Middle Atlantic States: Philadelphia

In the Pennsylvania Dutch region, the cooking of the German farmers who migrated to Penn’s colony remains relatively unchanged. Within miles of this tradition, however, is Philadelphia with its culinary tradition based initially on the foodways of the English Quakers and later influenced by the foods of the French, Pennsylvania Dutch, and Italian Americans.

The early Quakers who founded Philadelphia were not drab in either appearance or foods. Their foods had a distinctly British flavor appropriate for the city’s heritage, and the dishes reflected Britain’s colonial days with the use of ingredients imported from Europe and the West and East Indies. Succulent turtle from the West Indies, the finest Madeira, burgundy, and claret wines were available. Philadelphia food in the eighteenth century was flavored with spices, sugar, rose and orange flower water, almonds, and currants.