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EspañolCUISINE OF THE UNITED STATES
(Redirected from United States Regional Cuisine)
Because the United States has long attracted immigrants from a wide variety of nations and cultures, it is no surprise that the 'cuisine of the United States' is extremely diverse and difficult to define. One way of describing American cuisine is a synthesis of cuisines from around the world, a style of cooking that takes something from each immigrant community. On the other hand, American cooks have exported a great variety of dishes around the world, and in many ways American cuisine is just as recognisable and as popular as French, Chinese, or Indian.
The cuisine of the Native Americans was of course the first American cooking style, and it lent a great deal not only to subsequent American cooking but also to culinary styles around the world. Turkey, corn (maize), beans, sunflowers, potatoes, peppers, and various forms of squash (including pumpkins) are among the Native American foods now widely consumed elsewhere. Superimposed on this original native diet is the massive contribution of the various immigrant groups; many dishes considered quintessentially American are in fact based upon the cooking traditions of other countries. For example, apple pies, pizza, runzas, chowder, and hamburgers are all either identical to, or derived from, European dishes. Burritos and tacos similarly have their origins in Mexico.
Even when trying to pinpoint a particular style or dish as "American", there is much regional variation in the United States. Notable regional styles include Hawaiian cuisine, Cajun cuisine, and California cuisine. While all three types are part of the larger category of American cuisine and may influence other areas of the country, they do not necessarily typify what comes to mind when one hears the word American.
Another factor that makes defining American cuisine difficult is that most of it developed as home cooking rather than haute cuisine. Some aspects of American food culture that might not be immediately described as ''cuisine'' include baked beans, barbecue, and clam chowder, as well as many of the American-style candy bars and fast-food items popular around the world.
One important characteristic of American cooking is the fusion of multiple ethnic or regional approaches into completely new cooking styles. The cuisine of the South, for example, has been heavily influenced by immigrants from Africa, France, and Mexico, among others. Asian cooking has played a particularly large role in American fusion cuisine.
Similarly, while some dishes considered typically American may have their origins in other countries, American cooks and chefs have substantially altered them over the years, to the degree that the dish as now enjoyed the world over may even be considered archetypically American. Hot dogs and hamburgers are both based on traditional German dishes, brought over to America by German immigrants to the United States, but in their modern, popular form they are so altered that they can be reasonably considered American dishes.
Given the United States' large size it is not surprising that its cuisine is typified by distinct regional variations. The cuisine of the East Coast and Pacific Northwest, for example, makes use of fish and seafood to much greater degree than that of the Midwest, where corn and beef were long more readily available. To some degree, easy transportation of perishable foodstuffs has diminished these regional differences in recent years, but many Americans still associate certain foods with specific places, such as steak with Omaha; lobster with Maine; salmon with the Pacific Northwest; and crab and crabcake with Maryland.
American cooking has been widely exported beyond its borders. Tex-Mex, Creole, and barbecue restaurants can be found in cities all around the world, while fast-food burger bars and pizzerias are even more popular.
Though American cuisine has much regional variation, it is sometimes said to be rather bland in taste. The Great Depression forced a standardization of the food industry to consolidate revenue. Through the war years, the combination of the GI ration and the advice of cookbooks in the ways to prepare the "standard cuisine." This cuisine came out of the new heart of the American diet, the Midwest.[1]
The homogeneity and predictability of American cuisine began to change during World War II with the adaptation of Italian-American and Chinese foods. Spaghetti was served to American GIs during the war. While the American versions of Chinese-inspired foods were at first far from authentic—recipes included ingredients such as ketchup, Worcestershire sauce, and cream of mushroom soup—they represented a new acceptance of less traditionally "American" foods. Much of the ethnic variety in modern American cuisine has its roots in developments that took place over the last half century.[2]
The modern fast food industry developed largely out of American innovations, particularly through the early efforts of the McDonald's corporation . This has led to some controversy with the global spread of such chains, as perceived Americanization of cuisine in other countries is sometimes described with derogatory terms like McDonaldization.
