Pennsylvania Dutch Cookery is one of the oldest and most distinctive of the many regional styles of cooking in the United States. The Rhineland and Palatinate peoples, who came to this country and settled in Pennsylvania beginning in 1683, were properly called Pennsylvania Dutch because they left their native lands due to religious persecution and settled temporarilly in the Netherlands. Netherlanders are called Dutch while their German neighbors are called Deutch. The PA Dutch brought with them a love of good food as well as a knowledge of good cooking. Recipes from the old country were adapted to use the limited ingredients available in a pioneer land.
PA Dutch Cooking includes recipes from the Anabaptist, Mennonite and Dunkard people living in South Central PA. My own expertise is from PA Dutch foods from Lancaster County (and a little Lebanon County mixed in). My ancestors were from Bavaria and Switzerland.