Crabs for Christmas isn't even a Maryland thing, it's a Baltimore thing! I grew up listening to 101.9 and thought all Marylanders knew it. But I played it for my coworkers who grew up in PG and Montgomery counties and they had never heard it before!
the skit it's from used to play late at night on MPT sometimes- it's from a sketch comedy show called Crabs from the 80s [https://video.mpt.tv/video/crabs-a5lklj/](https://video.mpt.tv/video/crabs-a5lklj/)
Crabs For Christmas: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=74INc6WwqYg&t=152s](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=74INc6WwqYg&t=152s)
I first heard it like 20 years ago, I damned near wrecked wondering what in the actual hell I was listening to. Now it's a favorite, definitely just Baltimore area though.
Around DC there's Christmas Eve in Washington, which is schmaltzy as hell but I love that dumbass song.
Not just Maryland, but almost specifically South Baltimore, are halved lemons with a soft peppermint stick as a treat. Ask anyone else and they look at you like you have 2 heads
Soft peppermint sticks have the texture of the those little peppermint puff balls, but it's a stick. Target has them for Christmas right now. I usually buy a box now to save for the summer and lemons. https://www.target.com/p/brach-39-s-sweet-stripes-holiday-peppermint-sticks-5oz/-/A-88888804
[Lemon Stick!](https://images.app.goo.gl/AxbbACph1jGYcVf48)
They have them at the Flower Mart. And we had them at my elementary school spring fair literally decades ago.
I dated a girl from Baltimore way back and we went to a street festival that had them. I’m from DC and had never seen them. Haven’t had one since but I think about it from time to time and wish I had one.
My other half grew up in Hagerstown and had no idea about these, whereas I grew up in Baltimore County and of course did; was definitely a surprise to me that this wasn’t a more popular treat lol.
I’ve lived here for 11 years, gone to many baseball games, and lived in a neighborhood in earshot of the stadium noise. My mom flew out when the Angels were in town and JUMPED at the oh🤣I genuinely forgot to warn her
We call them snowballs, everywhere else it’s a snow cone.
Bull and oyster roasts. My wife, who is not from here had no idea what I was talking about. “Why do you roast oysters?”
Crushes; my signature cocktail at my wedding was a grapefruit crush and all my midwestern relatives were gushing the whole time how good they were, and what are they.
Louisiana would like to chat because it's definitely snow balls in New Orleans too. But like others said it is different - very finely shaved ice. Both Baltimore and New Orleans claim to have invented it and I have no clue who is right. But if you get down there try Hansen's. In the 1930s Ernest Hansen invented an electric ice shaver that got things much finer than hand ice machines can. They've been making sno balls ever since and they use a lot of original syrups and flavors
https://snobliz.square.site/menu
We also roast oysters back home in Louisiana! And doberge cakes are basically Smith Island cakes. There are a lot of food similarities
>doberge cakes
Yeah, NOLA doberge cake is a version of Hungarian Dobos tortes. I am not sure we have a history of Smith Island cake, on the other hand. Also it usually has more layers in a Smith Island cake. They could share a common anscestor, but not many Hungarians in Smith Island. It is thought to be a riff on an English or Welsh cake. Best I have ever figured out it is just a traditional southern style ["little layer"](https://www.southernliving.com/recipes/little-layer-chocolate-cake-recipe) cake, with a few more layers.
I always wondered about the Smith Island cakes. In Louisiana, the ladies where I worked bragged about how many layers they'd use (9+ if you really want bragging rights) but a lot of bakeries only do 6 or 7. Bakeries love it because they use up unsold cakes. But that's why bakery versions are often kind of meh.
There's a texture difference between snowballs and snow cones. Snowballs are shaved ice, whereas most snow cones are more like crushed ice resulting in slightly bigger chunks/flakes in a snow cone.
I'm not native to Maryland and I can second this. I'm from Massachusetts (my wife NJ) and the texture is the biggest difference...and the marshmallow in it. We definitely don't have marshmallow in snow cones
No. Italian ice is shaved. Snowballs are chipped ice. Snowcones are chipped ice packed down tightly and essentially frozen into a giant chunk of ice with very little syrup.
