Irish Foods Americans Eat on St. Patrick’s Day
Holidays have traditional foods associated with them. Thanksgiving turkey, Christmas roast or turkey, Easter ham (or turkey), Cinco de Mayo margaritas, New Year’s Day pork and sauerkraut (it’s a Pennsylvania Dutch thing.) So naturally, there has to be certain foods people across America like to Eat on St. Patrick’s Day. Spoiler, there is.
There are several things that people only eat othis time of year. Even though they like it traditional Irish fare kind of just gets pushed to the side. I mean, it’s not my first thought when I’m thinking about making food from another country. The Harris Poll put together a list of the Irish foods Americans are eating the most each St. Patrick’s Day.
Is the first thing you think of corned beef and cabbage? That is the most popular of the irish foods people go for each St. Patty’s Day. If you’re not into the whole cabbage thing, the runner up was fish and chips which is weird because that’s a British staple. We’re Americans, we don’t care.
If you’re going for lunch before heading out corn beef and reubens are tops when it comes to sandwiches you might be grabbing to line your stomach before you start crushing some green beers, Irish stouts or some shots of Jameson.
My go to St. Patrick’s Day food is a delicious shepherd’s pie. I love it. Lamb or beef doesn’t matter. There are some place that make fantastic shepherd’s pie and I will demolish it and then look for more. My shepherd’s pie love doesn’t end on St. Patrick’s Day, it is a great hearty and filling meal fall through winter. Hell I’ll take one down in July and August too. It’s sadly a bit undervalued in the polling as only 19% of Americans choose it as their go to on St. Patrick’s Day.
Enjoy your St. Patrick’s Day being on a weekend this year!
5 Fast Food Restaurants We Want to See in Pennsylvania
I always get a little frustrated when I see an ad on TV for a restaurant with delicious food, but it’s not a restaurant located in my area. Why even advertise? I get that some of these are national ads, but why the tease? In that spirit, I was recently thinking about fast food restaurants we want to see in Pennsylvania.
Before we get to these hot spots that we’d like to see come to Pennsylvania, let’s look at some of the state’s most popular fast food restaurants. Foodandwine.com recently did a story highlighting the best fast food spots in every state. In it, they state, “Fast, easy, typically quite affordable, and nearly always imbued with a deep sense of place, these restaurants often end up pulling double duty as ambassadors for their place of origin — they can be a great introduction to an unfamiliar place, the perfect place to tune in to the local vibe.” In Pennsylvania, they picked Wawa as the top. Moreover, they praise the restaurant’s “breakfast sandwiches, the soft pretzels, the iced teas, the ice cream, and the nearly limitless TastyKake reserves.” Also, looking next door, in New Jersey, they picked Jersey Mike’s. That’s actually my dad’s favorite.
Another outlet, TasteofHome.com, also did a story about the best fast food in each state. For this article, they actually highlighted regional and local chains, not the super national ones. “Move over McDonald’s and Chipotle—these treasured regional fast food spots should be on your bucket list!” they state. They picked the combination gas station / fast food restaurant Sheetz, Altoona as the best in Pennsylvania. Love me some Sheetz. “They offer made-to-order sandwiches that let you pile the toppings high, along with some pretty killer sides,” the article states.
Now, let’s get into five fast food restaurant we want to see in Pennsylvana.
Steve Vassalotti is co-host of “The Matt Cord Show with Steve Vassalotti” weekday mornings 6a-10a on 102.9 WMGK. He has been with the station since 2015. For WMGK he writes about inane nonsense that surrounds our daily lives, sports, food and other various topics. Steve writes about Philadelphia lifestyle content, the Philadelphia Eagles culture and trending topics.