Regional foods faves/names

[mod*betty]

I come from the land of the bean and cod and know that we have our own names for things that are used nowhere else- tonic for soda, frappe for milkshake etc. I am trying to learn the "correct" names for things here in our new home state of PA.

Somebody help me out here -- what is a zep? Is it different from a sub or a hoagie or a grinder?

What other words to I need to know so I can order my food?

I sound really bad saying "whiz wit" but at least I am trying!

Edited February 3, 2006 by mod*betty (log)

[shacke]

I come from the land of the bean and cod and know that we have our own names for things that are used nowhere else- tonic for soda, frappe for milkshake etc. I am trying to learn the "correct" names for things here in our new home state of PA.

Somebody help me out here -- what is a zep? Is it different from a sub or a hoagie or a grinder?

What other words to I need to know so I can order my food?

I sound really bad saying "whiz wit" but at least I am trying! 

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I think a "zep" is a hoagie if you live out in Norristown. Stick with hoagie and you won't get hurt.

[philadining]

Around here, "grinder" indicates a hoagie covered with cheese and thrown in the oven to get all crusty/melty. That's certainly not the meaning everywhere, so it can get confusing.

I'm not sure there's a functional difference between hoagie/sub/hero/zep, except using the wrong one can get you mocked mercilessly. As Shacke said, "hoagie" is your safest bet...

[MarketStEl]

I come from the land of the bean and cod[*] and know that we have our own names for things that are used nowhere else- tonic for soda, frappe for milkshake etc. I am trying to learn the "correct" names for things here in our new home state of PA.

Somebody help me out here -- what is a zep? Is it different from a sub or a hoagie or a grinder?

What other words to I need to know so I can order my food?

I sound really bad saying "whiz wit" but at least I am trying! 

←

*"...where the Lowells talk only to Cabots, and the Cabots talk only to God."

It took me a while to adjust to the New England terms for "pop" (what Midwesterners call "soda") and "milkshake", so I feel for you, especially as you self-consciously leave off the "h" in "with" much as Bostonians drop the "r's" in "Harvard" or "car" and stick them on the end of "idea".

You'll get used to it.

Another term for you to note is "wooder ice."

In print, the term is written "water ice."

You may have called this "Italian ice" or "slush."

Something else you will encounter around here that is truly unique to the region is something called "Lebanon bologna."

This is either a slightly spicy or a slightly sweet beef sausage closer to salami or summer sausage in appearance than to regular bologna. Like shoo fly pie, it's a Pennsylvania Dutch specialty (named for the Lancaster County community where I believe it originated). You should try it if you have the opportunity.

A non-food local term that you should know is "MAC."

This is what many Philadelphians still call ATMs. For many years, all (or nearly all) of the ATMs in this region were on this network ("MAC" = "Money Access Center"), which was owned by the largest locally based bank at the time. If someone says to you, "You can get money out of the MAC machine over there," they're referring to the nearby ATM. As the MAC network is no more, though, this usage is dying out.

[Rich Pawlak]

I come from the land of the bean and cod and know that we have our own names for things that are used nowhere else- tonic for soda, frappe for milkshake etc. I am trying to learn the "correct" names for things here in our new home state of PA.

Somebody help me out here -- what is a zep? Is it different from a sub or a hoagie or a grinder?

What other words to I need to know so I can order my food?

I sound really bad saying "whiz wit" but at least I am trying! 

←

I think a "zep" is a hoagie if you live out in Norristown. Stick with hoagie and you won't get hurt.

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Your answer is partly true; in Norristown and environs, a "zep" is a hoagie of breath-refreshing salami, provalone and onions, oil and vinegar; others add lettuce and tomatoes, but the true "zep" is that one simple combo sandwich.

