21 Food And Drinks You Definitely Remember If You Grew Up In New England

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There are few identities that I am more proud of in my life than being a New Englander. I was born and raised in Connecticut before moving to Vermont and then Rhode Island, where I happily reside today. Geographically speaking, New England is such a small region — Texas is more than three times larger. Despite its small size, New England boasts incredible diversity, not just in its population but also in its cuisine.

I have eaten my fair share of foods in the region over the years and seen how the hearty fare of Northern Vermont differs from the coastal bounty of southern New England. To bring back some food memories for New England ex-pats or strike a chord with fellow New England residents, I've come up with a list of some of the tastiest and most iconic foods of the region, including their history, variations, and how to best enjoy them. They should all be on your must-try list if you plan on visiting the region, though many can also be made at home or ordered right to your doorstep. After all, I believe being a New Englander isn't just an identity; it's a state of mind.

No childhood birthday party or classroom celebration was complete without Hoodsie cups. These small half-and-half containers of chocolate and vanilla ice cream are produced by Massachusetts giant Hood. The single-serve cups emerged on the market in 1947 and remain a popular staple in the southern New England states. They're easily recognizable, thanks to their small shape and the inclusion of a wooden spoon (really, a stick) for eating. 

While New Englanders may have fond memories of these cups, you can still purchase them in grocery stores around New England today. They're best enjoyed sans toppings and with the sound of a schoolyard field day in the background. 

Moxie: Love it or hate it, it's New England's soda. The brand's tagline, now under Coca-Cola ownership, says it all: distinctively different. Its flavor has undercurrents of both sweet and bitter (though mostly bitter) and almost tastes like an amalgamation of Coca-Cola, root beer, and Dr. Pepper. 

Moxie was originally created in 1884 by Dr. Augustin Thompson. The Maine-made soda was one of the first ever to be produced and was made with gentian root extract, which gave the soda its unique flavor and its purported medicinal properties. The soda became Maine's state beverage in 2005 and for many years, lived on at the now-shuttered Moxie Museum in Union. Though it takes up far less shelf space than other soda brands, you can still find Moxie in general stores and some supermarkets across New England. 

I don't know exactly why steak tips have such a foothold in the New England food scene, both past and present, but I can't say that I'm mad about it. They're popular in the southern New England states, especially Massachusetts, and are made with sirloin flap meat or hanger steak. These cuts were historically undesirable, but New England chefs used Yankee ingenuity to make them appealing. The small cubes of steak are tossed into a simple marinade, often just Italian dressing or some sort of barbecue-like sauce, before being cooked until just slightly charred. Steak tips are great eaten straight from the pan, though some folks also like to add them to salads. 

The origin of steak tips is contested, but it's more than likely a food born out of frugality and resourcefulness — as chefs wanted to make the most out of the cow. However, prominent names like New England chain favorite Ninety Nine take some ownership over the history of this iconic New England dish, alleging that its staff were the first ones to marinate the meat in Italian dressing. 

There are so many different regional styles of hot dogs, including the Rhode Island favorite: the New York System. It's one of the best sandwiches you can order in the state and comes packed with a wiener (not a hot dog, important distinction here) made with pork, veal, and beef, topped with mustard, chili, chopped white onion, and celery salt, and tucked into a steamed bun. The dish has ties to the Greek community and has been in the state for more than 100 years. 

The best spot to order one of these hot wieners is Olneyville New York System, which has locations in Providence and Cranston. Enjoy it with a glass of cold coffee milk and relish one of the Ocean State's best offerings. 

Before you ask, no, a creemee is not just soft serve ice cream. It's a frozen dessert experience nestled inside a cake cone. Vermonters know creemees well, and they also know the best hole-in-the-wall joints serving up these sweet treats. 

Allegedly, this unique title was given to the dessert to distinguish it from soft serve, seeing as it's made with a higher butterfat content and has a, well, creamier mouthfeel. While some stands sell creemees in basic flavors like vanilla and chocolate, Vermonters know that there is only one (well, two — black raspberry is pretty darn good, too) flavor worth ordering: maple. This sweet ice cream marries two of Vermont's biggest industries, maple and dairy, into one cone. It's a delectable summer treat that you'll only find in the Green Mountain State. 

I don't really care what you say about this one — whoopie pies are a New England dessert and are arguably one of the best that the region has to offer. The soft chocolate cakes sandwich is bound to make you say "Whoopie!" with every fiber of your being.

Some folks will say that whoopie pies originated in Amish country; however, the first commercially produced whoopie pies were made in Lewiston, Maine. You'll see whoopie pies in a variety of flavors now, including red velvet, pumpkin, and more, but the OG chocolate and whipped cream frosting is arguably the only one that matters. 

