeds is called a tea cake, In Yorkshire they are called barm cakes. Here a tea cake is a soft sponge cake about 8 to 10 inches (with a hole in the centre) diameter topped with cinnamon and fine caster sugar or icing sugar. Normally a tea cake is served in the afternoon with cups of tea. It is also normal that it all be eaten before it has a chance to cool down after coming out of the oven.
Dang Wisconsinites Puppy Chow - White corn Chex, peanut butter, chocolate, powdered sugar, and cook in a pan. Haystacks - Chowmein noodles, peanut butter and butterscotch chips or chocolate chips.
I made "reindeer food" and "kitty litter cake" for treats for Christmas and Halloween for my students. I think traditional names are odd enough. Who came up with rutabaga and rhubarb?
There's a chinese dish using silverfish (the fish not the insect) which is basically deep fried and I suppose pan fried for a bit with a lot of garlic and chilli (both red and green). A direct translation of the dish in English is "White Rice Fish" silver.. white rice... close enough?
Spotted Dick Sh*t on a shingle Slumgullion Falafel (it sounds funny, tastes fabulous) Any meal/snack that isn't breakfast/dinner/supper is called "lunch" in parts of Minnesota. First time I was offered "a little lunch" at 10pm, I really wondered if my hostess had slipped a gear...
Sh*t on a shingle What's that? What bout: pigs in blankets, franks in the jackets, biscuit dogs, and wiener winks? Funny Food Names - List and Pics
It's chunks of meat in gravy, possibly with diced vegetables, served on toast. I imagine the stew part varies depending on the leftovers being used. Kumquat? Then there's the foreign foods. Spaetzle. Hassenpheffer. Rumtopf.
Poppycock Pirate's Booty Dutch Babies (a childhood fave, my mom made them for brunch today) Dillweed (thanks to Beavis & Butthead) Those always make me giggle. Puppy Chow sounds like the same snack Chex has a recipe for on the backs of their cereal boxes. They call them Muddy Buddies.
Hush Puppies (deep fried cornmeal balls) Gumbo (a traditional Louisiana stew or soup) Po' Boy (a traditional Louisiana sandwich, usually deep fried meat or seafood on a baguette or hero bread) Submarine or Hoagie (a sandwich made with a baguette or hero bread) Sliders (a tiny hamburger; White Castle is the best and most widespread purveyor of Sliders) White Castles (the sliders sold by White Castle)
Subs are called grinders in Connecticut, I think that's one of those foods that has regional names, like pancakes/flapjacks. In Minnesota we had 'boughten' food - boughten bread, for instance, is bread that you buy from a store, as opposed to home-made. I ran into a guy from Michigan who knew what I was talking about, but nobody else so far. We also eat dinner at noon (lunch if it's something light) and have supper in the evening. This caused some problems when I met my wife who always has lunch at noon and dinner in the evening. There's no such thing as brunch in farm country. I was probably 14 or 15 before I realized soda and pop were the same thing (I thought soda meant cream soda, and pop is obviously the soft drink). But then I moved to Texas and everybody called it coke. Waitress:"What do you what to drink?" Me:"I'll have a coke" Waitress:"What kind?" Me:"Mountain Dew" (that and Dr. Pepper is popular in Texas) Wisconsin has bubblers instead of water fountains. MN has hot dishes instead of casseroles. Barbeque is one of those things that has the same name but changes foods as you move around. Some places, like the south, it's meat that's slow-cooked over a fire, elsewhere it relates more to the sauce you put on something, or to meat that's pulled apart after cooking (I think). Somewhat food-related: teenagers driving in northern MN would spin cookies in a parking lot, but it seems everybody else does donuts.
In Boston, what the rest of the world calls a milkshake they call a frappe. What they call a milkshake the rest of the world calls chocolate milk. But go a little southwest to Rhode Island and what they rest of the world calls a milkshake they call a cabinet.