★ American Chinese cuisine
★ Barbecue
★ California cuisine
★ Euro-Asian cuisine, a kind of fusion cuisine
★ Fast food
★ Floribbean
★ Cuisine of Kentucky
★ Hawaiian cuisine
★ Italian American cuisine
★ Midwestern cuisine
★
★ Chicago
★ Native American cuisine
★ New England cuisine
★ New York City cuisine
★ Pennsylvania Dutch cuisine
★ Philadelphia cuisine
★ Puerto Rican cuisine
★ Southern cuisine
★
★ Cajun cuisine
★
★ Louisiana Creole cuisine
★
★ Soul food
★ Southwestern cuisine
★
★ New Mexican
★
★ Tex-Mex
★ American Parfait
★ Amish Friendship Bread
★ Animal Crackers
★ Boston baked beans
★ Brownies
★ Buffalo meat (steaks and burgers)
★ Beignet
★ Buffalo Wings
★ Cheeseburger
★ Cheesesteak
★ Chicago-style hot dog
★ Chicago-style pizza
★ Chicken pot pie
★ Chili con carne
★ Chocolate chip cookies
★ Chop suey
★ Cincinnati chili
★ Cioppino
★ Clam Chowder
★ Cornbread
★ Corn dog
★ Corn chowder
★ Cotton Candy
★ Crabcake
★ Corn on the cob
★ Cream cheese
★ Doughnuts
★ Dirty rice
★ Eskimo pie
★ Fortune cookies
★ Fried chicken
★ Fudge
★ Garbage Plate
★ General Tso's Chicken
★ Goetta
★ Grits
★ Grilled pizza
★ Gumbo
★ Hamburgers
★ Hoagie
★ Hot dish
★ Hot dogs
★ Hot fudge
★ Hotcakes
★ Hush puppies
★ Ice cream cone
★ Ice cream pop
★ Jambalaya
★ Luther Burger
★ Macaroni and cheese
★ Moon Pie
★ Muffuletta sandwich
★ Onion Rings
★ Pancake
★ Peanut butter
★
★ Peanut butter and jelly sandwich
★ Pecan pie
★ Pecan pralines
★ Po' Boy sandwich
★ Popcorn
★ Popsicle
★ Potato Chips
★ Pumpkin pie
★ San Francisco Sourdough
★ Scrapple
★ Shrimp & Grits
★ Shrimp Creole
★ Shoo-fly pie
★ Sloppy joe
★ SPAM
★ Spiedie
★ Sweet potato pie
★ Thanksgiving Dinner (Roast Turkey, Cranberry sauce, etc.)
★ Twinkie
★ Whoopie pies
Whatever the definition of American cuisine, American chefs have been influential both in the food industry and in popular culture. American cooking has been exported around the world, both through the global expansion of restaurant chains such as T.G.I. Friday's and McDonalds and the efforts of individual restaurateurs such as Bob Payton, credited with bringing American-style pizza to the UK.[3]
The first generation of television chefs such as Robert Carrier and Julia Child tended to concentrate on cooking based primarily on European, especially French and Italian, cuisines. Only during the 1970s and 80s did television chefs such as James Beard and Jeff Smith shift the focus towards home-grown cooking styles, particularly those of the different ethnic groups within the nation. Contemporary television cooks like Rachael Ray and chefs like Anthony Bourdain now cover a variety of cuisines and styles, both home-grown and foreign, reflecting the increasingly adventurous palate of the modern American. In the catering industry, notable American restaurant chefs include Thomas Keller, Charlie Trotter, and Alfred Portale.
1. Levenstein, ''Paradox of Plenty'', pp 24-39
2. Levenstein, ''Paradox of Plenty'', pp 122-123
3. Bob Payton, 50, Restaurateur, Dies. New York Times July 16, 1994, Obituary, p 28.[1]
★ Levenstein, Harvey. ''Paradox of Plenty'' University of California Press, Ltd.: London, 2003.
★ Smith, Jeff. ''The Frugal Gormet Cooks American'' William Morrow & Co., 1987.
★ Native American cuisine
★ Cuisines of other countries
★ Cuisine of the Southern United States
★ Cuisine of the Southwestern United States
★ Christmas food in the United States
★ New England cuisine
★ Cuisine of the Midwestern United States
★ Cuisine of the Northeastern United States
★ Key Ingredients: America by Food - An educational companion web site to the Smithsonian Institution's Museums on Main Street traveling exhibit on American food ways. The site tells the history of food and dining across the country and includes the ''American Cookbook Project'' an initiative to collect recipes and stories related to them.