[lancastermike]

This is either a slightly spicy or a slightly sweet beef sausage closer to salami or summer sausage in appearance than to regular bologna. Like shoo fly pie, it's a Pennsylvania Dutch specialty (named for the Lancaster County community where I believe it originated). You should try it if you have the opportunity

Sandy,

Lebanon bologna, which I rate amongst mankinds greatest inventions, is named after Lebanon. However, Lebanon is it's own county. Just north of Lancaster County. Pennsylvania has 67 counties. Lancaster is but one of them. Astonishingly to many, lots of the counties are between Philadelphia and Pittsburgh. Geographicly speaking, everything west of the 69th Street terminal is NOT Lancaster County.

[Sfuffy]

It took me a while to adjust to the New England terms for "pop" (what Midwesterners call "soda") and "milkshake", so I feel for you, especially as you self-consciously leave off the "h" in "with" much as Bostonians drop the "r's" in "Harvard" or "car" and stick them on the end of "idea".

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Being that this is a Pennsylvania forum, one should be aware that the pop/soda line runs right down the middle of PA. In Eastern PA, we call carbonated soft drinks "soda" and in Western PA they call them "pop" (but when I lived in Pittsburgh, natives thought they lived on the East Coast and not in the Midwest).

See Pop v. Soda Page for a national perspective on this controversy.

[MarketStEl]

This is either a slightly spicy or a slightly sweet beef sausage closer to salami or summer sausage in appearance than to regular bologna. Like shoo fly pie, it's a Pennsylvania Dutch specialty (named for the Lancaster County community where I believe it originated). You should try it if you have the opportunity

Sandy,

Lebanon bologna, which I rate amongst mankinds greatest inventions, is named after Lebanon. However, Lebanon is it's own county. Just north of Lancaster County. Pennsylvania has 67 counties. Lancaster is but one of them. Astonishingly to many, lots of the counties are between Philadelphia and Pittsburgh. Geographicly speaking, everything west of the 69th Street terminal is NOT Lancaster County.

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Mea culpa, but I did know that you had to travel through Delaware (or Montgomery, or both) and Chester counties before reaching Lancaster County. Reading is the Berks County seat, and the state capitol of Harrisburg is the same for Dauphin County, but I had indeed not been aware that Lebanon was the county seat of the county of the same name.

I haven't traveled extensively through the state, but I have spent time outside the Philadelphia area--my second encounter with the Keystone State, for instance, was a cross-state trek via US 30 from Pittsburgh to Philadelphia when I was 14 and still living in Kansas City. (Mom wanted to see the things you couldn't see from the Turnpike. One of the things we saw was the famous Ship Hotel (or whatever the name of the place was in the '70s) on the side of the mountain in (I believe but am not sure) Butler County.) I've also been to Harrisburg three times (it fascinates me in the same strange way Wilmington, Del., does), to Lancaster, to Scranton, to the Poconos and to Mauch Chunk^W^WJim Thorpe. (Edited to add: And to Reading on several occasions back when the outlets were hot. So in terms of counties, that's Berks, Carbon, Dauphin, Lackawanna, Lancaster and Monroe. And into Pike to visit Bushkill Falls.)

I guess I'm reciting all this by way of asserting that, while I may not have all my Keystone State geography down, I'm no parochial urbanite.

Edited February 4, 2006 by MarketStEl (log)

[rockhopper]

I come from the land of the bean and cod and know that we have our own names for things that are used nowhere else- tonic for soda, frappe for milkshake etc. I am trying to learn the "correct" names for things here in our new home state of PA.

Somebody help me out here -- what is a zep? Is it different from a sub or a hoagie or a grinder?

What other words to I need to know so I can order my food?

I sound really bad saying "whiz wit" but at least I am trying! 

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Right. whiz wit. Not a number 7. Or even worse a "steak and cheese".

In general if the place has a menu item named a "philly cheese steak" it's probably not.

[dockhl]

One of the things we saw was the famous Ship Hotel (or whatever the name of the place was in the '70s) on the side of the mountain

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Sandy~

I am so jealous. What a cool thing to see as a kid. I grew up in Pgh and never got there and it burned down in 2001 after years of neglect........

[Susan G]

In Westchester County, NY, this sandwich was also referred to as a "wedge" - which applied if it had melted cheese or not.

[herbacidal]

I'm no parochial urbanite.

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Nice phrase.