What Exactly Is Traditional American Food?

I've been asked by Lila's teacher at school to bring in a recipe of something that is traditional American cuisine. What dish best represents American food?

And what does traditional American cooking even mean?

My first thought was lasagna which really is Italian. Then Magic Bars aka Hello Dollys aka Seven Layer bars. Texas or Kansas barbecue seems a bit cumbersome to send in to make at school. And things like baked beans just seem a bit of a bad idea in general. Tater tots would be great for kids, but those aren't something you make as much as buy in the bag and heat up quickly. Right?

What about meatloaf? I can't even imagine how ground meat put in loaf form with onions and tomato paste would be greeted here in Argentina, home of the hearty asado with lomo, matambre and other whole cuts of cow and pig. 

So what else? What recipe should I send to Lila's school to adequately represent American food?

Photo by The Marmot

Comments

[rowena]

I read some statistic recently that something like 96% of Americans eat pizza at least once a month. Maybe it's 86%. Whatever. That's a heck of a lot of people.

Maybe pizza is the quintessential American (from somewhere else but transplanted and transformed) food?

[rowena]

Or maybe turkey, succotash, sweet potato and cranberries.

[Leigh Shulman]

So sort of southern food. I love succotash. Especially with a lot of butter.

Or Thanksgiving food.

What this also makes me realize is I haven't seen cranberries, sweet potato or pumpkin anywhere in Salta.

[Leigh Shulman]

A review of the the different forms of pizza (and Chinese food) would actually be pretty cool to see.

[Audrey]

This is one of those questions that usually stumps me. I tend to think of Thanksgiving food as traditional American food. Perhaps stuffing & gravy? Or, sweet potatoes (if you can find them) with marshmallows? Or green beans with some soup mix sauce?

Many times, I try to explain that "American food" comes from all over the world because our people come from all over the world. But, usually I get blank stares...like today at the market in Santiago.

[Alice]

I tend to think of American food as hotdogs, hamburgers, BBQ, and macaroni & cheese. Apparently, in my mind, American food is cookout food. :-) Oh yeah, and apple pie.

[Cynthia]

I have usually had your problem when asked what is traditional South African food. I think it depends on the group you are talking to-Afrikaners (koeksisters), coloreds (blatjang), Jews (matzah balls and chicken soup), English (turkey for Xmas) and most of us (boerewors, chutney, curries). Eat well

[John]

Baseball, Hot Dogs and Apple Pie

How bout New England Clam Chowder? Pastrami on Rye from NYC, Grilled Shrimp Po Boys from NOLA

Just a few from this food and wine/MSNBC/ Today show story

Grilled Shrimp Po Boys I see a dinner on the horizon

[Kyle]

Meatloaf. I made it for some friends in Norway because they asked me the same thing. Or any casserole.

As a child of Kansas City, I can say that the BBQ there is totally the best in the world! Getting hungry thinking about it.

[Leigh Shulman]

I wonder how the school would react to that.

I figured we don't make asado properly, but we do know barbecue. So when friends came over, I we did hamburgers, hot dogs and mac and cheese.

It seemed to confuse them a bit. First, everyone at the meat, but with knives and forks, no buns or toppings. Only after it was all gone and people were still hungry did they turn to the mac and cheese and other salads.

It's like dinner needed to come with instructions.

I think we're the same way when it comes to asado. People think we "don't eat much meat" because we just can't eat the amount served at asados. It's also taken quite a while to get used to the idea of cheeks, glands and intestines for dinner.

[Leigh Shulman]

What are blatjang and koeksisters?

Also, in South Africa when you were growing up, didn't the word "colored" have a very different meaning than what it might have now, especially in the US?

[Leigh Shulman]

I think apple pie is on the horizon over here. I haven't had it in a long time.

Also, the pies and desserts here tend to be so different from what I'm used to. And there really aren't cookies, blondies and things like that in the same way as in the US.

Yes, apple pie on the horizon.

[Leigh Shulman]

How did they like the meatloaf?

Meatloaf and casseroles both seem to be to be the kind of food we ate as kids but no one really liked that much.

I've never had KC BBQ, though. Only Memphis and Texas. It's spicy, though, isn't it.

I'm so curious to know how saucy and spicy meat would go over here in Argentina. Most of the meat we've had is cooked with mainly salt, no marinades or sauces. And spicy tends not to be much appreciated.

[Jillian]

We face this dilemma a lot when we're couchsurfing, as we like to make a meal from home for our hosts. We usually resort to meatloaf, which honestly is always well received. Didn't make it in Argentina though, but we did make some breakfast food for dinner and they loved it! :)