Anonymous wrote:Detroit:

Faygo sodA
Better made chips
Sanders bumpy cake and hot fudge

Anonymous wrote:Detroit. Vernor's ginger ale. So good.

Anonymous wrote:Rhode Island- coffee milk and Del's lemonade

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:From the South (lived all over the South growing up so no real 'hometown') and I second the poster above who mentioned Publix! There are a lot of good grocery stores in the DC area too but I still miss my Publix.

Other favorite brands:
Blue Bell ice cream (despite the recent recall)
Community Coffee and French Market coffee (which I can sometimes find up here but not always)
Steen's Cane syrup
Corky's BBQ and BBQ shop bbq and bbq from many other Memphis establishments
Dinstuhl's fine candies (also from Memphis)

Memphian here ... Oh man do I miss good BBQ. Rocklands is the closest for pork shoulder, but I haven't found good ribs within 400 miles!

Dinstuhl's is also a nice treat, but I'd trade all the 'turtles' in the world for a decent bbq place. I miss Paynes most, though it's not a brand like Corky's.

NP here. I grew up in Memphis too. I so miss all these! Rocklands works if I just need a fix other than that nothing comes close.

Yep, Payne's is great. Also Cozy Corner, the Commissary, Central BBQ...too many to list. I don't even try BBQ around DC very often, to be honest, because I have given a couple places a shot (Hill Country, for one) and they were just...so. disappointing. that I now pretty much just wait til I go visit my parents in Memphis to eat BBQ. And my favorite thing from Dinstuhl's is the cashew crunch--something you can't find at other candy stores

Anonymous wrote:Boston Mass: prince's Spaghetti sauce

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:From the South (lived all over the South growing up so no real 'hometown') and I second the poster above who mentioned Publix! There are a lot of good grocery stores in the DC area too but I still miss my Publix.

Other favorite brands:
Blue Bell ice cream (despite the recent recall)
Community Coffee and French Market coffee (which I can sometimes find up here but not always)
Steen's Cane syrup
Corky's BBQ and BBQ shop bbq and bbq from many other Memphis establishments
Dinstuhl's fine candies (also from Memphis)

Memphian here ... Oh man do I miss good BBQ. Rocklands is the closest for pork shoulder, but I haven't found good ribs within 400 miles!

Dinstuhl's is also a nice treat, but I'd trade all the 'turtles' in the world for a decent bbq place. I miss Paynes most, though it's not a brand like Corky's.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:From TX:

Blue Bell Ice Cream
HEB Grocery Stores, especially the ones with the tortilleria (sp?) right in the middle of the store...tortillas would still be warm in the bag when you got home
Margaritas (so glad Chuy's finally opened...they can do a frozen margarita)
Texas BBQ, especially anything from Lockhart, Salt Lick, and newbie Franklin BBQ
What-a-burger
kolaches
chicken fried steak


Pretty much all food related. I'm not even from Texas but lived there long enough that I still pine for these things.

Yes! Being from Austin, Blue Bell and HEB were the very first things I thought of. When I moved to the D.C. area, the grocery stores made me so sad. Central Market is great too.

I second everything on your list, and also add:

Breakfast tacos: ubiquitous, and my favorite breakfast food. Often best from the cheap Mexican food trucks.
Really good salsa
Purple hull peas
Texas country outdoor concerts: there's just something about them that just feels right

Anonymous wrote:From TX:

Blue Bell Ice Cream
HEB Grocery Stores, especially the ones with the tortilleria (sp?) right in the middle of the store...tortillas would still be warm in the bag when you got home
Margaritas (so glad Chuy's finally opened...they can do a frozen margarita)
Texas BBQ, especially anything from Lockhart, Salt Lick, and newbie Franklin BBQ
What-a-burger
kolaches
chicken fried steak


Pretty much all food related. I'm not even from Texas but lived there long enough that I still pine for these things.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DH is from Mississippi so I didn't experience it until I went home with him, but Nehi Peach Soda is ridiculously sweet and amazing. I once saw some in a gas station in Winchester, VA about 6 years ago but haven't seen it since. Even when I went to NOLA last year, I didn't see it around anywhere, and I drove through MS.

Growing up in Front Royal, I would see a spare alley of Nehi -- usually grape -- at the mom-n-pop convenience stores/gas stations. I think now with the increase of energy drinks some drinks like Nehi have fell by the wayside as we focus on the more "mainstream" national brands.

Frederick MD has a specialty pop store on North Market Street in downtown where you can probably get a number of soda-related items albeit at a hefty markup.

As for regional non-food items I suspect that globalization is to blame -- there is a distinct difference in food between regions, and many foods/recipes don't travel well due to differences in soil, water, etc. However, a regional stationery or other brand will either get swamped by national brands, for the most part. I guess there's things like Fry's Electronics which I've heard are a West Coast thing -- but are they really that different from say HH Gregg?