Robbie,

Sorry to be late: we had a board meeting and I asked staff and board about
our state's "official" food. The consensus is that Wisconsin is cheese. No
way around it. People wear blocks of the stuff on their heads!

Thanks,
Jessica

-----Original Message-----
From: Museum on Main Street [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of
Davis, Robbie
Sent: Thursday, June 11, 2009 5:23 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Help for Key Ingredients

Everyone,
 
As most of you know, we are preparing a revised version of Key Ingredients
for an extension tour beginning in 2010. As part of that work, we're
planning to put in a graphic element showing the official or best known
foodstuff for an individual state (and territory if you have it). We have
researched official foods and only 33 states have an official food. Some
have many. We can included one foodstuff per state.
 
We'd love to have your input as we prepare this list. Here is what we have
so far:
 
Alabama: blackberry (official)
Arkansas: South Arkansas Vine Ripe Pink Tomato (official)
Florida: orange (official)
Georgia: Vidalia onion (official)
Idaho: potato (official)
Illinois: apple (official)
Kentucky: blackberry (official)
Louisiana: sweet potato (official)
Maine: wild blueberry
Maryland: blue crabs
Massachusetts: cranberry
Minnesota: morel mushroom
Missouri: Norton Cynthiana grape
New Hampshire: pumpkin
New Jersey: Jersey tomato
New Mexico: chiles
New York: apple
North Carolina: scuppernong grape
North Dakota: chokecherry
Oklahoma: strawberry
Oregon: pear
Pennsylvania: chocolate chip cookie
Rhode Island: Rhode Island greening apple
South Carolina: peach
South Dakota: kuchen
Tennessee: tomato
Texas: jalapeno pepper
Utah: sugar beet
Vermont: apple
Washington: apple
West Virginia: Golden Delicious apple
Wisconsin: cranberry
 
If your state is not listed here, please let me know what top crop your
citizens would be most likely to call their own. If your state is here and
you disagree with the selection, let me know. In each of these cases, the
item we selected is a designated state symbol. Because the graphic will
appear in a section of the exhibition that discusses crops and ingredients,
please avoid suggesting any prepared dishes. (We realize that we violated
that convention for both Pennsylvania and South Dakota. A prepared food is
the only one with an official designation and we do not want to leave out
any state.)
 
Please reply to me off the list at [log in to unmask] by Friday, June 11. And,
no food fights! :-)
 
Best wishes,
Robbie
 
Robbie Davis
Project Director, Museum on Main Street (MoMS)
Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service
P.O. Box 37012 MRC 941
Washington, DC 20013-7012
[log in to unmask]
202-633-5335