They Really Eat This Sh*t? The 18 Strangest Regional Foods In America

If you've never heard of Shoofly Pie, don't worry, you're not alone. This dessert, made with molasses (which may have attracted flies back in the day, hence the name) is very closely connected to Amish Country.

This very sweet pie has been around for many, many years, and is famous in Pennsylvania – but almost nowhere else.

While the description doesn't sound too tasty, there are those in the North who swear that this traditional breakfast food is delicious. Made from "a mush of pork scraps and trimmings" (basically everything you wouldn't think you'd want to eat), combined with flour or cornmeal, Scrapple is typically eaten as a side dish. 

You can even buy Scrapple in the supermarket – at your own risk.

These are exactly what they sound like: The feet of pigs that have been boiled and brined, and in many cases, sold in stores next to pickles.

If you're not from the South, it's very likely that you've never tried these, but if you are from the South, you probably eat them as an appetizer, or make you own by salting them and then covering them in vinegar for a few days to weeks.

Traced back to Bialystock, Poland, and now mostly known only to those New Yorkers who have good Eastern European food options in their area, the bialy is a cousin to the bagel. While most bagels are boiled and then baked, the bialy is only baked, with an indent in the middle. 

This classic dish can be traced all the way back to the 1700s, when Massachusetts was a big exporter of rum. Molasses, which helps make rum, was plentiful, and people began adding it to their baked beans for a very New England twist on this common legume.

Traditional Boston Baked Beans are flavored with molasses or maple syrup, and salted pork or bacon.

Before reading this, you may not have known that coffee milk is the official state drink of Rhode Island, but it is, and that little state really loves this sweet drink. Made from sweetened coffee concentrate (syrup) and milk, coffee milk is typically served cold. It's like chocolate milk with a kick. 

Anything is better fried, right?

With roots connected to Mardi Gras and Christianity, the King Cake (made almost exclusively in Louisiana) represents the Feast of the Epiphany, the 12th day after Jesus's birth, when he was visited by the Three Wise Men. For years, it's been customary to make a cake to honor this day, and while the King Cake of yore was simple, these days it's made from a rich Danish dough, and colored in purples, greens and golds.

What makes this cake extra special (or extra weird, depending on your opinion), is that a little plastic baby is typically placed somewhere inside. The person who finds the baby is usually said to receive good luck – or just forced to plan the next Feast of Epiphany party.

Do you want to know what Chitlins are? Well, you're about to find out. They're pig intestines. Yes, yes they are.

Because Chitlins take such a long time to prepare (you need to wash and boil them carefully to make sure there is nothing left in the intestines), if they're homemade, they tend to reserved for big holidays.

While people can't seem to agree if this strange mixture is from the Midwest or the South, the fact remains that this dish boggles the mind. The three ingredients are (usually): grapes, sour cream or cream cheese, and brown sugar. Sometimes people throw in pecans for good measure. What is not clear is when you'd eat this dish: during the salad or dessert course. Either way, you're ingesting more sugar and fat than you probably should be, and the word salad is really false advertising.

While its connections are mostly Italian, make no mistake, there is no "toasting" happening here. Made famous in St Louis, Missouri, toasted ravioli is really just ravioli that's been deep fried.

These come from Cleveland, Ohio, and boy do they sound odd if you've never head of them: First, you put a sausage on a bun. Then you cover it with french fries, then you cover that with barbecue sauce or hot sauce, and drop some coleslaw on it for good measure.

This one really stumped us, but if you're from St. Louis, Missouri, you might love it. A chemically processed white cheese made from cheddar, Swiss, and provolone, this strange foodstuff is common on the pizza out there.

Because of its low melting point, Provel often has a soft, buttery texture before it's baked. Which is, of course, totally unnatural.

You can guess where this one comes from, can't you? Of course you can! Wisconsin!

These curds are a byproduct of the cheese-making process, and typically should be eaten within hours of being made. If you love cholesterol, you'll love these!

It's said that this odd delicacy was born in Minnesota, but these days, purveyors from all over the country will ship them anywhere you want, so you can have your salty / chocolate cravings fixed in one bite!

Cincinnati likes their chili over pasta. Enough said.

While they're not indigenous to California, wheat grass shots definitely garnered fame among the health nuts in that state. A healthy dose of edible grass, pulverized into liquid, and thrown back as fast as possible, wheat grass is said to have a really intense taste. But at least it's not smothered in cheese.

Oysters! you say, sounds delicious! Well, that's not exactly what these are. Since Colorado is landlocked, their version of oysters is a little different: fried bull testicles.