BWA Reduction
2026-05-03 · 1,484 words · 6 min · #modern-forage #food #culture

Modern Forage: Grocery Store Regionalism

Vernors and Cheerwine and Moxie. Dorothy Lynch and Mayfair and Akron White French. The dishes get the press, but the condiments do the cultural work.

Draft. This pattern post is still being expanded as new entries surface across the survey. The pattern is worth noting; the entries listed below are not final.

The deepest containment in the survey is in the grocery store, not the restaurant. Dishes get press; condiments do cultural work invisibly. People don’t think of their dressing as regional. They use it on everything, assume everyone else does too, and then move and discover otherwise.

The discovery mechanism is diaspora nostalgia: “I moved and can’t find it.” The single best signal is when someone packs the condiment in their suitcase or has it shipped across state lines. When Heinz launched “Mayochup” nationally in 2018, Utah and Idaho residents (where fry sauce has been the standard since the 1940s) publicly objected. That’s the containment signature.

Beverages

Soft drinks and other beverages locked to specific states or regions, functioning as identity markers in the same way named dishes do.

  • Ale-8-One (Winchester, KY, 1926). Ginger-citrus soda bottled only in Winchester. Kentucky’s unofficial soft drink. The name is a play on “A Late One” (the latest thing). Until recently, only available in Kentucky and bordering counties. Regional context: The South.
  • Cheerwine (Salisbury, NC, 1917). Cherry-flavored soda, deep burgundy color. Family-owned, primarily Southeast distribution. “Locals use it in everything from barbecue sauce to desserts.” Regional context: The South.
  • Vernors (Detroit, MI, 1866). Barrel-aged vanilla ginger ale, America’s oldest surviving ginger ale. Spicier and more vanilla-forward than other ginger ales. Used as a home remedy for stomachaches across Michigan. The Boston Cooler (Vernors plus vanilla ice cream float) is a Detroit-specific preparation named after Boston Boulevard. Regional context: The Great Lakes & Rust Belt.
  • Moxie (Maine, 1876). Bitter gentian root soda, Maine’s official state drink since 2005. “Divides first-time drinkers into love-it-or-hate-it camps.” Predates Coca-Cola. Annual Moxie Festival in Lisbon, ME. Regional context: The Northeast & Mid-Atlantic.
  • Faygo (Detroit, MI, 1907). Multi-flavor soda by Russian immigrant brothers Ben and Perry Feigenson. Michigan identity marker alongside Vernors. Regional context: The Great Lakes & Rust Belt.
  • Big Red (Texas, 1937). Bright red cream soda with bubble-gum-like sweetness. Central to the San Antonio barbacoa-and-Big-Red pairing. Regional context: Texas & the Southwest.
  • Birch beer (PA/NJ mid-Atlantic belt). Wintergreen-forward soda from birch trees. Boylan’s (Paterson, NJ, 1891) is the oldest producer. A regional standard unavailable west of the Appalachians. Regional context: The Northeast & Mid-Atlantic.
  • Coffee Milk (Rhode Island). Cold milk with sweetened coffee syrup (Autocrat, Eclipse). Designated RI’s official state drink in 1993. Regional context: The Northeast & Mid-Atlantic.
  • Loganberry (Buffalo / Western NY). Tart, berry-purple, non-carbonated drink from loganberry syrup. Crystal Beach amusement park origin. Regional context: The Northeast & Mid-Atlantic.
  • Malört (Chicago, 1930s). Swedish-style wormwood liqueur. The “#malortface” first-timer’s grimace is a Chicago rite of passage. Regional context: The Great Lakes & Rust Belt.

Sources: NewsBreak (2023); Go2Tutors (2025); Detroit Historical Society; Wikipedia (Vernors); Cascadia Managing Brands (2024); cross-confirmed.

Condiments

Dressings, sauces, and spreads that are invisible inside their region (used on everything, taken for granted) and unknown outside it. Sixteen entries.

