On the Map: Why Some Foods Are Named After Places

The name of this dessert was coined at Delmonico's Restaurant in New York City in 1876. The restaurant decided to celebrate the purchase of the Alaska territory with a new menu item. Delighted dessert lovers have been enjoying the treat ever since.

Try These Homemade Recipes:
Cherry-Brownie Baked Alaska
Brownie Baked Alaska
Minty Lime Baked Alaska
Mini Chocolate and Cherry Baked Alaskas

This wonderful breakfast item was reportedly popularized in the U.S. at the 1964/1965 New York World's Fair by a vendor from Brussels, Belgium. The original form was served with whipped cream and strawberries.

Try These Homemade Recipes:
Maple Belgian Waffles
Classic Belgian Waffles

In the 1600s and 1700s, the New England area had an abundance of baked beans (Native Americans ate them before colonists even settled in the land) and molasses, a byproduct of processing cane sugar that is used during the rum distillation process. At some point during the era, people thought to put the two together and presto! Boston baked beans were born.

Try These Homemade Recipes:
Boston Baked Beans, Slow-Cooker Style
Grandma Kirk's Baked Beans

Boston Cream Pie, which is actually more cake than pie, is named after its birthplace. Massachusetts's official state dessert was invented at Parker's Restaurant in Boston's Omni Parker House Hotel by French chef Sanzian's bake staff. They decided to drizzle chocolate icing onto a vanilla custard-filled sponge cake. The experiment was definitely a success.

Try These Homemade Recipes:
Boston Cream Pie
Boston Cream Pie Cupcakes

In an episode of MTV's "Newlyweds," Jessica Simpson famously rebuffed buffalo wings because they are made from buffalo meat. Back then, Jessica didn't know Buffalo wings have Buffalo, New York, to thank for their name, not a roaming animal. (For the record, buffalo wings are made from chicken wings.) According to Buffalo's official city website, "chicken wings originated in the kitchen of the Anchor Bar in 1964, devised and served by owner Teressa Bellissimo herself." Mrs. Bellissimo reportedly deep-fried some chicken wings she had on hand as a snack for her son's friends. She flavored them with a secret sauce that is still a closely guarded secret. Since then, Buffalo wings have grown beyond a national gastronomical treat; they're also beloved internationally.

Try These Homemade Recipes:
7 Must-Try Hot Wings

Sushi is a Japanese cuisine, but the California roll is not. Most sources credit Ichiro Mashita, sushi chef at Los Angeles's Tokyo Kaikan (one of the first sushi bars in L.A.) with creating the beloved California roll in the 1970s. Mashita used avocado to replace toro, a fatty tuna, when it wasn't available. Mashita also receives credit for turning the sushi "inside-out," with rice on the outside.

Try These Homemade Recipes:
California Roll Salad
Avocado Sushi

The Chicago-style "deep-dish" pizza was invented in 1943 at Chicago's Pizzeria Uno. It was reportedly invented by Uno's founder, Ike Sewell, a former University of Texas football star. But a 1956 article in the Chicago Daily News asserts that Uno's original pizza chef, Rudy Malnati, developed the recipe. Either way, Chicago is the undisputed birthplace of the deep-dish wonder, which will always pay homage to its home with its name.

Try These Homemade Recipes:
Chicago Deep-Dish Pizza
Chicago Deep-Dish-Style Veggie Pizza
Deep-Dish Pizza Dough

The naming origins for this beloved brunch staple are a bit unclear. A 2003 article in Slate tried to answer the question, "Is French toast really French?" What they found: The dish we know as French toast was probably first prepared during Medieval times. The term "French toast" first appeared in the book The Accomplisht Cook in 1660 (without egg in the recipe). Yet recipes using the simple combination of bread, eggs, and milk appear later as "Spanish Toast" and "German Toast." Thankfully we don't need to know the exact history of the name to enjoy the beloved breakfast treat.

