Cuisines in America: Difference between revisions

{{Useful Notes}}

 

 

Before we begin, here are three warnings we have for the tourists and those planning to move here:

 

 

 

== American Food ==

Of course, as with any large country, different parts of America will commonly make different dishes better or worse than other parts. [[New York City]] (and its surrounding area) is famous for its superb pizza and to a lesser extent for steak; [[The Windy City|Chicago]] disputes New York on both counts; [[Joisey|New Jersey]] treats hot dogs as [[Serious Business]], with recipes changing across county lines; [[Philadelphia (useful notes)|Philadelphia]] is noted for its cheesesteaks to the point of parody; [[Everything Is Big in Texas|Texas]], Memphis, [[Kansas City]] and the Carolinas are known for barbecue (see below); [[Boston (useful notes)|Boston]] and [[Hollywood New England|New England]] in general are known for baked beans and seafood, particularly "[[Funetik Aksent|lobstah and clam chowdah]]".<ref>Be sure to try Arkansan hamburgers!</ref> Produce tends to generate the same sort of thing: Idaho is known for its potatoes (it's even on the license plate!); Georgia is famous for peaches (ditto); Florida is inextricably linked with oranges (ditto); Michigan and Washington are both noted for their apples and cherries; etc.

 

A subset of American food is what Americans call "country" or "country-style" cuisine. As the name implies, country food is based on foods popular (or formerly popular) in rural America, especially the Midwest and South, and typically based on meat and potatoes with vegetables such as corn and okra. Bread is also common, in the dish itself or as a side (buttermilk biscuits and cornbread are staples). Country restaurants invariably affect an old-style appearance (the best-known current example being the Cracker Barrel chain), and tend to be moderately priced. Many country recipes are relatively easy to make at home, though finding some ingredients can be tricky outside the Midwest and South. Tourists, take note: country-style meals are almost always large and very heavy, being based on rural cooking for hard-working farmers and the like.

 

This has nothing to do with what Canadians call "country food". For that, see "Native American" below.

 

Barbecue could be considered an offshoot of American cooking, but is distinct enough to warrant its own category. Barbecue (also spelled barbeque and abbreviated to BBQ) mainly consists of a variety of smoked meats, most frequently beef, chicken, and pork. These are often served with sides such as potato salad, cole slaw, and beans. There are four cultural centers known for their barbeque -- Memphis<ref>pork ribs</ref>, Kansas City<ref>beef in a tangy ketchup-like sauce; commonly just referred to as "barbecue sauce" due to nationwide Kansas City-style brands like KC Masterpiece</ref>, Texas<ref>beef brisket, ribs, and sausage in a sauce both thinner and smokier than the Kansas City variety; Texas style competitions require tasting the meat without sauce, and so Texas cooks put less time into it</ref>, and the Carolinas<ref>pork shoulder or the whole pig, in a vinegar-based sauce that may or may not include tomato</ref>. Each center has its own take on both meat and sauce, and the nature of barbecue might be one of the biggest food-related [[Internet Backdraft]] topics imaginable, even within a specific state. Ask any five Texans which restaurant has the best barbecue, and you'll get five different answers. At least. Some of these answers may violently disagree on the very basis of the question: can a restaurant serve acceptable barbecue? This can be a particularly picky issue in North Carolina, where friendships have been made or broken on a love of either Eastern-style (whole pig, vinegar-based sauce) or Lexington-style (pork shoulder, tomato-vinegar sauce).

 

Also, important distinction: some areas of the country use "Barbecue" as a verb for any outdoor cookout. Real barbecue involves somewhat lower-end cuts of meat (so not steak), cooked over lower heat (so you can't use a propane grill; a smoker is all but required), for much longer periods of time (multiple hours). Those that consider barbecue to be [[Serious Business]] will not appreciate someone referring to hamburgers, hot dogs, and the like being cooked on a grill as "barbecued".

 

During the [[The American Revolution|Revolutionary War]], [[No Export for You|importation of tea was restricted]], forcing Americans to shift to coffee. Traditionally this coffee was brewed by boiling coffee grounds in water and either filtering it or clarifying it using a flocculation agent like egg shells. Brewing coffee this way takes considerable skill and can be exceptionally harsh if left too long. Coffee brewed this way is called [[Klatchian Coffee|"cowboy" or "trucker" coffee]]: it's made to get the most effect out of the caffeine with the minimum equipment available at the expense of flavor.

