Grits are definitively Southern. As in, I’ve seen definitions of “the South” as “anywhere where it’s easy to get good grits”. Which still makes them an American food, since as others have mentioned, the South is part of America. I mean, by comparison, is there any distinctive Chinese cuisine?
Absolutely. I don’t think anyone is contesting that.
Exactly.
What, you’ve never heard of johnnycakes?
I found grits on the menu of a decidedly bas cuisine hot dog-and hamburger joint in downtown Chicago in 1995. Southern food is actually pretty ubiquitious; but in other parts of the nation, it’s labelled soul food, and associated with African-Americans. Which makes sense; in the big cities of the Midwest, it’s a cultural relic of black migration from the South in the early decades of the 20th century.
Hamburgers, hotdogs, fried chicken, meatloaf, corn on the cob, mashed potatoes with gravy, chili, catfish, hashbrowns, BLT, peanut butter, PB&J, corn flakes, BBQ, baked potatoes.
There’s not much in the way of green vegetables there.
Turkey is unique to the New World, so that should top the list (even if they were mostly found in Mexico 500 years ago).
Just think: a drunk but smart pervert would have made the turkey displace the Bald Eagle as pure America! if he had his way.
Oh, I’m changing my answer to this.
Anything that qualifies as junk or comfort food is as American as apple pie.
Yeah, bald eagles are stringy.
I’d argue that looking for a distinct, somehow unified “American Cuisine” is about as fruitless of a pursuit as looking for the same thing in Europe.
We have roughly the same number of people split up into 50 states vs. about the same number of European countries, minus Russia.
Granted, there’s not too much culinarily speaking to differentiate some states from each other within a region (seriously… what makes Nebraska different from Iowa, and both of those different than Kansas? Or Mississipi, Alabama and Georgia? Or Tennessee and Kentucky?), but the same can be said for many European countries (Central European seems to be variations on the theme of cabbage, sausages, fried cutlets and beer, for example).
I think you could argue that many US regional cuisines and those of a few big states or particularly unusual states (Louisiana in particular) are as distinctive as any in the world.
Well, Kentucky does have a unique style of barbecue made from mutton. Mostly in Western Kentucky in the area around Owensboro, but that’s an interesting regional take on barbecue. It exists also in extreme southern Indiana, around Evansville (as far as I’ve been), but it’s mostly Owensboro. So that’s interesting. You can probably find similar subtle differences between Mississippi, Georgia, and Alabama. (Like, I know Alabama is a standout for having “white” barbecue sauce for chicken [usually] that’s based on mayonnaise. Or that the Mississippi delta has its own style of tamales and hot links [which you can find in Chicago]. Georgia has chicken mull, and it’s own version of Brunswick stew, etc.) But, yeah, I get your general point–the broad cuisine in the states will be largely similar, only really distinguished by food geeks.
The weekly menu at my house while growing up:
Meatloaf with canned green beans and mashed potatoes and gravy.
Macaroni and ground beef–based goulash (aka “Hamburger Helper”).
Fried chicken with creamed corn and mashed potatoes and gravy.
Skillet chili.
Tuna hot dish.
Hamburger hot dish.
Fried liver and onions.
From an american foodie POV this thread is really depressing. Grits and hot dogs…pizza? Christ.
It’s hard to get good fried chicken outside of the US, at least in my experience.
Here’s a random list of foods that I get nostalgic for when I think about the US - BBQ ribs, fried chicken, deep dish pizza, grits, fried sea food, hot dogs, Butterfingers, peanut butter M&Ms, milkshakes, pie, American Chinese takeout, clam chowder, mac and cheese.
I know that my relatives in Massachusetts love cornbread and corn muffins. I’ll grant you that they are first, second, and third generation Americans at least on one side. But they are not the only ones in that general area who love cornbread.
My husband will often say that he wants “American cooking” when we go out to eat. By this, he means that he doesn’t want Mexican or Tex-Mex food (which I love and will suggest on just about all occasions). He wants steak or pot roast or meat loaf or fried chicken or chicken fried steak. Interestingly, he doesn’t regard Cajun cooking as American, and his mother was Cajun. In his mind, Cajun food has its own little beloved niche. So does Italian food, which is where he puts pizza.
I regard most of the above as American food, even the pizza, and I’d include diner food in this category as well. Salisbury steak, burgers and hot dogs and fries, mall food, etc.
People who look down on grits are exactly the same people who love polenta.
Turducken.
Now here’s a question. I believe I’ve only had hominy grits, which have a different, texture and flavor than polenta. Are most Southern style grits of the hominy type or of the regular (un-nixtamalized) corn type? If grits are usually hominy grits, then I can see how some might be put off by them, but like polenta.
There isn’t much difference at all. They may sometimes be ground courser, sometimes not. I’d be surprised if you haven’t had both varieties multiple times.
I’ve never met anyone who claims to know the difference, much less prefer one over the other.
The term “national cuisine” implies something that’s distinct from “collection of regional cuisines,” so things that are specifically regional, like green chili and grits, shouldn’t count.
So definitely –
Roast turkey and all the trimmings of a Thanksgiving dinner
Fried chicken
Hamburgers
Corn dogs
Pizza (but not regional specialties like Chicago deep dish)