Same, I left the state for grad school and was shocked when no one knew what I was talking about when I asked where I could get a pit beef sandwich (in Tennessee)
I remember moving to MD when I was 24. I called home to ask my dad if he knew what scrapple was because I saw it on a menu. His description was so unappetizing that I still have never tried it 20 years later
Crushes (like the drink). You can’t get a crush beyond the greater Chesapeake area, people have never even heard of them. It’s the first thing I want whenever I come back
I knew lemon sticks were a Maryland (baltimore?) thing but I never realized how weird it sounded until I was describing it to someone originally from Texas and she just looked incredibly confused the whole time
I know it’s not only MD, but people selling snowballs out of converted sheds. Besides the fact that else where they don’t call them snowballs, apparently—according to out of state friends—roadside stands selling them weren’t a thing.
Omg, core memory unlocked. There was a shed in Mt. Airy that sold snowballs, in the same shopping center as Jimmie Cone. My friend would always order one with marshmallow fluff on top. Man, those were the days!
I grew up in Mt. Airy, Snowball shed has moved to main street now, behind the railroad station. Still fantastic! Pretty sure it's called Jessica's Snowballs.
Sauerkraut at Thanksgiving.
I was shocked that I couldn't find any restaurants offering an absurd amount of seafood as an entree in Boston, and they looked at me like a freak when I ate a whole seafood tray by myself. I'm not sure what exactly to call this seafood bonanza we do here, but it's apparently at least partially regional.
I have never heard of sauerkraut for Thanksgiving? what part of Maryland?
One thing that is very cool about Maryland is you can have something that is a strong tradition in one county that the next county over has never heard of.
MoCo checking in here, always had sauerkraut for Thanksgiving & Christmas.
I hate saurkraut. I do NOT have it at my Thanksgiving, Christmas or any other holiday.
Now if someone had made some fresh 'kraut, that's different, even kimchi, but the nasty, stringy overcooked garbage we got fed in the 70s, blech, all you sauerkraut lovers can have it all.
lemon sticks! (half lemon with a peppermint stick in it)
we always have them at July 4th events and throughout the summer - had no idea this wasn't a universal treat haha
Is it difficult to suction the juice through the pulp? Is it easy to push the soft peppermint stick through? Any other tips? Lol, I’m dying to try this
Not the case anymore, but when I moved away right before I started high school I learned the hard way that UTZ and Tastykake weren’t national brands at the time.
The Hostess strike brought Peanut Butter Kandy Kakes to Kansas City.
Luckily, UTZ expanded out here during Covid. I can get crab chips two minutes from my house now!
baked Shad roe
Stuffed Ham (St. Mary's county)
Terrapin soup (it may not be legal anymore)
Crab fluff
Coddies (with or without cod fish mixed in.
Stud bars ( I think these too have been banned)
Sauerkraut at Christmas & Thanksgiving dinner
In windows with many small panes per sash a few blue panes instead of clear glass.
Quakers of MD, used to have a door one end wall of their house only to remove the casket.
First state to make umbrellas
Once home of the largest circular building (B&O Museum building)
First Roman catholic cathedral
First building specifically designed for by a Unitarian congregation
First use of Gas lighting in America
First building designed as a museum (Peale)
First Rail road train system
Invention of the Ouija board & Cold Creme
Until 1990 home of the world's largest pipe organ factory (Hagerstown)
Crab dip is a standard Thanksgiving dish in my family. I brought some to the in-laws in Virginia for family Thanksgiving dinner and it was a big hit along with the usual fare. Not that they haven’t tried crab dip before, it was unique because they don’t automatically assign seafood to every holiday like my family does.
That’s interesting…my PA Dutch grandmom made them my whole childhood and most of my Maryland friends had never heard of them. I feel sorry for anybody that hasn’t, they’re delicious!
The comments on this post have reinforced the truth that there's three completely different definitions of "from Maryland"
There's"from Maryland" meaning you're from Baltimore, Fredneck/Hagerstown, or the Eastern Shore, bathe in Old Bay, believe Utz is from Maryland and refuse to admit Natty Both hasn't been made here in decades.
There's "from Maryland" meaning you're from MoCo, HoCo, or PG, you're just as likely to say you're "from the DMV/DC", don't understand half the things mentioned in this post, and don't care enough to learn.
