WineLovers Discussion Group

New Mexico has an official food question: Red or green?

New Mexico also has an official cookie: the bizcochito (a butter cookie flavored with anise and cinnamon).

Any food-related official references in your state?

A few official foods from MA and when designated...

bean..Baked navy bean (1993)
berry..cranberry (1994)
beverage..cranberry juice (1970)
cookie..chocolate chip (1997)
dessert..boston cream pie (1996)
donut...boston cream (2003)
fish...Cod (early 1800's?)
muffin..corn (1986)
game bird ...turkey (1991)

This site sums up all of that stuff....

Connecticut, where I grew up, is the Nutmeg State. The nickname harkens back to the colonial era, when nutmeg and other spices were outrageously expensive. Unscrupulous Connecticut residents carved fake nutmegs out of wood, infused them with a bit of nutmeg oil to give them the proper smell, and foisted them off on a gullible public. "Yankee traders", to be sure!

-Paul W.

Larry Greenly wrote:New Mexico has an official food question: Red or green?

What kind of question is that? The answer is always Christmas, so why have the question in the first place?

It's frequently "Christmas" with me, but not always. It depends.

Larry Greenly wrote:New Mexico has an official food question: Red or green?

Hey, Louisville has that question, too! Only it's not about food, it's about traffic lights. "Which one do you proceed directly forward on?"

The answer, of course, being "both."

Robin Garr wrote:

Larry Greenly wrote:New Mexico has an official food question: Red or green?

Hey, Louisville has that question, too! Only it's not about food, it's about traffic lights. "Which one do you proceed directly forward on?"

The answer, of course, being "both."

Gosh...I don't know about NJ! I know that within NJ the corn and tomatos are famous...I mean, we are the "Garden State"...LOL! Maybe Gary, Bob, or the other Jerseyians know.

Larry Greenly wrote:
New Mexico also has an official cookie: the bizcochito

FWIW, bizcochito seems to be the diminutive of bizcocho, which, in Mexican slang, has nothing to do with cookies........

For New Jersey:
The official fruit is the blueberry.
The official fish is the brook trout.
The state vegetable is the tomato.

New Jersey is the nation's 2nd highest producer of blueberries, 3rd highest producer of peppers, 4th of peaches, 3rd of cranberries, and I believe we are the nation's leading producer of eggplant.

Continuing with New Mexico:

State vegetables: chiles and frijoles
State fish: cutthroat trout

Thanks Ryan! I didn't know that!

btw, I had to totally LOL at your quote...I love Fawlty Towers...and that quote really fits into the whole claret discussion on the wine board.

Well…it looks like the state has been busy for the last 10 yrs or so adopting all sorts of new symbols. I suppose its too much to expect to get politicians to quit working on inanities and do something about out of control property taxes.

In any case, here’s the list…

Bread...Pan de Campo (2005)
Cooking Implement...Cast Iron Dutch Oven (2005)
Fish...Guadalupe Bass (1989)
Fruit...Texas Red Grapefruit (1993)
Nut...Pecan (2001)
Chile...Chiltepins (1997)
Vegetable...Sweet Onion (1997)
Dish...Chili (1977)

Richard

Texas - Chili (no beans, thank you).

Hasn't anyone ever heard of New York Strip? (The steak, not the club in Manhattan.)

I had one last night.

New Hampshire is the granite state. I guess that comes into use when you're stoned.

Here is an interesting site:

http://www.netstate.com/states/tables/state_food.htm

It appears to not be complete.

We have an official state fish, which is eminently edible so it could be called food-related: the steelhead trout. We also have an official state fruit, the apple.

Your question prompted me to look into other official state things, of which the most interesting is perhaps that we have an official state folk song, which is not to be confused with the official state song. It came about because in the early 40's, the Bonneville Power Administration produced a movie encouraging rural residents in the Pacific Northwest to electrify their homes and farms with the power being generated by the newly-built Bonneville and Grand Coulee Dams on the Columbia River. They hired Woody Guthrie to write some songs for the film. The most popular was "Roll on, Columbia, Roll on", though it wasn't until 1987 that the song was made the official state folksong. Interesting factoid: Guthrie was paid $270 and given 30 days to write the songs.

Not to oneupmanship you--er, oneuppersonship--you, but New Mexico has something like 4-6 songs, with another possible one being considered in the state senate this year.

Ryan D wrote:I had one last night.

Was it a tease?

California is indeed the land of plenty. Here are a few of the foods indigenous to our state.

Golden trout, sourdough bread, smoothies, raisins, cobb salad, nuts, avocado, California Rolls, oranges, ciappino

I know a few of them are official state foods, but are all of your "indigenous" foods officially recognized?

I have no clue if they are "recognized" Larry. They are "typical" of what is here.