I grabbed a ravioli—golden brown, cheese-filled and deep-fried to crispy perfection, using the corner to scoop it into the accompanying marinara sauce. As soon as the flavors touched my tongue, I was transported back to the humid Midwest during a weekend at the Taste of Chicago, eating until my jeans were too tight.

Toasted ravioli originated in St. Louis, Mo. There are two competing origin stories. The first tells how a chef accidentally dropped a ravioli into the fryer. In the second, a chef mistook oil for pasta water and dropped the ravioli in. I asked a friend in St. Louis whether she ate toasted ravioli while living there. The response: "Hellz yes! In Mo, you have to have it filled with meat."