What's American Food?

[Tuberski]

Corn is distinctly American.

ACK!

[N35t0r]

Corn syrup is distinctly unitedstatesian.

[Docfeelgood]

Let's not leave out watermelon, especially given the season.

Oh yea! I completely forgot about watermelon.
I sure do love frozen cantaloupe.

[Spaced Cowboy]

Char broiled Medium rare steak is pretty much a well known American mainstay. I've had steak in other countries and it is pretty sad. The US has the best beef....Well maybe Japan is close.

Southern foods are quite original. Have to remember that the US is a mixed pool of people from many countries.

I disagree on Pizza, the Italian version was similar unless you count the American version where the ingredients are piled an inch high.

Isn't the hamburger and hotdog American creations (in their current form).

In China they call any hot sandwich a burger. Anyone care for a chicken burger...just sounds wrong.

Almost every foreign dish that comes here gets modified. Sichuan anything in China...awesome, here...meh. No one here actually uses Sichuan peppers. These little babies are one of the most delicious things that I have ever tasted. Hard to even find them here.

[Tuberski]

Twinkies, slurpees, and of course the Luther Burger:



ACK!

[Spaced Cowboy]

A one of my personal favorites... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reuben_sandwich

[Docfeelgood]

Buffalo wings?

[N35t0r]

The OP question is actually a trick question. It's not really 'food'...

[DaShi]

Back when I was doing TEFL in Peru, my students once asked me what constituted "American food." Burgers, fries and pizza (of the fast-food kind) were all they knew about it, so they turned up their noses at the concept. I wanted to jump to the defense of the ol' fatherland...but fell flat, because what is American food?

Almost all of the examples I can think of (i.e., distinctively American dishes) are from the South. BBQ, gumbo, jambalaya, greens, biscuits and gravy, fried chicken, and the like. The rest were a few scattered regional mainstays like clam chowder or crabs with Old Bay. Maybe macaroni and cheese? Apple pie? Those feel pretty "American" to me, though for all I know Brits or the French or somebody invented both. Er, hash browns? Doughnuts? There's lots of traditional foods that have fallen by the wayside as modernity and fast food took over, I'm sure.

If you grew up in the U.S., what do you think of as distinctively "American food"? I'd especially like to hear about regional favorites. I have no idea what sorts of food are traditional in Minnesota, Ohio, Oregon, or California.

First you remind them that Peru is part of America. Then you tell them that the only good American food comes from Eagle's Deli off Cleveland Circle.

[MRT144]

All the southern food you mentioned plus burgers and pizza. Maybe they were invented elsewhere but now they are distinctly American. Also throw in steak. And definitely breakfast cereal. I think we invented that?

In specific, fast food burgers are wholly american and only really enabled by modern technology.

[MRT144]

Char broiled Medium rare steak is pretty much a well known American mainstay. I've had steak in other countries and it is pretty sad. The US has the best beef....Well maybe Japan is close.

Southern foods are quite original. Have to remember that the US is a mixed pool of people from many countries.

I disagree on Pizza, the Italian version was similar unless you count the American version where the ingredients are piled an inch high.

Isn't the hamburger and hotdog American creations (in their current form).

In China they call any hot sandwich a burger. Anyone care for a chicken burger...just sounds wrong.

Almost every foreign dish that comes here gets modified. Sichuan anything in China...awesome, here...meh. No one here actually uses Sichuan peppers. These little babies are one of the most delicious things that I have ever tasted. Hard to even find them here.

You forget that the while the importation of foreign food cultures may be mediocre at best (especially depending on where you live), we really are one of the few countries that has imported a great many different cultural foods across the entire country. If you want it, America has it. You arent lucky in countries like greece when it comes to stuff like this.

[DaShi]

When I was teaching in China, a few of my students were enamored with the idea that Americans are sandwich experts. This before Subway arrived and ended any misconception of what a sandwich artist really is. So I offered to make some sandwiches for them. Unfortunately, I was stuck with Chinese ingredients. First, Chinese can't make bread for ****. It's like some sad bastard child of bunny bread and angel food cake. Second, Chinese mayonnaise is little more than watered down paste. Anyway, I slap some lettuce and tomatoes on that crap and add some ham slices and figure, good enough. Now the Chinese are very polite people, which means that they are habitual liars. As much as they told me how great my sandwiches were, I was suspicious. Didn't help that when I returned to the room later, one of them had her head out the window. I guess the Chinese don't know the napkin trick.

[N35t0r]

I make home-made mayonnaise with oil and milk (no egg, so it's not truly mayonnaise though). It goes great for sandwitches and stuff, especially with some garlic or curry powder.

[snoopy369]

No. He said 'Pizza, as currently understood [...] is clearly American.' This is not true.

The [...] is rather important. Italians invented neapolitan flatbread, which is what I described elsewhere. It's quite good, but not really very similar to American Pizza. It's a light bread with very bright flavors and focuses strongly on the bread flavor and texture, with the cheese and tomato and basil as light notes.

American Pizza, think Domino's here, or even better, Chicago Style Deep Dish, is an entirely different food, no more similar than a quesidilla is to a pizza. Sure, both are flat breads with cheese and tomato on them, but beyond that they are not similar foods. NY style pizza is a very thin, crispy crust, with tomato sauce, cheap melted oily cheese, and other toppings. The taste primarily comes from the cheese and any toppings. Chicago style pizza is a thicker but still crispy crust, thick layers of sauce and cheese, and 'toppings' in the middle; the taste is primarily the sauce.

[The Mad Monk]

I make home-made mayonnaise with oil and milk (no egg, so it's not truly mayonnaise though). It goes great for sandwitches and stuff, especially with some garlic or curry powder.

How do you get it to emulsify with no egg?