 

Starbucks is seeing serious competition from [[McDonald's]] McCafe drinks, while even gas stations, which were once synonymous with bad coffee, have adopted many of the coffee house practices to make a drinkable (and profitable) product.

 

Contrary to the popular belief of the United States as a strictly coffee culture, Americans do drink tea and lots of it, especially in the South. What makes American tea different from its counterparts in Europe and Asia (and therefore making it "not count" it seems) is that the majority of Americans prefer their tea be served cold. Not cold as in "lukewarm"; cold as in "refrigerated, and with ice cubes in it". The reason for this is simple: it gets damn hot in the South or on the Great Plains in the summer, and coffee is pretty much useless for keeping you cool and hydrated. Iced tea works surprisingly well, though.

 

American teas tend to be blended specifically to be brewed cold. As with coffee, the popularity of herbal teas started as an alternative drink during the Revolutionary War, and remain a popular option for hot tea.

 

Diners are small, often family-owned restaurants that are predominantly found in the Northeast and, to a lesser extent, the eastern Midwest/Great Lakes region. They do exist elsewhere, especially chains like Friendly's, Denny's, IHOP and Waffle House<ref>A unique example, in that they're primarily based in the South rather than the Northeast.</ref>, but not to the same degree -- and calling such chains proper diners is an easy way to find out that [[Baseball]] is far from the only culture-related topic that Northerners can get [[Berserk Button|violently angry]] about. Diners were descended from railway dining cars; the first diners were long, narrow, prefabricated structures that resembled their inspiration. Eventually, diners built in permanent structures became more common. One of the defining characteristics of diners is that they are open 24 hours a day; this is from the days when night shift factory workers would stop in for a meal on the way home, and continued once their late operating hours made them a major part of many areas' nightlife. The classic [[The Fifties|Fifties]] [[Malt Shop]] or [[Greasy Spoon]] is very often a diner, helping to immortalize the image of the diner in places far beyond where they are usually found.

 

Diner food is often at the low-medium end of the price range, and tends to include such traditional American fare as burgers, grilled cheese, hot dogs, sandwiches and soups, as well as an assortment of regional foods -- after all, most diners are small businesses, and cater primarily to the locals. One thing that sets diners apart from many restaurants is that they also serve breakfast foods, such as pancakes, waffles and eggs, at all hours of the day, rather than just during the morning. In addition, since most diners are owned by people of Greek, Slavic or Jewish descent, such Eastern European and Mediterranean foods as gyros, moussaka, blintzes and matzoh ball soup are common. Diners rarely serve alcoholic beverages, although [[Must Have Caffeine|coffee is ubiquitous]]. Many local diners have specialties derived from whatever it is the cook is particularly good at making. A local diner might be well-noted and loved in the community for that particular specialty, and it's occasionally the safest bet on the menu.

 

Two different cuisines which get lumped together because they come from Louisiana and start with the letter "C." Both began as colonial-era cuisines from whatever ingredients could be foraged from Louisiana Territory, and have increased in popularity across the US. Creole food used classic 19th-century French recipes with local ingredients, with influences from Spanish Caribbean and German immigrant cooking. Cajun cuisine is simpler country-folks cooking. Cross-pollination due to cultural proximity blurs the distinction between them the further you go from southern Louisiana. Both have also updated with French cuisine, incorporating and refining, and now many metropolitan areas around the country feature five star New Orleans-style restaurants.

 

Has become near-synonymous with the two best-known evangelists of the style, Emeril Lagasse and Paul Prudhomme.

 

Composed mostly of any food trend begun in California that settles into longevity, with influences from Spanish to Polynesian to Mediterranean. Vaguely-defined, yet considered a safe menu style for restaurants in larger cities. Typically overlaps with Sonoran to Tex-Mex, depending on the region. However, sourdough bread has a large presence due to the local strain of yeast needed, which renders baking it in other areas very difficult.

 

Outside of California the term "Californian" is nearly synonymous with vegetables, particularly avocado (a major California crop).

 

Beer in America is somewhat contested: you have your casual drinkers, and you have your snobs. The only real difference is whether or not they'll touch one of the mainstream brands. There is much butting of heads between these groups, but if we're lucky, not [[Bar Brawl|while they've been enjoying their particular brand]].

 

 

== Chinese ==

It's [[Peking Duck Christmas|what you eat on Christmas Day because nothing else is open]]. But other than that, Chinese food mainly consists of a wide variety of meats, either breaded or steamed, often served with a starch such as rice or noodles. There are several different types of Chinese cooking, but your general Chinese takeout place will follow these rules.

