Where you live/lived: Best natural foods you'll miss

[Crankin]

Blueberries! We once found an abandoned blueberry farm in some conservation land in S. Yarmouth on the Cape. It was at the end of a cul de sac where we had rented a cottage. We brought bowls and bowls into the woods, to take home and freeze. Now, I get them from local farms.

I miss the Hass avocados we used to pick right off of the trees in our yard in Miami, when I was a teenager. I also miss a lot of the Mexican type food we had in AZ, but not sure if the ingredients are necessarily native. As the years have gone on, I have found a few authentic places here to get Mexican food, but they are all a drive. What I really miss is having the parents of my students make me tamales, enchiladas, etc. for gifts.

[katluvr]

Oak,
Actually (although not organic) in the right place in Florida you can get fresh produce. Not in my coastal area, but near Ocala where my folks live...lots of sold on the side of the road produce. I think it is the left over or surplus from large commercial lots.

Melons...cateloupe and watermelon, when in season can be bought off the back of the truck in these more rural areas.

I do agree that in the more urban and coast (congested) areas, fresh produces is hard to find. Even the "saturday am market" in teh "city" the procudes does nto look all that fresh and they really don't advertise/say where it is comes from. It really looks like surplus and "fallen off the back of the truck".

I can't even say we have fresh seafood here!

Oh, corn is another thing...early corn (spring) is usually local and fresh.
Although not organic!

K

[Atlas]

Sweet Corn: This is Iowa, the land of corn. Peaches 'n Cream or Honey 'n Pearls are my favorite kinds.

There are a lot of other great things, we have fantastic farmer's markets, but the corn is the thing I would miss most if I left.

[Pax]

New Mexico - Hatch green chiles, freshly roasted...man I miss that smell and being able to smother almost any food in those bad boys. YUM!

[Reesha]

Oooo awesome thread idea, ShootingStar

New Hampshire:
Being able to go just off trail on local hikes and fill tupperware container after tupperware container with wild blueberries.

Belgium:
Fresh milk and yogurt from the Ijshoeve just outside Brugge
Soft-ripened cheeses from France and Belgium
Local sausages were always phenomenal

Lake Placid, NY:
Ha, well I lived and worked on an organic farm there so... all of it? The zucchini was always incredible as well as their beets. I loved the pork and lamb we raised as well as the continuous stream of fresh eggs. Tomatoes and basil!

[GLC1968]

Wow, this should take me down memory lane...

Minnesota: too young to remember any foods

Massachusetts/Maine: steamers, lobster, fried clams, apples and pears off our own trees, oh and those sausage/onion/pepper sandwiches sold late night off carts around downtown Boston...we had a love/hate relationship with those!

Michigan: apple picking, maple-sugar candy, cider mill donuts, raspberries growing wild in our backyard

Wisconsin: Kringle, brats, frozen custard and cheese

Poconos: nothing worth remembering!

Florida: strawberries from Plant City and fresh sqeezed OJ from the orchard farms place across the street from us... Oh, and Greek salads with potato salad on them from Tarpon Springs (totally a Tarpon Greek tradition). And from the other coast - we knew an amazing fisherman who would fish in the am to stock his tiny dive restaurant in the PM with the most amazing fish. YUM!

North Carolina: we were fans of a Virginia winery and my husband loved the sweet tea and the BBQ (not my favorites)

Oregon: too many things to list! Blackberries, raspberries, strawberries, hazelnuts, walnuts, salmon, apples, pears, grapes, blueberries, wine, beer, etc.