Strange Maps

November 23, 2006

40 - Totem Foods of North America

Filed under: Uncategorized — strangemaps @

This map illustrates the ‘Totem Foods’ of North America, celebrating ”the many distinctive regional food traditions on the North American continent by featuring a totem food key to the identity of each region. These totem foods are more than just important commodities - community feasts, household rituals, song, stories and the nutritional well-being of residents have revolved around these foods for centuries.” Contributed by Andrew as a comment on post #17 on this blog and to be found here.

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39 Comments »

  1. Love the blog, and the strange maps that come up on it. I found another site a while back that contained its own strange maps, including:

    The Subways of North America
    http://www.radicalcartography.net/?subways

    An Errant Manhattan
    http://www.radicalcartography.net/?manhattan

    The Height of Manhattan buildings
    http://www.radicalcartography.net/?manhattan-heights

    Megalopolises of America
    http://www.radicalcartography.net/?mega

    And so on and so on. You could dedicate an entire month to the maps found on that site. Hope you find maps that interest you and your readers.

    Comment by Adam — November 23, 2006 @

  2. I agree with that, i love it too, i really appreciate its unique maps which are uploaded almost frequently.

    Comment by Dedicated hosting — November 23, 2006 @

  3. Great map! But I don’t think that Corn Bread & BBQ Nation should extend so far into the northeast. I live in Philadelphia, and you’d have a difficult time finding either cornbread or BBQ here. (If anyone knows where there’s some great Philly-area BBQ, please let me know!) That said, I’m not entirely sure Clambake Nation should extend further south, either. That just doesn’t feel right for Philly, either. Hmmm.

    Comment by riversaredamp — November 25, 2006 @

  4. What sort of a cartographer creates a map of North America and leaves out the Canadian Maritimes?

    Comment by George Cole — November 25, 2006 @

  5. Tought you might like this : u.s. zip decoder map. Nice collection.

    Comment by randomroutine — November 27, 2006 @

  6. I was thinking the same thing, riversaredamp! Just across the river in Collingswood NJ, we are also surprised to find ourselves in the BBQ belt (not that there’s anything wrong with that!). Does it gobble up Manhattan, too? What do you recommend for the Delaware Valley: Hoagie and Sushi Nation? I’m conflicted, too. Amish/Organic/Frosted Cereal? Water-Ice?

    Comment by davidbdale — November 27, 2006 @

  7. No way the BBQ belt extends that far to the NE. The line should stop at the NC border. I’m not sure what the “totem food” is of PA & the Mid-Atlantic states, even though that’s where I live. Crabs? Bagels?

    Comment by Solomon2 — November 28, 2006 @

  8. [...] I really dig this map. It’s so exact. [...]

    Pingback by BrainFuel » We live in the chili pepper nation — November 29, 2006 @

  9. Maryland & Delaware: EVERYTHING CRAB! Well,
    except those long-legged Bering sea creatures …

    Philadelphia: ITALIAN HOAGIE & CHEESESTEAK!
    Geno’s or Pat’s, take your pick. WITH! WITH!

    Manhattan: EVERYTHING! There is no kind of
    food that you cannot get in Manhattan. As for
    “tradition”, I’d go with Jewish. Best Eastern
    European Jewish food in the US. The bagels are
    to die for.

    BBQ does not stop at NC border. Best pulled pork
    in the US is in the area of Richmond/Petersburg.
    But not as far as Philly. He’s right about that.

    Comment by Old Geezer — November 30, 2006 @

  10. “Wild rice nation”? I can’t say that when I lived in Detroit that wild rice was especially emblematic of the regional cuisine.

    Comment by Jerry Kindall — November 30, 2006 @

  11. Having lived in “Pinyon Nut Nation” my entire life, I didn’t even know what a pinyon nut was until googling it just now. Doesn’t sound very tastey.

    Comment by bonkers — November 30, 2006 @

  12. Ah, I clicked the last link and understand what the problem is. This is a map of historical food-based traditions, not necessarily current tastes. Thus, Western Maryland is part of the Maple Syrup nation, which in the intended context makes sense because fifty years ago maple syrup production was a major industry in the region. As of 2006, syrup production has fallen so low that the U.S. Dept. of Agriculture doesn’t even bother to collect statistics for this area.

    Also, fifty years ago much of the region was noted for its fried chicken (not BBQ) and cornbread diet. Perhaps a swath from Kentucky northeastwards through New Jersey would be better characterized as the “Fried Chicken Nation”?

    Comment by Solomon2 — November 30, 2006 @

  13. [...] 40 - Totem Foods of North America « strange maps a map showing how the nation divides up into idiomatic food groups, like chilli pepper nation. Tags: [No Tags] Related Posts: [ ] [...]

    Pingback by A Blog Apart // 40 - Totem Foods of North America « strange maps — November 30, 2006 @

  14. “I’m not sure what the “totem food” is of PA & the Mid-Atlantic states, even though that’s where I live. Crabs? Bagels?”

    Scrapple!

    Comment by Dave — November 30, 2006 @

  15. [...] 40 - Totem Foods of North America « strange maps From what I know of Native American traditions, in addition to more recent American ones, this is a good map. It is odd that the Canadian Maritime provinces aren’t represented, though. (tags: north_america totemfoods novelties strangemaps) [...]

