North Carolina's Official Food, According To Reddit

Who doesn't love to travel, if not for any reason other than all the delicious food you get to indulge in during your trip? Venturing abroad obviously means dining on the authentic versions of your favorite international cuisines, and when you're keeping your travels within the U.S., there's always a handful of destination-specific dishes you'll want to make sure to try. Oklahoma makes it easy to determine the foods you'll need to seek out at mealtime, as it's the only state to have an official meal (and a massive one, at that), but what about when you're visiting one of the other 49 states like, say, North Carolina? A quick internet search may have you hunting for a dish that features the state's official vegetable, sweet potatoes (via State Symbol USA). However, most people don't even want to dine on the root veggie on Thanksgiving, let alone while on vacation, nor does it seem to be a true representative of the state's culinary scene.

After Redditor u/emilou09 posted a request in r/cooking for the recipe that best represents each of the 50 states, several North Carolinians chimed in with their thoughts on what the unofficial official food was in their corner of the country. Here's the dish a majority of natives chose.

Bojangles may be the pride and joy of North Carolina's fast-food scene, but if you're really looking to dine like a native of the Tar Heel State, a majority of Redditors say a pulled pork sandwich with a vinegar-based sauce is the way to go. "And we mean Vinegar base. Not KC Masterpiece with some vinegar added in," emphasized u/CobaltNeural9, who also suggested the addition of red pepper flakes.

For those unaware, barbecue is a hotly contested food topic in the United States, with North Carolina alone being home to two separate styles of sauce. According to The Charlotte Mecklenburg Library, the combination of vinegar and pepper make up the Eastern style that is widely considered to be the "original" form of BBQ, while the Lexington version incorporates ketchup along with the tangy condiment. Regardless of the style you prefer, Redditors also say to make sure you accompany your vinegary, pulled-pork sandwich with some hushpuppies, coleslaw (which some may argue is best served on the actual sammie itself), and a cold Cheerwine to wash it all down. And if by chance barbecue isn't your thing, perhaps you'll find steamed blue crabs from the coast, which Food & Wine reports is the runner-up official food of North Carolina, to be more appealing.