Minnesota sushi is made by rolling deli ham, cream cheese, and a pickle together and then cutting it into slices. It’s also known as “midwest sushi, pickle wrap, pickle roll-up, frog eyes, pickle dawg, Iowa sushi, Lutheran sushi…” Yum!
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In Michigan we call those ham rollups and we use a green onion instead of a pickle.
Fellow Michigander came here to say the same thing.
We've done these in Kentucky this way, and they're delicious.
Oh wow- worlds colliding. Never thought I’d read about pickle rolls on kottke dot org. My wife, an Iowa native, is an ardent fan. There was great scene in the show Somebody Somewhere about them, NSFW
Oops, trying to add link- https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=3G7nlVkO-jg&pp=ygUhU29tZWJvZHkgc29tZXdoZXJlIHN0IGxvdWlzIHN1c2hp
that scene made me laugh so hard & for so long i thought i was going to pass out lol. brilliant comedy.
I saw that episode on a plane recently. Such a funny show.
We've nicknamed a cat with a protein allergy SLS because of that episode or the one after it.
That show brings me so much joy, and not just because it’s a much-needed counter to media representation of small-town life 🥹❤️🔥
As a Minnesotan living in Iowa, I've never heard of them referred to as Minnesota sushi, Iowa sushi, or any other type of sushi. Just pickle rolls or pinwheels (which I've never understood, TBH). Lutheran sushi cracked me up, though—definitely going to call them that from now on.
Lived my entire life in Minnesota, never once heard anyone describe these as "sushi" until it became a meme last year. Always smacked of people laughing at us clueless flyover states who don't know what real sushi is.
It's not just the flyover states. All the coastal varieties of sushi are abominations.
Sushi-wise, it's a flyover continent.
Lifelong Minnesotan here, too, and this post is the first time I've heard the word sushi in relation to these. We always had them at family gatherings growing up and just called them 'pickle things'. Much better with good corned beef or pastrami than cheap pressed ham.
Growing up in the northeast, my mom made "salami roll-ups" which was salami rolled around cream cheese filling. But they weren't sliced, you ate them in the log-shape. And they didn't have pickle in the middle, which would have been really good. I always enjoyed finding them in my lunch box.
Came here to mention the cameo this Midwestern staple makes in Somebody Somewhere, but another reader beat me to it. As a resident of Manhattan, Kansas, I can attest to the veracity of that show (and Bridget Everett’s regular visits home; we sat next to her at our local brewery just before Christmas)
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