Every nation has some dishes that are associated with it. Sometimes this can be an entire culinary movement or perhaps a collection of ingredients and techniques. It gets a bit more complicated with massive, multicultural countries like, for example, the USA.
Someone asked Americans “What do you consider to be a cultural food of the United States?” and people shared their best examples. From humble PB&Js to multilayered casseroles, netizens covered the entire range. So get comfortable as you scroll through, upvote your favorite examples, and be sure to share your own thoughts in the comments section below.
I was grocery shopping recently when a very nice German guy approached me for advice. He had friends coming to visit from his home country and he wanted to introduce them to peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, and could I advise him on the best ingredients? He already had some kind of b******t artisan bread from the bakery department in his cart. I told him to put that back, go to the bread aisle and get the crappy white Wonder Bread. Then there was discussion about the merits of Welch’s grape jelly vs. strawberry jam, and how most big brand peanut butter is optimal as opposed to the oily natural kind. Lastly he learned to use the term “PB & J.” He went away delighted, and it felt great to be a cultural ambassador!
DukexNukemx007 replied:
Cheap and mass-produced PB&J is an American staple, and eating one is part of the cultural experience of living in the US. From sea to shining sea, we all, at some point, ate a Walmart-tier PB&J.
Yes I know some of you are going to say “what about German schnitzel?” … IT IS NOT THE SAME AND YOU KNOW IT.
The size of a dinner plate and served with white gravy.
Pizza and burgers may be more commonly eaten here, but they’re really adaptations of food from Europe. Brisket, ribs, or pulled pork, slow cooked in a pit smoker and smothered in barbecue sauce, are more American in origin, and extraordinarily delicious.
There are lots of regional variations too. Mostly a result of what resources were available (ie, it’s smoked with whatever wood is readily available in that region), but now they are a strong point of regional pride, and the topic of endless “which region has the best BBQ” debates. (I’m a fan of Memphis style, myself, but it’s all good.)
AppHelper replied:
Americanized Chinese food, and specifically East Coast Chinese food. Stuff like General Tso’s chicken, egg rolls, egg drop soup, oily, soy sauce–laden lo mein, beef and broccoli, and fortune cookies. Funny enough, this stuff doesn’t exist in Asia. I was so happy to see that an American Chinese restaurant opened in Shanghai, but it closed down.
Cajundawg replied:
Cajun and Creole cooking. It’s a derivative of French cooking, but it’s so far removed now that it’s a unique cuisine. You’re not getting boiled crawfish made properly anywhere outside of southern Louisiana.
Truck stop/diner/greasy-spoon breakfast. Doesn’t matter what you order and if you’re somewhere in the mid-west- even better.
Or, if you ever find yourself in a church basement in Minnesota after an event, you will know the authentic, All-American comfort of many kinds of salads with no lettuce, dessert bars, and hotdishes.
These, and the sing-song accents of grammas and grampas, are what I missed the most living abroad.
Other dishes that may be more regional just aren’t found everywhere even in the US.
Popcorn. Who can see a movie without it? It was first made by Native Americans.
Oh my god so many things. Popcorn, peanut butter and jelly, turkey, Caesar salad, brownies, chocolate chip cookies, pumpkin pie, soda, breakfast cereal, sure.
But also pizza, lasagna, French fries, hamburgers, tacos, nachos, jambalaya, fried chicken, barbecue, apple pie, egg foo young, sweet and sour chicken, pancakes, omelettes, hot dogs, doughnuts, bourbon whiskey, bagels, grits, clam bakes and fish poke.
“Hold up”, you say, “most of that second list is bastardized versions of other countries’ cultural foods, and I’m not really sure about all the stuff in the first list either. You even included some indigenous peoples’ dishes!”
Exactly. **The hallmark of American cuisine is borrowing, adapting, and combining stuff from cultures around the world to make our own unique food landscape.** You claim chicken adobo as your unique national dish? That’s great, Americans are gonna put it on a pizza.
And let’s be clear: every country does this. Italy didn’t invent noodles, or tomato sauce. Vindaloo is borrowed from Portugal, massaman curry isn’t originally Thai. Every old-world dish that contains tomatoes, potatoes, corn, or peanuts was invented after these ingredients arrived from the Americas.
But American cuisine is defined by its variety and its willingness to be inspired by and combine foods from the whole world.
You wanna know what makes America great? We’re the land of the kalbi taco, spam musubi, the kimchi quesadilla and the tandoori pierogi.
Okay I just invented tandoori pierogi for this post, but now I want one. And that’s the point.
Buffalo wings, which were invented and perfected in Buffalo, New York. This creation has no roots in any other countries.
Carolina Sauce replaced the actual blood in my body years ago and I’m still kickin.
Pecan pie
Biscuits and gravy
Submarine sandwiches
Corn pie
Scrapple
Deep dish pizza
Was recently in Prague and a local guy told me that the most American food to him was a corndog and that is probably the right answer.
