Old Bay
A celery-salt based American seasoning of paprika, pepper and bay for seafood, born in Baltimore.
Also: Old Bay seasoning, crab boil seasoning, Chesapeake spice
Old Bay is a branded seasoning first made in Baltimore in the 1940s by Gustav Brunn, a German-Jewish immigrant spice maker, for the Chesapeake Bay crab trade. Its recipe is a secret but known to include celery salt, paprika, black and red pepper, bay leaf, mustard, cloves, allspice, ginger, mace and cardamom. It is sprinkled on steamed crab, shrimp, corn, fries, popcorn and chicken wings. It belongs to a wider family of American regional blends such as Cajun and Creole seasonings and crab boils. The rise of such blends shows how immigrant spice makers shaped local food identity.