Try These Homemade Recipes:
Phenomenal French Toast Recipes from Martha Stewart
Overnight Savory French Toast
Peanut Butter Crunch French Toast
Overnight Savory French Toast

The birth tale for this dessert begins at Walter Baker & Company. In 1852, chocolatier Sam German created a sweet baking bar named "BAKER'S German's Sweet Chocolate." When a woman from Texas sent a cake recipe using German's Sweet Chocolate to a newspaper in Dallas in 1957, sales for the chocolate bar spiked. Other newspapers picked up the recipe for German's Chocolate Cake, but at some point the apostrophe and "s" were dropped, leaving just German Chocolate Cake.

Try These Homemade Recipes:
German Chocolate Cake
German Chocolate Cupcakes

You don't need to take a trip to the British Isles in search of London Broil. The beef dish is a North American creation. What goes into making London broil? Marinated steak (often flank steak) is grilled or broiled, then sliced across the grain into thin strips. (Some butchers also label certain cuts of meat by the term.) The origins of the name are unclear, but we hear London residents remain largely unaware of the dish. Shame.

Try These Homemade Recipes:
London Broil with Cherry-Balsamic Sauce
London Broil and Garlic Potatoes

Put the globe aside. You need a picture of the solar system to find the place that inspired the name for this wonderful treat. Chattanooga Bakery created the MoonPie in 1917. When a bakery salesman from the company visited a store that catered to coal miners, the miners said they needed a solid, filling snack to munch on when they couldn't stop for lunch. When the salesman asked how big it should be, a miner framed the moon with his hands. Thus the resulting treat — marshmallow sandwiched between two graham cookies coated in chocolate — earned its name: MoonPie.

Try These Homemade Recipes:
Sandwich Cookie Recipes

There's a simple reason "Cheesesteak" is preceeded by "Philadelphia" — that's where it was invented. The owner of Pat's King of Steaks, Pat Olivieri, created the beloved steak sandwich in 1930. But cheese wasn't added until later. The mouthwatering marriage between steak and cheese doesn't have a clear history. Some argue that Geno's Steaks, Pat's King of Steaks' rival (and neighbor) added the cheese in the 1960s. In that scenario, Pat's supposedly responded by putting cheese wiz on their steak sandwiches. Either way, Philadelphia citizens created a meal with staying power.

Try These Homemade Recipes:
Fantastic Philly Cheesesteak Recipes

Swedish meatballs do, in fact, have roots in Sweden. When Swedish immigrants settled in the Midwest region of the U.S., they continued to make köttbullar (meatballs), which were eventually enjoyed by other citizens. Today, there are a number of variations of Swedish meatballs on the market and in American recipe books, but they all share Swedish roots.

Try These Homemade Recipes:
Swedish Meatballs
Other Magnificent Meatballs from Around the Globe

The Texas Toast tale is set in, yes, Texas. One of the more widely accepted invention stories takes place in 1941, when Pig Stand, a successful restaurant chain in the state, put in a bakery order for thicker slices of bread. When those pieces wouldn't fit in the toaster, the story goes, a cook suggested covering them with butter and grilling them. Texas Toast was a hit. Today, the thick slices have made their way into the prepackaged world thanks to grocery-store freezers.

Try These Homemade Recipes:
Texas Toasts with Filet Mignon, Watercress, and Herb Butter

The savory sauce that causes countless home cooks to stumble on its name has its birthplace to blame: Worcester, England. In the early 1800s, Lord Sandys, a nobleman, returned from travels in Bengal and hired two chemists, John Lea and William Perrins, to try to duplicate a sauce he tasted during his trip. Their first batch failed, and the two men left the jars in their cellar. A few years later, they came across the jars and decided to taste the sauce. Surprisingly, the aging process yielded something sensational. The duo began selling their creation. Lea & Perrins® Worcestershire Sauce is still available today.

Still don't know how to pronounce the sauce's name? These variations are all acceptable, according to Lea & Perrins: "WUST-ter-shire," "WOOS-ter-sheer," or "WOOS-ter-sher" sauce.

Try These Homemade Recipes:
Sausage Rolls with Worcestershire Sauce
Maple-Glazed Turkey Drumsticks