Pennsylvania claims to have the most restaurants per capita of any state, but with 2.53 restaurants per 1000 residents, they're actually in 20th place, only slightly ahead of the national average of 2.41.

Pennsylvania may be the snack food capital of the world. Utz, Herr's, and Wise have headquarters in the state and manufacturing potato chips, pretzels and other salty snacks in Pennsylvania factories. The US chocolate industry is centered in Hershey, Pennsylvania.

Among the regional foods associated with Pennsylvania are the Philadelphia Cheesesteak and the Hoagie, the soft pretzel, Italian water ice, Scrapple, and the Stromboli. The H. J. Heinz Company of Pittsburgh invented tomato ketchup.

Ethnic cuisine is common, especially in the Pittsburgh and Philadelphia areas. Many restauranteurs offer Chinese, Italian, Mexican, Indian, Japanese, Korean, Thai, Turkish, Pakistani, Russian and Amish dining.