Pennsylvania is well known for its wealth of culinary offerings, from fried delights to iconic snack foods and farm-fresh eats. While you’re traversing around the Keystone State, consider these one-of-a-kind food experiences, and view our listings of beer, wine, and food in Pennsylvania for more.

Fun Fair Food

There’s deep-fried everything and then there’s…

Iconic Foods

The recipe for a unique culinary experience should always include a bite of something iconic.

  • Lancaster’s Dutch Cuisine whoopie pie, shoofly pie, chow-chow (a sweet-and-sour relish made from cabbage), scrapple (loaf-pressed pork scraps, cornmeal, and flour), and Fasnacht (a type of donut).
  • Drown a plate of pancakes with maple syrup (“the nectar of the gods”) tapped right in Northwestern PA.
  • Savor farm-raised elk burgers at Medix and Benezette hotels in the PA Wilds.
  • Crunch the maple popcorn and other maple-infused treats at Loch’s in Springville.
  • Sample anything and everything apple from Adams County, where 20,000 of its acres are dedicated to fruit production, or attend the annual National Apple Harvest Festival in October.
  • Taste Pittsburgh perfection: Squirt some Heinz Ketchup on a Big Mac, which was invented in nearby Uniontown in the 1960s, and eat a sandwich at Primanti Bros., with fries right inside. Follow that up with a plate of potato-and-cheese pierogi.
  • Pop a few pepperoni balls from Stanganelli’s and save room for sponge candy (honeycomb, sea foam, or sponge toffee) from Stefanelli’s in Erie.
  • Yocco’s, the Hot Dog King of Emmaus, dishes up a well-done dog in a steamed roll with chopped onions, tangy mustard, and Yocco’s chili sauce.
  • Pennsylvania invented a better way to eat a sticky bun: grilled, so the glaze gets all ooey and gooey. Try ’em at Millers in Lancaster County.
  • The City of Brotherly Love is home to the friendliest food fight - try Pat's King of Steaks and Geno's Cheesesteaks to settle the great debate of who claims the best cheesesteak in the city.