Because the United States has long attracted immigrants from a wide variety of nations and cultures, it is no surprise that the 'cuisine of the United States' is extremely diverse and difficult to define. One way of describing American cuisine is a synthesis of cuisines from around the world, a style of cooking that takes something from each immigrant community. On the other hand, American cooks have exported a great variety of dishes around the world, and in many ways American cuisine is just as recognisable and as popular as French, Chinese, or Indian.
Problems with defining American cuisine
The cheeseburger may seem a quintessentially American food, but similar foods are made in Germany and were likely brought across to the United States by German immigrants.
The cuisine of the Native Americans was of course the first American cooking style, and it lent a great deal not only to subsequent American cooking but also to culinary styles around the world. Turkey, corn (maize), beans, sunflowers, potatoes, peppers, and various forms of squash (including pumpkins) are among the Native American foods now widely consumed elsewhere. Superimposed on this original native diet is the massive contribution of the various immigrant groups; many dishes considered quintessentially American are in fact based upon the cooking traditions of other countries. For example, apple pies, pizza, runzas, chowder, and hamburgers are all either identical to, or derived from, European dishes. Burritos and tacos similarly have their origins in Mexico.
Even when trying to pinpoint a particular style or dish as "American", there is much regional variation in the United States. Notable regional styles include Hawaiian cuisine, Cajun cuisine, and California cuisine. While all three types are part of the larger category of American cuisine and may influence other areas of the country, they do not necessarily typify what comes to mind when one hears the word American.
Another factor that makes defining American cuisine difficult is that most of it developed as home cooking rather than haute cuisine. Some aspects of American food culture that might not be immediately described as ''cuisine'' include baked beans, barbecue, and clam chowder, as well as many of the American-style candy bars and fast-food items popular around the world.
The origins of American cuisine
One important characteristic of American cooking is the fusion of multiple ethnic or regional approaches into completely new cooking styles. The cuisine of the South, for example, has been heavily influenced by immigrants from Africa, France, and Mexico, among others. Asian cooking has played a particularly large role in American fusion cuisine.
Similarly, while some dishes considered typically American may have their origins in other countries, American cooks and chefs have substantially altered them over the years, to the degree that the dish as now enjoyed the world over may even be considered archetypically American. Hot dogs and hamburgers are both based on traditional German dishes, brought over to America by German immigrants to the United States, but in their modern, popular form they are so altered that they can be reasonably considered American dishes.
Given the United States' large size it is not surprising that its cuisine is typified by distinct regional variations. The cuisine of the East Coast and Pacific Northwest, for example, makes use of fish and seafood to much greater degree than that of the Midwest, where corn and beef were long more readily available. To some degree, easy transportation of perishable foodstuffs has diminished these regional differences in recent years, but many Americans still associate certain foods with specific places, such as steak with Omaha; lobster with Maine; salmon with the Pacific Northwest; and crab and crabcake with Maryland.
American cooking has been widely exported beyond its borders. Tex-Mex, Creole, and barbecue restaurants can be found in cities all around the world, while fast-food burger bars and pizzerias are even more popular.
Perceptions of American cuisine
Though American cuisine has much regional variation, it is sometimes said to be rather bland in taste. The Great Depression forced a standardization of the food industry to consolidate revenue. Through the war years, the combination of the GI ration and the advice of cookbooks in the ways to prepare the "standard cuisine." This cuisine came out of the new heart of the American diet, the Midwest.[1]
The homogeneity and predictability of American cuisine began to change during World War II with the adaptation of Italian-American and Chinese foods. Spaghetti was served to American GIs during the war. While the American versions of Chinese-inspired foods were at first far from authentic—recipes included ingredients such as ketchup, Worcestershire sauce, and cream of mushroom soup—they represented a new acceptance of less traditionally "American" foods. Much of the ethnic variety in modern American cuisine has its roots in developments that took place over the last half century.[2]
The modern fast food industry developed largely out of American innovations, particularly through the early efforts of the McDonald's corporation . This has led to some controversy with the global spread of such chains, as perceived Americanization of cuisine in other countries is sometimes described with derogatory terms like McDonaldization.
