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Today's Question Blog
Meg Martin

The Great Grape Salad Outrage of ’14

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Buffalo might be covered in snow, but at least we're covered in grape salad. (Tim Post / MPR News)

Salad rarely sets off social media outrage but this time the New York Times has really ticked off some  Minnesotans.

For Thanksgiving, the Times' food team "scoured the nation for recipes that evoke each state." The Minnesota pick: Grape salad.

Um.

Grape salad? Why, yes: Grapes + sour cream + brown sugar = Minnesota in a dish. Didn't you know?

Minnesotans immediately unleashed a torrent of Internet indignation, betraying every bit of our flyover-country insecurity. The recipe's origins on the family table of an unnamed "Minnesota heiress"? Thoroughly mocked.

Chef Amy Thielen spoke with MPR News' Tom Crann about "Grapegate":

And Minneapolis-St. Paul Magazine's Dara Moskowitz Grumdahl had this to say:

So: How can we remedy this, Minnesota? What is the Thanksgiving-worthy dish that best evokes us?

Is it stereotypical Tater-tot hotdish? Chicken larb? Homemade injera? Banh mi? Vermicelli salad? Lefse? Pulla?

What do we want America to know about who we are through what we eat? (And: Who are we, anyway?)