Beyond Deep Dish: Five Iconic Midwest Foods Worth Seeking Out on Your Trip to the Heartland
Everyone knows about Chicago’s famous deep dish pizza, but the Midwest has far more to offer adventurous eaters. From a chili that breaks all the rules to a cake born from a happy accident, these regional specialties deserve a spot on your food bucket list.
Cincinnati Chili
Forget everything you think you know about chili. Cincinnati’s version is an entirely different animal. According to The Takeout, “Cincinnati-style chili is a carb-loaded blast of classic chili flavors with the Mediterranean twist of cloves, nutmeg, and cinnamon in the mix.”
It’s typically served over spaghetti, and the ordering system has its own unique language. Kat Kinsman for Food & Wine broke it down this way: “One-way: Just a bowl of chili. Order it like that if you want, but you’re missing out. And no one calls it a ‘one way.’ Two-way: Chili plus spaghetti. Which is fine, but unless you’re avoiding dairy or are allergic to joy, this is not why you’re here. Again, ‘two-way’ isn’t really a thing; just call it chili spaghetti. Three-way: This is where it gets good. This is chili spaghetti, topped with a nimbus of fluffy, shredded cheddar.It’s perfectly fine to stop here. This is golden glory. Four-way: This can go one of two ways, adding either onions or beans to determine how the rest of the day is going to go for you. Five-way: All bets are off. You’re getting both onions and beans and bless your heart.”
The restaurant chain Skyline Chili is a very popular place to get it.
Wisconsin Cheese Curds
Per WisconsinCheese.com, cheese curds are “small pieces of curdled milk, roughly the size of peanuts in the shell, with a mild and cheddar-like flavor. Fresh cheese curds have a rubbery texture that causes a squeak when you bite into them.”
A tasty byproduct of the cheesemaking process, they’re commonly paired with beer. Deep-frying them is a hugely popular preparation, turning the squeaky snack into a crispy, melty indulgence.
Chicago-Style Italian Beef
The Italian beef sandwich originated in the early 1900s when Italian immigrants in Chicago decided to slow-roast tougher cuts of meat in a spicy broth to make it tender. They then put thin slices of it on Italian bread to create a sandwich that has become a Chicago staple.
Orders are often modified to be either “sweet,” topped with sweet peppers, or “hot,” topped with giardiniera. The popular TV show The Bear depicts a fictionalized version of the original Mr. Beef location in Chicago, which famously serves the sandwiches alongside other casual fare.
Gooey Butter Cake
St. Louis claims this decadent dessert, and its origin story is delightful. According to GooeyButterCake.com, “In the 1930s, a happy baking accident in South St. Louis gave birth to gooey butter cake. Legend has it that a baker, faced with too much sugar in a butter cake, improvised with additional ingredients, creating a beloved St. Louis dessert.”
Traditional versions from local St. Louis bakeries start with a yeasted crust. A mixture of butter, sugar, eggs, corn syrup and vanilla is poured onto the crust. Then it gets baked — but not for too long. It’s crucial to make sure it’s just barely set.
Buckeyes
These no-bake treats are a candy made to resemble the nuts from the buckeye tree, the official Ohio state tree. Both the actual nuts and the candies are said to resemble the eye of a male deer — a buck — hence their name.
Buckeyes are balls of peanut butter fudge dipped in chocolate with a circle of peanut butter still showing on top. Cafés, candy shops and grocery stores throughout Ohio commonly have them, making this sweet treat easy to find on any visit to the Buckeye State.
This article was created by content specialists using various tools, including AI.
