We asked a dozen Californians to try these five favorite Ohio foods (and I bet you can guess which ones) to see how Buckeye State cuisine fared on their West Coast palates.
I know what you’re thinking—who doesn’t like chocolate? (To which we all reply, “Fine, more buckeyes for me, you barbarian.”) But trust me, you’re going to want to see these out-of-towners’ hilarious reactions to these delicious morsels.
Video Transcript:
Speaker 1: It’s latkes, right?
Speaker 2: Like it’s left behind by an animal in the forest.
Speaker 3: We’ve got to keep focuses.
Speaker 4: Raw sausage?
Speaker 1: It has that umami.
Speaker 2: It does have umami.
Speaker 1: It has umami going for it.
Speaker 5: It’s actually good. It doesn’t look like it would be good. Sorry, Ohio, but …
Speaker 1: Oh God.
Speaker 2: Don’t die by God.
Speaker 1: You can’t choke on it, it just slides right down.
Speaker 4: Me, I’d like an egg McMuffin with that.
Speaker 3: That’s what I was thinking. McDonald’s needs to jump on it.
Speaker 4: It’s because we’re both fat.
Speaker 3: I’m not fat … Skinny.
Speaker 7: I got it this time. Oh.
Speaker 8: Oh, this is just chips.
Speaker 7: Well.
Speaker 8: This is, yeah, this is no big deal.
Speaker 7: Yeah.
Speaker 8: This is just chips. Chips can only be so bad.
Speaker 9: Oh, it’s barbecue.
Speaker 10: Is it really?
Speaker 9: It’s probably, I’m assuming the chip is, oh, no, I got spicy.
Speaker 6: All right.
Speaker 5: Those are chips.
Speaker 6: Yeah.
Speaker 5: I lived in the south and that doesn’t mean anything because sometimes nasty things are disguised as chips.
Speaker 1: The mouth feel, it is very distinctive.
Speaker 3: It’s got, look it almost looks like human skin.
Speaker 5: No, no. It started off good, and then it ended bad.
Speaker 1: They probably serve this at games and shit, like, “I’m at the Reds’ game in Cincinnati, Cincy.”
Speaker 2: You’re never allowed in Cincinnati.
Speaker 5: Ever walked into an old warehouse … That’s got that musty smell. That’s what it tastes like.
Speaker 6: It tastes like the musty smell.
Speaker 7: I don’t know if I like it or not, but I can’t stop eating them.
Speaker 9: I’m going to [00:02:00] put this right there.
Speaker 10: I’ll eat it.
Speaker 9: I told you.
Speaker 1: Grippo sounds like a character from Star Wars.
Speaker 2: One of Ronald McDonald’s best friends.
Speaker 8: Okay, let’s see what we got here.
Speaker 7: Ah, I’ve read about this. I’m actually excited to eat it.
Speaker 11: It’s like some jail spaghetti.
Speaker 12: Jailhouse spaghetti.
Speaker 11: It does. I’m sorry guy.
Speaker 4: It seriously tastes like poor man college food, like, “Hey, what’s in our cabinet? Let’s go to grocery outlet.”
Speaker 3: Yeah, spaghetti, chili and cheese.
Speaker 7: I mean until further notice, I’m enjoying this.
Speaker 8: Yeah, no, that’s pretty good. It actually reminds me of garbage plates. It tastes like garbage plates, but with pasta.
Speaker 7: Less garbage, right?
Speaker 8: Yeah.
Speaker 1: I actually don’t want to eat anymore of this. I can see this being comfort food, but for some reason it’s not comforting me.
Speaker 10: It’s not the worst thing that I’ve ever eaten.
Speaker 9: Really?
Speaker 1: It smells like the food I serve my cat.
Speaker 2: Fancy Feast?
Speaker 1: My cat doesn’t get Fancy Feast but …
Speaker 2: Oh, is your cat poor?
Speaker 10: No.
Speaker 11: Yes, this actually could be okay.
Speaker 12: I don’t think this is falafel.
Speaker 11: It’s not, but it could be okay.
Speaker 10: Okay.
Speaker 9: It legitimately looks like a poop.
Speaker 1: Twinkle … Bink.
Speaker 10: That’s not …
Speaker 3: No.
Speaker 4: A white person pot sticker.
Speaker 3: I guess that’s not racist.
Speaker 1: What’s going on with my mouth right now?
Speaker 2: I don’t think my mouth has ever felt that many flavors and yet been so bored [00:04:00]
Speaker 9: Oh, my God, no.
Speaker 10: I’m pretty neutral about that.
Speaker 9: I wish I could eat this faster.
Speaker 10: Yeah.
Speaker 9: I can’t swallow it. It’s becoming a paste.
Speaker 4: Can I get seconds?
Speaker 3: Guys, is there any more of this?
Speaker 4: This is so good.
Speaker 2: I’m nervous. Okay.
Speaker 1: Oh, it’s looking at us.
Speaker 8: I know I’m going to regret these words, but it’s candied chocolate, so it can’t be that bad.
Speaker 5: I’m glad this is what I expected it to be and not something horrible.
Speaker 10: That’s for sure chocolate.
Speaker 9: Yeah.
Speaker 10: Yeah.
Speaker 1: Oh, yeah. Oh, but crumbly cookie on the inside.
Speaker 9: Oh, my God. It was peanut butter.
Speaker 10: Is it?
Speaker 9: It’s peanut butter.
Speaker 10: See, I don’t like either.
Speaker 8: That’s good.
Speaker 7: Do you guys have more of these?
Speaker 10: This is my fear factor. This is …
Speaker 9: Yeah.
Speaker 10: This is bad.
Speaker 9: Yeah.
Speaker 7: I can see why they named the university mascot after these.
Speaker 9: Oh, my God.
Speaker 2: I’m worried I’m going to choke on it.
Speaker 1: Why? How are you eating it? Use your teeth.
Speaker 7: Every single thing that we tried was pretty good.
Speaker 8: It was all, it was all of good.
Speaker 8: Pretty tasty yeah.
Speaker 7: Yeah, yeah, that was good.
Speaker 12: Actually not bad.
Speaker 11: Besides the …
Speaker 12: I could …
Speaker 11: Yeah, besides the three-way …
Speaker 12: Besides that thr-yeah that Cincinnati Three Way. No.
Speaker 5: I can see myself eating unique Ohion cuisine.
Speaker 8: No, I was a little nervous coming in. I wasn’t sure what they were going to … What people in Ohio like to …
Speaker 7: Right.
Speaker 8: Eat, but no, that’s good stuff.
Speaker 7: Turns out they’re just regular humans like you and me.
Speaker 1: I think it’s very hearty. They love staying …
Speaker 2: Super hearty.
Speaker 1: Warm via eating food. That’s pretty much their main hobby, I bet.
