4 ms·

As someone who lives and has traveled extensively in the south, I have to say that from a culinary standpoint the food is the best example of a true American cu

As someone who lives and has traveled extensively in the south, I have to say that from a culinary standpoint the food is the best example of a true American cuisine. New England also has a cuisine with cultural heritage, but it isn't as quintessentially American as barbecue/southern food.

beat 10y ago
It's definitely more strongly regional and more distinctive than other places I've traveled in America. The only place that seems to compare for uniqueness is California.
- ferentchak 10y ago
  What would be an example of a dish that is very uniquely Californian?
  - beat 10y ago
    I think of Californian food as a range of ingredients and stylistic flairs more than a particular dish. Avocadoes, lemon, leafy greens and seeds, an avoidance of deep-frying and greasy meats. It's much lighter and fresher than Midwestern or southern food.
  - Spellman 10y ago
    Depends on how back you go I suppose. In modern cuisine, if it's got avocados, it's Californian! If you want to go much further back, you get Mexican food.
    - Maultasche 10y ago
      Having lived most of my life in California, I was surprised to discover there was such a thing as "California" food when I traveled to the East Coast about 10 years ago. It turns out that "California" food there was food that involved avocados. I had never heard of such a thing before. Avocados are definitely eaten in California, and they have been for as long as I remember, but I'm not under the impression that it defines California food. Occasionally, I'll get avocados in a sandwich, salad, or burrito, but that's about it. Maybe eating avocados was so foreign to the rest of the country that it became associated with California. I guess if you don't live in other parts of the country, you don't have a sense of which foods are unique to your region and which foods are common throughout the country.
      - thaumasiotes 10y ago
        > Maybe eating avocados was so foreign to the rest of the country that it became associated with California. It's not hard to explain. They won't grow in the rest of the country. They do grow in Mexico; I understand NAFTA hit the California avocado business pretty hard.
  - DougMerritt 10y ago
    Agreeing with and adding to the 2 previous comments, specifically "California Rolls" in sushi restaurants. There are many variants, but the primary thing is the avocado.
js2 10y ago
I guess the sandwich isn't a cuisine, but as a category, America has lots of wonderful variations of it: http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2015/04/14/dining/field-guide-to-the-sandwich.html http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2015/04/14/dining/field-g... I'd also like to nominate creole/cajun as my favorite American cuisine, NC eastern-style bbq as my favorite bbq, and shrimp and grits (with runner-up chicken and waffles) as my favorite soul food.
wtbob 10y ago
And then there are things within the South like Tidewater food, which up until the past century was still a combination of English-settler and aboriginal food: pork and squash, just like our ancestors ate at Jamestown or soon after. It's almost completely extinct now, which IMHO is a damn shame: it can be delicious and filling, and — unlike so many of the cuisines in this country — really is native at this point (the English heritage took root in the Tidewater over 400 years ago, so I consider it native).

beat 10y ago

It's definitely more strongly regional and more distinctive than other places I've traveled in America. The only place that seems to compare for uniqueness is California.

ferentchak 10y ago
What would be an example of a dish that is very uniquely Californian?
- beat 10y ago
  I think of Californian food as a range of ingredients and stylistic flairs more than a particular dish. Avocadoes, lemon, leafy greens and seeds, an avoidance of deep-frying and greasy meats. It's much lighter and fresher than Midwestern or southern food.
- Spellman 10y ago
  Depends on how back you go I suppose. In modern cuisine, if it's got avocados, it's Californian! If you want to go much further back, you get Mexican food.
  - Maultasche 10y ago
    Having lived most of my life in California, I was surprised to discover there was such a thing as "California" food when I traveled to the East Coast about 10 years ago. It turns out that "California" food there was food that involved avocados. I had never heard of such a thing before. Avocados are definitely eaten in California, and they have been for as long as I remember, but I'm not under the impression that it defines California food. Occasionally, I'll get avocados in a sandwich, salad, or burrito, but that's about it. Maybe eating avocados was so foreign to the rest of the country that it became associated with California. I guess if you don't live in other parts of the country, you don't have a sense of which foods are unique to your region and which foods are common throughout the country.
    - thaumasiotes 10y ago
      > Maybe eating avocados was so foreign to the rest of the country that it became associated with California. It's not hard to explain. They won't grow in the rest of the country. They do grow in Mexico; I understand NAFTA hit the California avocado business pretty hard.
- DougMerritt 10y ago
  Agreeing with and adding to the 2 previous comments, specifically "California Rolls" in sushi restaurants. There are many variants, but the primary thing is the avocado.

js2 10y ago

I guess the sandwich isn't a cuisine, but as a category, America has lots of wonderful variations of it: http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2015/04/14/dining/field-guide-to-the-sandwich.html http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2015/04/14/dining/field-g... I'd also like to nominate creole/cajun as my favorite American cuisine, NC eastern-style bbq as my favorite bbq, and shrimp and grits (with runner-up chicken and waffles) as my favorite soul food.

wtbob 10y ago

And then there are things within the South like Tidewater food, which up until the past century was still a combination of English-settler and aboriginal food: pork and squash, just like our ancestors ate at Jamestown or soon after. It's almost completely extinct now, which IMHO is a damn shame: it can be delicious and filling, and — unlike so many of the cuisines in this country — really is native at this point (the English heritage took root in the Tidewater over 400 years ago, so I consider it native).