America: Northern and Southern food

[Darth]

The whole east-coast, right down along the gulf is big on seafood and the flavors vary. Louisiana has a lot of great seafood, but I've been up to CT to visit my girlfriend's family and I liked a lot of the seafood I tried while I was there (the sheer amount of which was a big deal for me, coming from Oklahoma where we're primarily stuck with catfish). Louisiana also has some unique foods like 'gator, crawfish, and a few other things.

If you want chili, you go to the Southwest region, i.e. Oklahoma, Texas, NM, Arizona. BBQ is big all through the south and southwest as well, as is soul food. Soul food, despite being generally unhealthy, is also delicious. California is a mixed bag food-wise because there's a big influx of Asian AND Latino cuisine. In this part of the country, the whole "cowboy" schtick is popular in regards to food; brisket, cornbread, chili, stuff like that.

[Trooper]

I heard that northern cows taste better than southern cows.

[Foster]

I heard that northern cows taste better than southern cows.

They're leaner and more meaty from the harsher winters, depending on when you get them.
-They're so lean, that you cannot rely upon their fat-content to lubricate the pan, so they are often pressure-cooked and served with barbeque sauce... makes pulled-pork look like something that came out the south end of a north-facing bull.

The milk in the region is also sweeter.

[Darth]

That's why southern beef is traditionally better. All quality cuts of beef requires some amount of fat, i.e. marbling (look at the prices for Wagyu or Kobe beef if you don't believe me; it's absurdly expensive and it comes from a mixture of the cows' diets and the marbling of their flesh). The higher quality cuts like filet mignon are going to be fatty to some degree, so being leaner.. isn't actually a good thing. That's why cattle ranching is such a big deal in Texas, for example, the milder winters mean you have less loss in your herd, and the animal has more of a chance to fatten up and will generally be healthier, resulting in higher quality meat. Hence southern beef generally being considered better, at least when you're talking about a traditional approach to what "quality" means when dealing with beef. Milk quality also depends on diet more than location; most animals in either region are corn fed, not grass fed, so the milk is kind of crap. Grass-fed cow's milk is considerably better tasting.

(On a personal level I prefer leaner cuts, so if I had my way I'd probably eat more northern-bred beef. I rarely eat the fattier cuts of the cow, so living just north of Texas does absolutely jack for me even if I can get high quality cuts of beef for relatively cheap.)

[Kelewen]

As a Pennsylvania native, the only thing that comes immediately to mind that hasn't already been mentioned are "gobs". Mmmmm.....

[Foster]

That's why southern beef is traditionally better. All quality cuts of beef requires some amount of fat, i.e. marbling (look at the prices for Wagyu or Kobe beef if you don't believe me; it's absurdly expensive and it comes from a mixture of the cows' diets and the marbling of their flesh). The higher quality cuts like filet mignon are going to be fatty to some degree, so being leaner.. isn't actually a good thing. That's why cattle ranching is such a big deal in Texas, for example, the milder winters mean you have less loss in your herd, and the animal has more of a chance to fatten up and will generally be healthier, resulting in higher quality meat. Hence southern beef generally being considered better, at least when you're talking about a traditional approach to what "quality" means when dealing with beef. Milk quality also depends on diet more than location; most animals in either region are corn fed, not grass fed, so the milk is kind of crap. Grass-fed cow's milk is considerably better tasting.

Unless they're eating onions... lots of onions...

And we've got barns up here for a reason...

[Darth]

Onions aren't grass.

I mean, unless you have a range for your cattle that also doubles as an onion farm.. you'll probably be okay. But grass fed > corn fed in pretty much every way, including both milk and meat quality.