On a hot summer day, the sight of the Del's truck beckons me — like a moth drawn to a flame. The green and yellow trucks hold the remedy to a hot summer afternoon: frozen lemonade. While the frozen lemonade is very satisfying, the best part about these treats is the little chunks of lemon interspersed throughout. You can also find spinoff flavors, including watermelon, but the original lemon is certainly the most popular. 

Del's got its start in Cranston, Rhode Island, though its origins trace back to Naples. The brand has since franchised out to locations throughout the Ocean State, as well as into Massachusetts, Austin, and southwestern Florida. If you ask me, it's reason enough to take a trip to Rhode Island. 

Bread is certainly not just a New England thing, but brown bread is. And it's not just the color of this bread that's unique — it's the fact that it comes in a can. It has deep ties to the Boston area and is often served with another regional staple: Boston baked beans. The color of this bread comes from the inclusion of molasses, which imparts a sweet flavor and keeps it moist. 

Canned brown bread comes in both original and raisin flavors, and you can still find it in New England grocery stores today. It's a tasty addition to a hearty crock of beans (with hot dogs in it, no less), or it can be served with a swipe of butter or jam.  

American chop suey is something I remember eating as a kid and seeing at potlucks. However, it's not just New Englanders who indulge in this pasta dish, which is made with ground beef, chopped vegetables (like onions and peppers), tomato sauce, Worcestershire sauce, and pasta. If you're thinking, "Wait, that sounds a lot like goulash!" you'd be right — they're the same thing, just going by different names. 

American chop suey isn't the same thing as Chinese chop suey (which features ingredients endemic to Asia); it is made with the same principle in mind: Several different bits and pieces stewed together into one homestyle dish. 

Hot summer nights on the beach aren't complete without a clambake. One of the best ways to keep this classic New England seafood feast manageable is to cook the common staples — like clams, red potatoes, smoked sausage, and corn — in foil packets over a fire. The foil encourages the components to steam and cook over the fire and offers diners a balanced serving of each of the ingredients. 

A classic New England clambake is about more than just the food inside the packet; it's also about the experience of sitting around a fire on a hot summer night surrounded by good company, patiently waiting for your packet to finish cooking. 

Cultures around the world enjoy beans. One of the most popular bean dishes in New England is undoubtedly Boston baked beans, which are often served alongside hot dogs and burgers at barbecues. This dish was first made in New England as early as the 1800s, where the beans were cooked for many hours in large pots with their signature sweet ingredient: molasses. However, the origin of the recipe traces back even earlier to when colonists first arrived on the Massachusetts shoreline. The Puritans replaced the bacon in a beans-and-bacon stew with salt pork, and relics have even been discovered of the original pots used to make this dish. Eventually, molasses was added to the recipe, seeing as the state was an important spot on 18th-century rum routes from the Caribbean. 

Baked beans are one dish not relegated to the past; they're still enjoyed frequently in New England (and beyond) today. The baked navy bean, the primary type of bean used for this recipe, was even declared Massachusetts' state bean (yes, there is such a thing) in 1993. 

If you visit Rhode Island from out of state, you may scratch your head when you see "coffee milk" listed on a local menu. This iconic Rhody beverage (which also happens to be the state's official beverage) is made with coffee syrup and milk. The syrup itself, most notably sold by Autocrat, is made with reduced coffee and sugar — which essentially gives you a sweet, coffee-flavored concentrate that can be used to flavor milk, coffee, and more. Italian immigrants to the state are often credited as being the first people to combine the syrup with milk to create a beverage similar to what they would find in their home country. 

Coffee milk eventually caught on with the younger population as a segue into drinking "real coffee." You can find this syrup on the shelves of most local grocery stores in the state, and if you live outside its borders, you can even order a container of it on Amazon to whip up your own coffee milk at home. 

Visiting a sugarhouse is a fun experience that I would recommend everyone try at least once, whether you're a resident of Vermont or New Hampshire or just visiting the region. You may even get your hands on one of the tastiest maple goodies of them all: sugar on snow. 

Sugar on snow requires two simple ingredients: maple syrup and freshly fallen snow (which New England admittedly has more than enough of). The syrup is boiled until it reaches the soft ball stage — meaning it's still pliable and quite sticky — before it's drizzled on the snow. Sugarhouses typically serve the maple syrup with sticks, so you can roll it up and enjoy it. It's a very New England thing, and since the sugaring season is so short, many people will not get to experience eating this tasty treat. However, you can still get your maple fix in the heat of summer with maple candy or grab a bag of maple cotton candy from a farmers market.  

I'll admit that, as a kid, I don't remember eating Boston cream pie. But I do remember eating Boston cream pie-inspired things, like donuts. Many claim that the Boston cream pie was created at the Parker House, yet others dispute this, saying it's a cream-filled spinoff of the Washington Pie, another dessert that was popular during the 1800s. 

