cool article rec - American food

[cimorene]

A really interesting link that I found through thymindmaymove: Food invented by America.

Some choice items from the list:

• Cajun, Tex Mex, and Florida cuisine


• chowder


• hamburgers


• chop suey



• Americans use the phrase "fried chicken" differently than other countries, so when I say "fried chicken is ours," please understand that I mean something more specific than chicken which has been fried. We mean bone-in chicken ribcage halves and drumsticks which are larded, spiced, battered, breaded, deep fat fried and re-spiced, in that order. Furthermore, it involves a specific set of spices; it's a little like talking to the British about Shephard's Pie. You just have to know.




• Whereas we certainly didn't invent the sandwich, it turns out that we invented most individual sandwich recipes; in many cases they're just adaptations of a traditional dish to work inbetween bread, so that we wouldn't have to let our workers stop working for food (because we're jerks,) but still, if you're going to say pasta's different than chinese noodles, then you'd better damned well believe that pretty much anything you eat between two slabs of starch came from us or the Count of Monte Cristo.



• grits


• soul food


• spaghetti and meatballs


• jello


• Bloody Mary


• ice cream cones


• pasta primavera

Comments

[gwenny]

We invented jello, even though gelatin is long since well known. You think it's obvious to add fruit juice to boiled cow bones, color it green and hand it to kids? Then how come France never did it?

LMAO!! that was awesome! thanks!

[flamebyrd]

This reminds me of the time I was lamenting that in my cultural background (Australian non-practicing Catholic, I suppose) we didn't have the cool seasonal food they have in Chinese culture, and then my friend pointed out hot cross buns and candy canes and fruit mince pies and so on.

Many Americans do seem to think they don't have a culture, and I think it's a little sad. (I once asked what superstitions people have in their cultural background, and got a response saying they didn't know about their cultural background since they were American.)

Anyway, that was an interesting read!

[emmuzka]

Eh, I wouldn't present very proudly that "we invented pemmican" -thing, since taking in the idea of "americans" presented in that article, the pemmican was already invented when they arrived...

Also, being all proud American for discovering that meatballs went with Italian spaghetti is like being a proud Finn for discovering that you can put raisins in liver casserole.

[cimorene]

I don't think the author is writing "proudly", merely enumerating dishes that originated in the United States. The author didn't present any particularly limited "idea" of Americans since the list explicitly includes cuisines that were invented by indigenous cultures in areas that were not yet part of the country at the time as well as Cajun, Tex Mex and other cuisines of new mixed cultures and the inventions of various immigrant communities both European (spaghetti with meatballs) and non-European (chop suey).

As for your point about meatballs, I have no idea what you're trying to say. Are you trying to suggest that spaghetti is better without meat? That it's gross either way as liver casserole no doubt is and so makes no difference? That because liver is indigenous only to Finland like tomatoes to the Americas, the incorporation of liver in the traditional-styled casserole was an important Finnish contribution that then spread around the world because people of all cultures appreciated the deliciousness of liver in casserole, and that the addition of raisins was an idea that rapidly spread as far as liver itself did and became so commonplace that "casserole with raisins" became so typically heard together that the phrase was practically a single word?

[emmuzka]

I think we deciphered the original writing differently. In it, I heard "Yes, we have American individual food culture! We do we do we do!" when you heard something else. I love the idea that Americans have always had this genius way of blending cultures and also making fusion food. (for example, making bagel, a traditional jewish bakery product, a world known treat.) However, the way I read the original writing, I heard a lot of "This is different than the original! Spaghetti with meatballs is different food than Italian spaghetti! Really!" and I took it as intentionally seeking differences in cooking to express the individuality in American cooking.

With the liver casserole thing I meant that some "national" recipe changes are actually for the worse. Sorry for not coming clear with that. As I see it, meatballs are worse than meat sauce (because of the cheaper ingredients.) That, of course, -now that I think about it more-, can not be used as a generalized "known" thing that it would need to be for being able to used in a comparison, since it's a subjective feeling.

And by the way, one food more for the list: Chocolate bars. Chocolate candy bars that consisted other ingredients than chocolate, too, were invented in USA. This was because the candy companies wanted to find ways to keep the price of a candy bar under a certain level and they thought up to add things like toffee and nougat, which were cheaper than plain chocolate.