The idea of “Japanese food” or “Indian food” seems just as incoherent to someone from Japan or India as “American food” does to you.
In addition to the regional US food (the US is a really big place y’all!) with their own labels, for generic American food I usually think either of fast food (burgers, hot dogs, etc), BBQ, or Thanksgiving dinner type food. But I think we need to know if other countries have ‘american style’ restaurants that aren’t specifically chain stores.
Not true. It’s quite fair to say that the Japanese lump food into “Japanese” and “other.”
I do wonder about the dishes I’ve bolded. Fried chicken? Meatloaf? Any cites for those?
Ok, well maybe it’s not true of Japanese food, but ask a Tuscan and a Calabrese what “Italian food” is, or a Cantonese or Mainland Chinese person what “Chinese food” is, and you’ll probably be told it depends on the region.
If you think America is tough, try defining Australian food. Once you get past beetroot on burgers and vegemite, theres not much there. The reason is America and Australia are nations of immigrants not emigrants. Like a previous poster mentioned, X food is really just a general mish mash of the regional cuisines of the people who happened to emigrate overseas. There are hundreds of Italian or Chinese dishes you could only rarely find outside of Italy or China and which are nothing like the standard cuisine because those groups never left the country.
Chicken which has been deep fried in oil is found all over the world. The idea of coating it in a flour & egg batter is probably somewhat more unique. But just because there exists a parralel in another cuisine does not mean America can not claim it as it’s own. The existence of polenta does not mean that grits isn’t uniquely american.
This is a great point which begs the following question: A lot of our cities have a China Town or a Little Italy and other hot spots of immigrants of a particular flavor, which I assume lead to venues of appropriate cuisine. Therefore, do any other countries have ‘American ghettos’ so to speak or Gringotowns or Little USAs? And if so , what are the eating establishents there serving?
Chili con carne
Chicken-fried steak
Cioppino
Soft shell crabs
Maryland steamed crabs
Maine lobster
Succotash
Hoppin’ John
Boston baked beans
Waldorf salad
Split pea soup
Chocolate chip cookies
Brownies
Peanut butter
Philly cheesesteaks
Root beer
Maple syrup
I’m not so sure. If you’re talking flour, egg, and bread crumbs coating (which is most of the fried chicken I had here in America), it’s also found in Central and Eastern European cuisine. If you’re talking a liquid batter, then perhaps, but I’m not so sure. I would say the American tradition of soaking chicken in buttermilk prior to deep frying seems to be unique, though.
As for other foods, I just thought of hush puppies and fried okra, as well, but that fits under the banner of Southern/soul food. A lot of American breakfast food is fairly unique, too. Eggs benedict, biscuits & gravy, grits, etc…
Those stereotypes are often wrong. Burritos were invented in California. Tacos are truly Mexican, but crispy tacos come from Fort Worth. “Tex mex” is American cuisine, not to be disdained because Mexico, itself, has several distinctive cooking styles. I believe that Italy actually has different cuisines, as well–not just “pasta.”
Here in Houston, we can find Tex-Mex, Upscale Mexican food & dishes cooked by recent Mexican immigrants for even more recent immigrants. Sometimes at the same restaurant. We also have Soul food, Cajun & Creole. Plus barbecue–African American with Central European influence. Immigrants from Asia, Europe, South America & Africa keep coming & adding their flavors.
We’re a young country & we’re not finished yet.
The key word here, people, is Beef.
Steak.
Hamburger.
BBQ.
Whatever.
Lot’s & lot’s o’ Beef.
Find Amurrican food, & you got Beef.
Well, you’d have lots of Americans clustered in American military bases. I imagine the oil companies and such that hire Americans probably lump them together somewhere.
I don’t know about all that. After all, we’ve got the Chicken Fingers and Chicken Wings. They’ve taken off to the point that we now get restaurants devoted to these items. And much of barbeque is pork. In some places in the US, pork is much more strongly associated with barbeque than beef.
I’m curious about the fact that I never hear about ribs in any cuisine except American or Chinese. What do europeans do with the ribs? Surely they don’t throw them out.
Perhaps they export them to the US and China?
In a lot of cuisines the ribs are used as stew meat or for stock. Simmer the ribs including as much cartilage as possible for a couple of hours and you’ll have an excellent pork or beef stock. Then you remove the bones, strip off any bits of meat left and cook your grain or legumes in the stock.
Remember that a lot of traditional dishes include meat as a flavoring, not as the main ingredient. Outside of India the concept of “vegetarian” will get you odd looks, but a peasant’s diet didn’t include a lot of meat. So the meat dishes that we think of as “region X cuisine” are really holiday/fesitival food rather than everyday fare.
I’ve never heard barbecue described that way. African-American I can see (isn’t barbecue pretty close to soul food that was made on plantations?), but how does the Central European element enter the picture?
I’d like to know that, too. I’m Polish and spent many years in Hungary and throughout Central and Eastern Europe, and I’ve seen nothing that resembles barbecue in any of these countries. Closest thing is pig or ox roasted on a spit, but that’s not quite barbecue in any way I know it. (Well, I guess there’s some similarities to Carolina whole hog, but there’s plenty of cultures who do the animal-on-a-spit thing).
As for ribs in European cuisine: in Poland, a lot of time ribs are cured and smoked (think like bacon or ham hocks or smoked sausage) and used as a flavoring element in soups and stews. You know how you normally throw in a smoked piece of meat for bean soup? That kind of thing. I also remember growing up with a lot of braised ribs, or ribs in a pot with cabbage and potatoes. Italians also have ribs on their menus. Google “Rosticciana” or “rostinciana” and see what you find.
Since there are thousands of different traditions of cooking in Europe, there’s not much of a proper answer to the question. But I can report, happily, that in at least one cafe in the Netherlands they have them cooked succulently and full of meat, drizzled in barbecue sauce, and piled high, served with coleslaw and cold beer. Mmmm.
Foods that come immediately to mind as American:
Buffalo Wings
Corn Flakes
Kentucky Burgoo
Pork Fritters
Iced Tea
What about candy? Does that count? 'Cause I’m thinking Snickers, Milky Way’s, Yubba Bubba, Pixie Stix, Jolly Ranchers, and just about anything else at the checkout lane.
And, what about “fair food” like elephant ears, deep fried twinkies, batter fried cheese balls, ribbon cut deep fried potatoes, ribeye sandwiches, corn on the cob… I could keep going, but it’s making me hungry.
I just realized just about everything I can think of, that hasn’t already been mentioned, is junk food. Why don’t I feel bad about that?