DELAWARE - When outsiders think of Delaware cuisine, they usually picture tubs of boardwalk fries completely flooded with malt vinegar, steaming piles of blue crabs, or the famous "Bobbie" sandwich—a Thanksgiving feast stuffed into a sub roll. But if you look deeper into the First State rural, agricultural, and coastal history, you will uncover some truly bizarre and visually shocking dishes.
To Delawareans, these plates are comforting reminders of home and heritage. To tourists, they look like dares. Here are the most wonderfully weird and outwardly disgusting things you can eat in Delaware.
1. Muskrat (The "Marsh Rabbit")
While Maryland also claims a stake in muskrat consumption, Southern Delaware—particularly the marshy areas of Kent and Sussex counties—has a deep, historical trapping culture where eating these semi-aquatic rodents is a winter tradition. Often politely rebranded on menus as "marsh rabbit," muskrat is parboiled, heavily seasoned, and roasted, braised, or fried.
- Why outsiders hate it: It is undeniably a giant swamp rat. The meat is extremely dark, the smell while cooking can be intensely pungent, and it is frequently served with the skull or tail entirely intact.
- Why locals love it: Those who grow up eating it swear by its rich, gamey flavor, often comparing it to a cross between duck and dark-meat turkey. It is a hearty, hyper-local winter meal that honors the State deep roots in trapping.
2. Scrapple (The Breakfast Mystery Meat)
Delaware takes scrapple so seriously that the town of Bridgeville hosts the massive annual Apple Scrapple Festival. This mid-Atlantic creation was born from agricultural frugality—taking the leftover pig parts (snouts, livers, hearts, and trimmings) that couldn't be sold, boiling them into a broth, thickening it with cornmeal and buckwheat flour, and molding it into a grey, gelatinous loaf.
- Why outsiders hate it: Straight out of the package, a block of scrapple looks like a cold brick of wet, speckled cement. The ingredient list alone is enough to make out-of-towners push their breakfast plates away.
- Why locals love it: When a thick slice is pan-fried to a dark, crispy brown, it is pure magic. It offers a satisfying, salty crunch on the outside with a soft, intensely savory and herbaceous center. Paired with a runny egg or a smear of apple butter, it is Delaware's undisputed king of breakfast meats.
3. Creamed Chipped Beef on Toast (S.O.S.)
Walk into any old-school diner in Delaware—from Wilmington down to Delmar—and you will likely find this unapologetically heavy dish on the breakfast menu. Known affectionately by its military nickname, S.O.S. (Shit on a Shingle), it consists of dried, salted, pressed beef that is chopped up, rehydrated in a thick, flour-heavy white gravy, and ladled generously over slices of toasted white bread.
- Why outsiders hate it: Visually, it is a culinary nightmare. It looks like a massive puddle of white, gluey paste dumped unceremoniously onto a plate, turning the toast underneath into a soggy mess.
- Why locals love it: It is the ultimate cheap, rib-sticking comfort food. The beef provides an intense, salty chew that cuts through the rich, creamy blandness of the milk gravy, while the toast acts as the perfect starchy sponge.
4. Chicken and Slippery Dumplings
If you order "chicken and dumplings" anywhere else in the country, you expect a bowl of thick stew topped with fluffy, biscuit-like dumplings. In Delaware, you get something entirely different: "slippery" dumplings.
- Why outsiders hate it: Delaware dumplings are rolled out incredibly thin and cut into large, flat squares before being boiled directly in chicken broth. To the uninitiated, a bowl of slippery dumplings looks like someone accidentally dropped sheets of wet paper or thick, soggy rags into a bowl of chicken soup.
- Why locals love it: The sheer surface area of the flat dough allows the dumplings to soak up an incredible amount of rich, savory chicken broth while releasing starch to thicken the soup into a silky gravy. It is a deeply comforting, stick-to-your-ribs meal that is a staple at local firehall fundraisers and Sunday family dinners alike.