This food was voted a ‘must-eat’ in NJ — and it’s not pork roll

What’s the first food that comes to mind when you think of the Garden State?

Think about how diverse New Jersey is when it comes to food.

We do a lot of things top-notch to the point where people come from out of town just to spend the weekend and basically go on a food tour.

Foodandwine.com came out with a list of “the one thing you have to eat in every state” and the first thing I thought of for New Jersey was pork roll (don’t come at me with that Taylor ham nonsense).

It’s just a Jersey thing.

Have you tried pork roll in any other state? Don’t waste your time, trust me. But I thought I had a great thing going there.

Turns out I was wrong.

My second guess would have been bagels, but clearly, my mind was stuck on breakfast and not on the greatest food ever created (in my opinion of course), pizza.

It’s definitely an obvious one for New Jersey and the editors at foodandwine.com came up with this list by doing on-the-ground research so I think this is as accurate as it gets.

Why do they say pizza is a must-try in New Jersey? Because we have the oldest pizza in the country.

They shout out Trenton and what they call the “tomato pie” with small amounts of mozzarella, and a generous amount of tomato sauce, all on a thin crust.

So now that I read it, it makes sense but I still think pork roll should have been the #1 choice for us.

Now let’s cross a few bridges to see what the must-tries are for our surrounding states.

The must-eat food in New York according to foodandwine.com is pastrami. Why? I’m sure you can guess it; Katz's Deli.

Speaking of pastrami, if you have never tried it at Harold’s New York Deli in Edison, order it for dinner and thank me later. But you only need to place one order, it will feed a family of 5 and then some.

Let’s head in the opposite direction into Pennsylvania.

The must-eat food in PA is from Miller’s Smorgasbord in Lancaster.

This is a place I’ve never been to, but knowing what an actual smorgasbord is, it doesn’t sound like you can go wrong.

Are you not surprised that cheesesteaks weren’t the go-to?

I’m not either.

Back to Jersey and to pizza.

Dave Portnoy reviewed a bunch of pizza spots here in the Garden State. Check out the list here:

The post above reflects the thoughts and observations of New Jersey 101.5's Morning Show Producer Kristen. Any opinions expressed are her own.
Questions, corrections, or comments? Send Producer Kristen an email at kristen.accardi@townsquaremedia.com or follow her on Instagram.