New England cuisine is an

American cuisine American cuisine consists of the cooking style and traditional dishes prepared in the United States. It has been significantly influenced by Europeans, indigenous Native Americans, Africans, Asians, Pacific Islanders, and many other cultures a ...

which originated in the

New England New England is a region comprising six states in the Northeastern United States: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. It is bordered by the state of New York (state), New York to the west and by the Can ...

region of the United States, and traces its roots to traditional

English cuisine English cuisine encompasses the cooking styles, traditions and recipes associated with England. It has distinctive attributes of its own, but also shares much with wider British cuisine, partly through the importation of ingredients and ideas ...

and

Native American cuisine Indigenous cuisine of the Americas includes all cuisines and food practices of the Indigenous peoples of the Americas. Contemporary Native peoples retain a varied culture of traditional foods, along with the addition of some post-contact foods ...

of the

Abenaki The Abenaki ( Abenaki: ''Wαpánahki'') are an Indigenous peoples of the Northeastern Woodlands of Canada and the United States. They are an Algonquian-speaking people and part of the Wabanaki Confederacy. The Eastern Abenaki language was pre ...

, Narragansett,

Niantic Niantic may refer to: * Niantic people, tribe of American Indians * Niantic, Inc., mobile app developer known for the mobile games ''Ingress'' and ''Pokémon Go'' Ships * ''Niantic'' (whaling vessel), relic of San Francisco Gold Rush *USS ''Ni ...

, Wabanaki,

Wampanoag The Wampanoag , also rendered Wôpanâak, are an Indigenous people of the Northeastern Woodlands based in southeastern Massachusetts and historically parts of eastern Rhode Island,Salwen, "Indians of Southern New England and Long Island," p. 1 ...

, and other native peoples. It also includes influences from

Irish Irish may refer to: Common meanings * Someone or something of, from, or related to: ** Ireland, an island situated off the north-western coast of continental Europe ***Éire, Irish language name for the isle ** Northern Ireland, a constituent unit ...

, French,

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance language *** Regional Ita ...

, and

Portuguese Portuguese may refer to: * anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Portugal ** Portuguese cuisine, traditional foods ** Portuguese language, a Romance language *** Portuguese dialects, variants of the Portuguese language ** Portu ...

cuisine, among others. It is characterized by extensive use of

potato The potato is a starchy food, a tuber of the plant ''Solanum tuberosum'' and is a root vegetable native to the Americas. The plant is a perennial in the nightshade family Solanaceae. Wild potato species can be found from the southern Unit ...

es, beans, dairy products and seafood, resulting from its historical reliance on its seaports and

fishing Fishing is the activity of trying to catch fish. Fish are often caught as wildlife from the natural environment, but may also be caught from stocked bodies of water such as ponds, canals, park wetlands and reservoirs. Fishing techniques inclu ...

industry. Corn, the major crop historically grown by Native American tribes in New England, continues to be grown in all New England states, primarily as sweet corn although flint corn is grown as well. It is traditionally used in hasty puddings, cornbreads and

corn chowder Corn chowder is a chowder soup prepared using corn as a primary ingredient. Basic corn chowder is commonly made of corn, onion, celery, milk or cream, and butter. Additional ingredients sometimes used include potatoes or squash, salt pork, fish, s ...

s. Many of New England's earliest Puritan settlers were from

eastern England The East of England is one of the nine official regions of England. This region was created in 1994 and was adopted for statistics purposes from 1999. It includes the ceremonial counties of Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire, Essex, Hertfordshire ...

, where baking foods (for instance, pies, beans, and

turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with a small portion on the Balkan Peninsula in ...

) was more common than frying, as was the tradition elsewhere. David Hackett Fischer, '' Albion's Seed: Four British Folkways in America'' (Oxford University Press US, 1991) 30-50

/ref> Three prominent characteristic foodstuffs native to New England are maple syrup,

cranberries Cranberries are a group of evergreen dwarf shrubs or trailing vines in the subgenus ''Oxycoccus'' of the genus ''Vaccinium''. In Britain, cranberry may refer to the native species ''Vaccinium oxycoccos'', while in North America, cranberry ...

and blueberries. The traditional standard starch is

, though rice has a somewhat increased popularity in modern cooking. Traditional New England cuisine is known for a lack of strong spices, which is because of local 19th century health reformers, most prominently Sylvester Graham, who advocated eating bland food. Ground black pepper, parsley, garlic, and sage are common, with a few Caribbean additions such as

nutmeg Nutmeg is the seed or ground spice of several species of the genus ''Myristica''. ''Myristica fragrans'' (fragrant nutmeg or true nutmeg) is a dark-leaved evergreen tree cultivated for two spices derived from its fruit: nutmeg, from its seed, an ...

, plus several Italian spices. Use of cream is common, due to the reliance on dairy. The favored cooking techniques are stewing, steaming, and baking. Many local ingredients, such as

squash Squash may refer to: Sports * Squash (sport), the high-speed racquet sport also known as squash racquets * Squash (professional wrestling), an extremely one-sided match in professional wrestling * Squash tennis, a game similar to squash but pla ...

, corn and local beans,

sunflowers ''Helianthus'' () is a genus comprising about 70 species of annual and perennial flowering plants in the daisy family Asteraceae commonly known as sunflowers. Except for three South American species, the species of ''Helianthus'' are native to N ...

wild turkey The wild turkey (''Meleagris gallopavo'') is an upland ground bird native to North America, one of two extant species of turkey and the heaviest member of the order Galliformes. It is the ancestor to the domestic turkey, which was originally d ...

, maple syrup, cranberries and dishes such as cornbread, Johnnycakes and Indian pudding were adopted from

History

Early history

The traditional diet of the

Indians included

chestnuts The chestnuts are the deciduous trees and shrubs in the genus ''Castanea'', in the beech family Fagaceae. They are native to temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere. The name also refers to the edible nuts they produce. The unrelated ...

, beechnuts,

walnuts A walnut is the edible seed of a drupe of any tree of the genus ''Juglans'' (family Juglandaceae), particularly the Persian or English walnut, ''Juglans regia''. Although culinarily considered a "nut" and used as such, it is not a true bot ...

, beans, multi-colored corn (called " flint corn"), and varieties of squash and pumpkins. Not strictly vegetarian, the traditional diet of the Wabanaki people is plant-centric and based on corn, beans, squash, sunflower seeds, sunchokes and ground cherries. The Wabanaki tribal nations did make plant milk and

infant formula Infant formula, baby formula, or simply formula (American English); or baby milk, infant milk or first milk (British English), is a manufactured food designed and marketed for feeding to babies and infants under 12 months of age, usually prepar ...

from nuts.

American colonies

In 1620, the newly arrived Pilgrims faced the prospect of surviving their first winter in

Plymouth Colony Plymouth Colony (sometimes Plimouth) was, from 1620 to 1691, the first permanent English colony in New England and the second permanent English colony in North America, after the Jamestown Colony. It was first settled by the passengers on the ...

. The climate was harsh and the growing season was shorter than they were accustomed to due to the long and frosty winters. The newly arrived colonists brought vital techniques of food preservation like smoking, curing and

drying Drying is a mass transfer process consisting of the removal of water or another solvent by evaporation from a solid, semi-solid or liquid. This process is often used as a final production step before selling or packaging products. To be considered ...

that helped them survive the harsh New England winter. They also received help from the

, who taught the newly arrived Pilgrims how to grow the staple crops of

beans A bean is the seed of several plants in the family Fabaceae, which are used as vegetables for human or animal food. They can be cooked in many different ways, including boiling, frying, and baking, and are used in many traditional dishes th ...

and

corn Maize ( ; ''Zea mays'' subsp. ''mays'', from es, maíz after tnq, mahiz), also known as corn (North American and Australian English), is a cereal grain first domesticated by indigenous peoples in southern Mexico about 10,000 years ago. Th ...

. It is not known for certain what crops were grown in early colonial gardens, but later sources mention

turnips The turnip or white turnip (''Brassica rapa'' subsp. ''rapa'') is a root vegetable commonly grown in temperate climates worldwide for its white, fleshy taproot. The word ''turnip'' is a compound of ''turn'' as in turned/rounded on a lathe and ' ...

onions An onion (''Allium cepa'' L., from Latin ''cepa'' meaning "onion"), also known as the bulb onion or common onion, is a vegetable that is the most widely cultivated species of the genus ''Allium''. The shallot is a botanical variety of the onion ...

, carrots, garlic and

pumpkins A pumpkin is a vernacular term for mature winter squash of species and varieties in the genus ''Cucurbita'' that has culinary and cultural significance but no agreed upon botanical or scientific meaning. The term ''pumpkin'' is sometimes use ...

. The Pilgrims used corn to make hasty pudding and Wampanoag recipes like

popcorn Popcorn (also called popped corn, popcorns or pop-corn) is a variety of corn kernel which expands and puffs up when heated; the same names also refer to the foodstuff produced by the expansion. A popcorn kernel's strong hull contains the se ...

, '' sagamite'' and '' nasaump''. The Wampanoag Indians also taught the Pilgrims to bake in hot ashes, and

ash cake Ash cake (also known as Ash bread; Fire cake) is a type of bread baked over a layer of heated stones or sand and covered-over in hot ashes, a practice still found principally in Arabian countries, especially among Bedouins. Epiphanius (c. 310� ...

s (also called johnny cakes or breakfast

bannocks The Bannock tribe were originally Northern Paiute but are more culturally affiliated with the Northern Shoshone. They are in the Great Basin classification of Indigenous People. Their traditional lands include northern Nevada, southeastern Oreg ...

) became a staple breakfast bread. Beans were used to make stews or combined with corn to make

succotash Succotash (from Narragansett ''sahquttahhash'', "broken corn kernels") is a vegetable dish consisting primarily of sweet corn with lima beans or other shell beans. Other ingredients may be added, such as onions, potatoes, turnips, tomatoes, b ...

. Many of New England's earliest Puritan settlers were from

and brought with the traditions of

with them. Roast duck, goose, lamb, and hams were brought to the so-called "

New World The term ''New World'' is often used to mean the majority of Earth's Western Hemisphere, specifically the Americas."America." ''The Oxford Companion to the English Language'' (). McArthur, Tom, ed., 1992. New York: Oxford University Press, p. 3 ...

" as farmyard stock as soon as the colonies began to prosper. Even today, traditional English cuisine remains a strong part of New England's identity. Some of its plates are now enjoyed by the entire United States, including

clam chowder Clam chowder is any of several chowder soups in American cuisine containing clams. In addition to clams, common ingredients include diced potatoes, salt pork, and onions. Other vegetables are not typically used. It is believed that clams were ...

baked beans Baked beans is a dish traditionally containing white beans that are parboiled and then, in the US, baked in sauce at low temperature for a lengthy period. In the United Kingdom, the dish is sometimes baked, but usually stewed in sauce. Canned ...

apple pie An apple pie is a fruit pie in which the principal filling ingredient is apples. The earliest printed recipe is from England. Apple pie is often served with whipped cream, ice cream ("apple pie à la mode"), or cheddar cheese. It is generally ...

s, baked or roast turkey,

pease porridge Pease pudding, also known as pease porridge, is a savoury pudding dish made of boiled legumes, typically split yellow peas, with water, salt and spices, and often cooked with a bacon or ham joint. A common dish in the north-east of England, it ...