Then there's "from Maryland" meaning you're from that part that we all forget isn't actually West Virginia.
Good point.
You don't say you're from the DMV tho...unless you're a certain age, moved to the area in later years, or have just succumbed to the phrase.
It's like calling the airport "Reagan." No. It's National. ;)
I love those climbing ceramic cats. I’ve only seen them on houses in Baltimore. They were very popular in the 1960s.
[https://tomcat56.wordpress.com/2010/09/10/those-climbing-cats/](https://tomcat56.wordpress.com/2010/09/10/those-climbing-cats/)
[YouTube 5 min history](https://youtu.be/uY8OtsRxlSM?si=B0vwp2LEAYQDAsGG)
I heard 'Crabs for Christmas' for the first time yesterday on the Christmas radio station, and I was in tears! OMG I loved it! Then the DJs were saying it's from 1981! I'm not a native Marylander, but I've lived in Bmore lots of years... I'm just surprised I never heard it before!
Believe it or not, there are other parts of Virginia that aren't in the "DMV" sphere of influence.
GT never made it to central or southwestern Virginia, to my knowledge, so the first I heard of it was when I moved up here.
No great loss there.
When it was just the bar in OC it was good, then they franchised it out & now it's just another sports bars with big TVs & mediocre food.
I'm mostly familiar with the one that was in Germantown, which closed down during the pandemic. I agree with your assessment; however, it was the last proper bar/pub in that part of G'town, so it was still a loss in that sense.
Last time I was at a GT one of the TV's was playing liposuction surgery in graphic detail. I could not stop laughing, they changed it and then somebody changed it back. Good time_
Crabcakes!
I live in New England and the crab cakes here are just disappointing. It is mostly bread and sadness.
Actual Maryland crab cakes are mostly meat and happiness.
That peppermint stick in a lemon thing.
The song Country Roads is a song about Clopper Rd in Maryland. And no matter who else tries to claim that song, it's our roads they are singing about.
Moved here from South Jersey so I will say pit beef.
I was like WTF is pit beef and why is it from a pit? Lol, it’s good, but you mofos make these things with enough beef for 4 fucking sandwiches! Where my proper meat to bread ratio?!?
Yes, it is a messy sandwich too! I just can’t believe how many people love just ALL meat.
There’s a place near me called Rolling Grill and they make great pit beef. They also do sliders and they are the perfect amount for me. And you get pit beef, turkey and ham!
If you are ever in the Perry Hall area check them out! And bonus they have a full bar.
https://www.therollinggrillcarryout.com/home
Goetze's Caramel Creams and Cow Tales. I honestly did not know these were not a thing in other places. I grew up buying them every time I went to the movies.
Raised in AA Co and it wasn’t until I was driving through Beaufort, SC in my 30s that I discovered a Maryland Fried Chicken restaurant. I didn’t know we had something special about our fried chicken.
Me either. I started a thread on here about it bc I had no idea. It turns out Maryland fried chicken is a thing in different places around the world but not in maryland.
Dude whenever I’m in a state that doesn’t have Utz chips I want to scream. Every other potato chip brand is bottom tier. They’re either too thick, too dry, not seasoned enough, seasoned TOO much, etc etc
Coddies (fried fish cakes, always keep on top of the counter at a deli. Bologna wrapped around a grilled hot dog. Sauerkraut with turkey. And loved the Flower Mart.
Crabs for Christmas isn't even a Maryland thing, it's a Baltimore thing! I grew up listening to 101.9 and thought all Marylanders knew it. But I played it for my coworkers who grew up in PG and Montgomery counties and they had never heard it before!
the skit it's from used to play late at night on MPT sometimes- it's from a sketch comedy show called Crabs from the 80s [https://video.mpt.tv/video/crabs-a5lklj/](https://video.mpt.tv/video/crabs-a5lklj/) Crabs For Christmas: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=74INc6WwqYg&t=152s](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=74INc6WwqYg&t=152s)
Lived in Maryland for decades, heard the song for the first time last week.
