Florida might be known for theme parks, hurricanes, humidity, and beautiful beaches. However, the state’s mashup of Southern, Caribbean, and Latin American influences has also created a menu that’s intriguing, bizarre, and deeply local. Some dishes are so specific to Florida, you’d probably never eat them (or even hear of them) unless you grew up sweating through July there.
Here are 11 foods you’ve never heard of unless you are from Florida.
I mean, it’s Florida, of course, they are eating their official mascot. Gator Bites are chunks of alligator tail meat, breaded in Cajun Style Breading/Batter Mix and deep-fried until golden. Those who have tried say the texture sits somewhere between chicken and calamari, but with a faint hint of “swamp,” which is why they’re usually served with a heavy-handed dip. And if you’ve never dunked a golden-fried gator nugget into spicy remoulade while sweating through a Florida summer, you haven’t lived.
Recipe: Better Than Bouillon
This is a dish that: A) doesn’t include cabbage at all, and B) is so popular in the state that they have a festival dedicated to it. Swamp cabbage, which is also known as Heart of Palm, comes from the inner core of the sabal palm tree (Florida State Tree), which also goes by the name of Swamp Cabbage.
Floridians stew it with bacon, onions, or even smoked meat until it turns into a crunchy, earthy side dish.
Recipe: Southern Living
Yeah, yeah you’ve tried Key lime pie before. But if you ask Floridians, you just think you’ve tried it. Unless it’s made with fresh Florida Key limes, which are more tart but not too acidic, and more aromatic than the common Persian lime, it doesn’t count.
The real deal has a pale yellow filling (never green), a buttery graham cracker crust, and the kind of tang that makes your jaw twitch just a little. It should be topped with whipped cream — never meringue, unless you’re trying to start a fight. It’s Florida’s most famous dessert for a reason. And yes, you can eat it for breakfast. Floridians won’t judge.
Recipe: Southern Living
These chewy, savory balls of chopped conch meat mixed with batter and deep-fried, while originating from the Bahamas, are a Florida Keys icon. Locals say they taste like the ocean went to a fish fry, and they’re best eaten outdoors with a plastic fork and hot sauce.
Recipe: Allrecipes
Also known locally as a “Pub Sub,” and it’s more of a lifestyle than a meal. Sold at Florida’s beloved grocery chain, the Publix deli subs are built on white rolls and stuffed to the gills. The chicken tender sub is the unofficial state sandwich, usually ordered with extra pickles and eaten in your car before you even make it home. Publix loyalty runs deep. If you know, you know.
Unlike your dainty crab cakes, deviled crabs are massive, deep-fried croquettes stuffed with spicy blue crab meat, rolled in breadcrumbs, and shaped like something you could pitch at a baseball game. They were born in Tampa’s Ybor City, where cigar workersused to grab them on the go — because they’re handheld, filling, and cheap (well, they were cheap). The crab is usually cooked with a sofrito of onions, peppers, tomatoes, and a hit of spice.
Recipe: Recipes, Food, and Cooking
Don’t get triggered (like I did) — no actual dolphins are involved in this obscenely named dish. Seriously, Florida, get a grip on the food naming. In the Sunshine State, dolphin refers to mahi-mahi, a brightly colored, fast-swimming fish that has absolutely nothing to do with Flipper.
Blackened means it's coated in Cajun spices and seared in a hot skillet until smoky and crusted.
Throw that on a toasted bun with lettuce, tomato, and tartar or remoulade, and you've got a Florida fish sandwich that’ll ruin all other fish sandwiches for you.
Recipe: A Sassy Spoon
Florida’s version of lobster skips the claws and keeps the tail. The meat is a little firmer and sweeter than Maine lobster, and locals dive for them every summer during the frenzy known as "mini season" — basically, underwater Black Friday. You can grill it, broil it, or slap it in tacos, and nobody asks where the claws went.
Stone crabs are one of Florida’s most iconic — and strangely sustainable — meals.
Only the claws are harvested — by law — and the crab is tossed back to grow new ones like it's no big deal. The meat is sweet, cold, and firm, and always served with mustard sauce (never butter, this isn’t Maine).
They’re harvested in season(mid-October to May) and priced like seafood gold. Locals say you can find the best at Joe’s Stone Crab in Miami or cracked into a pile at a waterfront seafood shack.
Florida-style fish dip is made from smoked fish — usually kingfish, mullet, or mahi — blended with mayo, lemon juice, seasonings, and sometimes a hint of hot sauce. It is creamy, smoky, briny, and served cold with saltine crackers. It’s a staple at bait-and-tackle shops, beach bars, and roadside seafood markets.
Recipe: Allrecipes
Datil peppers are native to Florida's oldest city, St. Augustine. The sauce made from them is a local obsession, and they put it on everything. It’s tangy, hot, and slightly sweet, with enough edge to make your eyes water if you get cocky. People grow the peppers in backyard gardens, and every diner and fish shack within a 50-mile radius has a house version they swear by.
Recipe: Chili Pepper Madness