I was recently in Tokyo and came across a place called Bubby’s American Cookery. Their special was meatloaf wrapped in bacon, so I guess that says it best.
Fried chicken, smoked meat barbecue, soul food, Cajun and creole food
Every nation has some dishes that are associated with it. Sometimes this can be an entire culinary movement or perhaps a collection of ingredients and techniques. It gets a bit more complicated with massive, multicultural countries like, for example, the USA.
Someone asked Americans “What do you consider to be a cultural food of the United States?” and people shared their best examples. From humble PB&Js to multilayered casseroles, netizens covered the entire range. So get comfortable as you scroll through, upvote your favorite examples, and be sure to share your own thoughts in the comments section below.
DukexNukemx007 replied:
Cheap and mass-produced PB&J is an American staple, and eating one is part of the cultural experience of living in the US. From sea to shining sea, we all, at some point, ate a Walmart-tier PB&J.
Yes I know some of you are going to say “what about German schnitzel?” … IT IS NOT THE SAME AND YOU KNOW IT.
The size of a dinner plate and served with white gravy.
Pizza and burgers may be more commonly eaten here, but they're really adaptations of food from Europe. Brisket, ribs, or pulled pork, slow cooked in a pit smoker and smothered in barbecue sauce, are more American in origin, and extraordinarily delicious.
There are lots of regional variations too. Mostly a result of what resources were available (ie, it's smoked with whatever wood is readily available in that region), but now they are a strong point of regional pride, and the topic of endless "which region has the best BBQ" debates. (I'm a fan of Memphis style, myself, but it's all good.)
AppHelper replied:
Americanized Chinese food, and specifically East Coast Chinese food. Stuff like General Tso's chicken, egg rolls, egg drop soup, oily, soy sauce–laden lo mein, beef and broccoli, and fortune cookies. Funny enough, this stuff doesn't exist in Asia. I was so happy to see that an American Chinese restaurant opened in Shanghai, but it closed down.
Cajundawg replied:
Cajun and Creole cooking. It's a derivative of French cooking, but it's so far removed now that it's a unique cuisine. You're not getting boiled crawfish made properly anywhere outside of southern Louisiana.
Truck stop/diner/greasy-spoon breakfast. Doesn't matter what you order and if you're somewhere in the mid-west- even better.
Or, if you ever find yourself in a church basement in Minnesota after an event, you will know the authentic, All-American comfort of many kinds of salads with no lettuce, dessert bars, and hotdishes.
These, and the sing-song accents of grammas and grampas, are what I missed the most living abroad.
Other dishes that may be more regional just aren't found everywhere even in the US.
Popcorn. Who can see a movie without it? It was first made by Native Americans.
Oh my god so many things. Popcorn, peanut butter and jelly, turkey, Caesar salad, brownies, chocolate chip cookies, pumpkin pie, soda, breakfast cereal, sure.
But also pizza, lasagna, French fries, hamburgers, tacos, nachos, jambalaya, fried chicken, barbecue, apple pie, egg foo young, sweet and sour chicken, pancakes, omelettes, hot dogs, doughnuts, bourbon whiskey, bagels, grits, clam bakes and fish poke.
“Hold up”, you say, “most of that second list is bastardized versions of other countries’ cultural foods, and I’m not really sure about all the stuff in the first list either. You even included some indigenous peoples’ dishes!”
Exactly. **The hallmark of American cuisine is borrowing, adapting, and combining stuff from cultures around the world to make our own unique food landscape.** You claim chicken adobo as your unique national dish? That’s great, Americans are gonna put it on a pizza.
And let’s be clear: every country does this. Italy didn’t invent noodles, or tomato sauce. Vindaloo is borrowed from Portugal, massaman curry isn’t originally Thai. Every old-world dish that contains tomatoes, potatoes, corn, or peanuts was invented after these ingredients arrived from the Americas.
But American cuisine is defined by its variety and its willingness to be inspired by and combine foods from the whole world.
You wanna know what makes America great? We’re the land of the kalbi taco, spam musubi, the kimchi quesadilla and the tandoori pierogi.
Okay I just invented tandoori pierogi for this post, but now I want one. And that’s the point.
Buffalo wings, which were invented and perfected in Buffalo, New York. This creation has no roots in any other countries.
Carolina Sauce replaced the actual blood in my body years ago and I’m still kickin.
Pecan pie
Biscuits and gravy
Submarine sandwiches
Corn pie
Scrapple
Deep dish pizza
Was recently in Prague and a local guy told me that the most American food to him was a corndog and that is probably the right answer.
I was recently in Tokyo and came across a place called Bubby's American Cookery. Their special was meatloaf wrapped in bacon, so I guess that says it best.
Fried chicken, smoked meat barbecue, soul food, Cajun and creole food
Read original article here