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I can't explain it but I've lived in OR, CA, WI, and CO
CA I was too young so don't remember much. OR is nice and beautiful. WI is OK. Nothing special. Live in CO now and don't have any plans to move. Just like the natural beauty.
Milwaukee is a far better food town than Madison; so is Detroit. So is Cleveland and so on. I live in the Midwest and haven't been to a "pot luck" in decades and never see the food you're talking about. Maybe in some rural areas? I don't know. But the Midwest you're talking about died a long time ago for me, at least. I remember a bit of it as a kid in the 70s and 80s, though. Then again, you assumed a regional/rural thing like "hot dish" existed throughout the entirety of the Midwest, so...
I think it's not just an urban/rural divide, but also a question of roots. If you're first/second generation midwest, you may not see much of that. My mom's side is mixed rural/urban, but they've been in the upper midwest for 100+ years.
Whether I go to a potluck in Milwaukee or Mt. Horeb, we get casserole and jello salad. Perhaps you're just luckier?
By the same token, my s/o's family hails from the Dakotas - even though they haven't lived there in 40 years, if there's a pot luck they bring casserole and jello salad, and few/no actual salads, because that's what they grew up with.
I claim no expertise on Detroit and while I've lived in Cleveland, I didn't want to open the door on whether that was midwest or not. But the broader point is that midwest cuisine is very 'comfort food' oriented. Cleveland may not have casserole, but I think it's telling that their most famous restaurant is a grilled cheese joint.
We can bicker over specifics, but cuisine in the midwest trends different than the west coast.
I think it's not just an urban/rural divide, but also a question of roots. If you're first/second generation midwest, you may not see much of that. My mom's side is mixed rural/urban, but they've been in the upper midwest for 100+ years.
Whether I go to a potluck in Milwaukee or Mt. Horeb, we get casserole and jello salad. Perhaps you're just luckier?
By the same token, my s/o's family hails from the Dakotas - even though they haven't lived there in 40 years, if there's a pot luck they bring casserole and jello salad, and few/no actual salads, because that's what they grew up with.
I claim no expertise on Detroit and while I've lived in Cleveland, I didn't want to open the door on whether that was midwest or not. But the broader point is that midwest cuisine is very 'comfort food' oriented. Cleveland may not have casserole, but I think it's telling that their most famous restaurant is a grilled cheese joint.
We can bicker over specifics, but cuisine in the midwest trends different than the west coast.
I actually remember quite a bit of casserole and even some jello salad at family gatherings as a kid. Oh, and yes, they were potluck style. This was the Dutch side of the family in the Grand Rapids, MI area. The family clan also had a branch in northwest Iowa (near the South Dakota line), which was the case with many Dutch families in Michigan. Anyway, it does seem like these traditions have sorta died out during my lifetime. We still do the potlucks sometimes, but no casserole or jello salad these days.
I think it's not just an urban/rural divide, but also a question of roots. If you're first/second generation midwest, you may not see much of that. My mom's side is mixed rural/urban, but they've been in the upper midwest for 100+ years.
Whether I go to a potluck in Milwaukee or Mt. Horeb, we get casserole and jello salad. Perhaps you're just luckier?
By the same token, my s/o's family hails from the Dakotas - even though they haven't lived there in 40 years, if there's a pot luck they bring casserole and jello salad, and few/no actual salads, because that's what they grew up with.
I claim no expertise on Detroit and while I've lived in Cleveland, I didn't want to open the door on whether that was midwest or not. But the broader point is that midwest cuisine is very 'comfort food' oriented. Cleveland may not have casserole, but I think it's telling that their most famous restaurant is a grilled cheese joint.
We can bicker over specifics, but cuisine in the midwest trends different than the west coast.
Every region is "comfort food" oriented in terms of the mass market, whether it's Boston clam chowder, NYC pizza, smothered burritos or nacho plates in the SW, fried foods in the South or sweetened and fattened espresso drinks and their accompanying baked goods in the NW, they all have pretty famous comfort food palaces that they go to. I don't think the Midwest is any more comfort food oriented. In every major city there's a higher quality dining and health food scene, just like their coastal counterparts.
I don't think the Midwest is "hated" per se, but it is certainly ignored. It doesn't have the mild winters that some Western and Southern states have, it doesn't have real mountains or beaches (sorry, but the Great Lakes don't count), and outside of Chicago, doesn't have any truly world-class cities (MSP, Indy, KC etc are nice but just not on the same level).
On the flipside, it's home to some of the most educated and down-to-earth folks you'd ever meet, even folks from small towns can be surprisingly worldly. It also has a fairly stable economy, the job market (outside of pockets in the Rust Belt) is about as good as one can hope for, and offers the best bang for your buck in the country.
It's not for everyone, but don't let the dogging get to you. In fact, you may find that a lot of the biggest detractors of the Midwest are Midwesterners, themselves.
There used to a be a HUGE inland seaway in the central United States which many midwestern cities had coastline on.It was wide enough to be considered an ocean (and it was salt water). Second there are BIG mountain in the Midwest. The Black Hills of South Dakota reach up to 7200 feet. And eastern Ohio and eastern Michgan are only 8 hours from New York City and 4 hours from Toronto.
One thing the midwest lacks is all that gloomy Pacific Northwest weather and all of those rainy drizzly days. It also lacks all of those coffee houses Seattle is known for
One thing the midwest lacks is all that gloomy Pacific Northwest weather and all of those rainy drizzly days. It also lacks all of those coffee houses Seattle is known for
I'd happily take a temperate drizzle over a brutal cold winter, but this is a debatable point.
Who knows. I've never encountered any hate towards the midwest, maybe misconceptions but that can be said across all regions in the US. Flat and boring? Perhaps, but growing up there im used to it, and maybe these coastal types are perplexed that some of us aren't that impressed with salt water beaches or mountains, or high home prices?
I actually remember quite a bit of casserole and even some jello salad at family gatherings as a kid. Oh, and yes, they were potluck style. This was the Dutch side of the family in the Grand Rapids, MI area. The family clan also had a branch in northwest Iowa (near the South Dakota line), which was the case with many Dutch families in Michigan. Anyway, it does seem like these traditions have sorta died out during my lifetime. We still do the potlucks sometimes, but no casserole or jello salad these days.
Right, I'm a multi-generational Wisconsinite, and for me the casseroles at pot lucks (with jello desserts) faded into the 80s and I never see it anymore. And that was a long time ago! To equate some rural ND hot dish deal from many decades ago with the cuisine you find in major Midwestern metros is simply asinine.
Who knows. I've never encountered any hate towards the midwest, maybe misconceptions but that can be said across all regions in the US. Flat and boring? Perhaps, but growing up there im used to it, and maybe these coastal types are perplexed that some of us aren't that impressed with salt water beaches or mountains, or high home prices?
Well, neither is Duluth. Or Dubuque. Or the entirety of the Driftless. Or the Iron Range, or Black Hills or vast areas of the northwoods. But it's certainly much flatter than the Mountain West, for starters. Not to mention the Appalacians.
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