Ithaca Food Culture

A curated selection of artisanal cheeses from local creameries like Lively Run, Cayuga Blue, and Bellwether Hard Cider's cheese program. Typically served with local honey, fruit preserves, and crackers. These cheeses showcase the region's dairy heritage with offerings ranging from fresh chèvre to aged cow's milk varieties.

The Finger Lakes region has been dairy country since the 19th century, but the artisanal cheese movement took off in the 1980s-90s when farmers began diversifying beyond fluid milk production.

Dense, cake-style donuts made with fresh-pressed apple cider, typically coated in cinnamon sugar. These autumn staples are best eaten warm and capture the essence of upstate New York's apple-growing heritage. The cider reduction gives them a concentrated apple flavor and moist texture.

While apple cider donuts originated in New England, they've become synonymous with fall in the Finger Lakes, where apple orchards have been central to agriculture since the 1800s.

Marinated chicken chunks grilled on skewers and typically served on Italian bread or a sub roll. The marinade is vinegar-based with Italian herbs and spices, creating tender, tangy meat. Though originally from nearby Binghamton, spiedies are beloved throughout the Southern Tier region including Ithaca.

Created by Italian immigrants in Binghamton in the 1930s, spiedies spread throughout upstate New York and became a regional comfort food staple at cookouts and festivals.

A composed bowl featuring locally-grown grains (often farro or quinoa), seasonal roasted vegetables, legumes, fermented vegetables, and house-made dressing. These bowls reflect Ithaca's health-conscious, plant-forward dining culture and change with the seasons. Often topped with seeds, nuts, or nutritional yeast.

While grain bowls are ubiquitous now, Ithaca's natural food movement pioneered this format in the 1970s-80s through establishments like Moosewood Restaurant, making the city a vegan dining destination decades before it was mainstream.

Small, young potatoes boiled in heavily salted water until tender, creating a creamy interior and slightly salty skin. Traditionally served with melted butter. This Central New York specialty is simple but addictive, highlighting the region's potato farming.

Originated in Syracuse in the 1800s when salt workers boiled potatoes in salt brine. The dish spread throughout Central and Upstate New York, becoming a summer picnic and fish fry staple.

Grilled chicken marinated in a distinctive sauce made with vinegar, oil, egg, salt, and poultry seasoning. The recipe was developed at Cornell University and became a regional favorite. The vinegar-based marinade keeps the chicken incredibly moist while grilling.

Created in the 1940s by Cornell professor Robert Baker, who revolutionized poultry science. The recipe became a fundraising staple for community organizations across upstate New York.

A double-crust pie filled with Concord grapes, creating a sweet-tart, intensely fruity filling with a unique texture from the grape skins. The filling is typically thickened and the grapes are seeded. This purple-hued pie is distinctly regional.

Concord grapes have been grown in the Finger Lakes since the mid-1800s, and grape pie emerged as a way to use the abundant harvest, particularly in the Naples area south of Ithaca.

Grilled sandwich with corned beef, Swiss cheese, sauerkraut, and Russian dressing on rye bread. While debated in origin, the Reuben is beloved in upstate New York delis and represents the region's German and Jewish culinary influences.

Though its exact origin is disputed, the Reuben became a staple in New York delis in the early-to-mid 20th century and remains a comfort food favorite throughout the state.

Dishes inspired by global cuisines but made vegetarian, such as vegetarian moussaka, curries, or enchiladas. These reflect Ithaca's pioneering vegetarian restaurant culture that introduced international meatless cooking to mainstream America.

The Moosewood Collective, formed in 1973, became internationally famous through their cookbooks, putting Ithaca on the map as a vegetarian dining destination and influencing how Americans approached meatless cooking.

Oversized flour tortilla filled with scrambled eggs, local cheese, seasonal vegetables, potatoes, and often locally-made salsa or hot sauce. These burritos from market vendors have become a Saturday morning ritual for locals and showcase farm-fresh ingredients.

The Ithaca Farmers Market, established in 1973, became one of the country's premier farmers markets, and breakfast burritos emerged as a market tradition combining convenience with local ingredients.

Fresh lake trout from Cayuga Lake or other Finger Lakes, typically pan-seared, grilled, or smoked. The delicate, flaky fish is often served simply to highlight its freshness, sometimes with local wine reduction or herb butter.

The Finger Lakes have supported fishing communities for centuries, and lake trout remains a connection to the region's indigenous heritage and natural bounty.

Soft-serve ice cream made with real maple syrup from local sugar bushes. Creamier and denser than regular soft-serve, with the distinctive caramel-like flavor of pure maple. A spring specialty when maple season arrives.

Vermont popularized creemees, but upstate New York's maple producers adopted the tradition, creating their own version using Finger Lakes maple syrup.