, and steamed puddings.

Thanksgiving

The first

Thanksgiving Thanksgiving is a national holiday celebrated on various dates in the United States, Canada, Grenada, Saint Lucia, Liberia, and unofficially in countries like Brazil and Philippines. It is also observed in the Netherlander town of Leiden and ...

meal was shared by the Wampanoag and Pilgrims at Plymouth Rock. The menu would have been considerably more humble than the modern

Thanksgiving dinner The centerpiece of contemporary Thanksgiving in the United States and in Canada is Thanksgiving dinner (informally called turkey dinner), a large meal generally centered on a large roasted turkey. Thanksgiving could be considered the largest ...

which typically includes turkey with stuffing,

cranberry sauce Cranberry sauce or cranberry jam is a sauce or relish made out of cranberries, commonly served as a condiment or a side dish with Thanksgiving dinner in North America and Christmas dinner in the United Kingdom and Canada. There are differences in ...

, candied yams, mashed potatoes and

pumpkin pie Pumpkin pie is a dessert pie with a spiced, pumpkin-based custard filling. The pumpkin and pumpkin pie are both a symbol of harvest time, and pumpkin pie is generally eaten during the fall and early winter. In the United States and Canada it is u ...

. Though filled pastries were common in

, the colonists did not have wheat flour or butter, so pie would have been absent from the original Thanksgiving table. White potatoes and

sweet potatoes The sweet potato or sweetpotato (''Ipomoea batatas'') is a dicotyledonous plant that belongs to the bindweed or morning glory family, Convolvulaceae. Its large, starchy, sweet-tasting tuberous roots are used as a root vegetable. The young sho ...

had not yet reached North America, and the first literary mention of cranberry sauce dates some 50 years after the first Thanksgiving meal. The original menu included "

Indian corn Flint corn (''Zea mays'' var. ''indurata''; also known as Indian corn or sometimes calico corn) is a variant of maize, the same species as common corn. Because each kernel has a hard outer layer to protect the soft endosperm, it is likened to bei ...

", wild fowl, including wild turkey and waterfowl, and

venison Venison originally meant the meat of a game animal but now refers primarily to the meat of antlered ungulates such as elk or deer (or antelope in South Africa). Venison can be used to refer to any part of the animal, so long as it is edible, in ...

. These are only foods mentioned by primary sources, however food historians have speculated as to what else may have been served. In addition to wild turkey, duck and goose, swan and

passenger pigeons The passenger pigeon or wild pigeon (''Ectopistes migratorius'') is an extinct species of pigeon that was endemic to North America. Its common name is derived from the French word ''passager'', meaning "passing by", due to the migratory habi ...

were plentiful. In those times birds were typically stuffed with onion and herbs and one 17th-century recipe for goose includes a stuffing of

. It is likely that the meal included local seafood like clams, mussels, lobsters and eels.

19th century

Since the 1800s New England's culinary traditions have been influenced by the arrival of

Irish Americans , image = Irish ancestry in the USA 2018; Where Irish eyes are Smiling.png , image_caption = Irish Americans, % of population by state , caption = Notable Irish Americans , population = 36,115,472 (10.9%) alone ...

Portuguese Americans Portuguese Americans ( pt, português-americanos), also known as Luso-Americans (''luso-americanos''), are citizens and residents of the United States who are connected to the country of Portugal by birth, ancestry, or citizenship. Americans and ...

, and

Italian Americans Italian Americans ( it, italoamericani or ''italo-americani'', ) are Americans who have full or partial Italian ancestry. The largest concentrations of Italian Americans are in the urban Northeast and industrial Midwestern metropolitan areas, w ...

. Irish-style braised pickled beef was the origin of

New England boiled dinner A New England boiled dinner is a traditional New England meal, consisting of corned beef with cabbage and one or more root vegetables, such as potatoes, rutabagas, parsnips, carrots, turnips, or onions. The leftovers are traditionally diced and f ...

. "Country stores" sold homemade jams, fruit preserves and

penny candy A penny is a coin ( pennies) or a unit of currency (pl. pence) in various countries. Borrowed from the Carolingian denarius (hence its former abbreviation d.), it is usually the smallest denomination within a currency system. Presently, it is t ...

. Common crackers are still made with the original recipe dating to 1828.

Vegetarianism Vegetarianism is the practice of abstaining from the consumption of meat (red meat, poultry, seafood, insects, and the flesh of any other animal). It may also include abstaining from eating all by-products of animal slaughter. Vegetarianism may ...

was practiced during the 18th and 19th century by individuals and families in Maine before the start of the modern vegetarian movement in 1817 in Philadelphia.

20th century

In the post-

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

era, July 4 celebrations frequently featured steak,

hot dog A hot dog (uncommonly spelled hotdog) is a food consisting of a grilled or steamed sausage served in the slit of a partially sliced Hot dog bun, bun. The term hot dog can refer to the sausage itself. The sausage used is a wiener (Vienna sausag ...

hamburger A hamburger, or simply burger, is a food consisting of fillings—usually a patty of ground meat, typically Ground beef, beef—placed inside a sliced bun or bread roll. Hamburgers are often served with cheese, lettuce, tomato, onion, pickles ...

s and grilled chicken. In the more distant past lamb was more traditional inland, and coastal communities in New England typically served salmon with dill mayo, peas, new potatoes and corn on the cob. Dessert often includes a seasonal fruit, for example

strawberry shortcake Strawberry shortcake may refer to: * Strawberry shortcake (dessert), a shortcake served with strawberries * "Strawberry Shortcake, Huckleberry Pie," a song published in 1956; a version by The Brother Sisters was released by Mercury Records in 196 ...

and

blueberry pie Blueberry pie is a pie with a blueberry filling. Blueberry pie is readily made because it does not require pitting or peeling of fruit. It usually has a top and bottom crust. The top crust can be circular, but the pie can also have a crumble cru ...

21st century

In the 21st century, more people in New England were eating

vegan Veganism is the practice of abstaining from the use of animal product—particularly in diet—and an associated philosophy that rejects the commodity status of animals. An individual who follows the diet or philosophy is known as a vegan. Di ...

and

vegetarian Vegetarianism is the practice of abstaining from the consumption of meat (red meat, poultry, seafood, insects, and the flesh of any other animal). It may also include abstaining from eating all by-products of animal slaughter. Vegetarianism m ...

meals and more restaurants were serving them. In a ''Boston Globe'' article in 2022 it was reported how that four of the most traditional foods of New England cuisine (lobsters, corn, blueberries, and coffee) are among crops affected most by climate change and temperature and humidity changes.

Traditional foods and drinks

Beer and alcohol

Drinks in the Colonial era were made with local ingredients like honey, molasses, apples,

hops Hops are the flowers (also called seed cones or strobiles) of the hop plant ''Humulus lupulus'', a member of the Cannabaceae family of flowering plants. They are used primarily as a bittering, flavouring, and stability agent in beer, to whi ...

and wild berries. These drinks included

apple brandy An apple is an edible fruit produced by an apple tree (''Malus domestica''). Apple trees are cultivated worldwide and are the most widely grown species in the genus ''Malus''. The tree originated in Central Asia, where its wild ancestor, ' ...

( applejack),

fruit wine Fruit wines are fermented alcoholic beverages made from a variety of base ingredients (other than grapes); they may also have additional flavors taken from fruits, flowers, and herbs. This definition is sometimes broadened to include any alcohol ...

rum Rum is a liquor made by fermenting and then distilling sugarcane molasses or sugarcane juice. The distillate, a clear liquid, is usually aged in oak barrels. Rum is produced in nearly every sugar-producing region of the world, such as the Ph ...

and

mead Mead () is an alcoholic beverage made by fermenting honey mixed with water, and sometimes with added ingredients such as fruits, spices, grains, or hops. The alcoholic content ranges from about 3.5% ABV to more than 20%. The defining character ...

. Some of the finest

distilleries were located in New England prior to

Prohibition Prohibition is the act or practice of forbidding something by law; more particularly the term refers to the banning of the manufacture, storage (whether in barrels or in bottles), transportation, sale, possession, and consumption of alcoholic ...

. The hot ale flip is a traditional drink historically made by mixing a pitcher of beer with rum, frothy eggs and a sweetener like dried pumpkin, maple syrup or molasses. The beverage was warmed by plunging a hot poker into the drink to caramelize the sugars creating the drink's characteristic hot froth. Like the flip, the Rattle-Skull was a mix of beer (in this case a dark beer like

porter Porter may refer to: Companies * Porter Airlines, Canadian regional airline based in Toronto * Porter Chemical Company, a defunct U.S. toy manufacturer of chemistry sets * Porter Motor Company, defunct U.S. car manufacturer * H.K. Porter, Inc., ...

) and hard liquor—usually a mix of rum and brandy. The beverage is flavored with lime and garnished with

. The Stone Fence was a mix of hard

cider Cider ( ) is an alcoholic beverage made from the fermented juice of apples. Cider is widely available in the United Kingdom (particularly in the West Country) and the Republic of Ireland. The UK has the world's highest per capita consumption, ...

and

. Reportedly,

Ethan Allen Ethan Allen ( – February 12, 1789) was an American farmer, businessman, land speculator, philosopher, writer, lay theologian, American Revolutionary War patriot, and politician. He is best known as one of the founders of Vermont and for ...

and his men drank it before their raid of

Fort Ticonderoga Fort Ticonderoga (), formerly Fort Carillon, is a large 18th-century star fort built by the French at a narrows near the south end of Lake Champlain, in northern New York, in the United States. It was constructed by Canadian-born French milit ...

in 1775. Egg cider was made by cracking eggs into heated cider and adding a sweetener like molasses. The cider-based beverage

syllabub Syllabub is a sweet dish made by curdling sweet cream or milk with an acid such as wine or cider. It was a popular British confection from the 16th to the 19th centuries. Early recipes for syllabub are for a drink of cider with milk. By the 1 ...

was made with rum, cream and sweetener. Mulled cider could be made with sweetener, spices, rum and egg yolks.

Birch beer Birch beer is a beverage, commonly found as a carbonated soft drink made from herbal extracts and birch bark. It was originally made from the extracts of both oak and pine barks (which are sometimes combined). There are dozens of brands of birch ...

