American food: Regional plates from all 50 states

By Forrest Brown, Marnie Hunter, Sarah-Grace Mankarious, Marco Chacón and Tiffany Baker, CNN Americans can fry just about anything, and comfort food classics unite – and occasionally divide – states and regions. Pulled from the sea, harvested from the land, carried across borders and passed down through generations, US culinary traditions are just as blended – and sometimes complicated – as its people. How well do you know America’s regional specialties? We’re putting you to the test. Take your best shot at pairing these regional dishes with the states that love them. Do fried green tomatoes have Southern roots? Maybe not, but the South has sunk its teeth into these fried slices of tart, unripe produce with gusto. The 1991 movie based on Fannie Flagg’s novel, “Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe,” gave Alabama a national reputation for the battered treat. The setting for Flagg’s novel, was based on the Irondale Cafe in Irondale, Alabama, where her aunt served her fried green tomatoes as a kid. The film fired up the frying: the cafe serves hundreds of fried slices a day. With a leg span of up to 5 feet (about 1.5 meters), the red king crab isn’t a creature most people woul