Polytropa's User Profile - Atlas Obscura
Sourdough Starter
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Ingredients & Condiments

Sourdough Starter

A century-old organism creates some of the world's best bread.
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Johnnycakes
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Prepared Foods

Johnnycakes

The cornmeal patty that Rhode Islanders eat morning, noon, and night.
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Eton Mess
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Sweets

Eton Mess

This summery parfait has mingled with British royals and literary elites.
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Maine Wild Blueberries
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Fruits & Vegetables

Maine Wild Blueberries

The sweet, tiny wild berries are only available for two months each year.
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It's It
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Sweets

It's It

This classic San Franciscan ice cream sandwich is it, isn't it?
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Carolina Gold
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Ingredients & Condiments

Carolina Gold

This varietal of rice is so good that it's compared to ice cream.
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Canned Bread
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Prepared Foods

Canned Bread

A New England tradition of steaming bread in coffee tins gave rise to this niche snack.
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Chocolate Pudding Fruit
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Fruits & Vegetables

Chocolate Pudding Fruit

This fruit can also count as dessert.
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3-D Jelly Cakes
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Sweets

3-D Jelly Cakes

These clear cakes house intricate scenes of fish, flowers, and more.
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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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Chicken of the Woods
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Ingredients & Condiments

Chicken of the Woods

This mushroom tastes just like chicken.
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Monstera Deliciosa
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Fruits & Vegetables

Monstera Deliciosa

This fruit either burns your throat or tastes like a tropical medley.
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Deep-Fried Peanuts
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Prepared Foods

Deep-Fried Peanuts

You eat the shell, too.
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Bath Spa Water
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Drinks

Bath Spa Water

Make like Jane Austen and sip from the fountain in this famed Pump Room.
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Blenheim Ginger Ale
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Drinks

Blenheim Ginger Ale

The story of South Carolina's sweet-hot soda begins with a chance discovery during the Revolutionary War.
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Southern Butter Rolls
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Sweets

Southern Butter Rolls

The sweet, spiraled pastries were once a staple on cold days in the American South.
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What the Fluff? Festival
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Food Festivals

What the Fluff? Festival

The marshmallow spread's birthplace offers a quirky tribute to the sweet-sticky stuff.
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Fried Onion Burgers
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Prepared Foods

Fried Onion Burgers

A Depression-era patty filler paved the way for an Oklahoma favorite.
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Mint Milk
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Drinks

Mint Milk

Every March, Central New York shelves are stocked with glass bottles of green dairy.
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Lanzi's Cashew Nut & Rice Crunch
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Sweets

Lanzi's Cashew Nut & Rice Crunch

Candy makers recently resurrected this crispy Chicago confection from the graveyard of vintage sweets.
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Soylent
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Drinks

Soylent

One fantasy food's journey from sci-fi vegan steak to silver screen cannibalism to actual meal replacement.
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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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Shoofly Pie
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Sweets

Shoofly Pie

Mornings in Amish country once called for pie-cake and coffee.
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Castoreum
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Ingredients & Condiments

Castoreum

Early 20th-century chefs used beaver musk to give sweets a vanilla-raspberry flavor.
Gastro Obscura