Delaware Food & Traditional Cuisine

Delaware eats like the Mid-Atlantic farm and water country it is, with a distinct split between the halves of the state.

The south cooks Chesapeake and Delmarva food: blue crab, chicken in quantity — this is one of the country's major poultry regions — and the German-descended farm dishes that came down from Pennsylvania.

The north eats like the Philadelphia suburbs it adjoins. The coast adds the standard American boardwalk repertoire, several items of which have been sold by the same families for generations.

Scrapple

Pork scraps and cornmeal set in a loaf, sliced and fried until crisp. A breakfast staple across the state and taken seriously.

Slippery dumplings

Flat rolled dough simmered with chicken in its broth — closer to a thick stew than to anything a visitor expects from the word dumpling.

Blue crab

Steamed under Old Bay and eaten at a paper-covered table with a mallet, in season through the warmer months.

Boardwalk fries and saltwater taffy

Vinegar-dressed chips and pulled taffy, both coastal institutions sold by long-established family stands.

Chicken

Delmarva is where the American broiler industry began in the 1920s, and roadside chicken dinners remain a genuine local tradition.

Farm stands run across the middle of the state from June to October, at their best in July and August for sweetcorn, melons and tomatoes.

The coastal towns have seasonal farmers' markets, and several inland towns hold auctions that are as much social events as commerce.

Crab houses along the bay and the inland waters are the state's most characteristic eating, and are seasonal, informal and usually cash-friendly.

Volunteer fire company suppers — chicken, oysters or crab depending on the season — are a genuine institution and open to anyone.

Delaware has a small wine industry: a handful of vineyards working the sandy coastal-plain soil, mostly with hybrids and cool-climate whites that tolerate the humidity.

The state's real drinks reputation is beer. A brewery founded here in 1995 became one of the best-known craft breweries in the United States and helped set the template for the industry, and several smaller brewers have followed it.

No sales tax applies to any of it, which is not nothing.