  • Fry sauce (UT/ID). Mayo-ketchup, standard at all restaurants. When Heinz marketed “Mayochup” nationally in 2018, locals objected publicly. Regional context: The West Coast & Mountain West.
  • Comeback sauce (Jackson, MS, 1920s-1930s). Mayo-based, Greek-immigrant origin at The Rotisserie. “The Queen Mother of all Mississippi condiments.” Robert St. John gave an SFA symposium presentation on it. Regional context: The South; pattern: The Greek Diner Empire.
  • Dorothy Lynch (Nebraska, 1952). Neon-orange, tomato-soup-based. “Great Plains Champagne.” Served at Memorial Stadium and on the toppings bar at Amigo’s. Diaspora packs it in suitcases. Regional context: The Plains & Heartland.
  • Mayfair dressing (St. Louis, ~1935). Anchovy-based, sold by the pint at the Mayfair Hotel. “My soul comfort food.” Similar to Caesar but with more bite. Regional context: The Plains & Heartland.
  • Akron White French (Akron, OH). Mayo-based, sweet-tart, garlic. Creamy white, not orange. Akron RubberDucks rebranded for it. “Still pretty much particular to Akron.” Regional context: The Great Lakes & Rust Belt.
  • Mumbo sauce (Washington, DC). Sweet-hot condiment for carryout chicken and wings. Cousin to Chicago mild sauce. Regional context: The Northeast & Mid-Atlantic.
  • Durkee Famous Sauce (Midwest/South, since 1857). Tangy mustard-mayo-vinegar blend with 12+ secret spices. Created in Buffalo, now produced in Ankeny, IA. Essential for deviled eggs, potato salad, ham sandwiches. “In my family, the love of Durkee’s is inherited.” Production interruptions caused near-panic among devotees. Invisible to coastal Americans.
  • Mullen’s French Dressing (SE Illinois, since 1948). Light, sweet French dressing created by John D. Mullen after serving as a cook in WWI France. Produced on Main Street in Palestine, IL (pop ~1,300) for 75+ years. “Fan favorite from the Wabash to the Mississippi.” Named top 4 finalist in “Coolest Things Made in Illinois.” Store locations cluster tightly in SE Illinois (Mt. Carmel, Mt. Vernon, Ste. Marie).
  • Garlic Expressions (Toledo/Ohio, since 1993). Garlic vinaigrette handcrafted from a supper club kitchen recipe. Apple cider vinegar, canola oil, cane sugar, whole garlic cloves, spices. Family-owned, Ohio-made. Spreading to national distribution but origin and core following remain Ohio. Regional context: The Great Lakes & Rust Belt.
  • Chicago Mild Sauce (Chicago South/West Sides, 1950s-60s). Sweet ketchup-BBQ-hot sauce blend, all-purpose at Black-owned chicken joints. Great Migration roots. Harold’s Chicken / Uncle Remus / Lem’s Bar-B-Q canonical. Cousin to DC mumbo sauce. Regional context: The Great Lakes & Rust Belt.
  • Detroit Zip Sauce (Detroit, 1940s). Butter-based steakhouse sauce with beef base, Worcestershire, soy, garlic. Created at Lelli’s Inn. “As commonplace as coney dogs, square pizza, and Vernors.” Regional context: The Great Lakes & Rust Belt.
  • Top The Tater (Minnesota/Upper Midwest, 1962+). Thick sour cream and chive-onion dip by Kemps. “Distributed only in the Upper Midwest.” Walmart HQ couldn’t explain its sales dominance. Fans smuggle it in suitcases. Regional context: The Plains & Heartland.
  • Chicago-Style Giardiniera (Chicago, early 1900s). Oil-packed, spicy, finely chopped pickled vegetables. Distinct from Italian giardiniera. “No one out here knows what giardiniera is” outside Chicago. Inseparable from Italian beef. Regional context: The Great Lakes & Rust Belt.
  • Vermont Boiled Cider (New England, 1660s origin). Apple cider reduced 7:1 to a dark, sweet-tart syrup (“apple molasses”). Colonial-era tradition nearly extinct. Wood’s Cider Mill (Weathersfield VT, since 1882) is essentially the last producer. On Slow Food’s Ark of Taste. Regional context: The Northeast & Mid-Atlantic.
  • Cleveland Brown Mustard (Cleveland, 1920s). Spicy brown mustard. Two rival brands (Bertman Ball Park and Stadium Mustard) split the city’s sports allegiance. “You either eat Stadium or Ball Park, no middle ground.” Regional context: The Great Lakes & Rust Belt.
  • Henry Bain Sauce (Louisville, KY, 1900s). Chutney-pickled walnut-ketchup-Worcestershire condiment created by a Black maître d’ at the Pendennis Club. Derby-party staple. Exclusively club-only for 100+ years, bottled for retail only in 2009. Regional context: The South.
  • Chicago Creamy Garlic Dressing (Chicago, since 1950). Mayo-and-sometimes-sour-cream creamy garlic dressing created by Greek immigrant Peter Alexander at Alexander’s Steak House on 63rd St. Conrad Hilton Jr. shipped monthly cases to himself and Elizabeth Taylor starting 1950. Spread across Chicago Greek steakhouses, Italian-American pizzerias, and old-line carryouts. Chicago Pizza & Oven Grinder Co. ships jars nationwide; Marie’s Creamy Italian Garlic at Mariano’s is the closest supermarket proxy. East Coast Italian-American restaurants serve oil-and-vinegar instead. Regional context: The Great Lakes & Rust Belt; pattern: The Greek Diner Empire.

Sources for Durkee: Garden & Gun (2025, longform); HuffPost (2013); The Kitchn (2019); Ukulele Underground Forum (2025, diaspora panic); Civil War Talk Forum (diaspora nostalgia); Palatable Pastime (2024). Six+ sources.

Adjacent: regional snacks with the same containment

  • Red Hot Riplets (St. Louis, MO). Old Vienna LLC chips, fierce local following. Regional context: The Plains & Heartland.

The pattern

Three things distinguish grocery-store regionalism from named-dish regionalism:

  1. Invisibility inside the region. Locals don’t think of their condiment as regional. They think of it as the condiment. Restaurant dishes invite the question “what is this?”; condiments don’t.
  2. Diaspora nostalgia is the discovery channel. When someone moves and can’t find Mayfair / Cheerwine / Top The Tater, that’s the first signal. Forum posts and Reddit threads aggregate these signals across decades.
  3. Cultural signaling does the corroboration. A baseball team renaming itself for the dressing (Akron RubberDucks for White French), a state legislature designating the soda (Maine and Moxie), a Walmart-HQ inquiry into why one dip outsells competitors only in Minnesota: these are the second-order signals that surface what locals can’t see.

This is the same containment story as the dishes, but harder to spot because the indicator is absence rather than presence. The thing that signals containment isn’t the recipe, it’s the empty shelf where the condiment isn’t.

More from the series

Browse the rest of the Modern Forage survey.

Research & primary sources

Methodology and validation logs live in the modern_forage/ on GitHub. The condiment-containment seed-to-longform loop documented in the tracker was the systematic search mechanism that surfaced most of the entries above.

We ran this r/chicagofood thread to surface diaspora signals. The “I moved and can’t find” framing surfaced multiple condiment entries that no listicle had captured.

The standout secondary source for this category is Garden & Gun’s 2025 Durkee Famous Sauce longform, which articulated the “inherited love” framing that opened up the broader condiment-containment thesis.