Coastal Americans Sample Midwest Food — And They’re Not Too Impressed [Video]

Coastal Americans often wonder about the Midwest region of the country–it’s a place that’s not often visited in relation to east coasters heading to California or Seattle, or West coasters flying to New York or Florida. Because of that, a lot of the Midwest’s cuisine is totally unknown to those folks who have only been in its airspace when flying to one side of the United States to the other.

In this video, American’s from both coasts get a chance to try out samples of the food best associated with the Midwest. Some of the food the group samples includes Tat Tot Hotdish (“This is just shepherd’s pie with tater tots on top.”), Cincinnati-style Chili (which was the favorite of at least one panelist), Jimmy John’s (“This bread looks like garbage.”), and Beer Cheese (“This is the like the fever dream of a frat boy.”)

As always with American cuisine, it’s hard to say definitely what any one region eats–immigration tends to mix things up a bit wherever you go in U.S.–but some of these staples of the Midwest might best be left alone.