, made with sap from the ''

betula lenta ''Betula lenta'' (sweet birch, also known as black birch, cherry birch, mahogany birch, or spice birch) is a species of birch native to eastern North America, from southern Maine west to southernmost Ontario, and south in the Appalachian Mounta ...

'' tree, was made by both the English and early American colonists. The ''betula lenta'' is known for producing a fragrant sap with a unique minty flavor.

John Mortimer Sir John Clifford Mortimer (21 April 1923 – 16 January 2009) was a British barrister, dramatist, screenwriter and author. He is best known for novels about a barrister named Horace Rumpole. Early life Mortimer was born in Hampstead, London, ...

wrote that birch beer was usually made by the poor by boiling birch sap with sugar and fermenting it with yeast. Many local breweries produce

lager Lager () is beer which has been brewed and conditioned at low temperature. Lagers can be pale, amber, or dark. Pale lager is the most widely consumed and commercially available style of beer. The term "lager" comes from the German for "storage" ...

s and

ale Ale is a Type of beer, type of beer brewed using a Warm fermentation, warm fermentation method, resulting in a sweet, full-bodied and fruity taste. Historically, the term referred to a drink brewed without hops. As with most beers, ale typicall ...

s. Notable examples include

Samuel Adams Samuel Adams ( – October 2, 1803) was an American statesman, political philosopher, and a Founding Father of the United States. He was a politician in colonial Massachusetts, a leader of the movement that became the American Revolution, and ...

of the

Boston Beer Company The Boston Beer Company is an American brewery founded in 1984. Boston Beer Company's first brand of beer was named Samuel Adams after Founding Father Samuel Adams, an American revolutionary patriot. Since its founding, Boston Beer has started se ...

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

(even though the recipe for the beer does not come from New England); Sea Dog Brewing Company of Bangor;

Shipyard Brewing Company Shipyard Brewing Company is a brewery and soft drink manufacturer in Portland, Maine, USA, and founded in 1994. Shipyard is the largest brewer in Maine (owning the Shipyard, Sea Dog Brewing Company, and Casco Bay Brewing Company banners, and b ...

Portland Portland most commonly refers to: * Portland, Oregon, the largest city in the state of Oregon, in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States * Portland, Maine, the largest city in the state of Maine, in the New England region of the northeas ...

; Smuttynose Brewing Company of

Portsmouth, New Hampshire Portsmouth is a city in Rockingham County, New Hampshire, United States. At the 2020 census it had a population of 21,956. A historic seaport and popular summer tourist destination on the Piscataqua River bordering the state of Maine, Portsmou ...

. Vermont-based Woodchuck Draft Cider is a popular alcoholic

. New England has also played a major role in the craft beer revolution, with Maine, Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Vermont having notable breweries such as Harpoon Brewery,

Allagash Brewing Company __NOTOC__ Allagash Brewing Company is a brewery in Portland, Maine. The brewery specializes in Belgian style beers. History The brewery was founded in 1995 by Rob Tod in Portland, Maine. He observed that while both German and British style be ...

, Treehouse Brewing Company,

Trillium Brewing Company Trillium Brewing Company is a brewery that currently operates six facilities throughout Massachusetts and Connecticut, United States. These locations include a production brewery in Canton, MA, a restaurant/taproom/beer garden in Canton, MA, a fu ...

, The Alchemist Brewery, Jack’s Abby Brewing Company, Long Trail Brewing Company, Kent Falls Brewing Company and Two Roads Brewing Company.

Baked beans

Colonists learned to make

from the Native American people. Baked beans are slowed cooked in an oven at a low temperature. They are sweetened, traditionally with maple syrup or molasses. The molasses is what sets them apart as New England baked beans. The Pilgrims and other early colonists were forbidden from cooking on Sundays, when these Christian communities observed the Sabbath, and this made baked beans a meal that is common for Saturday night dinner and all day Sunday. Two regional styles are

Boston Baked Beans Boston baked beans are a variety of baked beans, sweetened with molasses, and flavored with salt pork or bacon. History Native Americans had made corn bread and baked beans. The Pilgrims at Plymouth Colony learned these recipes in the early ...

and Maine Baked Beans. The difference between the two styles is that Boston beans are made with small white navy beans or pea beans with thin skin while Maine beans are made with native bean varieties with thicker skins. These varieties are Marifax, soldier beans, and the most popular baked bean variety in Maine is the yellow-eye bean.

Casseroles, soups and stews

The custom of bringing one-dish

casserole A casserole ( French: diminutive of , from Provençal 'pan') is a normally large deep pan or bowl a casserole is anything in a casserole pan. Hot or cold History Baked dishes have existed for thousands of years. Early casserole recipes ...

s (also called hot dishes) to barn raisings and church suppers was not exclusive to New England, but included traditional variations of baked beans and succotash. Modern recipes can be made with any ingredients available at markets. Seafood casseroles are made with cream sauce and bread crumb topping. American chop suey is a casserole dish made with ground beef, macaroni and a seasoned tomato sauce. Though unrelated to Hungarian goulash, in other regions of the United States it may be called

American goulash American goulash, sometimes called slumgullion, is an American comfort food dish, similar to American chop suey. American goulash is usually referred to in the midwestern and southern United States as simply "goulash". As a descendant, of sorts ...

amongst other names.

Fruits

Blueberries Blueberries are a widely distributed and widespread group of perennial flowering plants with blue or purple berries. They are classified in the section ''Cyanococcus'' within the genus ''Vaccinium''. ''Vaccinium'' also includes cranberries, bi ...

are made into jams and jellies and feature in breads and regional desserts like pies, cobblers and cakes. Wild

beach plum ''Prunus maritima'', the beach plum, is a species of plum native to the East Coast of the United States. It is a choice wild edible and its few pests and salt tolerance make it a resilient fruit crop for degraded lands and urban soils. Descri ...

s are foraged and used to make fruit preserves like jams and jellies. Beach plums were cultivated and used for the commercial manufacture of beach plum jelly in the 1930s, but beach plum products are no longer widely available in commercial markets. The local purple

concord grape The Concord grape is a cultivar derived from the grape species ''Vitis labrusca'' (also known as fox grape) that are used as table grapes, wine grapes and juice grapes. They are often used to make grape jelly, grape juice, grape pies, grape-fl ...

s are a cross between native and European grapes. The large grapes are prized for their juiciness and used in the production of commercial grape juice, wine and grape jelly. It is a common ingredient in

peanut butter and jelly A peanut butter and jelly sandwich (PB&J) consists of peanut butter and fruit preserves—jelly—spread on bread. The sandwich may be open-faced, made of a single slice of bread folded over, or made using two slices of bread. The san ...

sandwiches. Until the pilgrims planted

apple An apple is an edible fruit produced by an apple tree (''Malus domestica''). Apple fruit tree, trees are agriculture, cultivated worldwide and are the most widely grown species in the genus ''Malus''. The tree originated in Central Asia, wh ...

seeds from Europe, the only regional apples were

crab apples ''Malus'' ( or ) is a genus of about 30–55 species of small deciduous trees or shrubs in the family Rosaceae, including the domesticated orchard apple, crab apples, wild apples, and rainberries. The genus is native plant, native to the temper ...

Cross-pollination Pollination is the transfer of pollen from an anther of a plant to the stigma of a plant, later enabling fertilisation and the production of seeds, most often by an animal or by wind. Pollinating agents can be animals such as insects, birds, ...

altered the results of these first attempts, but over the years thousands of new varieties were bred by the pilgrims. Massachusetts native John Chapman, known as

Johnny Appleseed John Chapman (September 26, 1774March 18, 1845), better known as Johnny Appleseed, was an American pioneer nurseryman who introduced apple trees to large parts of Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, and Ontario, as well as the northern coun ...

, was a nurseryman who spread apple trees across the midwest.

William Blaxton Reverend William Blaxton (also spelled William Blackstone) (1595 – 26 May 1675) was an early English settler in New England and the first European settler of Boston and Rhode Island. Biography William Blaxton was born in Horncastle, Lincolns ...

planted the first apple orchard in 1625. The earliest apple varieties produced in New England included Lady (1628), Roxbury Russet (1630), Pomme Grise (1650), Baldwin (1740), Porter (1800), Mother (1844) and Wright (1875). In modern times apples are grown commercially throughout Massachusetts. The first attempts at commercial

cranberry Cranberries are a group of evergreen dwarf shrubs or trailing vines in the subgenus ''Oxycoccus'' of the genus ''Vaccinium''. In Britain, cranberry may refer to the native species ''Vaccinium oxycoccos'', while in North America, cranberry ...

growing were pioneered by Captain Henry Hall, who developed the technique of covering the vines with sand to accelerate the plant's growth.

Hot dogs

New England

rolls are split on top instead of on the side, and have a more rectangular shape. While smaller than common hot dog rolls, New England hot dog rolls have a larger soft surface area which allows for buttering and toasting, which are also commonly used for convenient serving of seafood like lobster or fried clams. Hot dog stands in

Maine Maine () is a state in the New England and Northeastern regions of the United States. It borders New Hampshire to the west, the Gulf of Maine to the southeast, and the Canadian provinces of New Brunswick and Quebec to the northeast and north ...

have long sold vegetarian hot dogs.

Maple syrup

Maple sap is collected annually during New England's "sugaring season". The new sap is reduced and thickened to form syrup. An issue of ''Yankee'' dating from 1939 gives some details on seasonal recipes with recipes for maple-butternut fudge, maple-sauce ice cream and "

Sugar on Snow Maple taffy (sometimes maple toffee in English-speaking Canada, tire d'érable or tire sur la neige in French-speaking Canada; also sugar on snow or candy on the snow or leather aprons in the United States) is a sugar candy made by boiling maple s ...

". Sugar on Snow, a regional specialty also called maple syrup taffy, is made by pouring freshly heated maple syrup on fresh snow, forming candy with a taffy consistency as the syrup hardens. Desserts like

cobbler Cobbler(s) may refer to: *A person who Shoemaking, repairs, and sometimes makes, shoes Places * The Cobbler, a mountain located near the head of Loch Long in Scotland * Mount Cobbler, Australia Art, entertainment and media * The Cobbler (1923 ...

and maple custard pie were made with local sweeteners like maple sugar instead of sugar. Molasses and rum were common in New England cuisine, due to New England's involvement in the

Triangle Trade Triangular trade or triangle trade is trade between three ports or regions. Triangular trade usually evolves when a region has export commodities that are not required in the region from which its major imports come. It has been used to offset t ...

in the 18th century.

Molasses Molasses () is a viscous substance resulting from refining sugarcane or sugar beets into sugar. Molasses varies in the amount of sugar, method of extraction and age of the plant. Sugarcane molasses is primarily used to sweeten and flavour foods ...

from the Caribbean and

honey Honey is a sweet and viscous substance made by several bees, the best-known of which are honey bees. Honey is made and stored to nourish bee colonies. Bees produce honey by gathering and then refining the sugary secretions of plants (primar ...

were staple sweeteners for all but the upper class well into the 19th century.

