What is American Cuisine?
This is a hard question to answer. America is a melting pot of cultures, immigrants bringing their cuisine with them when settling here. Many had to adapt their cuisine with available local ingredients, over time creating uniquely American cuisine.
Potato Salad, Macaroni & Cheese, Barbecue
A clear example of this is potato salad. Its origins were rooted in Europe; they used vinegar and herbs to dress their potato salad. Our American-style potato salad can include mayonnaise, mustard, pickles, herbs, and hard boil eggs.
President Thomas Jefferson was a “foodie” for his lifetime. On his travels to Europe, he introduced America to waffles and macaroni & cheese.
Food across the country differ within regions, just look at barbecue. Their regional styles include Memphis, Kansas City, St. Louis, Texas, and Carolina.
Staff Picks!
If I posed this question to you: “what is American cuisine?”, what would you say? When I asked my co-workers, some people had a hard time answering, others could not limit their choice to one. Overall, their choices were hamburgers and apple pie as top choice, followed by hot dogs and barbecue. My choices were hamburger and apple pie too. Come to the library, view the display and see how a melting pot of cultures became a melting pot of cuisine.
Survey results: Hamburger – 13, Hot Dog – 11, Fried Chicken & Waffles – 4, Thanksgiving – 7, Barbecue – 10, Lobster Roll – 5, Macaroni & Cheese – 6, Potato Salad – 5, Apple Pie – 13, S’more – 8, Sundae – 1, Chocolate Chip Cookies – 8, Other* – 7.
*(Other includes: American Chop Suey, Lox, Any comfort food, Fortune Cookies, Coca-cola, Pizza, Popcorn).