    Pingback by Erin S. O’Connor » Blog Archive » links for 2006-11-30 — November 30, 2006 @

  16. Where does Macaroni & Cheese fit on this map???

    Comment by spoiledamerica — December 1, 2006 @

  17. It was interesting to dig this map. Great map!

    Comment by Nasir — December 1, 2006 @

  18. IMHO - Philly has to be cheesesteak/hoagies, and scrapple. NJ - how about Taylor Ham? As far as I know, it’s the only place you can order it in a restaurant. And for the Maritimes - maybe Fish & Brewis? Flipper Pie? Bologna Stew?

    Fun map.

    MG

    Comment by MorningGlory — December 1, 2006 @

  19. [...] I happened upon this blog earlier, quite by accident, and found this post to be quite interesting.  There is some debate amongst the readers/commenters regarding the borders of the “BBQ & Cornbread” nation versus the “Maple Syrup Nation” and the “Clambake Nation”.  North Carolina is firmly implanted in BBQ & Cornbread, as it should be.  But what about New Jersey?  It appears to be half BBQ and half Clambake.  And what’s up with the “Wild Rice Nation”?  Do they really eat that much rice around the Great Lakes? [...]

    Pingback by What “Totem Food” nation do you live in? « Morning Glory 2 — December 1, 2006 @

  20. [...] “Totem Foods of North America” [Strange Maps] [...]

    Pingback by Life of Alan » links for 2006-12-04 — December 4, 2006 @

  21. [...] Totem Foods of North America « strange maps This map illustrates the ‘Totem Foods’ of North America, celebrating ”the many distinctive regional food traditions on the North American continent by featuring a totem food key to the identity of each region. These totem foods are more than just im (tags: food maps art strange north america usa) [...]

    Pingback by /x/y/z/ » Blog Archive » links for 2006-12-01 — December 7, 2006 @

  22. [...] Map of the totem foods of the US that divides the country up into areas like Chile Pepper Nation, Ma…. [...]

    Pingback by Map of the totem foods of the US that divides the country up into areas like Chile Pepper Nation, Maple Syrup Nation, and Corn Bread and BBQ Nation — January 26, 2007 @

  23. Then there’s the Harvard Dialect Map, which illustrates that there aren’t really so few so easily divided regions:

    http://cfprod01.imt.uwm.edu/Dept/FLL/linguistics/dialect/maps.html

    -jsq

    Comment by John S. Quarterman — March 2, 2007 @

  24. I’m from San Diego, and I don’t know about the history of Indian cooking, but where I live probably the most important food that is “ours” is the avacado. We are very big on our avacado!

    Comment by Eric — March 4, 2007 @

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    Comment by Jordan — September 4, 2007 @

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  32. [...] a drink made of bird’s nest, or that you can eat fish poop. I feel a bit patriotic about my regional specialty, but then again, that’s pretty normal, in a world where disgusting vegetarian clones of the [...]

    Pingback by Edible Unknown : Food News - November 7th — November 8, 2007 @

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    Comment by naisioxerloro — November 28, 2007 @

  34. [...] Totem Foods of North America [...]

    Pingback by Cuisine Cartography « — December 5, 2007 @

  35. OK, I’m coming a year late to this weblog. Where I live (Calgary), you’ve got it displayed in the “Bison Belt”, though a friend and her boyfriend and BF’s family bagged a moose a couple of weeks ago.

    But it is no longer the “Bison Belt”. Beef is a sacrament. I [heart] [alberta map] [cow horns] is almost as common a bumper sticker as hockey team stickers. No beef on the foods map. Problem with that.

    Someone asked about “Mac&Cheese”. As anyone who listens to the “Barenaked Ladies” should recognize, Kraft Dinner (or just KayDee) is an icon of young urban Canadians. Definately more important than Salmon or Bison, and probably as important as maple syrup.

    And someone elxe mentioned the Canuck Maritimes. The collapse of the cod fishery left at least one of our provinces as a soulless cultural black hole that is still trying to find a new identity. A friend from another was scornful of a Red Lobster “catch of the day” announcement when he was visiting Calgary — a thousand miles from any coast. A true catch of the day would always be “Rainbow”. “Which Fish” really mattered to a Haligonian. Clams? ehhh.

    Comment by Greg Goss — December 10, 2007 @

  36. Hi buddies :
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    Comment by dorwayday — January 22, 2008 @

  37. Wow - just find this in google

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    Comment by Mofftrore — March 17, 2008 @

  38. Greg has a point: until I left Calgary I didn’t realize that it wasn’t common elsewhere to eat beef five days out of the week.

    Then again, when beef is cheaper per pound than everything else - including beans! - you eat a lot of beef. Calgary grocery prices at Safeway are 50 to 80% higher than prices at the same store in Regina or Winnipeg.

    Comment by Charlene — March 18, 2008 @

  39. Борьба мышей: Микки или Диддл?

    Где-то в моде Покемоны, где-то - черепашки Ниндзя. А есть такой популярный герой - мышонок Diddl. С этим милым существом делают большие мягкие игрушки, сувениры подарки, канцтовары, товары для школы и многое другое.

    Если Вы выбираете необычный подарок для своего ребенка, то лучшего, чем это существо Вам не найти.

    Это что то среднее между мышонком и тушканчиком. Его имя знает любой школьник в Европе.

    Это - Диддл (Diddl). Для того чтобы понять, насколько он популярен, достаточно зайти в любую школу. Вы тотчас же увидите его на всех предметах: карандашах, рюкзаках, сумках, пеналах

    Всего существует около 1000 товаров, со Diddlom. Даже сами производители не могут объяснить, чем вызвана популярность Диддла.

    Теперь и в Росси появился фирменный детский магазин где можно купить Товары Диддл, Diddlina, Galupy, Pimboli, Мимихоппс

    Comment by oriebrobeReta — May 12, 2008 @

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