And so many varieties of everything! You mention a food, and I’ll bet you can have half a dozen variations of it within ten minutes. Pecan pie can have chocolate in it, it can have bourbon, and as mentioned above, can be made with maple syrup.
We have two different clam chowders, New England and Manhattan, more types of barbecue than you can shake a stick at, and I’ll bet you ask five different bakers and they’ll tell you five different ways of making sourdough bread.
Not a Yankee, but a Yankee gourmand; one who eats Yankee food; for example, one who puts (forgive me, I do not wish to insult you in particular) sugar in cornbread.
…and my Sainted Grandmother, who came here from Illinois and converted as it were, made pecan pies and chocolate pies, but not both in the same crust.
And who are you eating with? Midwesterner, who lived in the east and the west, checking in. We cook almost every day and all those around us do too. Maybe you’re just being treated by your US friends to “bought” food as a treat. Check out the supermarket, it’s obvious we are not all eating M’D’s or KFC everyday.
Come to our house. We get a fresh turkey without any of the added flavorings and additives. Do real live cranberries, none of that canned stuff, mashed taters with the skins on, sweet potatoes with no god-damned marshmellows, stuffing with portebello rooms, and acorn and butternut squash. Followed by homemade apple and pumpkin pie with real whipped at home cream. All preceeded by shephard’s pie for breakfast.