21 Local Foods (& Drinks) To Devour On Your Cross Country Road Trip

What to stuff yourself on zigzagging from New York to California.

1. New York: Smoked Salmon Bagels

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The quintessential New York City breakfast that's available 24/7 in all five boroughs and much of the rest of the state, smoked salmon, a bagel, and a smear of cream cheese. Just add tomato, onion, and capers to make it a balanced meal.

2. New Jersey: Tomato Pie

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What's the difference between tomato pie and pizza? Tomato pie has extra thick crust and the sauce goes on top of everything else. You can easily find it made from scratch in old Sicilian-American communities throughout the Northeast, and they all argue over who has the very best. Jersey cities like Trenton are famous for it and worth the stop.

3. West Virginia: Apple Butter and Biscuits

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West Virginia may just be one of the most beautiful states you'll drive through. The local apple butter is just one of the reasons it's worth detouring off the interstate. Apple butter isn't butter with apples, it's caramelized apples and cider spices made into a spread that you eat on pancakes, ice cream, fried chicken...and especially fluffy, hot biscuits.

4. Kentucky: Mint Juleps

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Mint juleps, the official drink of the Kentucky Derby, is a finally crafted cocktail with Bourbon and fresh mint. Sitting on a patio (or even better, a porch) sipping on one is a state-wide tradition—not just Southern gentry in fancy hats. 95% of the world's Bourbon still being from Kentucky is rightfully a point-of-pride for the state. After a day of driving, a classic mint julep, sweet, refreshing, and strong, may be the perfect excuse to head south and stop in Kentucky for the night.

5. Pennsylvania: Fresh, Hot Soft Pretzels

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Whether in Amish Country or Philly you can find fresh soft pretzels throughout almost all of Pennsylvania. All the comfort of fresh baked bread, they're little like the pretzels you get in the frozen food section on a midnight run to the grocery store. A pretzel purest eats them with mustard or cheese or simply just plain because the hot, salty bread is just that good.

6. Ohio: Corned Beef

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Midwesterners are infamously carnivores and in Ohio corned beef is king of the deli. Cleveland likes to claim it for themselves, but there is more than enough to share and you can find it throughout the region.

7. Michigan: Shawarma Poutine

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Something like disco fries turned up to 11, shawarma poutine is proof there is hope and a real food scene emerging in Detroit. Shawarma poutine is a mash-up of the Canadian food so popular in the border state and Middle Eastern cuisine thanks to the large immigrant community in the Detroit Metro. Shawarma and poutine can both be found in Michigan cities, but Dearborne (a Motor City suburb) is the birthplace of shawarma poutine.

8. Indiana: Sugar Cream Pie

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Sugar cream pie aka Hoosier pie is the official state pie of Indiana. The taste is in the name—sugar cream. What's a Hoosier? Someone from Indiana. What does Hoosier mean? No one really knows. But they have great pie.

9. Illinois: Italian Beef

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Chicago is home to the Italian beef and found throughout Illinois. Different from an Italian sub, it's sliced seasoned roast beef on a long roll, all dipped in jus, and topped with peppers.

10. Iowa: Deep Fried Fair Food

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Iowa is famous for its big annual state fair, and one of the main attractions is all of the deep fried guilty pleasures, from butter to brownies to bacon wrapped brisket. Sweet, gooey fried cookies (pictured), like corn dogs and funnel cakes, are a modern classic that are also easy to find at carnivals, festivals, and food trucks throughout the year.

11. Nebraska: Runzas

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Runzas are bread filled with ground beef, cabbage, onion, and often other Midwestern staples like cheese, mushrooms, and peppers. They're originally from Russia and Germany and now an unofficial Nebraska state food.

12. Missouri: Barbecue Ribs

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Barbecue is the unofficial Missouri state food. Depending where you are, you can find Kansas City, Memphis, or St. Louis style barbecue, but the one thing they all have in common is their love of pork ribs. From dives to fine dining and everything in between, there is a bbq restaurant (or truck) for whatever mood you're in.

13. Arkansas: Fried Catfish

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Cornmeal battered catfish is as Southern as ice tea and pecan pie. Living the dream to many people in Arkansas (aka The Nature State) means fishing all day, every day, and frying it up for dinner that night—every night. Thankfully restaurants do all the dirty work for the rest of us to enjoy. It's hard to find a down home restaurant from the Arkansas Delta to the Ozarks that doesn't have fried catfish on the menu.

14. Kansas: Elote

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Kansas's local, farm fresh food scene is one of the fly over state's best kept secrets that you'd never see from the interstate. Elote aka Mexican corn is grilled, smothered in crema, spices, and herbs, then sprinkled with cheese. You can find it across the state from the historic Mexican-American neighborhoods in Kansas City, KS all the way to the one light towns on the Great Plains.

15. Colorado: Indian Taco

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Indian tacos are a pow wow staple, and they are now popping up on restaurant menus across the West. The Denver Metro has upped the Indian taco game, where you can find a lot more options than just meat or no meat. What makes an Indian taco an Indian taco? Fry bread instead of a tortilla.

Utah: Old Fashioned Ice Cream

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You can do some time traveling while you're on the road winding through the buttes and arches in Utah. Local fast food joints and old fashioned ice cream parlors are still a real thing here, making Utah the perfect place for an ice cream break.

16. Oklahoma: Chicken Fried Chicken

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Okies is they take their chicken fried chicken seriously. The chicken is pounded down, marinated in a secret family recipe, breaded, fried (ideally in a cast iron skillet), and served with white pepper gravy. You can find it throughout Oklahoma, from diners to fine dining, including on the middle stretch of the famed Route 66.

17. Texas: A Really Big Steak

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As every Texan will tell you, everything is bigger there. Their steak is no exception. They are beef people, which makes sense, being the top cattle exporter in the U.S. You can find a really big steak anywhere in Texas—and you don't have to look too hard to find a restaurant with the promise of eating free if you down your entire meal, baked potato and all, in under an hour.

18. New Mexico: Green Chile Cheeseburger

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The official New Mexico state question is, Red or green?. It's referring to New Mexico chiles, the signature of Southwestern cuisine. The difference between the two are green chiles are younger so less ripe, and often spicier. If left to grow, green chiles turn yellow, then red. You can find green chile cheeseburgers all over the place, from the local fast food chain to gourmet restaurants.

19. Arizona: Tequila Sunrise

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Arizona is the birthplace of the modern tequila sunrise, a sweet cocktail named for its potent main ingredient and the gorgeous western sky it mimics. Driving through all that desert makes you thirsty, this is your chance stop for the night to enjoy the scenery, a tequila sunrise, and some sweet dreams.

20. Nevada: All You Can Eat Buffet

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The best way to experience Nevada's seafood, Asian, Latin, and Italian cuisines on a whirlwind road trip? All at once, of course. Vegas is most famous for them, but you can find all-you-can-eat buffets in all of Nevada's tourist towns.

21. California: Sushi

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Treat yourself. You've made it to sunny California. It's sushi time.