Pennsylvania is well known for its wealth of culinary offerings, from fried delights to iconic snack foods and farm-fresh eats. While you’re traversing around the Keystone State, consider these one-of-a-kind food experiences, and view our listings of beer, wine, and food in Pennsylvania for more.
Fun Fair Food
There’s deep-fried everything and then there’s…
- Pretzel sandwiches and haluski (cabbage and noodles): Wyoming County Fair in Meshoppen
- Ice-cream-topped monkey bread loaded with cinnamon and brown sugar: Huntingdon County Fair
- All-you-can-eat chicken pot pie: Kutztown Fair
- Red-velvet funnel cake, venison jerky, and Cajun fried chicken on a stick: Centre County Grange Fair Encampment in Centre Hall
- Ox roast and maple milkshakes: Crawford County Fair in Meadville
- Fireball sandwich, bologna sticks, and sweet-corn nuggets: Bloomsburg Fair
Iconic Foods
The recipe for a unique culinary experience should always include a bite of something iconic.
- Lancaster’s Dutch Cuisine whoopie pie, shoofly pie, chow-chow (a sweet-and-sour relish made from cabbage), scrapple (loaf-pressed pork scraps, cornmeal, and flour), and Fasnacht (a type of donut).
- Drown a plate of pancakes with maple syrup (“the nectar of the gods”) tapped right in Northwestern PA.
- Savor farm-raised elk burgers at Medix and Benezette hotels in the PA Wilds.
- Crunch the maple popcorn and other maple-infused treats at Loch’s in Springville.
- Sample anything and everything apple from Adams County, where 20,000 of its acres are dedicated to fruit production, or attend the annual National Apple Harvest Festival in October.
- Taste Pittsburgh perfection: Squirt some Heinz Ketchup on a Big Mac, which was invented in nearby Uniontown in the 1960s, and eat a sandwich at Primanti Bros., with fries right inside. Follow that up with a plate of potato-and-cheese pierogi.
- Pop a few pepperoni balls from Stanganelli’s and save room for sponge candy (honeycomb, sea foam, or sponge toffee) from Stefanelli’s in Erie.
- Yocco’s, the Hot Dog King of Emmaus, dishes up a well-done dog in a steamed roll with chopped onions, tangy mustard, and Yocco’s chili sauce.
- Pennsylvania invented a better way to eat a sticky bun: grilled, so the glaze gets all ooey and gooey. Try ’em at Millers in Lancaster County.
Food & Factory-Related Tours
Munch on made-in-PA snackables.
- Go nuts like a kid in a candy store at Edwards-Freeman Nut Company in Conshohocken or watch chocolate being made at Asher’s Chocolates in Souderton.
- In York County, tour Martin’s Potato Chips in Thomasville, where 50,000 pounds of fresh potatoes are transformed into chips each day. Or have a hand-dipped ice cream cone after a tour of Perrydell Farm, where you get to see cows being milked and calves being fed. Into the twisted? Tour Revonah Pretzel or Snyder’s of Hanover for a look at how the knotted snacks are made.
- Two family-owned candy stores in Mercer County, Daffin’s Chocolate Kingdom and Philadelphia Candies, also offer your delectable goodies with their culinary delicacies.
- Take the ultimate chocolate excursion to Hershey’s Chocolate World, or get the scoop on ice cream production at the Turkey Hill Experience in Columbia.
- Take your taste buds on a historic journey of Gettysburg on a Savor Gettysburg Food Tours.
- ‘Burgh Bits and Bites Food Tours offers a tasting tour of five Steel City neighborhoods. Fall in love with the pizza, pasta, and biscotti in Bloomfield, dubbed Pittsburgh’s Little Italy); or devour pretzels and potato pancakes in Northside, a historical area influenced by German immigrants and entrepreneurs like D.L. Clark and Andrew Carnegie.
Find more factory tours in Pennsylvania >>
Cooking Classes
Grab an apron and play with your food at a specialty cooking class.
- From homemade pesto and knife skills to canning apples and cookies for gifting, Carlisle’s Kitchen Shoppe & Cooking School has a sweet lineup of classes.
- Spend Thyme In Your Kitchen in Sharon and learn to cook sushi, soups, Korean, and Caribbean. You can even sign up for special kid-themed classes featuring after-school snacks and more.
- Daily classes at The Hershey Story Museum’s Chocolate Lab offer insight into the science and history behind cocoa beans and feature the opportunity to create customized chocolate concoctions.
- Learn how to twist your own pretzel at Tom Sturgis Pretzels in Shillington.
Learn about more foodie fun on the VISIT PA website. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram to stay up-to-date on even more great ideas and places to visit around our state. Don’t forget to sign up for our monthly PA travel e-newsletter so you never miss an update.