Clarence Crane came up with a
sweet that could stand up to the
heat. Crane borrowed a machine
used by pharmacists to make pills
and developed a new candy with a
hole in the middle. In honor of its
shape, he named it a Life Saver.Oklahoma
Signature dish: In 1988,
the Sooner State desig-
nated a whole official
meal. Served up is
chicken-fried steak,
sausage with biscuits
and gravy, corn bread,
corn, fried okra, black-eyed
peas, barbecued pork, squash, grits,
and strawberries, topped off with a
piece of pecan pie. Hope you’re
hungry!
Who Knew? The onion burger dates
to the 1920s, when a resourceful
restaurant owner fried up a pile ofa plate of spaghetti? Thank the
farmers in the Sioux State. About
60 percent of the 75 million bushels
of durum wheat produced annually
to make pasta is grown in North
Dakota.Ohio
Signature dish: cincinnati chili.
“Cincinnati chili can be
customized from the most
basic one-way (chili only—
but trust me, NO ONE
eats it this way) to the
gold standard five-way:
chili, spaghetti, beans,
raw onions, and shredded
cheddar. I was making this at home
by the time I was ten.”
—Deb Mulvey, Taste of Home
copy chief
Who Knew? Chocolate gets messy
in the summertime. So in 1912,
Cleveland-based candy makerCincinnati chili
was invented by
two brothers who
emigrated from
Macedonia.br
en
t^ h
of
ac
ke
r/
sh
ut
te
rs
to
ck
(b
ur
ge
r)
Cover Story