I come from a land between the US coasts – the Onion did a great piece about it a few years back.  I’m not sure if most Americans realise that Europeans usually only know the location of about four states: New York, California, Florida and Texas. I usually explain Minnesota as “in the middle, next to Canada”.

So as The Onion says, “these simple people were rather friendly, offering us quaint native fare such as ‘hotdish’ and ‘casserole.’” Minnesotan food tends to be bland and cooked to death. Hotdish is actually a type of casserole that incorporates soup (Campbell’s cream soups are the standard).

The most famous hotdish is the tater tot hotdish, tater tots being those tiny oily cylindrical hashbrowns also served in Midwestern school lunches. I’ve had croquettes and these are crispier, oilier, more textured inside, and more squat than croquettes. According to Wikipedia,  you can get them in the UK at Morrison’s under the name “potato crunchies” — I plan to try this in the near future and will report back as to their authenticity.

Another comfort food from the Midwest is fried cheese curds. This is basically deep fried cheese. It is not good for you. I love it, in all its deep fried goodness, but I know people who don’t like the squeakiness of the cheese as you eat it (like halloumi).

If anyone knows where to get cheese curds in the UK, let me know — it seems like here you would need to make them yourself, which is complicated.  In the US you can get them in some high end grocery stores, except in the Midwest where they’re available at regular supermarkets.

With all this greasy food, I feel inspired to link to this is why you’re fat.