Your comment about seafood in New England struck a chord here. When I was just learning to cook, my Dad taught me how he made oyster stew. A touch of butter in a pan, get it just sizzling add finely chopped onion, wait a minute, add coarsely chopped celery, then add the oysters with their liquor, stir, add whole milk with cream and slowly stir until it starts to simmer. Then add a sprinkle of black pepper and maybe a bit of dried parsley. We rarely had fresh parsley in Montana.
Never really thought about where the recipe came from, we did oyster stew from frozen oysters. Then I found out my Dadās side of the family is from Bridport Massachusetts way back in the day before it became Connecticut. I wonder if he got a handed down family recipe for oyster stew from his Dad/brothers in the 1930ās when oysters were still common, cheap and canned in the US? Because that recipe is pretty similar to some of the recipes for oyster stew I have seen in Maine and Gloucester Massachusetts. Or maybe it is just an old universal simple recipe using working class ingredients of the time.
Flip side of the coin, I would bet that the recipe is similar to ones in Nova Scotia, too.
https://seafarmers.ca/oyster-stew/
I think most foods are more regional than national.
American food: made in the US for US.
-American carbonara (cream instead of eggs and cheese), giant meatballs with spaghetti, American style Fettuccine Alfredo, etc
-American Chinese food (aka āAmerican foodā in China cause it doesnāt exist there). Itās also part of our American history.
-clam chowder, lobster roll, crab roll
-Detroit style pizza, thin crust/deep dish Chicago style pizza, NYC style pizza, our version of Sicilian pizza
-Philly cheese steak, roast pork sandwich with rabe, hot beef sandwich, Andersen style cold cut sandwiches, etc
-pastrami, NY bagel
-buffalo wings, beef on weck
-chicken/veal parm
-various different crazy sushi rolls with all their sauces, California roll (could be Canadian if not American), sushi pizza, sushi burrito
-Maryland steamed crab, crab cakes
-pecan pie, pumpkin pie, key lime pie
-native American food (fry bread, wild rice porridge with dried berries and nuts, etc), Thanksgiving dinner, etc
-various bbq like brisket, pulled pork, ribs, etc with corn bread, Mac and cheese, etc
-tex mex
-Cajun and Creole food
-hot dish
-hamburger, hot dogs, chili cheese dogs, chili, disco fries, etc
-American Thai food without heat but with bell peppers
-Hawaiian food like poke, etc
-Southwest cuisine
-fast food (first fast food established in Wichita)
Iām sure Iām missing others but i feel itās a fairly good list
Itās basically a perfect summary of the entire thread (minus the PB&J which Iād forgotten as well, surprisingly) - so, thanks for that 
You are missing potato skins, the only dish that needs no hyphenation or qualifiers!
You are also missing other typical ābar foodā like spinach and artichoke dip or crab dip, southwestern egg rollsā¦
Great first cut. Iād add
Shad Roe
Shrimp n Grits
Biscuits and gravy
Redeye gravy
Pimento cheese dip
One of my favorite things. In season now and soon to be gone. Savor it while you can.
See??? I make all this. I love all this. This is All American Food.
Argh!! PB&J!!! How did i forget that one?!?
I canāt believe i didnāt think of theseā¦ Thanks for adding!!
I just looked up shad roe. Thatās a new one for me. Thanks for widening my understanding!
Typo(auto correct) correction: *American style cold cut sandwich (not Anderson)
I was under the impression it was created in the US?
I love how much of the list is immigrant efforts to recreate the flavors of home with limited funds and limited ingredients. Then they take on a life of their own.
Almost authentic you could say!
Add also Americanized Korean dishes. Versions of:
Kimchi
Bibimbap
Pajeon
I would have to disagree that authentic is a poor choice of words. To me, it fits perfectly as it means that the food is authentic to the place/people/culture it comes from. If it is authentic to them, itās authentic food.
More addsā¦
Santa Maria BBQ
Cioppino
Cobb Salad
Louies: crab, shrimp, lobster
And Galbi made with Sprite, 7Up or Coke
I love Santa Maria BBQ.
Add Greek Goddess dressing and Date Shakes to that CA list.
Also, Rice-a-Roni- even if its origins were Armenian pilaf.
I guess that depends on what kind of chop suey we are talking about. I described the dish available at Chinese restaurants in Germany. Is it different from the American chop suey?
