Regional American Food: Jambalaya, Chowder, Cornbread and Barbecue

A road trip through American food: Louisiana jambalaya; New England clam chowder and the beach clambake; Southern biscuits, cornbread, peach cobbler and hush puppies, fried cornmeal balls; and barbecue, with its regional styles from Texas and Kansas City to the Carolinas and Memphis.

Only eight words, but all of them long. Barbecue, biscuits and hushpuppy are diagonal.

Regional US Dishes Vocabulary: 8 Words to Find

Words run across, up and down, and diagonally; 5 of the 8 read backwards. The longest words are Cornbread, Hush Puppy and Jambalaya, with 9 letters each.

Barbecue: Meat cooked slowly over wood smoke, with famous regional styles across the American South.
Biscuits: In the American South, soft, flaky bread rolls served with gravy or butter.
Chowder: A thick, creamy soup, especially New England clam chowder.
Clambake: A New England beach feast of clams, lobster and corn steamed over hot stones and seaweed.
Cobbler: A baked fruit dessert topped with biscuit dough, like peach cobbler.
Cornbread: A crumbly bread made with cornmeal, a staple of Southern cooking.
Hush Puppy: A small ball of fried cornmeal batter served with fried fish in the American South.
Jambalaya: A Louisiana rice dish with sausage, chicken or shrimp, peppers, onion and celery.

How to Solve the Regional US Dishes Word Search

"Jambalaya" has the only J and runs straight down. "Hush Puppy" has a double P and lies on a backwards diagonal. "Cobbler" and "cornbread" both start with CO, and "chowder" has the only W.

American Food Road Trip Activities

Mark the state or region of each dish on a map of the United States.
Bake cornbread or biscuits together.
Compare barbecue styles from Texas, Kansas City and the Carolinas.