Midwestern Comfort Food: Are These Foods Good Or Really Gross?

It doesn't matter which part of the country you come from, chances are really good that where ever you hail from there's some type of food or popular recipe that people associate with that region.

• You're from the South? You've got hushpuppies, fried green tomatoes, collard greens, and black-eyed peas.
• You're from the East Coast? There's clam chowder, lobster rolls, squash and apple soup, and something called an "egg cream."
• West Coast? I'm not really sure what they've got going for comfort food, to be honest. California rolls?

The reason I bring this up is because of a recent email I got from a friend who was born and raised on the east coast in New England. In the email, he included a link to a piece about "classic" Midwestern food dishes he found on a website. He said I should check out the article because "you people need to change up that (curse-word) you call food!"

Well my friends, the "you people" he was talking about is us, so let's take a look at some of the foods that Midwesterners eat that the rest of the country considers gross.

No Surprise, Casseroles Get A Smack-Down From Non-Midwesterners

The website piece I'm referring to is from Buzzfeed.com, and was written back in 2018 by Jesse Szewczyk. "Can We All Agree That These 12 Midwestern Foods Are Actually Gross?" takes a look at the stuff we Midwesterners (supposedly) eagerly stuff into our pie-holes every chance we get.

In fairness, the author says that the Midwest is the home of comfort food, but some of the takes on Midwestern foods are not all that comforting. Like, for instance, casseroles. In particular, tuna casserole with crushed potato chips on top:

Canned tuna is not good, and it certainly doesn't taste any better when baked into a cheesy casserole of crushed potato chips and peas.

Yeah...about that...I'm going to have to agree. As a child of the 1960s, when you could literally be arrested for not having 3-4 different casseroles in your weekly dinner rotation, I was served a ton of casseroles by my Midwestern mom. Classic tuna casserole was in her hot rotation, and yes, it was gross.

But, if I didn't want to sit at the table until I ate it, even if it meant all night, I choked it down.

Speaking of choking things down, does anyone really, honestly like this:

Then There's Ambrosia Salad, Friday Fish Frys, And Puppy Chow

Okay, so I happen to agree with the grossness of tuna casserole, and I find myself nodding my head at the notion that the ambrosia salad pictured above is...well...pretty disgusting. But Friday fish frys and puppy chow? I like both of those.

I draw a hard line on a Friday night fish fry and puppy chow. I love both of those, although not at the same time. That would just be weird. Unless they stuffed the fish with puppy chow...
You can go over the Buzzfeed.com list yourself by clicking here.