What does this phrase mean to you?
Offshoot from the latest authentic thread.
Are any American foods authentic?
Or traditional.
To start:
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if iām being honest it means absolutely nothing. has as much value as using the term āasian foodā.
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Head scratch. I can probably come up with a few things I think of as
Southern (corn bread, hogmaws, and chitterlingsā¦awww beep beep! Macaroni and cheese, (shrimp) and grits), or
Californian (Mission burrito, Dungeness crab), or
New England ( lobster roll, chowder) or
Pacific Northwest (grilled salmon), or
New Mex (fajitas?) .
Maybe NYC (pastrami on rye, bacon and cheese sandwich, pizza by the slice).
Bar B Q? Texas, North Carolina, or South Carolina,Kansas Cityā¦and others.
Maybe burgers? Iām at Sacramento airport, and got a squeeze burger
āHot dogsā?
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Most British tourists restrict their visits to Floridaās theme park areas or to short breaks to New York City. I am in the minority in that, over several decades, my holidays in the States have generally been away from those hotspots (Iāve visited every state on the east coast and several that adjoin them) It does mean that I have a wider (if not necessarily better) experience on the countryās food than many of my compatriots. And many of those fellow Britons return from Florida to recount their meals at fast food places, or chain restaurants where they will tell you that the portions were enormous and the prices. So, to them, that is American food. And itās certainly part of my own experience.
āAuthenticā is, IMO, a poor choice of word. All food is authentic - except if one has started with the original recipe for an original creation and then adapted it. āTraditionalā is better but can be difficult -how far back in history do you go, particularly in this case of a country largely formed by immgrant communities.
But, to answer the question posed. BBQ in the southern states. Seafood in New England.
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Itās like pornography.
I know it when I see it (to quote one Justice Potter Stewart)
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I have this book.
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From a furrnerās perspective: buffalo wings, bacon cheeseburgers, hot dogs, grilled cheese, deep dish pizza, crab cakes, lobster rolls, seafood boils, TX bbq, tex-mex, potato chips, nachos, pastrami, NOLA food, jalapeƱo poppers, sāmores, southern fried chicken, chicken-fried steak, sausage gravy, melted cheese on everything.
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When I visited India, I realized how much Americans LOVE cheese ā¦ I could only find paneer there. I couldnāt find cheese in Morocco either.
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Odd. Where were you in India?
India has many native Cheeses available (they are rather regional) that are not Paneer as well as western style Processed Cheeses in Slices or Blocks. I remember seeing Mozzarella and Sliced GruyĆØre as well.
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The hamburger , and barbecue.
I went to India 4 times, 1st time 1996, last 2009. I was in many different areas. Maybe itās changed now?
I had cheese every day and had also bought from cheese/dairy shops.
(Crumbly feta-like. Young and very soft. Pretty palm leaf baskets. Woven baskets. Dairy shop I bought from. A tiny dairy shop.)
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That should have been āand the prices were cheapā.
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Iām utterly overwhelmed by this list, but delighted by the stories, and particularly the complications around determining what exactly is āAmericanā when the dishes have so many origins from elsewhere, and how American is then very much a process of ābecomingā. At the same time, there are promises, as in this screenshot of āauthenticā recipes.
Itās fun, because I imagine this serves as another reason why āauthenticā means so much to some. Itās an occasion to get away from the lack of authenticity produced by being American as well as-- if I draw on Dean McCannelās work on Tourism-- the inauthentic life of those bound up in capitalism; and sorry Iām simplifying terribly). It also makes me think of Renato Ronaldo and āImperial Nostalgiaā.
What then also emerges is how very much people holding to āauthenticityā as a standard want to avoid how much other nations are also dealing with flows of people, culture, and food-ways that challenge the idea of stasis of dishes in other places.
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I refer to the genre as Americanized Ethnic Diner Food. Itās probably my favorite category of āgood eatsā, the type of dishes Iām most likely to make for myself (and which, no doubt, fall in the "non-authentic category).
By David Rosengarten:
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I love this book! He is a fine recipe writer, and itās a fun book to read/browse.
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Lobster rolls, New England clam chowder, Boston baked beans, crab cakes, Philly cheesesteak, southern BBQ, mac & cheese, Cobb salad, Key lime pie, sourdough bread, cornbread, jambalaya, boiled peanuts, spiral ham, meatloaf, southern grits, sausage gravy, fortune cookies, PB&J sandwich, and chocolate chip cookies.
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Is that like, um, Olive Garden?
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Unsure. Iāve never been to an Olive Garden.
Iām thinking more along the line of Mom & Pop Chinese restaurants, family owned Greek diners, and that small Italian joint around the corner where the owner-operator seemed to be having a fit every other night.
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Not unless thereās an Olive Garden somewhere that serves spanokopita, patty melts, lemon meringue pie and Denver omelets.
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