American regional and fusion cuisines
★ American Chinese cuisine
★ Barbecue
★ California cuisine
★ Euro-Asian cuisine, a kind of fusion cuisine
★ Fast food
★ Floribbean
★ Cuisine of Kentucky
★ Hawaiian cuisine
★ Italian American cuisine
★ Midwestern cuisine
★
★ Chicago
★ Native American cuisine
★ New England cuisine
★ New York City cuisine
★ Pennsylvania Dutch cuisine
★ Philadelphia cuisine
★ Puerto Rican cuisine
★ Southern cuisine
★
★ Cajun cuisine
★
★ Louisiana Creole cuisine
★
★ Soul food
★ Southwestern cuisine
★
★ New Mexican
★
★ Tex-Mex
Particular American foods
Dishes typical of Louisiana Creole cuisine.
★ American Parfait
★ Amish Friendship Bread
★ Animal Crackers
★ Boston baked beans
★ Brownies
★ Buffalo meat (steaks and burgers)
★ Beignet
★ Buffalo Wings
★ Cheeseburger
★ Cheesesteak
★ Chicago-style hot dog
★ Chicago-style pizza
★ Chicken pot pie
★ Chili con carne
★ Chocolate chip cookies
★ Chop suey
★ Cincinnati chili
★ Cioppino
★ Clam Chowder
★ Cornbread
★ Corn dog
★ Corn chowder
★ Cotton Candy
★ Crabcake
★ Corn on the cob
★ Cream cheese
★ Doughnuts
★ Dirty rice
★ Eskimo pie
★ Fortune cookies
★ Fried chicken
★ Fudge
★ Garbage Plate
★ General Tso's Chicken
★ Goetta
★ Grits
★ Grilled pizza
★ Gumbo
★ Hamburgers
★ Hoagie
★ Hot dish
★ Hot dogs
★ Hot fudge
★ Hotcakes
★ Hush puppies
★ Ice cream cone
★ Ice cream pop
★ Jambalaya
★ Luther Burger
★ Macaroni and cheese
★ Moon Pie
★ Muffuletta sandwich
★ Onion Rings
★ Pancake
★ Peanut butter
★
★ Peanut butter and jelly sandwich
★ Pecan pie
★ Pecan pralines
★ Po' Boy sandwich
★ Popcorn
★ Popsicle
★ Potato Chips
★ Pumpkin pie
★ San Francisco Sourdough
★ Scrapple
★ Shrimp & Grits
★ Shrimp Creole
★ Shoo-fly pie
★ Sloppy joe
★ SPAM
★ Spiedie
★ Sweet potato pie
★ Thanksgiving Dinner (Roast Turkey, Cranberry sauce, etc.)
★ Twinkie
★ Whoopie pies
Notable American chefs
Whatever the definition of American cuisine, American chefs have been influential both in the food industry and in popular culture. American cooking has been exported around the world, both through the global expansion of restaurant chains such as T.G.I. Friday's and McDonalds and the efforts of individual restaurateurs such as Bob Payton, credited with bringing American-style pizza to the UK.[3]
The first generation of television chefs such as Robert Carrier and Julia Child tended to concentrate on cooking based primarily on European, especially French and Italian, cuisines. Only during the 1970s and 80s did television chefs such as James Beard and Jeff Smith shift the focus towards home-grown cooking styles, particularly those of the different ethnic groups within the nation. Contemporary television cooks like Rachael Ray and chefs like Anthony Bourdain now cover a variety of cuisines and styles, both home-grown and foreign, reflecting the increasingly adventurous palate of the modern American. In the catering industry, notable American restaurant chefs include Thomas Keller, Charlie Trotter, and Alfred Portale.
References
1. Levenstein, ''Paradox of Plenty'', pp 24-39
2. Levenstein, ''Paradox of Plenty'', pp 122-123
3. Bob Payton, 50, Restaurateur, Dies. New York Times July 16, 1994, Obituary, p 28.[1]
Further reading
★ Levenstein, Harvey. ''Paradox of Plenty'' University of California Press, Ltd.: London, 2003.
★ Smith, Jeff. ''The Frugal Gormet Cooks American'' William Morrow & Co., 1987.
See also
★ Native American cuisine
★ Cuisines of other countries
★ Cuisine of the Southern United States
★ Cuisine of the Southwestern United States
★ Christmas food in the United States
★ New England cuisine
★ Cuisine of the Midwestern United States
★ Cuisine of the Northeastern United States
External links
★ Key Ingredients: America by Food - An educational companion web site to the Smithsonian Institution's Museums on Main Street traveling exhibit on American food ways. The site tells the history of food and dining across the country and includes the ''American Cookbook Project'' an initiative to collect recipes and stories related to them.
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