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Old 12-02-2012, 08:37 AM
 
10 posts, read 27,119 times
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Hello,
I'm a Ducht girl. I have a schoolproject. I have a question, maybe a weird question haha.

Is there a typical special dish in Pennsylvania / Altoona?
Or what do people in Pennsylvania most eat?

Sorry for all the forums but I have so many questions!
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Old 12-02-2012, 10:48 AM
 
28 posts, read 59,329 times
Reputation: 39
I really don't know how to answer that question. Perhaps it depends on the ancestry of the people.

In Altoona, as well as all of industrial western Pennsylvania, there were many European immigrants who came here for employment in local industries. And others started businesses that served the workers.

Altoona has Italians, for example. I don't know very many people from that town, and all the ones that I know are Italian-American. If you can't get a better answer for an Altoona regional dish, DelGrosso Foods makes spaghetti sauces and other items. DelGrossos,DelGrosso Foods,DelGrosso’s Amusement Park,Pennsylvania amusement parks,central Pennsylvania amusement parks,spaghetti sauce,finest sauce made,Pennsylvania roller coasters,Pennsylvania
Their site posts some recipes: http://www.delgrossosauce.com/content/index-recipes

Over East, in York, Lancaster, etc. are the "Pennsylvania Dutch" who were really German, I believe. That is a distinctive culture with unique foods and recipes. But the industrial towns of PA all either clung to their European heritage, or became the "melting pot" with no clearly distinct culture and foods.
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Old 12-04-2012, 12:29 PM
 
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It's not really fair to compare a small city to a country, but it may help in envisioning Altoona.
The demographics of The Netherlands is roughly 80% Dutch Nationals, with 20% other people, primarily Turkish, Indonesian, Moroccans, Surinamese, and Dutch Caribbean. With such a sizeable minority population, I am sure that many kinds of ethnic foods are readily available. Most of the minority people in the Netherlands had a relationship with the country extending to the time of the Dutch empire. Population of The Netherlands is projected to continue to grow for the next 30 years (primarily through immigration), peaking at 7.5% higher than it's present population.

The City of Altoona, peaked in population in 1930 (not unusual for a small industrial town in the Northeast) and is presently a little more than half of it's peak population. About 93% of the town identifies themselves as WHITE (a category which Middle Eastern people are encouraged to identify themselves). Over half the town identifies themselves as German or Italian ancestry while only 2% say they are Dutch. As such, the traditional foods are probably German and Italian. But minority (and especially immigrant groups) around the world frequently go into the business of serving food.

Quickly looking at the non-chain restaurant selection, it is not that unusual for a small city.

AMERICAN CUISINE -
The Knickerbocker
Tom & Joe's Restaurant
Altoona Hotel
Texas Hot Dogs
Bill Sell's Bold
Al's Tavern
Champs Sports Bar
Kings
Fat Daddys BBQ Shack & Six Pack

ITALIAN CUSINE and PIZZA
Finelli's Italian Villa
Dino's Pizza
Aldo's Italian Restaurant
Nicoletta's Family Restaurant
Allegro Ristorante
Lena's Cafe
Villa Capri

OTHER ETHNIC CUISINE
Montezuma (Mexican)
El Campesino (Mexican)
Casa Valadez (Mexican)
Phoenicia (Mediterranean)
The Athenian Cafe (Greek)
Yamato (Japanese sushi)
Thai Star (Thailand)
Altoona Gourmet (Chinese Buffet)
Lychee (Chinese)

Italian is by far the most popular ethnic food in America. The collection of restaurants is not unusual for a small city, as Japanese sushi and Thai have become very popular in recent decades. Chinese food has been common since the 1950's. A larger and or richer city is more likely to have Vietnamese, Indian, African, other kinds of Latin American food, Jamaican or other Caribbean food, and possibly a greater selection from Europe (like French, Portuguese or Spanish).

By law ethnic and racial identification in America is always self-identified. No one has the right to tell you what your ancestry should be called. As a practical matter the number of people who use unusual identification (say an Irish person saying he is black) is very low. Most people who object to the government collecting such data identify their race as "other". However, many Arabs, Iranians or Meztizos (mixed European and Native peoples primarily in Mexico) identify their race as "other".

Last edited by PacoMartin; 12-04-2012 at 12:38 PM..
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