MIMAL is a geographical acronym referring to five states in the United States : M innesota, I owa, M issouri, A rkansas, and L ouisiana. ^[1] The term is used as reference to the fictional person of Mimal the Elf or Chef, the area composed of the five states found on the west bank of the Mississippi River.

The state of Minnesota represents Mimal's hat, Iowa is his face, and Missouri is his shirt.

Mimal's pants are represented by Arkansas, and his boots by Louisiana.

Tennessee and Kentucky are sometimes included as Mimal's frying pan and the chicken being cooked in the pan (Kentucky being the "Kentucky Fried Chicken leg ," and Tennessee being the "tin pan"), ^[2] thus making Mimal a cook.

The term was coined due to the unique shape of the five states caused by the Mississippi River as a mnemonic to help Social Studies students learn US geography.