For those of you who grew up in places that have distinctive regional cuisines...

[xiphias]

Some foods are place-bound. There's no reason that a Cincinnati Chili couldn't be made outside of Cincinnati, or that there could be a Garbage Plate somewhere other than Rochester, NY. But they're not. And some are a bit less place-bound, but still place-bound -- try getting Moxie outside of New England. Is there a region somewhere down South where they drink it, too? But not most places.

So, for those of you who grew up with such a cuisine, how old were you when you realized that other places just don't have it?

For me, I was just thinking about Whoopie Pies. And the age that I realized that they're not ubiquitous outside of New England was 40 2/3.

Yeah. Okay, I'm slow sometimes.

Oddly, I think I've got almost all the ingredients I'd need to make them in my kitchen right now. The only thing I'm missing is ... eggs. I've never made them before; it didn't occur to me until half an hour ago when Lis asked me that they were a thing that you actually COULD make. But they don't look all that difficult. It's just basically chocolate cake and buttercream frosting, really.

Well, one of the variations we found includes a buttercream/marshmallow combination frosting. Dunno how that would be.

Comments

[lietya.livejournal.com]

Well, this is the moment I learned about Whoopie pies, so 37. ;) To be fair, I also don't eat them, so.

I believe I was in my late 20s when I realized Fluff was a New England thing.

[chanaleh.livejournal.com]

Fluff is not entirely a New England thing! We definitely had it growing up in the Midwest.

... Although, hmm, maybe that was marshmallow *creme* and not really the same, after all. Hmmm. Suddenly I am sad.

[lietya.livejournal.com]

I think it *is* basically the same thing, and it's only the Fluff brand that is specifically NE. Actually, it makes me feel better to think one can still get the stuff under other names, so please don't be sad. :)

[xiphias.livejournal.com]

The Massachusetts one is the only one with no artificial flavors, colors, stabilizers, or preservatives, unless you count vanillin instead of vanilla to be an artificial flavor (to me, it's a borderline case. It's not vanilla, so it definitely is an IMITATION flavor, but whether it's an ARTIFICIAL flavor, I dunno.)

Fluff is egg whites, sugar, corn syrup, and vanillin. Everything else has other stuff in it, too.

[lietya.livejournal.com]

Oh, interesting. I had no idea, and while I'm not sure how much it'd matter to me (I'd have to taste test some of the others), it's good to know.

[fauxklore]

Fluff is available in NY, too. Growing up on Long Island, fluffernutter sandwiches were fairly common.

[lietya.livejournal.com]

I'm aware that it's technically incorrect, but I think of NY as part of New England. (I'm in CT, right up on the MA border, if it matters to why I'm geographically challenged.)

[thespian.livejournal.com]

fwiw, it was always available in southern Ontario when I was growing up.