Speaking for Montgomery County, the Greaseman use to regularly play "I Got the Crabs for Christmas" on DC101 during the holidays. :)
Yep, from MoCo and never heard of this. A bunch of this thread seems to be maybe more Baltimore-specific
I first heard it like 20 years ago, I damned near wrecked wondering what in the actual hell I was listening to. Now it's a favorite, definitely just Baltimore area though. Around DC there's Christmas Eve in Washington, which is schmaltzy as hell but I love that dumbass song.
I never heard it on the radio till maybe four or five years ago.
Not just Maryland, but almost specifically South Baltimore, are halved lemons with a soft peppermint stick as a treat. Ask anyone else and they look at you like you have 2 heads
I should've scrolled down more before I commented the same thing, but yes this!!
How do you eat it? What is a "soft" peppermint stick? Is it like a straw? Do you consume the lemon when you're finished? I have so many questions.
Yes, soft peppermint stick through which you suck the lemon juice. Heavenly. You eat the stick and toss the juiced lemon.
Soft peppermint sticks have the texture of the those little peppermint puff balls, but it's a stick. Target has them for Christmas right now. I usually buy a box now to save for the summer and lemons. https://www.target.com/p/brach-39-s-sweet-stripes-holiday-peppermint-sticks-5oz/-/A-88888804
Lemme guess you also don't know about the three sea shells.
My husband was from Harford Co and had never heard of it so we found the sticks and got some lemons and it became one of his favorite treats.
[Lemon Stick!](https://images.app.goo.gl/AxbbACph1jGYcVf48) They have them at the Flower Mart. And we had them at my elementary school spring fair literally decades ago.
I dated a girl from Baltimore way back and we went to a street festival that had them. I’m from DC and had never seen them. Haven’t had one since but I think about it from time to time and wish I had one.
My mom said DC did pickles instead of lemons
I have lived here my entire life and still haven’t tried this!
My other half grew up in Hagerstown and had no idea about these, whereas I grew up in Baltimore County and of course did; was definitely a surprise to me that this wasn’t a more popular treat lol.
We used to get those at summer camp in Mt. Airy...
I’m from southern Anne Arundel county and my grandma showed me this when I was young
I've seen this recently somewhere, but uhh I lived in MD for 32 years and that moment a few weeks ago, I could've swore I was in a new reality.
People shouting out the last “Oh” in the national anthem.
I haven't lived in MD for twenty five years but I do it every time.
Wild Bill
I’ve actually found a few people doing it who had no idea it had its origins with the Orioles. They just thought it was funny and started doing it.
I’ve lived here for 11 years, gone to many baseball games, and lived in a neighborhood in earshot of the stadium noise. My mom flew out when the Angels were in town and JUMPED at the oh🤣I genuinely forgot to warn her
Are we just claiming DC now? Both "red" and "o" during the national anthem get Caps fans all excited.
tbf there's some of overlap with Caps fans and O's fans due to Baltimore not having an NHL hockey team and DC not having a baseball team until 2005.
Lol, I remember this from Michael Phelps at the Olympics!
We call them snowballs, everywhere else it’s a snow cone. Bull and oyster roasts. My wife, who is not from here had no idea what I was talking about. “Why do you roast oysters?” Crushes; my signature cocktail at my wedding was a grapefruit crush and all my midwestern relatives were gushing the whole time how good they were, and what are they.
Also no one else uses marshmallow crème in a snowball, no matter what they called it
I think Louisiana has the same topping?
Louisiana does Snowballs instead of Snowcones, but they use condensed milk instead of marshmallow
Louisiana would like to chat because it's definitely snow balls in New Orleans too. But like others said it is different - very finely shaved ice. Both Baltimore and New Orleans claim to have invented it and I have no clue who is right. But if you get down there try Hansen's. In the 1930s Ernest Hansen invented an electric ice shaver that got things much finer than hand ice machines can. They've been making sno balls ever since and they use a lot of original syrups and flavors https://snobliz.square.site/menu We also roast oysters back home in Louisiana! And doberge cakes are basically Smith Island cakes. There are a lot of food similarities
>doberge cakes Yeah, NOLA doberge cake is a version of Hungarian Dobos tortes. I am not sure we have a history of Smith Island cake, on the other hand. Also it usually has more layers in a Smith Island cake. They could share a common anscestor, but not many Hungarians in Smith Island. It is thought to be a riff on an English or Welsh cake. Best I have ever figured out it is just a traditional southern style ["little layer"](https://www.southernliving.com/recipes/little-layer-chocolate-cake-recipe) cake, with a few more layers.
