by Elle P.C. Smith

Created on: July 11, 2009

Philadelphia; the city of brotherly love, grease stained to go bags, and cherry colored tongues. The best way to learn about a people is to live amongst them and immerse yourself in the culture. What better way to see how a Philadelphian lives than to eat the staple foods of the area? However, I warn you from personal experience that when leaving Philadelphia, it is hard to find foods that make your mouth water as much.

Amish Style Food

For a people who do not rely on technology and modern day devices, they have created a quaint triangle of edible bliss in the Reading Terminal Market (12th and Arch Street) While the Amish do not make one particular food, they have the most fresh, natural and best tasting food.

It is easy to admire a people who leave Lancaster County, PA in the wee hours of the morning after a day of plowing, sewing, and harvesting milk from real cows to sell to the local masses. The humbly dressed and friendly faces of the Amish are only a perk to their perfectly baked chicken, reasonably priced sweets, and hand twisted pretzels with freshly churned butter.

At the Dutch Eating Place they offer their famous blueberry pancakes, Ruben sandwiches, down home meals such as meatloaf and mashed potatoes and their top seller, apple dumplings. Conveniently next door is Beiler's Bakery which offers low priced red velvet cakes, apple fritters, shoofly pies, and fresh whole or half apple pies. Just want a snack? Try Millers Twist which serves hand rolled soft pretzels and Lancaster county ice cream all made fresh on the premises. Sadly, the Amish are too busy doing everything by hand that they only come to the market Wednesday through Saturday.

Cheese Steaks

A never ending battle has been ongoing in Philadelphia for as long as I can remember. Pat versus Geno's for the highly coveted title of Best Philadelphia Cheese steak Spot is consistently contested among all Philadelphians. From the lines that loop around the block to the brightly colored lights, the two establishments may appear to be cheese steak heaven but do not buy into the hype.

While Pat's and Geno's are a fixture in South Philadelphia, there are other cheese steak spots that rival these sliced beef, melted cheese kings. Tony Luke's (39 E. Oregon Avenue) serves up a perfectly cooked beef loaded steak with onions, pepper, mayo and provolone to boot. The hearty bread is a necessity in such a saturated sandwich that Tony Luke's happily provides. Jim's steaks (400 South Street) is a major

• 1
• 2
• Next Page >>