“What is dirty soda?” a friend living in Las Vegas texted me recently. 

This message quickly brought memories of conversations with my non-Utah-dwelling family and friends to mind—conversations questioning Utahns love of fry sauce, our affinity for green Jell-O, and, of course, the definition of dirty soda. As a reporter, I decided I needed to explore some of these unique Utah foods to learn their history for this special edition of the City Journals (and to better answer questions from faraway friends and family). 

A quick Google search does indeed bring up scones, green Jell-O, funeral potatoes, dirty soda and fry sauce as foods unique (or iconic, or classic) to the State of Utah. 

“Almost all are unhealthy which is fascinating to me. I thought that Mormons ate healthy until I moved to Sandy and realized that processed food is the mainstay of the diet,” said resident Linde Delman. 

Green Jell-O has been recognized worldwide as being unique to Salt Lake City, Utah…at least since 2001. The notoriety can be traced back to a group of BYU students who gathered 15,000 signatures petitioning the Utah State Legislature to make Jell-O the official state food. 

Former Utah Commissioner of Agriculture Lenoard Blackham took notice of the petition and sponsored a Resolution Urging Jell-O Recognition. The resolution recognizing Jell-O brand gelatin as a favorite snack of Utah was passed during the 2001 General Session. 

“Jell-O is representative of good family fun, which Utah is known for throughout the world,” Blackham said at the time. 

(The legislative resolution even notes traditional favorite recipes at family, church and community dinners which include such additions as bananas, apples, marshmallows, pretzels, carrots and grapes. Residents also recommend mandarin oranges, cream cheese, cottage cheese, mini marshmallows, fruit cocktail and whipped cream.)

The 2002 Winter Olympics then solidified green Jell-O as a Utah unique dish—at least for the pin collectors. The collectable green Jell-O pin was discussed as a runaway favorite among pin collectors and quickly gained international favor. 

The Salt Lake Tribune even sponsored a Jell-O haiku contest between 2010 and 2017. 

“I think a lot of the Utah-specific recipes are about maximizing resources. Making large quantities for large families or church groups with inexpensive ingredients to feed the masses probably comes from a place of necessity. Pioneers had to stretch their food supplies for survival, and I think that same mentality carries through to the modern day culture in Utah,” said resident Collett Litchard.

The influence of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints pioneering traditions has been well-documented for having significant impacts on the local food traditions of Utahns. Many of these traditions and recipes have been passed down through oral stories and handwritten recipe cards. One of the strongest ties to the state’s religious history must be the funeral potato. 

“(Funeral potatoes) are traditionally prepared and served by the Relief Society at a lunch at the ward following a funeral,” said resident Polly Light. 

For those unfamiliar with funeral potatoes, we might think of them as a cheesy potato casserole (as a closely related dish—don’t come for me, readers). Funeral potato recipes typically call for cubed gold potatoes baked in a 9x13 dish with sour cream, grated cheddar cheese, and cream of (chicken or mushroom) soup (or clam chowder). Additional ingredients may include onions, green onions, thyme, sour cream and onion potato chips. 

Resident Nancy Perkins made mention of probably one of the most important ingredients for funeral potatoes—corn flakes. 

“Throughout the 20th century, LDS wards put together cookbooks from people’s family recipes (which is probably why there are so many stories about funeral potatoes and other casserole-type dishes),” said resident Jennifer Mattson. 

“We follow the recipes from the church cookbook 40-ish years ago,” echoed resident Holly Raddatz. 

“I never heard of fry sauce before I moved to Utah (and I had lived a lot of places),” said Litchard. “I distinctly remember the first time we ate out and they asked us if we wanted fry sauce. My husband said, "you mean ketchup?" The waitress laughed and had to explain it to us.”  

Many Utahns have had the experience of being questioned about fry sauce habits, but it’s one of the Utah foods whose history isn’t quite solidified. (It’s been rather saucy about discussing its past.) 

Some residents call back to 1941 where Don Carlos Edwards blended ketchup and mayonnaise calling it the “pink sauce” for which he put on his burgers at Don Carlos Barbeque. Some residents turn back to Stan’s Drive-In in 1955 where two high school students Ron Taylor (Stan’s son) and Max Peay played around with ketchup-based sauce recipe. In 1957, a sales representative from Arctic Circle asked Taylor’s permission to take the fry sauce recipe to headquarters. (Much of this fry sauce history has been recorded by Michael P. Christensen in his article “Utah’s Fry Sauce.”) 

Many residents and researchers attribute the history of the sauce to the chain restaurant of Arctic Circle, which some of the less-known history corroborates. 

“Growing up in the ’80s, I don’t remember any other fast food chain offering fry sauce except (Arctic Circle),” said resident Pat Shields. 

Utah residents generally agree that Arctic Circle does have the best fry sauce, but Crown/Astro Burger follows in as an extremely close second (their pastrami burgers also tops the list for popular Utah foods). The Training Table was also mentioned as a favorite for fry sauce.

“We use barbecue sauce in fry sauce to add extra flavor and kick to the ketchup/mayo combo,” said resident Aime Clark. 

Dirty soda has been such a popular treat among Utah residents over the past 20 years that there was even a trademark battle over it. In 2015, Swig sued Sodalicious for copying the “dirty soda” concept for their drive-by drink shop business. Two years later, the legal battle ended in a settlement. In the meantime, many different businesses popped up including Sip-N, Sip-It, Slurp and Fizz. 

Dirty sodas are drinks (you guess it, typically sodas) with added cream, flavors, syrups or fruit. They resemble mocktails as some recipes use the adage “spike” as in spiking the soda with flavored syrup. 

“We don’t drink alcohol, so we need to have something!” said resident Candice Wright. 

“(These) drinks grow increasingly popular in the predominantly Mormon state where sugar is a common indulgence,” reported Lindsay Whitehurst from the Associated Press in 2016. 

Many Utah residents echo the sentiment that many Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints’members have extreme sweet tooths. 

“Sugar is a legal vice for Mormons,” summarized resident Ric Heaton.

Resident Codie Gleason had a different take for the ever-rising popularity. “There’s something about how customized they are—I think it brings an appeal to big families because everyone has a different favorite.”

Overwhelmingly, the favorite dirty soda recommendation from our readers has been a Diet Coke or Dr. Pepper with coconut (some recommend the coconut be with lime, others recommend additional creamer, some recommend both). 

Recommendations for our readers have also included peach mango lemonade with whipped cream, pear Mountain Dew, and Mountain Dew with cream and raspberry flavoring. 

Residents also mentioned other foods that immediately come to mind as being traditional, or specific, to Utah. Here are some of their answers: frog-eye salad, Hawaiian haystacks, (tater tot) casseroles, ranch dressing, coffee substitutes, boysenberry pie and no-bake cocoa cookies. 

“Bread seems to be a big part of the Utah culture. There is a lot of homemade breadmaking and a lot of homemade jam canning,” Mattson said. 

Some restaurants even popped up in their answers as being loved by Utahns including: Sauced Up Salsa, Clover Club (chips), Café Rio, Crumbl and Aggie Ice Cream.  

Interestingly, no one mentioned salt (even though we have millions of tons of it from the lake) or the first KFC (on 3900 South and State Street; the Do Drop In was bought and rebranded to be the first Kentucky Fried Chicken in 1952). 

For more information about Utah food, the University of Utah Press has published “This is the Plate: Utah Food Traditions” edited by Carol Edison, Eric Eliason and Lynne McNeill.