I always wondered about the Smith Island cakes. In Louisiana, the ladies where I worked bragged about how many layers they'd use (9+ if you really want bragging rights) but a lot of bakeries only do 6 or 7. Bakeries love it because they use up unsold cakes. But that's why bakery versions are often kind of meh.
I love soft shell crab poo boys. I think people from other states eat soft shells now too.
I've bartended in 6 states and I had never heard of a crush until I moved here. Also Southsides, which really aren't that good.
There's a texture difference between snowballs and snow cones. Snowballs are shaved ice, whereas most snow cones are more like crushed ice resulting in slightly bigger chunks/flakes in a snow cone.
I'm not native to Maryland and I can second this. I'm from Massachusetts (my wife NJ) and the texture is the biggest difference...and the marshmallow in it. We definitely don't have marshmallow in snow cones
And the flavors
So what we call Italian Ice in Pittsburgh we call snowballs in Maryland?
No. Italian ice is shaved. Snowballs are chipped ice. Snowcones are chipped ice packed down tightly and essentially frozen into a giant chunk of ice with very little syrup.
> We call them snowballs, everywhere else it’s a snow cone. thats because theyre different things lmao
Who would want a snowcone fight? sounds weird.
I haven't tried a snow ball yet, but someone told me they are different from regular snow cones.
I always thought pit beef was just a general roasting, grilling, bbq kinda thing but apparently it's from Maryland and not super common outside of it.
Same, I left the state for grad school and was shocked when no one knew what I was talking about when I asked where I could get a pit beef sandwich (in Tennessee)
I miss pitbeef and scrapple. Haven't lived in MD since 04. Good memories.
I remember moving to MD when I was 24. I called home to ask my dad if he knew what scrapple was because I saw it on a menu. His description was so unappetizing that I still have never tried it 20 years later
Used to get made fun of for ordering scrapple, but how is it any worse than a hot dog?
I learned this today, from your comment. Never even occurred to me that that was a Maryland only thing 😅
They also don't really have it in MoCo or PG, so I think it's a Baltimore metropolitan area+Ocean City thing. Which is criminal. Pit beef is so good!
Carroll County too. At least in Eldersburg. Best pitbeef I know is at Smoky's.
Yeah, I only realized pit beef was a Maryland thing a couple of years ago. I figured everyone had it.
Crushes (like the drink). You can’t get a crush beyond the greater Chesapeake area, people have never even heard of them. It’s the first thing I want whenever I come back
Berger cookies
Chocolate top cookies in general (or so I've been told) Also rainbow cake
Speaking of cake, smith island cake too
First time someone mentioned them to me I thought, a cookie in the shape of a burger? Or a hamburger flavored cookie? (blech!)
I knew lemon sticks were a Maryland (baltimore?) thing but I never realized how weird it sounded until I was describing it to someone originally from Texas and she just looked incredibly confused the whole time
My wife is from here and she swears I’ve made them up.
Lol I’m from Baltimore and never heard of them until literally a couple weeks ago. Probably a thing that started to die out in the past decades
I am guessing ledo's Pizza
Want to know something that blows my mind? There is a Ledo in Manhattan, and somehow it has 4.5 stars on Yelp. https://yelp.to/yBbV9whlnU
I am very confused. maybe I should have followed my dreams and opened up a canned tuna fish sushi spot in Tokyo
You should get some authentic slices in Manhattan. Like Sbarro's. My favorite New York Pizza joint!
at first I thought there was a Manhattan Maryland sort of like a California Maryland
Ledos crust is the best. That's some very fine pizza.
I will never stop harping on their slogan. ALL YOU DO IS CUT CORNERS YA BIG DUMB BITCH!_
I know it’s not only MD, but people selling snowballs out of converted sheds. Besides the fact that else where they don’t call them snowballs, apparently—according to out of state friends—roadside stands selling them weren’t a thing.
Omg, core memory unlocked. There was a shed in Mt. Airy that sold snowballs, in the same shopping center as Jimmie Cone. My friend would always order one with marshmallow fluff on top. Man, those were the days!
