If that’s the case, we need to rename 95% of all “Italian” restaurants in the US and UK.
You don’t see a difference between positing the existence of a “national cuisine” in general and the use of the name “Italian” as an identifier for a particular restaurant? “Pete’s Italian Restaurant” doesn’t imply “What we serve here represents the national cuisine of all of Italy.” Words have different meanings in different contexts and individual businesses can use whatever names they want. Or else if someone asks “What do dolphins eat?” are you going to offer a survey of the favorite dishes of the members of the Miami Dolphins football club?
Grits counts as “soul food”- which has a lot of overlap with Southern cuisine, but can also be found in pretty much every part of the country with a decent population of African-Americans.
Cheese Whiz, Mayonnaise, Burgers, Catsup
Huh? Being a foodie (I am one) means appreciating well-made food made from quality ingredients. If you dismiss grits or hot dogs or pizza simply because of its origins, sometime you’re going to miss out on some good food.
I have to agree with this… being a foodie means appreciating Mac 'n Cheese that raises above the others, the perfect balance of a dish, as well as appreciating some basic comfort foods for what they are… simple and enjoyable. Not just thinking that Pate and Caviar are the only dishes acceptable… that would be a food snob.
Wow, what a ridiculous analogy. Nobody here is offering the favorite dishes of the Washington Nationals, last I checked.
The point is, there very rarely is such a thing as a national cuisine in any country. Most of what we think of as such are dishes from a specific region that become famous outside of the country. So, chowder, baked beans, cornbread, biscuits, gumbo and barbecue would all be candidates for American cuisine in another country.
I will say that too.
I once mentioned here that I love seafood when it’s served “American style.” Someone asked if I meant deep-fried. No! Well, not usually.
And I don’t consider shrimps with lobster sauce to be a seafood dish. That’s Chinese. (And ironically, American.)
To me a true American dish is a lobster, or crab legs, or baked stuffed shrimp, or lake trout, with a baked potato, cole slaw, and dinner rolls (which may include corn bread.) That doesn’t sound like anything other than American to me.
Damn, now I’m hungry for that. 
You know, I had no frigging idea we even had Hooters in this country.
I’m sure there are plenty of Hooters in your country.
And maybe an American restaurant or two as well.
I’m not dismissing anything. I love hot dogs and pizza. I’ve also been known to go to McD’s on occasion.
Its just that if we’re trying to come up with a national cuisine I was hoping we could include some where some real thought was put into the ingredients and preparation.
There are some uniquely American restaurants that rank among the best in the world. I was just intending to get a little representation for them along with all of the “hot dogs and pizza” type suggestions.
No doubt there are. But can you name a few?
I can name quite a few. I’ll limit these few to just the ones I’ve been to myself so this will be pretty San Francisco-centric.
I ate here last month and it was one of the best meals I’ve ever had in my life.
Very solid place
Don’t let the name fool you. They are self-described as “uniquely American”. This is probably the best restaurant in America west of the Mississippi.
Two of the above restaurants are extremely expensive but I did say “best in the world” and was asked to come up with examples. World class dining will be expensive.
I’m going to have to try them side by side somehow. I like both, but hominy grits definitely tasted different to me than cornmeal polenta. I don’t see how they could taste the same–it’s like the difference between masa harina and cornmeal, no? Those don’t taste the same to me, and tamales made from nixtamalized corn taste different than cornmeal tamales. (And I’ve only had grits made from white corn, too, so far as I remember, so that might be a difference in taste, too.)
And what does that have to do with objecting to hot dogs and pizza? You could make hot dogs and pizza with the choicest ingredients, and you could slap together dishes that are on the menu of the French Laundry with cheap trashy ingredients.
Just because a dish is available somewhere doesn’t mean that it’s “from” there. Chicago (I assume) has plenty of places that serve Pad Thai. That’s doesn’t mean that Pad Thai is an American dish.
I get the impression that corn on the cob (served only with butter and salt) might fit the OP’s question much better. It’s popular across the U.S., not really associated with a particular region, and regarded as foreign by most people in the Old World. Okay, we Canadians don’t really think of it as American, but our cuisine is very similar to American cuisine. How popular is it in Latin America (specifically served with only butter and salt)?
Popcorn?
Hear, hear. I wouldn’t call myself a foodie, but I work in a position that involves keeping a small eye on the local food scene, and there are quite a few restaurants in my city that feature farm-to-table ingredients, and chefs trying new twists on classic American or Southern food (Hamburgers with homemade pimento cheese, for example, or homemade pickles).
(my emphasis)
About 60 IQ points and eight teeth.
[ducks and runs]
Then a valid answer is “there is no national cuisine of America” or “there is no truly national cuisine in any country.” It might exist in some places and not others. I seem to recall that Japan actually maintains an official list of food items that it considers to be part of the national cuisine. I believe a few years ago, a lot of Koreans had a fit when the Japanese added kim chi to the Japanese national cuisine.
I’m not sure what point you are making there. Of course cornbread and grits aren’t “from” Chicago. But it’s American food. Southern food is part of American cuisine, and it permeates much of America and isn’t limited to the south. Once again, Southern food is one part of American Cuisine. If spaetzle can be “German cuisine” and mole poblano can be “Mexican cuisine,” it’s ridiculous not to count cornbread and grits as “American cuisine.” Those items are every bit as regional, I’d argue much moreso, than grits and cornbread are in America.
The casing is made from the intestine of a pig raised entirely on acorns, the meat is a mixture of √(π!!) percent butter-bathed suckling pig lips, with the remainder made from lightly caressed sphincter muscles from a raton laveur, en français.