Our family has done a bit of traveling and part of the excitement has always been trying to discover local food specialties that are widely unknown outside the specific town/city, region, or country.
What localized food specialties have you enjoyed?
One such food item we have in our area that cannot be found outside Cincinnati, Ohio is called goetta (pronounced gh-eta). This breakfast side can best be described as a sausage-type mash that is pan fried to crispness kinda like fried bologna except the main ingredients are pork/beef fat and pin oats, making it less a meat than a hash… I am struggling to explain this, so here is a picture:
As with many local specialties, many people insist it is best homemade, but one can pick up tubes of the stuff in our big chain grocery. However, as soon as you leave the outer belt of the city, you won’t find it among the tube-packed breakfast and Italian sausages…
What localized specialties have you discovered either traveling or in your region?
These can be either single food items like goetta or dishes prepared in unique ways like our other classic local dish “Cincinnati chili”- a meat sauce served on top of spaghetti with cheese (is that even chili?!).
Australian big brekkie
Estonian black bread
Estonian kama
... all of it good stuff, and doesn't seem to really exist in the same shape & form in most other countries.
Is Australian big brekkie a specific type of meal or a dish?
I ask because my family likes hosting brunch, but my husband asks me to specify “American brunch” (i.e. casseroles, sausages, etc.) vs. “Jewish brunch” (bagels, smoked salmon, pastrami or corned beef, etc.).
He grew up with traditional American brunch, while my favorite big family event has always been brunch with more American Jewish fare…
I am curious what constitutes an Australian big brekkie.
They vary somewhat, but generally it's something like: 2 eggs your way, (sourdough) toast, bacon, mushrooms, hash browns, tomato, sausage(s) (or even a small steak), sometimes also: relish, chorizo, avocado, salsa...
This is was the "Fat Frog Brekkie" in Fat Frog Beach Cafe, Airlie Beach, in 2021 (since then, they've replaced the steak with sausages and raised the price from $26 to $34 AUD, apparently...)
I'll answer for Taipei instead of Los Angeles.
My favorite local specialty is their breakfast foods, especially egg scallion pancakes (蛋餅), turnip cake (蘿蔔糕), and soy milk soup (豆漿). It might not sound appetizing to westerners, but I think it actually suits the tastes of most westerners pretty well (I tend to have very western tastes in food).
For non-breakfast food I really enjoy cold noodles with sesame sauce (涼麵)
Man it's hard to think of something that's available in Austin proper but doesn't appear elsewhere in Texas. Maybe I'm not enough of a foodie.
Migas breakfast tacos, eggs cooked with tortilla chips, are the closest thing I can think of, but maybe a general texmex thing. I hadn't seen or tried them before coming to Austin.
I thought I was familiar (and really enjoyed) Tex Mex cuisine based on our local “large plate Mexican restaurants”, but then the husband and I went to New Mexico and discovered actual Tex Mex food with the most amazing chili sauces (red and green!). Now trips for Mexican in Ohio just make me long for the food down SW way…