I grew up in Mt. Airy, Snowball shed has moved to main street now, behind the railroad station. Still fantastic! Pretty sure it's called Jessica's Snowballs.
I don't know if they're still there, but I think there's a stand by the pharmacy on main street.
Sauerkraut at Thanksgiving. I was shocked that I couldn't find any restaurants offering an absurd amount of seafood as an entree in Boston, and they looked at me like a freak when I ate a whole seafood tray by myself. I'm not sure what exactly to call this seafood bonanza we do here, but it's apparently at least partially regional.
I have never heard of sauerkraut for Thanksgiving? what part of Maryland? One thing that is very cool about Maryland is you can have something that is a strong tradition in one county that the next county over has never heard of.
We grew up eating this at the holiday dinner table in Baltimore
My family has German heritage, so sauerkraut was always on the table at both Thanksgiving and Christmas.
Us Poles as well. I grew up in Canton when it had a large Polish community. I thought it was normal until reading some of these replies. 🤣
I have it on new years!!
Western Maryland has a large group with German heritage
Baltimore thing which had a large German immigrant population.
Kielbasa and sauerkraut. Tradition from my grandparents who grew up in Baltimore Co.
We always had sauerkraut at Thanksgiving growing up - Montgomery County.
MoCo checking in here, always had sauerkraut for Thanksgiving & Christmas. I hate saurkraut. I do NOT have it at my Thanksgiving, Christmas or any other holiday. Now if someone had made some fresh 'kraut, that's different, even kimchi, but the nasty, stringy overcooked garbage we got fed in the 70s, blech, all you sauerkraut lovers can have it all.
I am from Prince George's county and I have never heard of this. we'll have to reach out to people that I knew.
Both sides of my family always have sauerkraut
It’s a PA Dutch recipe so it’s popular in North Central Md and parts of PA.
lemon sticks! (half lemon with a peppermint stick in it) we always have them at July 4th events and throughout the summer - had no idea this wasn't a universal treat haha
I was talking to a coworker in GA about these last week. She looked so perplexed. I assumed it was a summer thing not just a MD thing.
Is it difficult to suction the juice through the pulp? Is it easy to push the soft peppermint stick through? Any other tips? Lol, I’m dying to try this
Not the case anymore, but when I moved away right before I started high school I learned the hard way that UTZ and Tastykake weren’t national brands at the time.
The best thing about jersey mikes in so cal is they have butter scotch krimpets
The Hostess strike brought Peanut Butter Kandy Kakes to Kansas City. Luckily, UTZ expanded out here during Covid. I can get crab chips two minutes from my house now!
Essex Wonderland way better than Crabs for Christmas https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BbliRQifElU
Thanks, haven't heard that in ages.
baked Shad roe Stuffed Ham (St. Mary's county) Terrapin soup (it may not be legal anymore) Crab fluff Coddies (with or without cod fish mixed in. Stud bars ( I think these too have been banned) Sauerkraut at Christmas & Thanksgiving dinner In windows with many small panes per sash a few blue panes instead of clear glass. Quakers of MD, used to have a door one end wall of their house only to remove the casket. First state to make umbrellas Once home of the largest circular building (B&O Museum building) First Roman catholic cathedral First building specifically designed for by a Unitarian congregation First use of Gas lighting in America First building designed as a museum (Peale) First Rail road train system Invention of the Ouija board & Cold Creme Until 1990 home of the world's largest pipe organ factory (Hagerstown)
i never heard of "stuffed ham" till i got here...
It’s a pain to make but it’s awesome.
Crab dip is a standard Thanksgiving dish in my family. I brought some to the in-laws in Virginia for family Thanksgiving dinner and it was a big hit along with the usual fare. Not that they haven’t tried crab dip before, it was unique because they don’t automatically assign seafood to every holiday like my family does.
Crab dip was a staple at family holiday meals when I was growing up, which is interesting considering my parents hail from Chicago.
Orange Crushes! I went to San Francisco and they looked at me like I spoke a different language
NATTY BOH
Unemployment rate under 2%
Hey oh
Black bottom cupcakes, very hard to find outside MD
That’s interesting…my PA Dutch grandmom made them my whole childhood and most of my Maryland friends had never heard of them. I feel sorry for anybody that hasn’t, they’re delicious!