Sandwiches

Sandwiches typical of New England's cuisine include baked bean on Boston brown bread; the

Fluffernutter A fluffernutter (also called a "peanut butter and marshmallow sandwich", "peanut butter and marshmallow fluff sandwich", or "peanut butter and marshmallow stuff sandwich") is a sandwich made with peanut butter and marshmallow creme usually ser ...

with Fluff

marshmallow creme Marshmallow creme (also called marshmallow fluff, marshmallow stuff, marshmallow spread, or marshmallow paste) is a marshmallow confectionery spread similar in flavor, but not texture, to regular solid marshmallow. One brand of marshmallow creme ...

and

peanut butter Peanut butter is a food paste or spread made from ground, dry-roasted peanuts. It commonly contains additional ingredients that modify the taste or texture, such as salt, sweeteners, or emulsifiers. Peanut butter is consumed in many countri ...

, usually served on

Wonder bread Wonder Bread is a brand of sliced bread which originated in the United States in 1921 and was one of the first to be sold pre-sliced nationwide in 1930. The brand is currently owned by Flowers Foods in the United States. History The Taggart Bak ...

, and the

Maine Italian sandwich Maine's Italian sandwich, sometimes referred to as the Maine Italian sandwich, is an American submarine sandwich in Italian-American cuisine prepared on a long bread roll or bun with meats, cheese and various vegetables. The Maine Italian sandwich ...

prepared using a long bread roll or bun with meats such as salami, mortadella, capicolla and ham along with provolone, tomato, onion, green bell pepper, Greek olives, olive oil or salad oil, salt and cracked black pepper. Served cold or hot,

lobster roll A lobster roll is a dish native to New England. It is made of lobster meat served on a grilled hot dog-style bun. The filling may also contain butter, lemon juice, salt, and black pepper, with variants made in some parts of New England replacin ...

s can optionally include fixings like mayo or warmed butter,

clam roll Fried clams are clams dipped in milk, floured, and deep frying, deep-fried. Fried clams are an iconic food, "to New England, what barbecue is to the South". They tend to be served at seaside clam shacks (roadside restaurants). Clam rolls are fri ...

s dressed with tartar or cocktail sauce on a New England-style hot dog bun, and

chow mein ''Chow mein'' ( and , ; Pinyin: ''chǎomiàn'') is a Chinese dish made from stir-fried noodles with vegetables and sometimes meat or tofu. Over the centuries, variations of ''chǎomiàn'' were developed in many regions of China; there are seve ...

sandwich with noodles, celery, onions, meat and sauce in a hamburger bun, from

Fall River, Massachusetts Fall River is a city in Bristol County, Massachusetts, United States. The City of Fall River's population was 94,000 at the 2020 United States Census, making it the tenth-largest city in the state. Located along the eastern shore of Mount H ...

Seafood

The waters of the

Gulf of Maine The Gulf of Maine is a large gulf of the Atlantic Ocean on the east coast of North America. It is bounded by Cape Cod at the eastern tip of Massachusetts in the southwest and by Cape Sable Island at the southern tip of Nova Scotia in the northeast ...

and

Long Island Sound Long Island Sound is a marine sound and tidal estuary of the Atlantic Ocean. It lies predominantly between the U.S. state of Connecticut to the north and Long Island in New York to the south. From west to east, the sound stretches from the Eas ...

provide a rich variety of fish and shellfish that are a signature of the cuisine in New England. Commercial cod fishing along

Cape Ann Cape Ann is a rocky peninsula in northeastern Massachusetts, United States on the Atlantic Ocean. It is about northeast of Boston and marks the northern limit of Massachusetts Bay. Cape Ann includes the city of Gloucester and the towns of ...

dates back as far as 1623 when salt cod was carried by merchant vessels to Africa, which returned with slaves for plantations in the

Caribbean The Caribbean (, ) ( es, El Caribe; french: la Caraïbe; ht, Karayib; nl, De Caraïben) is a region of the Americas that consists of the Caribbean Sea, its islands (some surrounded by the Caribbean Sea and some bordering both the Caribbean Se ...

before carrying sugar back to New England.

Cod Cod is the common name for the demersal fish genus '' Gadus'', belonging to the family Gadidae. Cod is also used as part of the common name for a number of other fish species, and one species that belongs to genus ''Gadus'' is commonly not call ...

, the fish for which Cape Cod is named, remains a staple of the regional cuisine to this day.

Bluefish The bluefish (''Pomatomus saltatrix'') is the only extant species of the family Pomatomidae. It is a marine pelagic fish found around the world in temperate and subtropical waters, except for the northern Pacific Ocean. Bluefish are known as ta ...

can be found throughout

Cape Cod Cape Cod is a peninsula extending into the Atlantic Ocean from the southeastern corner of mainland Massachusetts, in the northeastern United States. Its historic, maritime character and ample beaches attract heavy tourism during the summer mont ...

and

Nantucket Nantucket () is an island about south from Cape Cod. Together with the small islands of Tuckernuck and Muskeget, it constitutes the Town and County of Nantucket, a combined county/town government that is part of the U.S. state of Massachuse ...

during the summer months and is consumed smoked, broiled or sauteed. American lobster is usually consumed grilled, steamed, or boiled. Breaded deep-fried clams are popular pub fare in New England. Regional clam varieties can be soft shell or hard shell and include

razor clams A razor is a bladed tool primarily used in the removal of body hair through the act of shaving. Kinds of razors include straight razors, safety razors, disposable razors, and electric razors. While the razor has been in existence since before ...

, the latter of these is more likely to be caught by hand owing to how difficult it is to harvest them without damaging the beach upon which they dwell. Hard-shell clams are sometimes called littlenecks, cherrystones or

quahog The hard clam (''Mercenaria mercenaria''), also known as the round clam, hard-shell (or hard-shelled) clam, or the quahog, is an edible marine bivalve mollusk that is native to the eastern shores of North America and Central America from Prince E ...

s depending on their size. These are used to make New England-style clam chowder, and may also be consumed steamed or even raw. The preferred methods of preparing

soft-shell clam Soft-shell clams (American English) or sand gaper (British English/Europe), scientific name ''Mya arenaria'', popularly called "steamers", "softshells", "piss clams", "Ipswich clams", or "Essex clams" are a species of edible saltwater clam, a ...

s (also called steamers) are frying or steaming. Adapted from the American Indians, the

clambake The clambake or clam bake, also known as the New England clambake, is a traditional method of cooking seafood, such as lobster, mussels, crabs, scallops, soft-shell clams, and quahogs. The food is traditionally cooked by steaming the ingredients ...

is a traditional meal in New England where clams, lobsters and corn are cooked over a firepit. Modern versions of the dish may include mussels, fish, crabs and non-seafood ingredients like chicken, sausage, potatoes and other root vegetables. The official state fish are as follows:

Seasonings

Many herbs were uncommon, particularly Mediterranean herbs, which are not hardy in much of New England away from the coast. As a result, most savory New England dishes do not have much strong seasoning, aside from salt and ground black pepper, nor are there many particularly spicy staple items. Other dishes meant as desserts often contain ingredients such as

cinnamon Cinnamon is a spice obtained from the inner bark of several tree species from the genus ''Cinnamomum''. Cinnamon is used mainly as an aromatic condiment and flavouring additive in a wide variety of cuisines, sweet and savoury dishes, breakfa ...

allspice Allspice, also known as Jamaica pepper, myrtle pepper, pimenta, or pimento, is the dried unripe berry (botany), berry of ''Pimenta dioica'', a Canopy (forest), midcanopy tree native to the Greater Antilles, southern Mexico, and Central America, ...

cloves Cloves are the aromatic flower buds of a tree in the family Myrtaceae, ''Syzygium aromaticum'' (). They are native to the Maluku Islands (or Moluccas) in Indonesia, and are commonly used as a spice, flavoring or fragrance in consumer products, s ...

, and ground

ginger Ginger (''Zingiber officinale'') is a flowering plant whose rhizome, ginger root or ginger, is widely used as a spice A spice is a seed, fruit, root, bark, or other plant substance primarily used for flavoring or coloring food. Spices ...

which are a legacy of trade with the

Caribbean region The Caribbean region of Colombia or Caribbean coast region is in the north of Colombia and is mainly composed of 8 departments located contiguous to the Caribbean.pizza Pizza (, ) is a dish of Italian origin consisting of a usually round, flat base of leavened wheat-based dough topped with tomatoes, cheese, and often various other ingredients (such as various types of sausage, anchovies, mushrooms, onions ...

in New England is

Greek pizza In the cuisine of the United States, Greek pizza is a style of pizza crust and preparation where the pizza is proofed and cooked in a metal pan rather than stretched to order and baked on the floor of the pizza oven. A shallow pan is used, unlik ...

, owing to the strong presence of Greek immigrants and

Greek American Greek Americans ( el, Ελληνοαμερικανοί ''Ellinoamerikanoí'' ''Ellinoamerikánoi'' ) are Americans of full or partial Greek ancestry. The lowest estimate is that 1.2 million Americans are of Greek descent while the highest es ...

s in the food-service industry in New England. Greek pizza (as understood in New England) is typified by its chewy, bready crust similar to

focaccia Focaccia ( , , ; lij, fugassa ; nap, label= Barese, fecazze ) is a flat leavened oven-baked Italian bread, similar in style and texture to pizza; in some places, it is called ("white pizza"). Focaccia can be served as a side dish or as san ...

, which is baked in shallow, round metal pan liberally coated with

olive oil Olive oil is a liquid fat obtained from olives (the fruit of ''Olea europaea''; family Oleaceae), a traditional tree crop of the Mediterranean Basin, produced by pressing whole olives and extracting the oil. It is commonly used in cooking: f ...

. Greek-style pizzerias in New England are often found under the name House of Pizza. Italians emigrated to New England beginning a little over a century ago, and Southern New England pizza tends to be more Italian influenced. World-famous restaurants such as Pepe's Pizza in New Haven, CT serve a thin, coal-fired hand-tossed style of pie. New Haven-style pizza is typified by a slightly burnt, crunchy exterior crust and soft, slightly chewy interior. Southern New England pizza (or apizza) is closely related to Neapolitan-style pizza.

List of foods common to New England cuisine

Regional specialties

Connecticut

Irish-American , image = Irish ancestry in the USA 2018; Where Irish eyes are Smiling.png , image_caption = Irish Americans, % of population by state , caption = Notable Irish Americans , population = 36,115,472 (10.9%) alone ...

influences are common in the interior portions of the state, including the

Hartford Hartford is the capital city of the U.S. state of Connecticut. It was the seat of Hartford County until Connecticut disbanded county government in 1960. It is the core city in the Greater Hartford metropolitan area. Census estimates since the ...

area. During the 18th century the Hartford election cake was a spicy, boozy yeast-leavened cake based on a traditional English holiday cake. During the colonial era, elections were celebrated with drink and a huge celebration cake large enough to feed the entire community, and the recipe as given by

Amelia Simmons Amelia Simmons is an American writer noted for publishing the '' American Cookery''. This cookbook is considered an important text that provided insights into the language and culinary practices of former colonists, helping shape American identit ...

in 1796 called for butter, sugar, raisins, eggs, wine and spices in enormous quantities.