 

Lower-end Chinese places tend to be little takeout shops. Home delivery is a staple at the lower end of Chinese food (a common stereotype is the poor college student/recent grad who survives on cheap Chinese takeout). While quality and taste will vary, there are some good takeout shops all around the country. Strip-mall buffets have also become fairly common in recent years, especially in suburban areas.

 

Chinese take-out is nearly synonymous with the oyster box, a trapezoid-shaped paperboard container with a small metal handle. The oyster box originated from oyster restaurants, which were the cheapest places to eat on the coasts in the late 19th century: A reference to such a restaurant, which always has sawdust on the floors, or the box itself show that the character is poor working class. Over time oyster stocks went down, while Chinese restaurants expanded delivery, adopting the container.

 

While Americanized Chinese restaurants are nearly universal, authentic Chinese restaurants tend to be located in or near urban areas with large Chinese immigrant populations. They may have two separate menus, one for American Chinese and one for authentic Chinese cooking, and generally specialize in the cuisine of one or two regions within China (Sichuan, Hunan, Shanghai, etc.)

 

 

On a related note, there are many Americanized Chinese restaurants that claim to serve "Hunan" cuisine or have "Hunan" in their name. Authentic Hunan cuisine is quite distinctive and difficult to find in the US. The usual explanation for this phenomenon is that when [[Richard Nixon]] visited China and was welcomed with a lavish banquet, whenever he found a particularly tasty dish he would ask [[Mao Zedong]] where the dish was from. Mao, having been born a peasant in Hunan Province, [[Creator Provincialism|pretended that these were all dishes from Hunan]], and Nixon returned to the US singing the praises of Hunan cuisine.

 

 

== Italian ==

Occasionally it's the other snooty food choice, but the prevalence of pizza and pastas as American dishes lessens that impact tremendously. Italian mainly consists of pasta, which is sometimes only available as spaghetti and sometimes is its own dish, and pizza, usually accented by a tomato sauce (or, if you're feeling bold, Alfredo). There are several other dishes, including fish, beef, and chicken, but pasta and pizza are almost uniformly associated with Italian cooking in the American mind.

 

One of the largest national chains is the Olive Garden, which is [[Olympic Games|apparently]], [[Never Live It Down|the best Italian food]] in [[Atlanta]].

 

While some pizza restaurants serve some Italian food, most concentrate specifically on pizza, and may also offer salads, garlic bread and Buffalo wings. It has three main regional styles:

* New York pizza has very thin, soft crust and is cooked in a wood- or coal-fired oven at a very high temperature. It is sometimes eaten with the slice folded in half and eaten like a sandwich.

 

== Deli ==

Short for "delicatessen," although nobody calls it that anymore (exceptions are described below), a deli is a store that can best be described as a cross between a grocery store and a fast-food restaurant. Delis specialize in selling cold cuts and sandwiches (often on rolls; these may be referred to as "subs," "heroes" or "hoagies" depending on location), and while nothing (apart from the chicken) is fried, sandwiches can often be toasted. Delis can be found as separate businesses or as part of grocery stores and supermarkets (the "deli counter"), and may be independently owned or part of a chain. To many people, the deli is often viewed as [[The Moral Substitute|the healthier alternative]] to fast food; whether or not this is true depends mainly on how much meat and toppings you slather your sandwich with, which can push calorie counts above many fast food offerings if you're not careful.

 

Most family-owned delis are concentrated in cities ([[Big Applesauce|New York]] in particular is famous for this) and are Jewish-owned, serving kosher food; the image of the "Jewish New York deli" is so prevalent that delis outside of New York will refer to themselves as "New York-style," and Italian and German-style delis will call themselves "European delicatessens" to avoid confusion. Very low-end delis can often be found in convenience stores. Over time, kashrut has relaxed in America, leading to a further division between "New York-style" delis that will serve meat and cheese together (i.e. the popular pastrami and swiss on rye) and strict kosher delis.

 

 

National chains include: Subway (playing the New York association and the "healthier than fast food" bit to the hilt), Quizno's.

 

== Native American ==

As in, what we ate ''before'' we got that melting pot. The indigenous peoples of the Americas had had a lot of practice cultivating the natural plants of the Americas before European settlers wandered over, and a large part of early Native/European relations was teaching them how not to starve to death. A ''lot'' of crops native to America got spread to Europe -- [[Older Than They Think|corn, tomatoes, potatoes, pumpkins, and beans, for instance]]. These crops are still extremely influential in the American diet.

