Philadelphia has hundreds of amazing restaurants featuring cuisine from all around the world. There are some foods, however, for which Philadelphia is distinctly famous:

Reading Terminal Market

www.readingterminalmarket.org
In the late 19th century, railroads seeking to impress passengers began building luxurious train sheds in major cities up and down the East Coast. One of these was the Reading Terminal, built by the Reading Railroad company (the same Reading Railroad as featured in the board game Monopoly). Officially opened in 1892, the Reading Terminal Market today tempts visitors with baked goods, meats, seafood, produce, flowers, and candy from more than 80 merchants, including authentic Pennsylvania Dutch bakers. Reading Terminal is a great place to have lunch, shop for gifts, and see some local culture up close.

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The Philly Cheesesteak

There are many great questions out there (Which came first, the chicken or the egg? Is a tomato a fruit or a vegetable? Would you like fries with that?), but few have fueled as much debate as the great Philadelphia question: Who does the best cheesesteak? We're not going to make your decisions for you, so here are three that rank among the most popular:

1) and 2) Pat's and Geno's: Only in Philadelphia could two steak places open across the street from one another, stay open all night selling cheesesteaks, and both do a thriving business. Pat's and Geno's are located on opposite corners of Passyunk and 9th. Be sure to read the posted ordering instructions carefully while you're in line at either place, or you might be left speechless when the guy at the window demands to know, "With? With?!"

3. Jim's Steaks: Located at 4th and South Streets, Jim's has been in business for more than 60 years. While it's a little less daunting than Pat's and Geno's, its location so far north of the cheesesteak's birthplace (it's almost a mile north of it, to be exact), leads to many detractors. Those who've savored a steak from Jim's, though, never look back.

Bonus: Vegetarians and vegans, fear not! Do you think a city so obsessed with cheesesteak culture would leave you out of the deliciousness? No-meat cheesesteaks can be found at Gourmet to Go at South and Broad Streets, Gianna's Grille at 507 South 6th Street, and the Basic Four Vegetarian Snack Bar at Reading Terminal Market.

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Tastykake

www.tastykake.com
Back in 1914, a baker named Philip J. Baur and an egg salesman named Herbert T. Morris got together and started the Tasty Baking Company. In just four years this homespun company's sales reached $1 million, and Baur and Morris quickly began adding new products to its line of cakes and pies. Today snack connoisseurs devour Tastykakes to the tune of $255 million annually.

Your Tastykake Lexicon

  • Krimpets®: Rectangular sponge cake with either a jelly center or butterscotch icing.
  • Kandy Kakes®: Round, compact sponge cake with either a layer of peanut butter and milk chocolate coating or a layer of marshmallow and dark chocolate coating.
  • Juniors®: Large, rectangular cakes in three varieties — chocolate, coconut, and Koffee Kake®.
  • Kreamies™: Yellow or chocolate cake surrounding a layer of cream.

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Soft Pretzels

It's estimated that Philadelphians consume 12 times more pretzels than the national average. Why? It's probably because you can buy a fresh soft pretzel on nearly any corner of this city (and sometimes twice on the same corner). Here are tips on how you can get a perfect pretzel every time:

  • When buying a pretzel, avoid those wrapped in plastic. The best pretzels are sold in paper bags.
  • A good pretzel has a layer of coarse salt on it. Scrape some off if you're worried about sodium overload.
  • While you can enjoy your pretzel plain, yellow or spicy mustard adds a delightful kick.

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Italian Market

www.phillyitalianmarket.com
There aren't many stores where you can buy both pasta and a cell phone. Well, Philly's got two of them. Welcome to the Italian Market, the oldest and largest working outdoor market in the United States. It stretches for seven blocks and encompasses more than 100 merchants, both in storefronts and in stalls along the street. It's a chaotic place, but if you like the bustle of an old-world market, visit 9th Street in South Philadelphia between Fitzwater and Wharton Streets. Here you'll find, among other things, four cheese stores, seven meat markets, four fish merchants, two pasta manufacturers, four poultry stores, three cookware shops, two bakeries, three spice houses, more than 40 produce vendors, and some of the most amazing restaurants in the city.

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Chinatown

Chinatown, which extends from 9th to 12th Streets and from Vine to Arch Streets, is a great place to go if you want to be surrounded by the diverse Asian cultures that call it home. But let’s face it, it’s also a fantastic place to eat. Whether you choose to go to one of Chinatown’s popular restaurants — the first one, Mei-Hsian Lou, opened in 1870 at 913 Race Street — or shop at one of the neighborhood's sprawling Asian supermarkets, Chinatown can satisfy your cravings for Thai, Vietnamese, Burmese, and Japanese food, as well as Chinese food in Szechuan, Hunan, and Mandarin styles.

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Hoagie

Ah, the hoagie. It's a word so quintessentially Philadelphian that you could travel just a few miles away and ask for one, and people wouldn't have a clue what you were talking about. Though they're called subs, heroes, bombers, grinders, torpedos, and rockets in other parts of the world, the Philadelphia hoagie has a story all its own. In the 1930s, a Philadelphian named Al DePalma went to Hog Island in South Philadelphia to find work in the naval shipyards. While there he saw shipworkers scarfing down huge sandwiches. Instead of applying for a job, DePalma went home and started work on his idea. A few months later DePalma opened a luncheonette near the waterfront where he served gigantic sandwiches that he called "Hoggies." This word eventually became "hoagies," but not before DePalma earned the moniker "King of Hoggies."

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Scrapple

Eligible for first place in the "Foods You Wouldn't Eat If You Read The Ingredients" and "Scariest Breakfast Meats" categories, scrapple is a local delicacy that disgusts its detractors and delights its loyal fans. Originating from the words "scrap" or "scrappy," scrapple is literally that — boiled and ground leftover pig scraps with cornmeal and spices thrown in. This porcine concoction is formed into a block — the default shape, it seems, for all questionable meat products — which is then cut into slabs. These slabs are fried in lard until they're crunchy on the outside and mushy on the inside. If you want to sample The Other Gray Meat, you might want to give scrapple a try.

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Water Ice

Need to cleanse your palate after the scrapple? Understandable. May we then recommend water ice? Similar to Italian ice, water ice is a sweet, flavored summertime treat that's just as popular as ice cream in Philadelphia.

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Food