Hasty pudding Hasty pudding is a pudding or porridge of grains cooked in milk or water. In the United States, it often refers specifically to a version made primarily with ground ("Indian") corn, and it is mentioned in the lyrics of "Yankee Doodle", a tradit ...

is sometimes found in rural communities, particularly around

. Italian-inspired cuisine is dominant in the New Haven area, which is known for charred thin-crust

New Haven-style pizza New Haven-style pizza is a style of thin-crust, coal-fired Neapolitan pizza common in and around New Haven, Connecticut. Locally known as apizza (, from Neapolitan ''’na pizza'' , "a pizza"), it originated in 1925 at the Frank Pepe Pizzeria ...

baked in coal-fired ovens. The well-known white

clam Clam is a common name for several kinds of bivalve molluscs. The word is often applied only to those that are edible and live as infauna, spending most of their lives halfway buried in the sand of the seafloor or riverbeds. Clams have two she ...

pie is made with fresh clams, olive oil, fresh garlic, oregano and grated

Romano cheese Romano cheese is a term used in the United States and Canada for a class of hard, salty cheese suitable primarily for grating similar to Pecorino Romano, from which the name is derived. In spite of the name, it should not be confused with genuine ...

. Some pizza places also offer subs on Italian bread ("grinders") and standard Italian fare like eggplant rollatini,

manicotti Manicotti (the plural form of the Italian word '' manicotto''), literally, "little sleeves" (< ''manica'' 'sleeve' + the diminutive ending ''-otto''), are an

baked ziti Baked ziti is a popular casserole with ziti pasta and a Neapolitan-style tomato-based sauce characteristic of Italian-American cuisine. It is a form of '' pasta al forno''. Typically, the pasta is first boiled separately until it is nearly, ...

and

chicken parmesan Chicken parmesan, or chicken parmigiana ( it, pollo alla parmigiana), is a dish that consists of breaded chicken breast covered in tomato sauce and mozzarella, parmesan, or provolone cheese. A quantity of ham or bacon is sometimes added. The d ...

. Well-known pizzerias include Pepe's Pizza, Sally's Apizza and Modern Apizza. The cuisine of

Southeastern Connecticut The Southeastern Connecticut region comprises, as the name suggests, the southeastern corner of the state of Connecticut. It is sometimes referred to as New London County or by the tourist slogan '' Mystic and More''. Southeastern Connecticut h ...

is heavily based on the local fishing industry. Typical New England seafood dishes are available at local restaurants like Abbot's "lobster in the rough". Lobster rolls, crab cakes, oysters, clam chowder, steamer clams and mussels are served with sides like potato chips,

remoulade Rémoulade (; ) is a cold sauce. Although similar to tartar sauce, it is often more yellowish, sometimes flavored with curry, and sometimes contains chopped pickles or piccalilli. It can also contain horseradish, paprika, anchovies, capers and ...

sauce and coleslaw.

Shad The Alosinae, or the shads,Alosinae

is the state fish and is cooked on planks (usually hickory, oak, or cedar) by the fire, called a "shad bake", deboning the fish requires some skill with a boning knife.

Louis' Lunch Louis' Lunch is a hamburger restaurant in New Haven, Connecticut, which claims to be the first restaurant to serve hamburgers and the oldest hamburger restaurant in the United States. It was opened as a small lunch wagon in 1895 and was one of ...

began as a lunch wagon started by

Danish Danish may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to the country of Denmark People * A national or citizen of Denmark, also called a "Dane," see Demographics of Denmark * Culture of Denmark * Danish people or Danes, people with a Danish a ...

immigrant Louis Lassen in 1895. Their burgers are still cooked in the original antique cast-iron broiler. A local specialty of

Meriden, Connecticut Meriden is a city in New Haven County, Connecticut, United States, located halfway between the regional cities of New Haven, Connecticut, New Haven and Hartford, Connecticut, Hartford. In 2020, the population of the city was 60,850.butter burger Butter burgers are hamburgers topped with butter, either directly on the patty, or on the bun. Likely invented in Wisconsin, they remain popular throughout the midwestern United States, and are the principal item of Wisconsin-based fast food resta ...

and deep-fried hamburger, the steamed version may be remnant of an earlier time before the broiled hamburger on a bun became the standard form.

Ice cream Ice cream is a sweetened frozen food typically eaten as a snack or dessert. It may be made from milk or cream and is flavoured with a sweetener, either sugar or an alternative, and a spice, such as cocoa or vanilla, or with fruit such as str ...

is made with milk from local creameries at UCONN Dairy Bar using a century-old recipe to produce 24 different flavors of ice cream. Ferris Acres Creamery is a 150-year-old

dairy farm Dairy farming is a class of agriculture for long-term production of milk, which is processed (either on the farm or at a dairy plant, either of which may be called a dairy) for eventual sale of a dairy product. Dairy farming has a history th ...

offering 50 flavors of ice cream. The most popular is the "Cow Trax", a base of vanilla with peanut butter swirls and chocolate chips.

Maine

Maine is known for its

s—lobster meat mixed with mayonnaise and other ingredients, served in a grilled hot dog roll in the summer, particularly on the coast in locations that serve tourists.

Poutine Poutine () is a dish of french fries and cheese curds topped with a brown gravy. It emerged in Quebec, in the late 1950s in the Centre-du-Québec region, though its exact origins are uncertain and there are several competing claims regarding it ...

is popular throughout Maine.

Moxie Moxie is a brand of carbonated beverage that is among the first mass-produced soft drinks in the United States. It was created around 1876 by Augustin Thompson as a patent medicine called "Moxie Nerve Food" and was produced in Lowell, Massac ...

was America's first mass-produced

soft drink A soft drink (see § Terminology for other names) is a drink that usually contains water (often carbonated), a sweetener, and a natural and/or artificial flavoring. The sweetener may be a sugar, high-fructose corn syrup, fruit juice, a su ...

and is the official state soft drink. Moxie is known for its strong aftertaste and is found throughout New England. Buckwheat pancakes called

ploye A ploye or ployes is a Acadian pancake type mix of buckwheat flour, wheat flour, baking powder and water which is extremely popular in the Madawaska region in New Brunswick and Maine. First invented in Nova Scotia, they later spread to the S ...

s are popular in Maine. Ployes are an Acadian pancake-type mix of buckwheat flour, wheat flour, baking powder and water, which is extremely popular in the Madawaska region in New Brunswick and Maine. With local toppings, such as maple syrup or

cretons In Quebec cuisine, (sometimes gorton or corton, especially among New Englanders of French-Canadian origin) is a forcemeat-style pork spread containing onions and spices. Due to its fatty texture and taste, it resembles French '' rillettes''. ...

, ployes can vary in taste. This staple is popular with vegans and is often eaten with

. A submarine sandwich known locally as an Italian Sandwich, was reportedly first developed on the Portland waterfront and sold to road construction workers in 1899 by long-running restaurant Amato's. Many sandwich shops in Maine now sell the sandwich. Wabanaki influences are common in Maine, and many staple foods including beans, corn, squash, wild blueberries, maple syrup, and seafood are part of traditional Wabanaki cuisine. Maine has a high number or organic farms. Maine is home to the

Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners Association The Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners Association (MOFGA) certifies organic food and products throughout the State of Maine. It is a voluntary organization whose office is located in Unity, Maine. As of 2016, MOFGA certifies 480 producers and gr ...

, founded in 1971 and is the oldest organic farming organization in the country. The 1970 book ''Living the Good Life'' by Maine residents

Helen Nearing Helen Knothe Nearing (February 23, 1904 – September 17, 1995) was an American author, advocate of simple living and a lifelong vegetarian. Biography Helen Knothe was born on February 23, 1904, in Ridgewood, New Jersey, as the daughter of Fr ...

and

Scott Nearing Scott Nearing (August 6, 1883 – August 24, 1983) was an American radical economist, educator, writer, political activist, pacifist, vegetarian and advocate of simple living. Biography Early years Nearing was born in Morris Run, Tioga County, ...

caused many young people to move to Maine and engage in small-scale farming and homesteading and this increased the population of the state and the access to local vegetables. Maine is home to over 100 summer

farmers' markets A farmers' market (or farmers market according to the AP stylebook, also farmer's market in the Cambridge Dictionary) is a physical retail marketplace intended to sell foods directly by farmers to consumers. Farmers' markets may be indoors or ...

and over 30 winter farmers' markets. Northern Maine produces

crops, second only to

Idaho Idaho ( ) is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. To the north, it shares a small portion of the Canada–United States border with the province of British Columbia. It borders the states of Montana and Wyom ...

in the United States. Because of this potatoes are very popular in Maine food and even an ingredient in sweets, like doughnuts and chocolate candy.

Fiddlehead ferns Fiddleheads or fiddlehead greens are the furled fronds of a young fern, harvested for use as a vegetable. Left on the plant, each fiddlehead would unroll into a new frond (circinate vernation). As fiddleheads are harvested early in the sea ...

are part of Wabanaki cuisine and are still prized in Maine, where they are gathered in springtime. Foraging remains popular in Maine and people also forage for

mushroom A mushroom or toadstool is the fleshy, spore-bearing fruiting body of a fungus, typically produced above ground, on soil, or on its food source. ''Toadstool'' generally denotes one poisonous to humans. The standard for the name "mushroom" is t ...

hazelnut The hazelnut is the fruit of the hazel tree and therefore includes any of the nuts deriving from species of the genus ''Corylus'', especially the nuts of the species ''Corylus avellana''. They are also known as cobnuts or filberts according t ...

acorn The acorn, or oaknut, is the nut of the oaks and their close relatives (genera ''Quercus'' and '' Lithocarpus'', in the family Fagaceae). It usually contains one seed (occasionally two seeds), enclosed in a tough, leathery shell, and borne ...

elderberries ''Sambucus'' is a genus of flowering plants in the family Adoxaceae. The various species are commonly called elder or elderberry. The genus was formerly placed in the honeysuckle family, Caprifoliaceae, but was reclassified as Adoxaceae due to ge ...

dandelions ''Taraxacum'' () is a large genus of flowering plants in the family Asteraceae, which consists of species commonly known as dandelions. The scientific and hobby study of the genus is known as taraxacology. The genus is native to Eurasia and Nor ...

and

ramps An inclined plane, also known as a ramp, is a flat supporting surface tilted at an angle from the vertical direction, with one end higher than the other, used as an aid for raising or lowering a load. The inclined plane is one of the six clas ...