 

In the autumn, Americans celebrate Thanksgiving, a harvest holiday commemorating the Wampanoag people helping the Pilgrims survive their first winter by giving them food and teaching them the right agricultural methods. (Of course, Thanksgiving didn't become a federal holiday until well into the 19th century, and the real history between the Pilgrims and Wampanoag nation is much more [[Darker and Edgier|complicated and unpleasant]], but it's a [[Disneyfication|nice story for the kids]]. And it's not to be confused with Canadian Thanksgiving, a month earlier.) Although they've been absorbed into the larger American culture, the traditional Thanksgiving foods are generally thought of as being almost entirely Native-derived--the obligatory turkey, and then typically cranberry sauce (sometimes in a dish with nuts and other fruit, but also it's considered very homey to have it still in the shape of the can), pumpkin pie (as well as apple, rhubarb, pecan, blackberry--but almost never any sort of meat), sweet potatoes, stuffing, et cetera. Since their absorption these foods are now considered quintessentially American.

 

 

Aside from the Thanksgiving story, American children might learn about the "Three Sisters" (corn, squash, and beans) and their significance in Native American agriculture -- they were or are grown as a staple in just about every Native culture across the continent, and they're featured on new editions of the Sacagawea dollar coin. Some tribes depending on location and cultural history also have culinary connections to buffalo, acorns, whale blubber, etc. and this is all in the American cultural consciousness.

Not its own type of cuisine, but a type of business, also referred to as "lunch trucks" or "roach coaches". While called carts/trucks, these are often shacks or semi-mobile structures parked in vacant lots and in groups resembling a mall food court. These groups of carts often feature unique food items, including sometimes bizarre twists on domestic or international cuisine. [[Portland]] and the rest of [[The Other Rainforest|the Pacific Northwest]] are noted for having the best food carts in the nation, while in New York City the "dirty water" hot dog stand -- and its modern variant, the falafel cart with the [[Funny Foreigner|odd Arab vendor]] -- is almost a trope unto itself.

 

Alongside early diners were "owl wagons", movable late-night restaurants that could be brought to a factory or other work area for the convenience of its customers. When automobiles became popular they were moved to truck chassis, creating the lunch wagon. As the ethnic composition of the working class, particularly in the Southwest, shifted from Caucasian to Latino, the wagons shifted to traditional Mexican food, becoming Taco Trucks. This is now the most common name for the vehicles, regardless of what food they serve. True "taco" trucks serve Mexican street food and [[Kitchen Sink Included]] Mission-style burritos.

 

 

 

So a nice boy of ethnic group X and a nice girl of ethnic group Y [[Meet Cute]] and start cooking together, and create a new type of cuisine. Often lumped in under Californian, due to California having high rates of intermarriage producing fusion cusine. Fusion has a reputation of being high end, but in reality goes across the board. A famous set of food carts in the bay area are Korean-Mexican fusion with items like Kimchi Quesadillas or Bulgogi tacos. Wolfgang Puck is considered both a Fusion Cuisine chef and a Californian Cuisine chef.

 

 

The South is defined as the states that formed the Confederacy during the Civil War - Essentially all the states in the southeast up to Arkansas, Louisiana, and west Texas, but not Florida. Depending on who you ask, Southern cuisine is either the very best (and to some [[Serious Business|the only]]) food in America, or a complete joke that treats food that should be hosed down in fat until it's unrecognizable. It should be no surprise that the Southern states lead the nation in obesity rates. Food Network personality [[Paula Deen]] specializes in this cooking.

Keep in mind that not all food from the south is Southern food: There are a few small regional cuisines like Cajun and Gulah that vary widely from what is served in the rest of the South.

 

The "Upper Midwest" is typically considered to be anything from Lake Erie to the east, Minnesota to the west, and Chicago to the south. Demographically, the area attracted large numbers of northern and eastern Europeans, who brought with them a sausage, cheese, and beer based cuisine which is most associated with Wisconsin.

 

...is a world unto its own. American Football is nearly always played on weekends, which gives people lots of time to "prepare" for the game by eating and drinking heavily. Since football largely came about after the rise of the car culture, most modern NFL (and quite a few college) stadiums are in suburban areas, far from pubs or bars. They do, however, have enormous parking lots where people can establish elaborate cooking setups before the game. While most people will opt for the standard portable grill, others have made this into an art form with towed grills or smokers several yards long, or some particularly famous fan of the Buffalo Bills who grills on a converted Ford Pinto.