CINCINNATI: BENGALS

FOOTBALL GAMES

In Cincinnati, tailgating is not a tradition for Reds baseball games, but it definitely is for Bengals football games, said Polly Campbell, who covers food and dining for the Cincinnati Enquirer.

While there are some local foods, “as far as I can tell, the only tradition in tailgating here is getting super drunk,” Campbell said. Well, yes, that happens in Milwaukee, too.

Cincinnati does have brats — but they’re not like Milwaukee’s brats, she noted. “Our brats are a white sausage, more like a weisswurst. They’re emulsified smooth, like a big fat white hot dog. There are a lot of butchers who make their own.”

And then there’s a popular spicy sausage called mettwurst — but the Cincinnati mettwurst is not a traditional mettwurst. In Cincinnati, they’re called “metts.”

Of course, everyone knows about Cincinnati chili. And while you can certainly take chili with you to a tailgate, another option is a chili dip, for serving with tortilla chips: You buy the chili, Campbell said (from a place like Skyline), put it in a pan, top it with cheese and sour cream and beans and onions and dip away.