The Maine Delicacy the Rest of the Country Thinks is Weird

Almost every single state or region of the country has at least one food item or dish that will make the rest of the nation take a step back and ponder. There's everything from rocky mountain oysters to possum pie to a hot beef sundae.

According to Far and Wide, Maine's strangest delicacy is tomalley. Any good Mainer knowns that's the green stuff inside a lobster. Scientifically, tomalley is the digestive gland of the lobster. It turns green when the lobster is cooked, and for some people, they simply can't get enough.

While the suggestion that tomalley is Maine's strangest delicacy is a solid one, there's another food that many Mainers go absolutely crazy for each year. And despite our lengthy coastline, it doesn't come from the see.

That delicacy would be fiddleheads. The spiralized green vegetable that often looks like a well-formed hurricane in shape. When they're ready to be picked in the wild, they often stand a food tall.

Fiddleheads are the coiled tip of a young ostrich fern. While fiddleheads grow in many other states across the country, no state harvests and relishes them quite like Maine. From food festivals to cooking competitions, the fiddlehead is celebrated in Vacationland.

Similar to the soda brand Moxie, fiddleheads are an acquired taste for many. But if you love them, you really love them, and cannot wait for the spring harvest each year.

The taste of fiddleheads is definitely 'earthy'. Depending on the preparation method, most fiddleheads will taste like a combination of spinach and asparagus. The subtle flavor of mushrooms can sneak its way in there too.

By the way, if tomalley and fiddleheads aren't your thing, it doesn't make you any less of a Mainer. In fact, the people that do love it might simply exclaim, "your loss, more for me!".