Pimento Cheese appears as a signature dish in 5 United States cities. See each city's local variant and where to eat it.

Pimento cheese · Birmingham

Pimento cheese is sharp cheddar mixed with mayonnaise, diced pimentos and seasonings, served as a spread on white bread, crackers or as a sandwich.

Pimento cheese is the canonical Southern cheese spread, codified in the early 20th century when industrial cheddar and jarred pimentos became widely available. It moved from Junior League cookbooks to restaurant menus across Birmingham in the 1980s and remains a Stitt-era classic. Bottega Cafe runs the Italian-Southern version; Brick and Tin in Mountain Brook makes it a sandwich signature; most Birmingham brunch and lunch counters keep a version on the menu.

Where to eat in Birmingham:

Pimento Cheese · Charleston

The pâté of the South: sharp orange cheddar, mayonnaise, diced piquillo peppers, cream cheese and a hit of cayenne, whipped to a fluffy spread. Eaten on crackers, in tomato sandwiches or as a burger topping.

Pimento cheese has roots in early-20th-century American food magazines: a 1908 Good Housekeeping recipe called for cream cheese and minced pimentos, and the 1909 'Up-to-Date Sandwich Book' put it in print as a sandwich filling. It migrated south through the 1920s and became the unofficial Charleston tea-table staple by the 1950s, codified through Duke's Mayonnaise marketing across the South. Husk's bourbon-and-bacon variant, Magnolias' classic and FIG's house version anchor the contemporary city interpretation.

Where to eat in Charleston:

Pimento cheese · Charlotte

Pimento cheese is the Southern spread of grated sharp cheddar, mayonnaise and chopped pimento peppers, eaten on crackers, biscuits or a country ham sandwich.

Pimento cheese spread arrived in the South in the early 20th century as canned pimento peppers became cheap and widely available through the Atlanta-based Pomona Products cannery. Charlotte's mill villages adopted it as a working-class sandwich filling, and the spread has stayed on Carolina tables for over a century, now appearing at Haberdish and on every Charlotte Southern brunch menu.

Where to eat in Charlotte:

Pimento cheese · Greenville

Sharp cheddar mixed with mayonnaise and roasted red peppers (pimentos), sometimes pickled jalapeño. The Carolinas claim it as a regional staple sandwich filling.

Pimento cheese became regional shorthand for Southern fixings in the early 1900s, when home economists pushed it as a sandwich filling for school lunches across the Carolinas. Greenville restaurants run it on every variation: Soby's serves a Spicy Pimento Cheese starter at dinner and brunch; Tupelo Honey runs pimento cheese fries.

Where to eat in Greenville:

Pimento Cheese · Savannah

The South's signature spread: sharp cheddar grated coarse, mixed with mayonnaise, diced pimientos, garlic, hot sauce and cracked pepper, served on white bread, on crackers, on celery, or melted onto a hot biscuit.

Pimento cheese began as a Northern industrial product in the early 20th century when canned pimientos became widely available, but the South adopted it as its own and made it the dish that defines white-Southern hospitality. By mid-century every Southern home had a daily-batch jar in the fridge. Augusta's Masters Tournament made it nationally famous in the 1950s by selling pimento cheese sandwiches for $1 on the course, a tradition that continues today. Savannah pimento cheese typically uses a heavier hand with mayonnaise and a sharper cheddar than Texas or Tennessee variants; The Grey, Mrs. Wilkes Dining Room and Crystal Beer Parlor each run distinct house versions.

Where to eat in Savannah:

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