Foods Lori Alden Holuta Has Tried

Meat covered in gelatinous goo was once a classic American comfort food.

A completely delicious, nearly nutrient-free sandwich beloved by generations of New Englanders.

This cure-all-turned-soda once outsold Coca-Cola.

Turning this cocktail into a fluffy cloud is easy—just hire someone to shake it for 12 minutes straight. 

This is what happens when soldiers pick a new name for meat on bread.

The beef fat–fried version that first caught Ray Kroc's eye is now extinct.

A bland but storied soup is always on the menu in the U.S. Senate.

It's so much more than just mayonnaise and ketchup.

These holiday cakes link Christmas to the Norse god of lightning.

Where maple sap flows, all one needs to make taffy is snow.

A New England tradition of steaming bread in coffee tins gave rise to this niche snack.

This bacon-and-oyster omelet was a status symbol during the California Gold Rush.

This bright green cocktail doubles as dessert.

Before refrigeration, mixing fruit with sugar and vinegar extended its shelf life and made for a tasty drink.

Mornings in Amish country once called for pie-cake and coffee.

Boil away this plant's poisonous hairs, and you're left with a tasty, spinach-like leaf.

A casserole of cheesy, corn flake–topped tubers offers comfort to Mormons in mourning.

A fizzy, chocolate drink that harkens back to the days of Brooklyn soda fountains.

Only in Albany do people dip in raspberry sauce.

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

In the 1970s, housewives stabbed their cakes and filled the holes with Jell-O.

Indiana's unofficial state pie was once a desperate measure.

The Virginia treat can “make even your deepest-dyed Yankee start complimenting you with a southern accent.”

This phallic, giant clam is the culinary crown jewel of the Pacific Northwest.