Utah's nickname Beehive State is a religious gesture, not a tribute to the honey industry. Ironically, Utah is probably the only state that wasn't thinking of promoting the honey industry when it adopted the honeybee, the most popular of state symbols, as its official state insect. Many state symbols are edible species edible, including the sego lily roots and ricegrass that saved frontier explorers from starvation. Others are considered delicacies, or are raised commercially for the table. And several edible symbols are beverages, or drinks.
Many edible symbols follow regional patterns.
All official shellfish were adopted by states along the Atlantic and Gulf coasts. Shared by Delaware, Maryland and Virginia, Chesapeake Bay is home to several gourmet marine symbols, including the diamondback terrapin, striped bass, blue crab and oyster. Official salmon and trout generally represent northern states, from Oregon to Alaska on the Pacific Coast and West Virginia to Maine on the Atlantic Coast. The exceptions are the cutthroat trout, which represents states stretching form Montana along the Rocky Mountains to New Mexico, and the golden trout, which lives in California's Sierra Nevada mountains. The two state flowers with edible roots also grow in the Rocky Mountains.