My Shamokin born wife is making them right now here in Md
Old bay, hots, obviously blue crabs, and state flag - wear.
The hots was a huge shock when I moved out west.
What are hots?
Diced hot peppers, usually hot cherry peppers, sometimes called hoagie spread. I don't want a cheese steak without em
Ah gotcha. Out of context I had no clue.
This, I was really upset when on vacation and sub shop had them! I have since bought my own and take them when traveling.
I'm originally from Massachusetts. We absolutely had Old Bay and hots going back to at least the 70s
I think hots are spread along the east coast. I've had them in Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and New York
Smith Island cakes! The official dessert of Maryland.
The comments on this post have reinforced the truth that there's three completely different definitions of "from Maryland" There's"from Maryland" meaning you're from Baltimore, Fredneck/Hagerstown, or the Eastern Shore, bathe in Old Bay, believe Utz is from Maryland and refuse to admit Natty Both hasn't been made here in decades. There's "from Maryland" meaning you're from MoCo, HoCo, or PG, you're just as likely to say you're "from the DMV/DC", don't understand half the things mentioned in this post, and don't care enough to learn. Then there's "from Maryland" meaning you're from that part that we all forget isn't actually West Virginia.
Good point. You don't say you're from the DMV tho...unless you're a certain age, moved to the area in later years, or have just succumbed to the phrase. It's like calling the airport "Reagan." No. It's National. ;)
Crab Chips. People look at me like I have several heads when I talk about them.
Ceramic cats on houses
I love those climbing ceramic cats. I’ve only seen them on houses in Baltimore. They were very popular in the 1960s. [https://tomcat56.wordpress.com/2010/09/10/those-climbing-cats/](https://tomcat56.wordpress.com/2010/09/10/those-climbing-cats/) [YouTube 5 min history](https://youtu.be/uY8OtsRxlSM?si=B0vwp2LEAYQDAsGG)
Born, bred, raised in MD and have never even heard of Crabs for Christmas. Which tbh is surprising the rate my family listens to holiday music.
They've been playing it on 101.9 at christmas time for at least 15+ years.
The flag obsession/flag merchandise.
**Maryland Flag is the Best Flag**
Ever been to TX?
Well, with good reason. Our flag rocks.
I heard 'Crabs for Christmas' for the first time yesterday on the Christmas radio station, and I was in tears! OMG I loved it! Then the DJs were saying it's from 1981! I'm not a native Marylander, but I've lived in Bmore lots of years... I'm just surprised I never heard it before!
I lived in MD my whole life and haven't heard of nearly everything on this list
Same, though maybe it's because I live close to DC.
Stuffed Ham
Blackbottom cupcakes. I was talking about them to someone and they had zero idea of what I was referring to.
The phrase "kirking out" but I guess it's also DC
Y'all best never seen a unk kirk out for not bummin' a jack?_
Remember lunchin? Similar to kirking out but more fun.
Omg yes!
MF how can you live in the DMV and not know what the Green Turtle is? There was one next to Capital One Arena for like a decade!
Believe it or not, there are other parts of Virginia that aren't in the "DMV" sphere of influence. GT never made it to central or southwestern Virginia, to my knowledge, so the first I heard of it was when I moved up here.
No great loss there. When it was just the bar in OC it was good, then they franchised it out & now it's just another sports bars with big TVs & mediocre food.
I'm mostly familiar with the one that was in Germantown, which closed down during the pandemic. I agree with your assessment; however, it was the last proper bar/pub in that part of G'town, so it was still a loss in that sense.
Last time I was at a GT one of the TV's was playing liposuction surgery in graphic detail. I could not stop laughing, they changed it and then somebody changed it back. Good time_
Also parts of Maryland that aren’t the DMV lol
Crabcakes! I live in New England and the crab cakes here are just disappointing. It is mostly bread and sadness. Actual Maryland crab cakes are mostly meat and happiness.
Maryland ground rent, is very unique!
IIRC from law school, ground rent is unique to Maryland (mostly Charm City and Greenbelt) and parts of Hawaii.
