I was majorly let down by Big Gay Al’s cheetos soft serve. Not cheeto-y enough by far.
I disagree. IMO you’re conflating edible stuff that originated in America with American food. Plants and animals that have their origins in the American continents have made their way around the world and been subsumed into other cuisines, e.g. turkey, tomatoes, potatoes, squash, corn and peppers.
American food as a cuisine are the dishes that have been created in America and are eaten by Americans and can be identified by non-Americans as stuff Americans eat.
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You mean all the foods mentioned in this thread up until today? 
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I think I can answer this best through the immigrant lens of my mom. She’s an awesome Korean cook but she wanted her 2 American kids to fit in. Some of the “American” dishes she made for us growing up; this was way pre-internet days so I have no clue where she learned about these (maybe recipes from some of the packaged foods?):
- Spaghetti with doctored jarred sauce (usually Ragu); she would add a pat of butter to it and no, she was not familiar with Marcella Hazan; she simply thought it would taste better
- English muffin pizzas
- Stella d’oro frosted biscuit thingys sliced in half with cream cheese/pineapple filling for parties (they were always a huge hit); definitely from a recipe on the packaging
- Campbell’s soups were always in the pantry - chicken noodle or chicken with stars for me, cream of mushroom for my brother
- Eggo waffles
- Lender’s bagels
- BIG American breakfasts for my brother; to this day, he still makes them for himself and calls them the “2-2-2” - 2 eggs, 2 sausages, 2 pieces of toast
- American chop suey
- Duncan Hines brownies
- Giant burgers
- Grilled cheese sandwiches
- PB and fluff sandwiches for my lunch (I ate them nearly everyday in elementary school)
Oh, and we were the house that all the neighborhood boys would want to visit after school because we had unlimited snacks (we were 2 very skinny kids). We always had Doritos and Cheetos in the house.
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Yes, birch beer is somewhat similar in taste to root beer. Makes a great “float”.
I will never find out, as I despise root beer - I was asking out of intellectual curiosity.
To me, root beer tastes like someone decided carbonating pepto bismol would be a good idea >ducks<
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Tremendous.
And by American Chop Suey I think you mean Johnny Marzetti or goulash to the rest of the USA?
Like a Sloppy Joe in NJ means something different than the other 49 states. Get with the program, New Jersey!
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I’m too lazy to reread all the comments, but surely, PB&J musta been mentioned several times, no?
Yup, I mentioned it upthread.
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Growing up, my Mom made Johnny Marzetti and I liked it for what it was (hey - I was a kid and it was an easy mac & meat dish she could fill us up with!). I still have her recipe, although I’ve not made it in years and years. It was of Midwest origin, so being East Coasters, I have no idea why she called it that.
But when my high school was serving what they called American Chop Suey and and it was made to be served by 10:30 a.m. for those who had 4th period lunch, I’d look at it by 7th period (1:15 or so) and gag and would get something else, even if it was one of their horrible sandwiches or a piece of fruit. (My high school’s food in the mid-1970s was mostly crap.) The elbow noodles had swollen so much in the sauce, the were half the size of my pinkie finger, and the noodles were total mush.
So - I’d eat my Mom’s recipe of Johnny Marzetti, but won’t go near anything called American Chop Suey (which I know some people make with tomato soup - so maybe my HS mixed tomato soup and tomato sauce?).
I grew up in northern NJ, and had to look up the difference between a New Jersey Sloppy Joe vs. what the rest of the country calls a Sloppy Joe. My family had what the rest of the country ate - I’ve NEVER heard of a NJ Sloppy Joe! I’d I have just called that a deli sandwich.
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I forgot about Steak-um sandwiches. My brother loved when mom made those.
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I figured that. I’m kinda surprised it never occurred to me. I think PB&J is the quintessential American food.
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That’s not as misguided as potato skins, but still… really?
Do you know of any other country where this item is as prevalent - besides maybe Canada? Always happy to be enlightened.
I have never heard of a New Jersey Sloppy Joe, and I grew up in Monmouth County. My elementary and high schools served “normal” sloppy joes. The NJ one sounds more like a Reuben.
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My mother made “sloppy joes” in North Carolina in the 1960s and early 1970s (I don’t know after that, I left for college in 1973).
It was ground beef, tomato sauce or ketchup, maybe a can of tomato sauce, browned ground beef with very finely minced onions since my youngest brother wouldn’t eat anything with visible onions. Served on untoasted commercial hamburger buns.
I didn’t encounter American Chop Suey, named as such, until I moved to New England. Ground beef browned with onion and garlic, some oregano/pizza-like dry spices, add some frozen green/red/yellow bell peppers, then finish with a marinara sauce and elbow macaroni and grated “real” parmesan cheese, not the stuff in the green can.
It’s not bad, especially if you add “extra” marinara, lots of the frozen bell peppers, and don’t overcoook the ground beef, which can make it tough.
Lots better than Sloppy Joes!
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It was an article of faith at the old Roadfood.
Lots of eastern folks posting back then but alas, those forums bit the dust same as CH.
Thanks, Fexy
HTF did ground beef cooked in a vaguely Italian style tomato sauce with macaroni get to be called chop suey? I didn’t know about this until I met my to be wife. When she explained what she knew as chop suey, I thought WTF?
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