Megan Miller's User Profile - Atlas Obscura
Boston Baked Beans
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Sweets

Boston Baked Beans

In the 1920s, confectioners thought the public wanted candy that looked like legumes—and they were right.
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Mortadella
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Meats & Animal Products

Mortadella

Baloney's predecessor is sweet, delicately spiced, and bigger than your head.
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Luxardo Maraschino Cherries
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Ingredients & Condiments

Luxardo Maraschino Cherries

Real maraschinos were born more than a century ago in an Italian distillery.
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King Cake
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Sweets

King Cake

The Carnival cake comes with a hidden baby Jesus inside.
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Funeral Potatoes
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Funeral Potatoes

A casserole of cheesy, corn flake–topped tubers offers comfort to Mormons in mourning.
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Jeppson's Malört
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Drinks

Jeppson's Malört

One of the world's least-loved liquors calls Chicago home.
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Jucy Lucy
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Prepared Foods

Jucy Lucy

This beef patty oozes cheese from within.
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Glorified Rice
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Sweets

Glorified Rice

This Midwestern dessert salad draws on both Scandinavian immigrant and local Ojibwe influences.
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Dole Whip
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Sweets

Dole Whip

This pineapple soft serve has a cult following at Disney theme parks.
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Cuy
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Prepared Foods

Cuy

The guinea pig is both food and pet in Peru, Bolivia, and Ecuador.
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Pimientos de Padrón
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Fruits & Vegetables

Pimientos de Padrón

Eating these unpredictable tapas is a game of spicy-pepper roulette.
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The Christmas Pickle
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The Christmas Pickle

The holiday tradition of hiding an ornamental veggie.
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Lutefisk
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Prepared Foods

Lutefisk

The lye-soaked fish recipe created by Vikings is now a holiday favorite at Midwestern church dinners.
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Smörgåstårta
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Prepared Foods

Smörgåstårta

Meet Sweden's savory “sandwich cake.”
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Wassail
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Drinks

Wassail

This spiced, warming drink may have helped broker peace between warring tribes.
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Glögg
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Drinks

Glögg

The aroma of this mulled wine has been compared to “a warmed-up bowl of Froot Loops.”
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Scandinavian Egg Coffee
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Drinks

Scandinavian Egg Coffee

When faced with less-than-optimal ingredients, Swedes and Norwegians once clarified their brews with eggs.
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Yule Log Cake
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Sweets

Yule Log Cake

These holiday cakes link Christmas to the Norse god of lightning.
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Sfogliatella
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Sweets

Sfogliatella

This layered pastry from Italy's Amalfi Coast may have origins in a 17th-century convent.
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Lussekatter
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Sweets

Lussekatter

These saffron buns are eaten on Lucia Day in Sweden.
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Pączki
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Sweets

Pączki

These Polish pre-Lent doughnuts have taken on a life (and an eating contest) of their own in the United States.
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Watergate Salad
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Sweets

Watergate Salad

This salad named after a scandal has been traced back to Kraft and Helen Keller.
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Orbitz
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Drinks

Orbitz

This drink hasn't been produced since the late nineties, but still has a cult following.
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Russian Tea
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Drinks

Russian Tea

This Southern church group favorite isn't Slavic at all.
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