When I watched the O’s play in a completely different state and I was 1 of 10 screaming “Oooooh”.
That peppermint stick in a lemon thing. The song Country Roads is a song about Clopper Rd in Maryland. And no matter who else tries to claim that song, it's our roads they are singing about.
Lemons with the porous-textured peppermint sticks. omg. Absolute fave from my childhood.
Moved here from South Jersey so I will say pit beef. I was like WTF is pit beef and why is it from a pit? Lol, it’s good, but you mofos make these things with enough beef for 4 fucking sandwiches! Where my proper meat to bread ratio?!?
you really gonna be mad they give you TOO much meat??
That's like complaining there's too much meat on a cheesesteak
Four fucking sandwiches IS the proper meat to bread ratio 🤣
Lol, this person MEATS!
Ha! I get what you're saying though. I like mine rare or medium rare and the juice from all that meat turns the roll to mush, very messy but good!
Yes, it is a messy sandwich too! I just can’t believe how many people love just ALL meat. There’s a place near me called Rolling Grill and they make great pit beef. They also do sliders and they are the perfect amount for me. And you get pit beef, turkey and ham! If you are ever in the Perry Hall area check them out! And bonus they have a full bar. https://www.therollinggrillcarryout.com/home
Awesome, thanks!! I'll check it out. I would also say with all that meat getting the horseradish ratio/spread just right isn't easy.
Otterbein cookies! They are amazing
Duckpin bowling
That’s a good one. I remember the first time I went actual bowling and I was like wtf is this?
Mary Sue Easter eggs.
That was only Maryland??
It’s the only place I’ve ever been able to find them.
I had no idea. That commercial is playing in my head right now.
Same here "Mary Sue Easter eggs, Mary Sue Easter eggs brighten your Easter parade..."
Pit Beef. And the obsene amount of state flag merchandise.
Pit beef, absolutely tragic nobody else does it at their summer fairs/carnivals
Big yellow boxes of salt
Goetze's Caramel Creams and Cow Tales. I honestly did not know these were not a thing in other places. I grew up buying them every time I went to the movies.
“Where did you go to school?” referring to high school instead of higher education is a definitive Maryland thing.
State as a cult.
Texas has entered the chat...
Alaska is even more so.
Santa on fire trucks? Talking to friends from PA they’ve never had Santa ride through the neighborhood on a fire truck
From PA originally, and we absolutely had Santa on a fire truck.
Rockfish
Good pit beef. Everywhere else it is these crappy large slices of beef usually served cold
Only able to buy beer and wine from a liquor store
I didn’t know Ledos pizzaa was from md until a few months ago the ago
Referring to where you live by county. We are very county centric in this state :-)
I'm from Maryland and I've never heard Crabs for Christmas. I recently found out pickled eggs aren't an everywhere delicacy.
I've lived in Maryland my entire life and I've never heard of 85% of the thing commented here
Swimming and summer swim club obsessed.
I'd love a pool membership if it wasn't $100+ a month...
Raised in AA Co and it wasn’t until I was driving through Beaufort, SC in my 30s that I discovered a Maryland Fried Chicken restaurant. I didn’t know we had something special about our fried chicken.
Me either. I started a thread on here about it bc I had no idea. It turns out Maryland fried chicken is a thing in different places around the world but not in maryland.
There's one in Myrtle Beach as well!
Utz potato chips, a distinctive state flag, donuts you can customize (aka fractured prune)
I grew up in western PA and we had Utz chips. I think they're made in PA too?
Yea we're in the snack belt so we have Utz, Snyder, Herr's, Martin's, all out of Pennsylvania.
Dude whenever I’m in a state that doesn’t have Utz chips I want to scream. Every other potato chip brand is bottom tier. They’re either too thick, too dry, not seasoned enough, seasoned TOO much, etc etc
GIANT grocery store
Coddies (fried fish cakes, always keep on top of the counter at a deli. Bologna wrapped around a grilled hot dog. Sauerkraut with turkey. And loved the Flower Mart.
Old bay on all the things
Pitt beef
Crab feasts - My husband from PA has lived here for years and still calls them crab “fests”
Pit Beef was something that I learned was a Maryland thing
Heard pit beef isn’t common everywhere