July 8th, 2008
As a country founded by immigrants, some say that American cuisine is a fusion of everything. We have the best of Italy, France, Germany etc. and we’ve fused it together over the years, to create a melting pot of food culture. Dissenters on the other hand, may feel that American cuisine is actually the absence of any style. Fast food is our cuisine, it’s the only development we can truly consider our own. Regardless which camp you may be in (or maybe an entirely different one), it’s interesting to note a study by the James Beard House published this month, that sought to answer that very question: “Is there an American cuisine? If so, what is it?” The study was conducted among visitors to their web sites as well as readers of Every Day with Rachael Ray magazine and other “experts in various fields related to food, nutrition, and gastronomy.” A few hundred people participated overall. Overwhelmingly, participants felt that there is an American cuisine and described it using words like “comfort”, “melting pot”, and “regional.” The most fascinating part was a table that listed the top 5 American foods.
TABLE 2: Iconic American Foods
Hamburgers and Cheeseburgers 44.4%
BBQ 39.3%
Fried Chicken 31.6%
Mac’n’Cheese 29.1%
Apple Pie 26.5%
To me it was somehow a mixture of surprising and obvious. These are comfort foods that largely originated in the South and Midwest. But as a New Yorker I have to ask, what about pizza? Do people think of foods that are associated with one ethnicity (Italian food) as being Un-American? I think that whether it originated here or not, it’s just as much a part of American cuisine as hamburgers. And hey, didn’t hamburgers come from Germany anyway? Does something have to originate here, to be considered part of our cuisine? One could argue that all of our food was born out of another country. I’m of the belief that American cuisine exists and is ever-changing. One day sushi will be just as American as apple pie. I’m blabbering, but you get the picture here I hope. Do you agree with these 5? What’s missing? Do you feel there is an American cuisine?
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What’s missing? Bagels, cream cheese and lox!
I’ve always been a champion of southern cuisine as being the true American cuisine, though I’m a bit biased. Buttermilk biscuits, fried chicken, collard greens, chitterlings, fired okra, etc. All of the dishes that originated in the rural south.
Speaking of American food, Spike from Top Chef on Bravo just opened a restaurant in DC called “Good Eats”, and its gourmet hamburgers , herb dusted french fries, and milk shakes in all sorts of crazy flavors!
Sounds like hes kinda taking some all-american staples and bumping it up a notch to be a little bit more gourmet! I can’t wait to go!
Comfort food to me as a native Chicagoan is lasanga, grilled bbq ribs…well, just about anything bbq’d really, and fresh vegetables eaten directly out of garden. Our neighborhood prided itself on its expansive vegetable gardens, and although I doubt this is a regional cuisine, it was most definitely an integral part of my American childhood!
The only thing I can think of would be PB & J.
When I lived in Spain, the common perception was that American food was any kind of barbecued meat served in massive quantities.