The hoagie, scrapple, water ice and roast pork: where Philly's foods were born

Wawa, Philadelphia, PA

Legend has it the name comes from workers at the Hog Island shipyard in World War I. The Encyclopedia of Greater Philadelphia calls that unlikely, since the word does not appear in print until much later; the most widely accepted story credits Al DePalma, who used the name at the sandwich shop he opened in 1936. The exact origin is uncertain.

Reading Terminal Market, Philadelphia, PA

Scrapple came to Pennsylvania with German immigrants, whose dish was called panhas. "Philadelphia scrapple" was a standard name in print by the 1820s: cooked pork thickened with cornmeal or buckwheat and seasoned with sage and pepper.

Pop's Water Ice, 1337 Oregon Avenue, Philadelphia, PA

In the summer of 1932, Filippo "Pop" Italiano began selling water ice around South Philadelphia, then turned a garage into the shop; Pop's is still in it and still run by the family. Rita's came much later, founded in Bensalem in 1984.

John's Roast Pork, 14 E. Snyder Avenue, Philadelphia, PA

John's Roast Pork, on Snyder Avenue in South Philadelphia, dates to 1930. In 2006 the James Beard Foundation named it an "American Classic" for its roast pork.

Pat's King of Steaks, Philadelphia, PA

Pat's King of Steaks, founded in 1930 by the Olivieri brothers at 9th and Passyunk, is credited with inventing the steak sandwich that became the cheesesteak. Geno's opened across the street in 1966, and its founder Joey Vento claimed he was the one who first added the cheese. Who did is still argued.

Termini Bros. Bakery, 1523 S. 8th Street, Philadelphia, PA

Termini Brothers dates itself to 1921, when Giuseppe Termini came from Enna, Sicily, to join his brother Gaetano. Their first shop was on South 8th Street, across from today's bakery.

Former Federal Pretzel Baking Company, 636 Federal St, Philadelphia, PA

In 1922 Maria and Giuseppe Nacchio ran a small Italian bakery in South Philadelphia, where Maria baked soft pretzels. Their son Edmund paired hand-twisting with conveyor equipment imported from Germany, and the Federal Pretzel Baking Company became the first to make soft pretzels on a large scale in Philadelphia, some 60,000 a day by 1978. The family sold it to J&J Snack Foods in 2000. The city licensed the bakery at 636 Federal Street. A fire later closed it, and in 2015, with the building long empty, the city issued permits for a laundromat in part of it.

Federal Donuts, 1219 S. 2nd Street, Philadelphia, PA

Federal Donuts opened on October 11, 2011 at 1219 South 2nd Street, from Michael Solomonov, Steve Cook and Tom Henneman. That first shop closed in 2024, when the flagship moved to Wolf Street, and the Wolf Street shop closed in 2026.

9th Street Italian Market, Philadelphia, PA

Ninth Street grew into the food market for the Italian immigrants who settled South Philadelphia in large numbers at the end of the 19th century, and in 1915 it became an official curb market, sanctioned by the state and the city.

Reading Terminal Market, Philadelphia, PA

The market under the Reading Railroad's terminal opened on February 22, 1892, while construction was still going on, and was almost fully occupied by vendors when it was completed in January 1893. Amish merchants from Lancaster County came in the 1980s, when the market was revitalized.

Bassetts Ice Cream, Reading Terminal Market, Philadelphia, PA

Lewis Dubois Bassett started making ice cream in 1861 with a mule-driven churn on his farm in Salem, New Jersey. When the company's stand at Reading Terminal Market began is disputed: the company dates it to 1892, when the market opened, and Wikipedia agrees; the Encyclopedia of Greater Philadelphia dates it to 1898.

DiNic's, Reading Terminal Market, Philadelphia, PA

The DiNic family has sold roast pork sandwiches since 1954, when four brothers started selling them out of a garage in South Philadelphia; Tommy DiNic's stand at Reading Terminal Market opened in 1980. In 2012 its roast pork sandwich won the Travel Channel's "Best Sandwich in America".