NEW ENGLAND'S GASTRONOMIC DELIGHTS
Compiled by Deirdre Mackey for Essentially America magazine (2005)

Not only is America's New England region known for its scenic beauty, history, heritage and welcoming cities and towns, but it's also known for its wealth of delicious, home-grown and home-produced all-American cuisine. Among the specialities of its six states - Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island and Vermont - are some of the world's best lobsters, clams, cranberries and blueberries, maple syrup, cheese and ice cream.

Connecticut is full of sophisticated restaurants and award-winning chefs; but its two best-known contributions to international cuisine are the ever-popular hamburger and pizza. Both trace their origins to New Haven, where more than a century ago, Louis Lassen broiled a burger on an upright gas gadget and served it between toast, and where, later, Italian immigrant Frank Pepe loaded traditional thin crusts with unusual toppings. Louis' Lunch is still going strong (www.louislunch.com), and people still queue at Pepe's Pizzeria. www.ctbound.org

Maine offers the best of both gastronomic worlds - fertile fields where organic farming predominates, and pristine ocean waters that offer up an abundance of cold-water seafood, especially lobster. Maine also produces 99 per cent of America's wild blueberries and the super-sized chocolate cookie with the gooey centre known as a Whoopie Pie. www.visitmaine.com

As the home of Boston, Massachusetts is the international gateway to New England, so it's only logical that it should offer world-class restaurants. Among them is the Union Oyster House, founded in 1826 and the oldest restaurant in continuous service in the USA. One of the state's best-known products is honoured at the annual, Massachusetts Cranberry Harvest Festival, a three-day event in early October, offering demonstrations of cranberry harvesting and cooking plus entertainment, live music, a craft fair, rides and much more. While in Boston you should also visit downtown's charming Omni Parker Hotel, founded in 1855 and famous for its Boston Cream Pies and Parker House Rolls. www.massvacation.com

New Hampshire's wealth of apple, peach and pear orchards, as well as its berry farms, continue to furnish delicious fresh fruit to the state's country and agricultural fairs and to its numerous farmers' markets, which are open until October. Lovers of traditional food should also visit the Shaker Table at Canterbury Shaker Village. Its traditional Shaker dishes include blueberry-lavender buttermilk soup, squash bread and rose water flavoured cake, as well as foie gras, oysters and venison. www.visitnh.gov

Rhode Island's two main cities are also high on the good-food list. The state capital city, Providence, has its own restaurant-crammed Little Italy in the Federal Hill neighbourhood. It's also home to one of America's leading hospitality and culinary institutions, Johnson & Wales University, which produces a host of new young chefs. And the restaurants in Newport, one of America's oldest and grandest holiday resorts, excel in seafood, including quahog clams, which can be served fried, steamed, stuffed, in chowder, or in clam cakes. Another Rhode Island speciality, Johnny cake, is a kind of corn pancake. And, incidentally, when ordering one of the state's delicious milkshakes, you ask instead for a cabinet. www.visitRhodeIsland.com

Vermont, America's largest producer of maple syrup, is also famous for its apples - converted into juice, wine, cider and delectable pies; for internationally-renowned Ben & Jerry's ice cream - based in Waterbury; and for its cheese; it produces around 70 million pounds a year. Among the cheese producers is Montpelier-based Cabot Creamery, known for its fine, aged Cheddars, such as Private Stock and Vintage Choice, which regularly win national and international competitions. The state is a huge supporter of locally-produced foods, so when you see the Vermont Fresh Network logo on a product, you know it's locally grown and/or produced there. www.VermontVacations.com