. Maine is known for its

seaweed Seaweed, or macroalgae, refers to thousands of species of macroscopic, multicellular, marine algae. The term includes some types of '' Rhodophyta'' (red), ''Phaeophyta'' (brown) and ''Chlorophyta'' (green) macroalgae. Seaweed species such as ...

that is used in many dishes as a seasoning and even included in snack bars.

Maple syrup Maple syrup is a syrup made from the sap of maple trees. In cold climates, these trees store starch in their trunks and roots before winter; the starch is then converted to sugar that rises in the sap in late winter and early spring. Maple tree ...

, maple sugar and maple candies are regularly eaten in Maine. Early white settlers learned to make

from the Wabanaki. They were originally sweetened with maple syrup. The Atlantic Triangular Trade caused colonists to swap molasses for maple syrup. Maine cooks prefer old style bean varieties such as Yellow Eyes, Jacobs Cattle, Soldier, and Marafax. Bean-hole beans were a staple at Maine lumber camps. Maine grist mills grind yellow field peas to create a flour chefs use to make gluten-free and vegan foods such as mayonnaise. Maine is the only state with a commercial wild blueberry industry, where growers harvested 105 million pounds in 2021. Wild

blueberries Blueberries are a widely distributed and widespread group of perennial flowering plants with blue or purple berries. They are classified in the section ''Cyanococcus'' within the genus ''Vaccinium''. ''Vaccinium'' also includes cranberries, bi ...

are a common ingredient or garnish, and

is the official state dessert (when made with wild Maine blueberries). Wild blueberry pancakes, muffins, doughnuts and ice cream are popular in Maine. Apple picking and apple desserts, particularly apple pie and apple cider doughnuts, are popular in Maine. Apples have been grown in Maine since the earliest colonial settlements. One of the earliest recorded Maine orchards was Anthony Brackett’s farm and orchard in

. Brackett's orchard was near the current

Deering Oaks Deering Oaks is a public park in Portland, Maine, which has a baseball diamond, tennis courts, a playground, and a pond. It is located west of downtown Portland and is bordered by Deering Avenue on the west, Forest Avenue on the east, Park Ave ...

and it was destroyed in 1689 during a major battle of the

French and Indian Wars The French and Indian Wars were a series of conflicts that occurred in North America between 1688 and 1763, some of which indirectly were related to the European dynastic wars. The title ''French and Indian War'' in the singular is used in the U ...

. Maine people consume the second most ice cream per capita in the United States, and many Maine ice cream shops make and sell vegan ice creams. Ice cream was first made in Maine in 1825 at the Portland home of Asa Clapp to honor a visit to the city by

Marquis de Lafayette Marie-Joseph Paul Yves Roch Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de La Fayette (6 September 1757 – 20 May 1834), known in the United States as Lafayette (, ), was a French aristocrat, freemason and military officer who fought in the American Revoluti ...

. The

whoopie pie The whoopie pie, alternatively called a black moon, gob (term indigenous to the Pittsburgh region), black-and-white, bob, or "BFO" for Big Fat Oreo (also recorded as "Devil Dogs" and "Twins" in 1835), is an American baked product that may be cons ...

, which is also a staple in the

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

Pennsylvania Dutch The Pennsylvania Dutch ( Pennsylvania Dutch: ), also known as Pennsylvania Germans, are a cultural group formed by German immigrants who settled in Pennsylvania during the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries. They emigrated primarily from German-spe ...

cuisine, is the official state treat. The first documented bakery in America to sell whoopie pies was Labadie's Bakery in Lewiston, which first sold them in 1925 (although possibly as early as 1918). Maine sea captain Hansen Gregory claimed to have invented the doughnut with a hole in the center in 1847, and there is a plaque dedicated to him in his birthplace Rockport. Maine is known for varieties ranging from

doughnuts to

doughnuts. Maine is the place of origin for the needham, a dessert bar made from chocolate, coconut, and

.As Maine as Lobster
''

The Christian Science Monitor ''The Christian Science Monitor'' (''CSM''), commonly known as ''The Monitor'', is a nonprofit news organization that publishes daily articles in electronic format as well as a weekly print edition. It was founded in 1908 as a daily newspaper ...

'', October 24, 1986. Wax-wrapped

salt water taffy Taffy is a type of candy invented in the United States, made by stretching or/and pulling a sticky mass of a soft candy base, made of boiled sugar, butter, vegetable oil, flavorings, and colorings, until it becomes aerated (tiny air bubbles ...

is a popular item sold in tourist areas, although it is originally from

New Jersey New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...

. The city of

has been recognized for its restaurant scene. ''Bon Appetit'' magazine recognized Portland as the "2018 Restaurant City of the Year". The city has the Portland Farmers Market, founded in 1768, and the city ranks as a top city for

vegans Veganism is the practice of abstaining from the use of animal product—particularly in diet (nutrition), diet—and an associated philosophy that rejects the commodity status of animals. An individual who follows the diet or philosophy is kn ...

and

vegetarians Vegetarianism is the practice of abstaining from the consumption of meat (red meat, poultry, seafood, insects, and the flesh of any other animal). It may also include abstaining from eating all by-products of animal slaughter. Vegetarianism ma ...

. The Francophone part of northern Maine in the St. John Valley has a lot of

Acadian The Acadians (french: Acadiens , ) are an ethnic group descended from the French who settled in the New France colony of Acadia during the 17th and 18th centuries. Most Acadians live in the region of Acadia, as it is the region where the de ...

influences in their cuisine. A popular dish among all Acadians in this region is ''

tourtière Tourtière (, ) is a French Canadian meat pie dish originating from the province of Quebec, usually made with minced pork, veal or beef and potatoes. Wild game is sometimes used. It is a traditional part of the Christmas ''réveillon'' and New ...

'' or meat pies. These are especially popular around Christmas time.

Massachusetts

Coastal

Massachusetts Massachusetts (Massachusett language, Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut assachusett writing systems, məhswatʃəwiːsət'' English: , ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is the most populous U.S. state, state in the New England ...

is known for its

haddock The haddock (''Melanogrammus aeglefinus'') is a saltwater ray-finned fish from the family Gadidae, the true cods. It is the only species in the monotypic genus ''Melanogrammus''. It is found in the North Atlantic Ocean and associated seas where ...

, and cranberries, and previously

cod Cod is the common name for the demersal fish genus '' Gadus'', belonging to the family Gadidae. Cod is also used as part of the common name for a number of other fish species, and one species that belongs to genus ''Gadus'' is commonly not call ...

. Massachusetts had similar immigrant influences as the coastal regions, though historically strong

Eastern European Eastern Europe is a subregion of the European continent. As a largely ambiguous term, it has a wide range of geopolitical, geographical, ethnic, cultural, and socio-economic connotations. The vast majority of the region is covered by Russia, whi ...

populations instilled

kielbasa Kielbasa (, ; from Polish ) is any type of meat sausage from Poland and a staple of Polish cuisine. In American English the word typically refers to a coarse, U-shaped smoked sausage of any kind of meat, which closely resembles the ''Wiejska'' ...

and

pierogi Pierogi are filled dumplings made by wrapping unleavened dough around a savory or sweet filling and cooking in boiling water. They are often pan-fried before serving. Pierogi or their varieties are associated with the cuisines of Central, Easter ...

as common dishes. Named after the town of

Newton Newton most commonly refers to: * Isaac Newton (1642–1726/1727), English scientist * Newton (unit), SI unit of force named after Isaac Newton Newton may also refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Newton'' (film), a 2017 Indian film * Newton ( ...

Fig Newtons Newtons are a Nabisco-trademarked version of a pastry filled with sweet fruit paste. "Fig Newtons" are the most popular variety (fig rolls filled with fig paste). They are produced by an extrusion process. Their distinctive shape is a character ...

were first made in 1891 using a machine invented by James Mitchell to fill cookie dough with fig jam. The small round

Necco Wafers Necco Wafers are a sugar-based candy, sold in rolls of variously flavored thin disks. First produced in 1847, they became the namesake and core product of the now-defunct New England Confectionery Company (Necco), which operated near Boston, Mas ...

, made with the first American candy machine, similarly originated in

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cambridge bec ...

Graham bread Graham bread is a name for whole wheat bread that was inspired by the teachings of famous health reformer Sylvester Graham. History Sylvester Graham was a 19th-century health reformer who argued that a vegetarian diet, anchored by bread that w ...

was first made in 19th-century Massachusetts by Sylvester Graham. Tollhouse cookies, the official state cookie of Massachusetts were created in 1930 at the Toll House Inn, located in Whitman. Boston Cream pie cupcakes, June 2009

Boston is known for,

(hence the nickname "Beantown"), bulkie rolls, and various pastries. Boston cream pie is not a pie but a cake with custard filling. The origins are mysterious, but it is likely that antecedent cakes were made with either a

sponge cake Sponge cake is a light cake made with egg whites, flour and sugar, sometimes leavened with baking powder. Some sponge cakes do not contain egg yolks, like angel food cake, but most of them do. Sponge cakes, leavened with beaten eggs, originated ...

or pound cake. Parker's Restaurant, located inside the Parker House Hotel, was the premier dining establishment in Boston in the 19th century and remains a fine-dining establishment in Boston's Government Center area. The a-la-carte menu from 1865 included a range of local seafood offerings like oysters,

fried clams Fried clams are clams dipped in milk, floured, and deep-fried. Fried clams are an iconic food, "to New England, what barbecue is to the South". They tend to be served at seaside clam shacks (roadside restaurants). Clam rolls are fried clams serv ...

, mackerel, shad, salmon in anchovy sauce, cod in oyster sauce, and

soft-shell crab Soft-shell crab is a culinary term for crabs that have recently molted their old exoskeleton and are still soft. Soft-shells are removed from the water as soon as they molt or, preferably, just before to prevent any hardening of their shell. Ca ...

. Other meat dishes included

chicken fricassee Fricassee or fricassée is a stew made with pieces of meat that have been browned in butter then served in a sauce flavored with the cooking stock. Fricassee is usually made with chicken, veal or rabbit, with variations limited only by what in ...

, potted pigeons,

corned beef Corned beef, or salt beef in some of the Commonwealth of Nations, is Salt-cured meat, salt-cured brisket of beef. The term comes from the treatment of the meat with large-grained rock salt, also called "corns" of salt. Sometimes, sugar and sp ...

and baked beans with pork. Sides included corn, rice, macaroni, potatoes, asparagus, green peas, radishes and fried

bananas A banana is an elongated, edible fruit – botanically a berry – produced by several kinds of large herbaceous flowering plants in the genus ''Musa''. In some countries, bananas used for cooking may be called "plantains", distinguis ...

