Most of Ohio is closer to the Atlantic than the Mississippi. I understand the historical "Midwest" definition, but I've always felt it implied being in the relative center of the country too, and Ohio is in no way central.
Which state is most Midwestern?
- Thread starter qwerty
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Something in the "Midwest" can't be in the eastern 1/3 of the country. OH, MI, PA, close but no cigar
He mentioned DQ, not what I think of when I think of Midwest food. I think of steaks, BBQ ribs, pulled pork; basically beef and pork items.
Yeah, with the exception of NW Indiana, I have a hard time calling anything in Eastern time "Midwest".
Exactly.
I think Kansas and Nebraska are pretty damn Midwestern. In North and South Dakota, you have the Black Hills and Missouri River badlands that feel like you're out of the Midwest. In western Kansas, the difference is you have to irrigate the fields. Western Nebraska gets a little of what you see in the Dakotas, but mostly it's either irrigated farmland or the Sand Hills where they graze.
I see that as Western. As soon as it gets dry, that's not Midwest anymore IMO.
I don't know about steaks, but BBQ ribs and pulled pork are 100% a Southern food. It may have been co-opted by the rest of the country and become a big deal in the Midwest, but it is not a Midwestern food. Grilling, pork chops, pork tenderloins, corn on the cob, that's what I think of as Midwestern food.
I don't think it's Western until farming dies off. New Mexico and Wyoming feel western to me. Western Kansas feels like dry Iowa, as does Eastern Colorado.
It's not a pure longitude thing for me, and more about land use, general topographic appearance, and the culture that stems from that, etc.
I see a lot of people break the Midwest into Great Lakes or Great Plains, and in that dichotomy, Iowa is more "Plains" even though the traditional definition is west of the 100th Meridian. It's mostly flat to gently rolling, was historically 88% prairie to 13% forest, and is culturally more similar to Nebraska and Kansas than Illinois or Wisconsin (the parts bordering those states notwithstanding).
I would put Ohio in the mid-east region. They are in the eastern time zone so there is that argument.
I think there's an "industrial northeast" that includes Western NY/PA, Ohio, and lower Michigan. You could toss a lot of Indiana in there. Chicago's just outside.
Everybody I know from Kansas has a southern accent. Kanas seems more western to me than midwestern. Kansas did have slaves in the 1850's. So there's that.
Chicago, Milwaukee, and Minneapolis are midwest cities. Just because they are large shouldn't disqualify them. The accents, food , blue collar mentality, sports teams and weather make them very midwest. Just urban midwest. The midwest doesn't have to be rural only. Believe it or not, they do farm, and have small towns and churches in other regions of the U.S.
