Friday, May 15, 2009

Cutting the mustard

Wow, this is one of those wonderful regional things that makes no sense outside the region, apparently.

NotMartha notes that in Cleveland, there is STADIUM mustard and also BALLPARK mustard, and one is for football and one is for baseball, duh.

It's a good thing I don't like mustard, because I would not know the difference!

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Being from Cleveland, the explanation is more than just "one is for football, one is for baseball". There used to be only one: stadium mustard, sold at Cleveland Stadium for both Browns and Indians games, since they played in the same venue until the early 90s.

The story behind it is that the co-owners of Stadium Mustard had a tiff some time ago regarding tweaks in the formula, etc., and the one owner split off and creted Ballpark Mustard, which he claims is the "original recipe". When Jacobs Field (now Progressive Field) opened in 1994, they used Ballpark Mustard, which, at the time, upset some people because it wasn't the original Stadium Mustard they had been used to at the old stadium.

To the average person, you're not going to tell the difference. But if you are a regular eater, you can tell.

It's kind of like Skyline Chili vs. Gold Star Chili in Cincinnati, or Geno's vs. Pat's Philly Cheese Steaks in Philadelphia.

Unknown said...

Of course you would only know the difference if you DID like mustard. I love mustard, but I don't like the basic American standard mustards at all and I don't think I have tasted them in years, maybe ten years.

But I have French Dijon, Grey Poupon, grainy whole seed, Guildens, some sweet-hots, you get the picture. I wouldn't want to eat if I didn't have mustard and onions on hand. But I HATE hot dogs.