. Sweet pastry and puddings were also served such as Indian pudding,

custard Custard is a variety of culinary preparations based on sweetened milk, cheese, or cream cooked with egg or egg yolk to thicken it, and sometimes also flour, corn starch, or gelatin. Depending on the recipe, custard may vary in consistency fro ...

, apple pie,

rhubarb pie Rhubarb pie is a pie with a rhubarb filling. It is popular in the UK, where rhubarb has been cultivated since the 1600s, and the leaf stalks eaten since the 1700s. Besides diced rhubarb, it almost always contains a large amount of sugar to ba ...

, Washington pie, Charlotte Russe, and

blancmange Blancmange (, from french: blanc-manger ) is a sweet dessert popular throughout Europe commonly made with milk or cream and sugar thickened with rice flour, gelatin, corn starch, or Irish moss (a source of carrageenan), and often flavoured ...

The North Shore area is locally known for its

roast beef sandwich The roast beef sandwich is a sandwich that is made out of sliced roast beef or sometimes beef loaf. It is sold at many diners in the United States, as well as fast food chains, such as Arby's and Roy Rogers Restaurants. This style of sandwich o ...

shops, typically serving roast beef sandwiches consisting of thin-sliced roast beef on a hamburger bun. It may be served with condiments such as lettuce, tomato, onion, cheese, and sauces such as mayo and barbecue. Most pizza and roast beef sandwich shops also serve "steak tips" (marinated cubes of sirloin), a common menu item at pizza establishments and backyard cookouts.

Marshmallow Fluff Marshmallow creme (also called marshmallow fluff, marshmallow stuff, marshmallow spread, or marshmallow paste) is a marshmallow confectionery spread similar in flavor, but not texture, to regular solid marshmallow. One brand of marshmallow crem ...

was invented in

Somerville, Massachusetts Somerville ( ) is a city located directly to the northwest of Boston, and north of Cambridge, Massachusetts, Cambridge, in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. As of the 2020 United States Census, the city had a total population of 81, ...

and manufactured in

Lynn, Massachusetts Lynn is the eighth-largest municipality in Massachusetts and the largest city in Essex County. Situated on the Atlantic Ocean, north of the Boston city line at Suffolk Downs, Lynn is part of Greater Boston's urban inner core. Settled by E ...

throughout the 20th century.

sandwiches, combining peanut butter with marshmallow fluff, are popular. The South Shore area maintains a following for bar pizza, with many popular restaurants serving these crisp, thin, often heavily topped creations. Common plant foods in Massachusetts are similar to those of interior northern New England, because of the landlocked, hilly terrain, including

es, maple syrup, and wild blueberries. Dairy production is also prominent in this central and western area.

New Hampshire

Southern

New Hampshire New Hampshire is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Massachusetts to the south, Vermont to the west, Maine and the Gulf of Maine to the east, and the Canadian province of Quebec t ...

cuisine is similar to that of the Boston area, featuring fish, shellfish, and local apples. As with Maine and Vermont,

French-Canadian French Canadians (referred to as Canadiens mainly before the twentieth century; french: Canadiens français, ; feminine form: , ), or Franco-Canadians (french: Franco-Canadiens), refers to either an ethnic group who trace their ancestry to Fr ...

dishes are popular, including ''

'', which is traditionally served on

Christmas Eve Christmas Eve is the evening or entire day before Christmas Day, the festival commemorating the birth of Jesus. Christmas Day is observed around the world, and Christmas Eve is widely observed as a full or partial holiday in anticipation ...

, and

poutine Poutine () is a dish of french fries and cheese curds topped with a brown gravy. It emerged in Quebec, in the late 1950s in the Centre-du-Québec region, though its exact origins are uncertain and there are several competing claims regarding it ...

Corn chowder Corn chowder is a chowder soup prepared using corn as a primary ingredient. Basic corn chowder is commonly made of corn, onion, celery, milk or cream, and butter. Additional ingredients sometimes used include potatoes or squash, salt pork, fish, s ...

is also common, which is similar to

but with corn and bacon replacing the clams.

Portsmouth Portsmouth ( ) is a port and city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. The city of Portsmouth has been a unitary authority since 1 April 1997 and is administered by Portsmouth City Council. Portsmouth is the most dens ...

is known for its orange cake.

Rhode Island

Rhode Island Rhode Island (, like ''road'') is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is the List of U.S. states by area, smallest U.S. state by area and the List of states and territories of the United States ...

is known for

johnnycake Johnnycake, also known as journey cake, johnny bread, hoecake, shawnee cake or spider cornbread, is a cornmeal flatbread, a type of batter bread. An early American staple food, it is prepared on the Atlantic coast from Newfoundland to Jamaica. ...

doughboys Doughboy was a popular nickname for the American Infantry, infantryman World War I#Entry of the United States, during World War I. Though the origins of the term are not certain, the nickname was still in use as of the early 1940s. Examples inclu ...

, and

clam cakes Clam cakes (also known as clam fritters) are a part of New England cuisine, most commonly found in Rhode Island although they can also be found in Connecticut, Maine, and Massachusetts. They are balls of battered clams which have been deep-fried ...

. Johnnycakes, variously and contentiously known as jonnycakes, journeycakes and Shawnee cakes, can vary in thickness and preparation, and disagreements over whether they should be made with milk or water persist. East of

Narragansett Bay Narragansett Bay is a bay and estuary on the north side of Rhode Island Sound covering , of which is in Rhode Island. The bay forms New England's largest estuary, which functions as an expansive natural harbor and includes a small archipelago. Sma ...

, johnnycakes are made with cold milk and a little butter, but around South County the batter is sweetened and made with scalded cornmeal. One attempt by the Rhode Island Legislature to settle on an "authentic" recipe ended in a fistfight. They were traditionally served as a

flatbread A flatbread is a bread made with flour; water, milk, yogurt, or other liquid; and salt, and then thoroughly rolled into flattened dough. Many flatbreads are unleavened, although some are leavened, such as pizza and pita bread. Flatbreads ran ...

alongside

chipped beef Chipped beef is a form of pressed, salted and dried beef that has been sliced into thin pieces. Some makers Smoking (cooking), smoke the dried beef for more flavor. The modern product consists of small, thin, flexible leaves of partially dried be ...

or baked beans, but in modern times they are usually eaten for breakfast with butter and maple syrup. According to The Society for the Propagation of the Johnnycake Tradition in Rhode Island, authentic johnnycakes must be made with whitecap flint corn historically grown in the region around Narrangasett Bay. Stone-ground flint corn is not commercially available, but can still be found at a few historic

gristmills A gristmill (also: grist mill, corn mill, flour mill, feed mill or feedmill) grinds cereal grain into flour and middlings. The term can refer to either the grinding mechanism or the building that holds it. Grist is grain that has been separat ...

like the

Prescott Farm Prescott Farm is a historic preservation of a colonial farm in Middletown ( Newport County), Rhode Island. It spans 40 acres, and was in danger of demolition before Doris Duke, through the Newport Restoration Foundation bought it in 1973 and beg ...

museum in Middletown. Sweetened coffee-flavored dairy products are popular in Rhode Island. Coffee ice cream is popular and a locally produced coffee gelatin dessert mix can be found at supermarkets.

Coffee milk Coffee milk is a drink made by mixing coffee syrup or coffee extract and milk together in a manner similar to chocolate milk. It is the official state drink of the US state of Rhode Island. Coffee syrup Coffee syrup is a sweetened coffee concent ...

has been the official state drink since 1993. While the origins may date to the 1930s, when some shopkeeps sweetened leftover coffee ground with milk and sugar, its now made with coffee extract syrups like those produced by

Autocrat Autocracy is a system of government in which absolute power over a state is concentrated in the hands of one person, whose decisions are subject neither to external legal restraints nor to regularized mechanisms of popular control (except perh ...

. Also popular in the state are clear

known as Rhode Island clam chowder,

milkshake A milkshake (sometimes simply called a shake) is a sweet beverage made by blending milk, ice cream, and flavorings or sweeteners such as butterscotch, caramel sauce, chocolate syrup, fruit syrup, or whole fruit into a thick, sweet, cold mixture ...

s (called cabinets),

submarine sandwich A submarine sandwich, commonly known as a sub, hoagie ( Philadelphia metropolitan area and Western Pennsylvania English), hero ( New York City English), Italian ( Maine English), grinder (New England English), wedge (Westchester, NY), or a spuc ...

es (called grinders), pizza strips, the

chow mein sandwich The chow mein sandwich typically consists of a brown gravy-based chow mein mixture placed between halves of a hamburger-style bun, and is popular on Chinese-American restaurant menus throughout southeastern Massachusetts and parts of neighboring ...

, and Del's Frozen Lemonade. Italian cooking is long established in the region. In Rhode Island and other parts of New England with a large Portuguese American population, Portuguese foods are common, including ''

linguiça ''Linguiça'' or ''lingüiça'' () calabresa is Calabrian chili-seasoned smoke-cured pork sausage seasoned with garlic and paprika, popular in Portugal, Brazil, Lusophone countries, and the U.S. state of Hawaii, created by Calabrian immigrant ...

'', ''chouriço'', ''

caldo verde ''Caldo verde'' (, Portuguese for "green broth") is a popular soup in Portuguese cuisine. The basic traditional ingredients for ''caldo verde'' are finely shredded Portuguese cabbage or ''couve-galega'' (essentially a type of collard green), ...

'', ''malasadas'', and

Portuguese sweet bread Portuguese sweet bread ( Portuguese: ''pão doce'' "sweet bread" or ''massa sovada'' "kneaded dough") is a bread made with milk, sugar, eggs, yeast, flour and sometimes lemon peel to produce a subtly sweet lightly textured loaf or rolls. A slig ...

Vermont

Vermont produces

cheddar cheese Cheddar cheese (or simply cheddar) is a natural cheese that is relatively hard, off-white (or orange if colourings such as annatto are added), and sometimes sharp-tasting. Cheddar originates from the English village of Cheddar in Somerset. Ched ...

and other dairy products. Small cheesemakers recognized for producing hand-crafted cheddar cheeses include the Crowley Cheese Factory

Grafton Village Cheese Company Grafton Village Cheese Company is a cheesemaker in the town of Grafton in the U.S. state of Vermont. The company produces hand-crafted aged cheddar cheese. History The company is the successor to the 1892 Grafton Cooperative Cheese Company, ...

, and

Shelburne Farms Shelburne Farms is a nonprofit education center for sustainability, working farm, and National Historic Landmark on the shores of Lake Champlain in Shelburne, Vermont. The property is nationally significant as a well-preserved example of a Gilde ...

. The Vermonter sandwich is made with

cold cuts Lunch meats—also known as cold cuts, luncheon meats, cooked meats, sliced meats, cold meats, sandwich meats, and deli meats—are precooked or cured meats that are sliced and served cold or hot. They are typically served in sandwiches or on ...

