Foods JLowdown Has Tried

Slurp this sweet and savory summer treat from a tamarind-and-chili-paste-coated straw.

You can find authentic versions of this sour Slavic brew at street stalls and monasteries.

This modern adaptation of a 9,000-year-old brew combines elements of beer, wine, and mead.

Soften the chill of Northeastern winters with a spirit distilled from local maple sap.

Popular in colonial New England, this “apple molasses” is now made by only a handful of commercial producers.

You can have your syrup and drink it, too.

This sweet treat has been cool for more than 1,000 years.

Many popular cereals exploded out of its chamber and into existence.

This salad named after a scandal has been traced back to Kraft and Helen Keller.

Binghamton celebrates its sandwich of marinated meat cubes at a yearly hot air balloon festival.

One fantasy food's journey from sci-fi vegan steak to silver screen cannibalism to actual meal replacement.

After thriving during Prohibition, this soda fountain staple was immortalized in a song by Creedence Clearwater Revival.

Once a treatment for heat stroke, the herbal gel now flavors desserts.

A Prohibition-era flavor from a soda company beloved by Detroiters and Juggalos.

This British temperance tonic is now a Ramadan favorite.

Kentucky's melt-in-your-mouth treats date back to the 1800s.

Long relegated to moonshine jars, aged corn whiskey is finally getting respect outside Kentucky.

Roadside vendors in the Deep South soften fresh goobers with bubbling brine.

It’s only fitting that a racehorse named after this Kentucky stew won the state’s signature Derby.

A match made in heaven (and also Kentucky).

The slow-smoked sheep is a Western Kentucky specialty.

From humble meat-hybrid to Cincinnati favorite.

Spiced meat sauce meets spaghetti, shredded cheese, and beans in a Midwest cult favorite.

This cosmic-colored flavor is a Midwestern mystery.