Making the decision to live in NYC basically means that you are an insane person. No individual with their wits intact would voluntarily live in a place where rats rule the public transportation, the apartments are glorified shoeboxes and one single cocktail can set you back $20. So why do millions of people live here, many of them transplants from kinder, gentler places? It's because of the food, no question.
Even when our landlord has just raised the rent -- again -- and we've had to commute home on a jam-packed subway car (with someone's elbow digging into your side and another person breathing their terrible hot breath on your neck), we have NYC bagels. When we can't get a cab in the freezing winter rain and we just lost out on THE dream job to someone who graduated from university yesterday, a pastrami sandwich from Katz's makes all the wrongs feel right.
The foods that make up this city come to define us as we live in it. They mark our celebrations; they help us deal. And so, for better or for worse, we struggle in New York because we could never say goodbye to its food. Here are the foods that make New York City worth the struggle. These 30 rank as being particularly special to us at HuffPost Taste, but of course this list could go on and on. If you think we've missed an all-too important one, let us know in the comments below.