SALT LAKE CITY (ABC4) — While Utah likes to claim they invented the condiment known as “fry sauce,” there’s plenty of Utah cuisine that doesn’t include fry sauce. “Dirty soda” would also be on this list, but we’ve already got a full explainer on dirty soda, how it’s made, and why it came about.
LDS Funeral Potatoes
“Mormon funeral potatoes,” or in lay terms, cheesy potato casserole, is probably the most famous on this list. Allrecipes says after LDS funerals, large pot-luck-style gatherings are commonplace. Many attendees bring dishes but the woman-run Relief Society will usually cook this meal, which can feed a lot of people. The dish was also previously known as “Nauvoo potatoes.”
Why is Utah so obsessed with ‘dirty sodas?’ It may be traced back to LDS health guidelines
The dish is not exclusive to funerals, despite the name. This dish can be served at weddings or baptisms and they are common at many gatherings of members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints . There was also a commemorative pin for the 2002 Winter Olympics that featured the dish.
Green Jell-O
Another food that appeared as a commemorative pin during the 2002 Winter Olympics, green Jell-O salad has also become a staple of LDS and Utah cuisine. While sales of Jell-O slipped in the latter part of the 20th century, marketing campaigns and families seem to give us an answer.
According to a Slate article , members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints tend to cook and make food for large gatherings. So, Utah was the perfect place to launch an aggressive marketing blitz… and it worked.
It really worked…