# Help build an "American Food" menu **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 12, 2004, 1:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-build-an-american-food-menu/259470 "2004-08-12T01:36:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Vlad\_Igor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/7feea3/32.png) [@Vlad\_Igor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Vlad_Igor)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2004, 1:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-build-an-american-food-menu/259470/1 "2004-08-12T01:36:21Z")
I guess this is really about what is uniquely American food (I’ll include our brethren and sistren to the north, so this is about North American food). I brought this up one night when we were at an Ethiopian restaurant waiting for our food. I asked “What truly [North] American foods could we put on a menu for an American Restaurant somewhere in the world?” We came up with: Meatloaf corn-on-the-cob Barbecue Chili (a stretch, but Texas is still part of the US at last check) Salmon popcorn What else could be put on our menu? Vlad/Igor ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2004, 1:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-build-an-american-food-menu/259470/2 "2004-08-12T01:44:03Z")
Go get yourself a copy of the 1938 Rex Stout novel _Too Many Cooks_. In an early chapter Nero Wolfe delivers a short lecture on the magnificence of indigenous American cuisine that has yet to be equaled. ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2004, 1:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-build-an-american-food-menu/259470/3 "2004-08-12T01:46:31Z")
Also, let me move this to Cafe Society for you, where you will get better answers. ---
**Author:** ![kittenblue](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ba8739/32.png) [@kittenblue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kittenblue)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2004, 1:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-build-an-american-food-menu/259470/4 "2004-08-12T01:58:34Z")
Hamburgers Fried chicken Turkey and stuffing Hotdogs Tuna casserole Broccoli/rice/cheese casserole Grilled cheese sandwich Macaroni and cheese ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2004, 1:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-build-an-american-food-menu/259470/5 "2004-08-12T01:58:46Z")
Reuben sandwich Waldorf salad ---
**Author:** ![Eva\_Luna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e495f1/32.png) [@Eva\_Luna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eva_Luna)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2004, 2:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-build-an-american-food-menu/259470/6 "2004-08-12T02:12:40Z")
Think in terms of regional things or traditional holiday things, and that might help… Almost anything else made with corn (cornbread, muffins of all sorts, hush puppies, and loads more that I can’t think of right now) Roast turkey Beef jerky and its distant relative, pemmican All the components of a New England lobster boil: lobsters, clams, mussels, etc. Brownies Zillions of pies: not just apple, but how about pecan, shoofly, black-bottom, Derby, or cranberry? Anything made with sweet potatoes or pumpkins or peanuts Mmmmm…I just had dinner, and you’re making me hungry! ---
**Author:** ![Eva\_Luna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e495f1/32.png) [@Eva\_Luna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eva_Luna)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2004, 2:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-build-an-american-food-menu/259470/7 "2004-08-12T02:14:53Z")
Don’t forget chocolate chip cookies! Bourbon drinks Anything made with maple syrup ---
**Author:** ![MagicEyes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5daacb/32.png) [@MagicEyes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MagicEyes)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2004, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-build-an-american-food-menu/259470/8 "2004-08-12T02:16:31Z")
Rice Krispie Treats Smores Cherry Jello with fruit cocktail Beanie Weenies Spam Cheese-in-a-can Slim Jims Pringles ---
**Author:** ![Rhiannon8404](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rhiannon8404/32/17929_2.png) [@Rhiannon8404](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhiannon8404)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2004, 2:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-build-an-american-food-menu/259470/9 "2004-08-12T02:17:25Z")
> [@Vlad/Igor](#): > > Salmon How is salmon a uniquely American food. I know it’s very popular in Scotland. Things **Suburban Plankton** and I came up with: Corn Dogs Gumbo Green Bean Casserole (that horrible dish with canned gr beans, cream of mushroom soup and those awful french fried onions) Fortune Cookies Breakfast cereal (in as much as it was invented here) ---
**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2004, 2:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-build-an-american-food-menu/259470/10 "2004-08-12T02:18:45Z")
Most people have listed what i would’ve put (hamburgers, hot dogs, fried chicken, etc). Coke & pepsi Spicy chicken ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2004, 2:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-build-an-american-food-menu/259470/11 "2004-08-12T02:33:52Z")
Cranberries. ---
**Author:** ![Ephemera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8baadc/32.png) [@Ephemera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ephemera)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2004, 2:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-build-an-american-food-menu/259470/12 "2004-08-12T02:49:18Z")
Pumpkins; sweet potatoes; potatoes; sunflower seeds; and, I think, buffalo are all indigenous to North America so anything invovling them to any great extent. Succotash. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2004, 2:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-build-an-american-food-menu/259470/13 "2004-08-12T02:56:33Z")
Potatoes aren’t unique to North America, though. ---
**Author:** ![Ephemera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8baadc/32.png) [@Ephemera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ephemera)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2004, 2:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-build-an-american-food-menu/259470/14 "2004-08-12T02:57:39Z")
Most of the things listed in this thread aren’t. ---
**Author:** ![Eva\_Luna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e495f1/32.png) [@Eva\_Luna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eva_Luna)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2004, 3:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-build-an-american-food-menu/259470/15 "2004-08-12T03:06:55Z")
With modern transportation networks, hardly anything listed is _unique_ to America. But most of the things listed are _indigenous_ to America. If you want to be anal, tomatoes aren’t indigenous to Italy, nor potatoes to Eastern Europe. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2004, 3:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-build-an-american-food-menu/259470/16 "2004-08-12T03:09:14Z")
Apple pie, see “as American as” ---
**Author:** ![dinahmoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/8797f3/32.png) [@dinahmoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dinahmoe)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2004, 3:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-build-an-american-food-menu/259470/17 "2004-08-12T03:20:57Z")
Fluffernutters and ice cream cones. Not together, though:D ---
**Author:** ![Miss\_Purl\_McKnittington](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9a140/32.png) [@Miss\_Purl\_McKnittington](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miss_Purl_McKnittington)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2004, 3:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-build-an-american-food-menu/259470/18 "2004-08-12T03:49:44Z")
Cheese curds! Wonderful, salty, Wisconsin cheese curds. _drool_ Especially deep fried in beer batter. Yum. I’m not sure about this, but maybe the Friday night fish fry? Beer battered cod, fries, and coleslaw in a little paper cup. Not the food itself, but the tradition. Visitors from other Midwestern states seem to think that eating fish on Friday night is the weirdest thing ever, but most small town bars in Wisconsin rake in the cash on Friday nights when it comes to hot oil + fish. Sundaes. ---
**Author:** ![rjk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ed655f/32.png) [@rjk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rjk)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2004, 5:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-build-an-american-food-menu/259470/19 "2004-08-12T05:51:32Z")
I’ll second **Ukulele Ike** ’s recommendation of _Too Many Cooks_. Wolfe’s speech is great! Others have mentioned a lot of good things (although some are directly derived from other cuisines) so I’ll just add Nanaimo bars and poutine to the list. And according to my sources from Quebec, **Miss McK** , their cheese curds are immeasurably better. Of course they might be biased. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![rjk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ed655f/32.png) [@rjk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rjk)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2004, 5:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-build-an-american-food-menu/259470/20 "2004-08-12T05:56:51Z")
BTW, the original recipe, the One True Way to make Nanaimo bars, is [here](http://www.city.nanaimo.bc.ca/visitors/index_inside.asp?id=189). [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-build-an-american-food-menu/259470.md?page=2)