The Boston cream pie combines layers of classic butter cake (though early forms were likely made with sponge cake or pound cake) with a custardy filling and thick chocolate ganache coating. It's probably as far from a "pie" as you can get. Regardless, the people of Massachusetts love it and are proud to call it the state's official dessert. It's a must-try if you visit the region. 

No trip to the apple orchard is complete without apple cider donuts — served piping hot and covered in cinnamon sugar. Although it may surprise you, apple cider donuts don't actually contain whole chunks of apples. The inclusion of apple cider gives the cakey donuts the perfect tang while keeping them moist and springy. Even if you don't like old-fashioned donuts, you may have a special place in your heart for them. 

Apple cider donuts are great eaten plain, but some people dunk them in coffee. I'd recommend cutting them in half and filling them with soft serve (or a maple creemee, if you're stopping at a Vermont orchard). 

Fluffernutters are a classic New England food and are arguably one of the best sandwiches ever made. The sandwich marries cheap white bread with gobs of peanut butter and marshmallow Fluff — which is about as eye-rollingly good as it sounds.

The original marshmallow creme was created in Massachusetts in 1913, though the Fluffernutter wasn't popularized until World War I when it was called the "liberty sandwich." The ingredients were cheap and relatively abundant, and the resulting sandwich was pretty delicious — so it fit right in with the growing interest in prepared foods. It's a sandwich that's so simple yet so delectable — earning it a spot in the hearts and stomachs of New Englanders. 

I would be remiss not to mention clam chowder on this list of the most memorable and easily recognizable New England foods. If there is one thing the region does well, it's seafood and dairy, and a classic New England clam chowder combines both into a steaming, salty, and indulgent soup. It's so good that people even eat it at clam shacks and seafood joints in the sweltering summer heat. 

The exact recipe for this chowder will vary based on who's making it, but typically, it combines clams and clam juice with cubed potatoes, herbs, heavy cream, milk, and spices. Rhode Island clam chowder has similar ingredients but forgoes the dairy component in favor of a brothy approach. 

No, a frappe is not just the shortened version of a "Frappuccino." This iconic Massachusetts beverage isn't a milkshake either, though it looks quite like it. Technically, a milkshake is made with just shaken milk and flavoring, while frappes are made with ice cream, milk, and syrup (meaning you may have been enjoying frappes longer than you realized). As such, they'e much richer and more flavorful than milkshakes, which tend to be thinner and frothier.

To add to the confusion, Rhode Island has its own version of frappes (pronounced like "flap" not like "flambée") called cabinets; these are often flavored with coffee syrup. Northern New Englanders may also call their frappes "velvets." 

Lobster rolls are a big topic of contention in New England, and it usually comes down to whether you prefer them hot or cold. The former, served Connecticut-style, comes in a toasted, split-top bun that offers the perfect contrast to the juicy, sweet, butter-topped lobster inside. Maine-style cold rolls, on the other hand, are made with mayonnaise and may be spiced with things like tarragon and chives — though they are rarely adorned with lettuce and tomato like a chicken or tuna salad would be. 

I'm not going to say which of these styles is better because if I did, I would have people standing outside my window with pitchforks. What I will say is that both are great ways to finish a day at the beach, regardless of what New England state you're in. 

If you haven't noticed, New Englanders love their seafood — and take things a little too seriously at times. Though there are some bitter divides over lobster roll and chowder styles, there's little contention surrounding the beloved stuffie — also known as a "stuffed quahog." This Rhode Island favorite has a unique Portuguese influence, thanks to the addition of chouriço or linguiça sausage. The massive quahogs are steamed until they open, then the clams are cooked with the sausage, onions, and peppers. Once the filling has been stirred with seasoned breadcrumbs, it's tucked back into the clamshells and baked until crispy. 

Stuffies are super simple and are best served with a lemon wedge. Pair them with a beer (like a Narragansett Lager) or a Del's lemonade.

Connecticut has a very unapologetically loud pizza culture. Everyone in the state has an opinion about which of New Haven's holy trinity of pizza joints — Frank Pepe's, Modern, Sally's, and sometimes Bar, depending on who you're asking — makes the best pie (it's Sally's, by the way). While you will find some spots serving up Neapolitan or New York-style slices, most of the attention is on the Elm City's namesake style. New Haven-style apizza was originally made in coal-fired ovens, which contributes to its sooty flavor and characteristic leoparding on the bottom.

It's a thin-crust style of pie and is often topped with the simplest of ingredients. The original tomato pie, for example, excludes mozzarella in favor of a slightly sweet tomato sauce, oil, and grated hard cheese (like Pecorino). Another popular pie is the white clam, made with fresh clams, oregano, Pecorino Romano, and olive oil.