(often turkey and ham), apple, sharp Vermont cheddar and maple mustard (a mix of maple syrup and grainy mustard). The toasted sandwich is served warm. It is known in and outside of New England for its maple syrup. Maple syrup is used as an ingredient in some Vermont dishes, including

Rhubarb pie Rhubarb pie is a pie with a rhubarb filling. It is popular in the UK, where rhubarb has been cultivated since the 1600s, and the leaf stalks eaten since the 1700s. Besides diced rhubarb, it almost always contains a large amount of sugar to ba ...

is a common dessert and has been combined with strawberries in late spring.

Restaurants and pubs

Fried clams Woodman's of Essex, Massachusetts

The oldest 'continuously' operating restaurant in the United States is the

Union Oyster House Union Oyster House, open to diners since 1826, is amongst the oldest operating restaurants in the United States, and the oldest known that has been continuously operating since being opened. The building was listed as a National Historic Landmark ...

(1826) located in Boston. The oldest operating restaurant is the White Horse Tavern in Newport, Rhode Island (it had, at one point closed for renovations since its inception). restaurant Legal Sea Foods is a chain restaurant that began by selling fresh fish and

fish and chips Fish and chips is a popular hot dish consisting of fried fish in crispy batter, served with chips. The dish originated in England, where these two components had been introduced from separate immigrant cultures; it is not known who created t ...

. The original 1950 shop was located at

Inman Square Inman Square is a neighborhood and historic district in Cambridge, Massachusetts. It lies north of Central Square, at the junction of Cambridge, Hampshire, and Inman Streets near the Cambridge– Somerville border. Location Like many squar ...

Woodman's of Essex Woodman's of Essex is a seafood restaurant in Essex, Massachusetts (approximately north of Boston). A local favorite, it is also known internationally for its fried clams and New England clam bakes. Woodman's has been a family business since its ...

began selling homemade

potato chip A potato chip (North American English; often just chip) or crisp (British and Irish English) is a thin slice of potato that has been either deep fried, baked, or air fried until crunchy. They are commonly served as a snack, side dish, or appe ...

s in 1914. Their signature dish of

was introduced only a few years later, in 1916. Their

chowder Chowder is a thick soup prepared with milk or cream, a roux, and seafood or vegetables. Oyster crackers or saltines may accompany chowders as a side item, and cracker pieces may be dropped atop the dish. New England clam chowder is typically ...

has won prizes at the annual Essex Clamfest.

Friendly's Friendly's is a restaurant chain on the East Coast of the United States. Friendly's was founded in 1935 in Springfield, Massachusetts, by the brothers S. Prestley Blake and Curtis Blake. It has 10,000 employees; George Michel is the CEO. It ...

was founded in 1935 during the

Great Depression The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagio ...

Springfield, Massachusetts Springfield is a city in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, United States, and the seat of Hampden County. Springfield sits on the eastern bank of the Connecticut River near its confluence with three rivers: the western Westfield River, the ...

as an

ice-cream Ice cream is a sweetened frozen food typically eaten as a snack or dessert. It may be made from milk or cream and is flavoured with a sweetener, either sugar or an alternative, and a spice, such as cocoa or vanilla, or with fruit such as ...

parlor selling two scoops for a nickel. By 1960, the company offered 63 flavors of ice cream. They were producing 25 million gallons per year and had moved their headquarters to Wilbraham. It only becomes a full-service chain restaurant after being acquired by Donald Smith in 1988. At local shops along the North Shore of Massachusetts, "three-way"

roast beef Roast beef is a dish of beef that is roasted, generally served as the main dish of a meal. In the Anglosphere, roast beef is one of the meats often served at Sunday lunch or dinner. Yorkshire pudding is a standard side dish. Sliced roast beef ...

sandwiches are often served on an onion roll and topped with mayo, barbecue sauce and white American cheese. Kelly's Roast Beef claims to have originated the first roast beef sandwich. Open-faced roast beef sandwiches predate Kelly's version but are typically eaten with a knife and fork. Other well-known North Shore roast beef shops include Londi's and Bill & Bob's. D'Angelo's is a regional chain with locations in Connecticut, Maine, Rhode Island, New Hampshire, and Massachusetts specializing in subs (called heroes in

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

and hoagies in

). Their first shop opened in

Dedham, Massachusetts Dedham ( ) is a town in and the county seat of Norfolk County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 25,364 at the 2020 census. It is located on Boston's southwest border. On the northwest it is bordered by Needham, on the southwest b ...

in 1967. They serve foot-long lobster rolls and other sandwich varieties like steak and cheese.

Italian sandwich A submarine sandwich, commonly known as a sub, hoagie ( Philadelphia metropolitan area and Western Pennsylvania English), hero ( New York City English), Italian ( Maine English), grinder (New England English), wedge (Westchester, NY), or a spuck ...

es are the specialty Moe's Italian Sandwiches, founded in

in 1959. Based on a family recipe, their sandwich is made with

salami Salami ( ) is a cured sausage consisting of fermented and air-dried meat, typically pork. Historically, salami was popular among Southern, Eastern, and Central European peasants because it can be stored at room temperature for up to 45 days ...

provolone Provolone (, ) is an Italian cheese. It is an aged ''pasta filata'' (stretched-curd) cheese originating in Campania near Vesuvius, where it is still produced in pear, sausage, or cone shapes long. Provolone-type cheeses are also produced in othe ...

, veggies, spices and olive oil. Amato's claims to have originated the Maine Italian sandwich, made with

ham Ham is pork from a leg cut of pork, cut that has been food preservation, preserved by wet or dry Curing (food preservation), curing, with or without smoking (cooking), smoking."Bacon: Bacon and Ham Curing" in ''Chambers's Encyclopædia''. Lo ...

American cheese Modern American cheese is a type of processed cheese developed in the 1910s made from cheddar, Colby, or similar cheeses. It is mild with a creamy and salty flavor, has a medium-firm consistency, and has a low melting point. It is typically yel ...

, onion, sour pickles, tomatoes, black olives, green peppers and olive oil.

Food and dairy industries

Fluff marshmallow creme, used to make

sandwiches, is made in

Welch's Welch Foods Inc., commonly known as Welch's, is an American company, headquartered in Concord, Massachusetts. It has been owned by the National Grape Cooperative Association, a co-op of grape growers, since 1956.Hays, Constance LHow Too Much P ...

, headquartered in

Concord, Massachusetts Concord () is a town in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, in the United States. At the 2020 census, the town population was 18,491. The United States Census Bureau considers Concord part of Greater Boston. The town center is near where the conflu ...

, produces grape juices, jellies and jams from purple

Concord grapes The Concord grape is a cultivar derived from the grape species ''Vitis labrusca'' (also known as fox grape) that are used as table grapes, wine grapes and juice grapes. They are often used to make grape Jelly (fruit preserves), jelly, grape juic ...

. The company has been owned by the

National Grape Cooperative Association Welch Foods Inc., commonly known as Welch's, is an American company, headquartered in Concord, Massachusetts. It has been owned by the National Grape Cooperative Association, a co-op of grape growers, since 1956.Hays, Constance LHow Too Much P ...

since 1956.

is a company based in

Lincoln, Rhode Island Lincoln is a town in Providence County, Rhode Island, United States. The population was 22,529 at the 2020 census. Lincoln is located in northeastern Rhode Island, north of Providence. Lincoln is part of the Providence metropolitan statistical are ...

that produces coffee and tea extracts. Their

coffee syrup Coffee milk is a drink made by mixing coffee syrup or coffee extract and milk together in a manner similar to chocolate milk. It is the official state drink of the US state of Rhode Island. Coffee syrup Coffee syrup is a sweetened coffee concen ...

s are used to make

coffee milk Coffee milk is a drink made by mixing coffee syrup or coffee extract and milk together in a manner similar to chocolate milk. It is the official state drink of the US state of Rhode Island. Coffee syrup Coffee syrup is a sweetened coffee concent ...

which became the official state drink of Rhode Island in 1993. The Moxie Beverage Company of

Bedford, New Hampshire Bedford is a town in Hillsborough County, New Hampshire, United States. At the 2020 census, the population was 23,322, reflecting a growth of 10% from 2010. Bedford is a suburb of Manchester, New Hampshire's largest city. History In 1733, the P ...

, acquired by the Coca-Cola Company in 2018, produces the Moxie

. Flavored with

gentian ''Gentiana'' is a genus of flowering plants belonging to the gentian family (Gentianaceae), the tribe Gentianeae, and the monophyletic subtribe Gentianinae. With about 400 species it is considered a large genus. They are notable for their mostl ...

root extract, Moxie has been the official soft drink of Maine since May 10, 2005. Organic dairy company

Stonyfield Farm Stonyfield Farm, also simply called Stonyfield, is an organic yogurt maker and dairy company located in Londonderry, New Hampshire, United States. Stonyfield Farm was founded by Samuel Kaymen in 1983, on a 19th-century farmstead in Wilton, New H ...

, owned by the French dairy company

Lactalis Lactalis is a French multinational dairy products corporation, owned by the Besnier family and based in Laval, Mayenne, France. The company's former name was Besnier SA. Lactalis is the largest dairy products group in the world, and is the se ...

, is located in

Londonderry, New Hampshire Londonderry is a town in western Rockingham County, New Hampshire, United States. It sits between Manchester and Derry, the largest and fourth-largest communities in the state. The population was 25,826 at the 2020 census. Londonderry is known f ...

. Ice-cream company

Ben & Jerry's Ben & Jerry's Homemade Holdings Inc., trading and commonly known as Ben & Jerry's, is an American company that manufactures ice cream, frozen yogurt, and sorbet. Founded in 1978 in Burlington, Vermont, the company went from a single ice cream p ...

, purchased in 2000 by the Anglo-Dutch company

Unilever Unilever plc is a British multinational consumer goods company with headquarters in London, England. Unilever products include food, condiments, bottled water, baby food, soft drink, ice cream, instant coffee, cleaning agents, energy drink, t ...

, was founded in 1978 in

Burlington, Vermont Burlington is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Vermont and the seat of Chittenden County. It is located south of the Canada–United States border and south of Montreal. As of the 2020 U.S. census, the population was 44,743. It ...

References

External links

"Antique Maple Syrup and Maple Sugar Labels"
from the University of Vermont's digital archives. Published February 10, 2010, University of Vermont, Bailey/Howe Library, Special Collections. {{Authority control

History

Early history

American colonies

Thanksgiving

19th century

20th century

21st century

Traditional foods and drinks

Beer and alcohol

Baked beans

Casseroles, soups and stews

Fruits

Hot dogs

Maple syrup

Sandwiches

Seafood

Seasonings

List of foods common to New England cuisine

Regional specialties

Connecticut

Maine

Massachusetts

New Hampshire

Rhode Island

Vermont

Restaurants and pubs

Food and dairy industries

See also

References

Further reading

External links