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Every nation has some dishes that are associated with it. Sometimes this can be an entire culinary movement or perhaps a collection of ingredients and techniques. It gets a bit more complicated with massive, multicultural countries like, for example, the USA.
Someone asked Americans “What do you consider to be a cultural food of the United States?” and people shared their best examples. From humble PB&Js to multilayered casseroles, netizens covered the entire range. So get comfortable as you scroll through, upvote your favorite examples, and be sure to share your own thoughts in the comments section below.
This post may include affiliate links.
#1
Grilled cheese and tomato soup for lunch on a cold winter day.
Auntriarch 2 years ago
Sounds delicious. Can I have the soup in a mug and the cheese toastie cut into soldiers? I'm feeling very wimpish today
Pittsburgh rare 2 years ago
I tried it once. The grilled cheese was fantastic, tomato soup as a whole was revolting
Barbara Kelly 2 years ago
grilled cheese sandwich made with natural (not processed) cheese, and home-made tomato soup ...try these and compare!
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Heather Vandegrift 1 year ago (edited)
Great combo for grilled cheese: sourdough bread, garlic butter, mozzarella, cheddar or Munster, bacon, tomato, and baked homemade macaroni and cheese. Add tomato basil bisque and you have a perfect cold rainy day meal
RELATED:
#2
Biscuits and gravy, but not just any gravy. Sausage gravy.
HTakeover 2 years ago
The catch here is that not many folks (percentage wise) outside of USA understand the goodness of a southern biscuit let alone the white sausage gravy. Bonus points for buttermilk biscuit. So they have no idea just how good it is until they actually try it.
Martin Kaine 2 years ago
Thank you for adding "southern" before biscuit. True southern biscuit recipes call for soft flour, creating a different texture and taste once baked.
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Urbangirlatl 2 years ago
There isca youtube video with English school boys trying American biscuits and gravy. They all thought the white gravy looked gross, but they unanimously agreed it was all darn tasty. Very cute vid. https://youtu.be/KzdbFnv4yWQ?si=oDAh_8ltHRYa4XEI
BarkingSpider 2 years ago
I was going to mention this video too, it was pretty cute. B&G is so fuggin good.
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detective miller's hat 2 years ago
I thought this sounded absolutely nasty the first time I heard of it after moving to the US. Boy was I wrong. FREAKING DELICIOUS. Anyone traveling in or around West Virginia, stop at Tudor's Biscuit World. I've been tempted to drive the 8 hours to the closest one just for the hell of it.
30ninjazinmybag 2 years ago
That is not gravy looks like bread sauce. Uk gravy defo looks more appealing
g90814 2 years ago
Tell me you've never had biscuits and gravy like this without telling me.
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DE Ray 2 years ago
I had never had sausage gravy with biscuits until probably 15 years ago - and until relatively recently, even that wasn't full of chunks of sausage as big around as my thumb. Growing up in SW Arkansas, biscuits were usually with white gravy (basically the same recipe without sausage). The heaviness and fattiness of all that sausage actually makes me dislike modern versions of biscuits and gravy.
sweetrottenpeaches 2 years ago
It is such a lovely meal! I am not American but I still think it is delicious. The only thing I can't really understand is why they call it gravy. It is a simply besamel sauce with meat in it.
Petra 2 years ago
I was curious too, so I looked it up and this was the answer I found: "In the USA, the word 'gravy' means sauce thickened with a roux (sometimes corn starch) and flavored with meat, meat drippings, and/or stock." So I guess the main difference between a 'sauce' and a 'gravy' in the USA is the addition of meat products. Sauce = without meat and gravy = with meat.
Load More Replies... #3
There are a lot of great American foods, but I don't think anything will ever be as quintessentially 'American' as a cheeseburger with lettuce, tomato, and mayonnaise, a side of french fries with ketchup, and a milkshake. This meal right here is the heart and soul of American cuisine.
Papa 2 years ago
In my part of the US if you order a cheeseburger "all the way," it comes with mayo, mustard, lettuce, tomatoes, and dill pickles (although I got one once where the cook was Mexican, and it came with jalalpenos also). I've been places where they served them with ketchup, and they didn't even have mayo. That's just wrong.
Angela Allen Simms 2 years ago
My ultimate cheeseburger must have grilled onions and sweet & hot peppers with lettuce, tomato and Hellmans Mayo!!! It should not be too tall to eat, and you should have to slurp the drippings at least 3-4 times before devouring it!!!
Robin DJW 2 years ago
Make that mustard instead of mayo, and I upvote. The cheeseburger alone is the perfect food: all food groups: meat, dairy, wheat and greens. Yah can live on it and it DON'T taste like s**t.
Papa 2 years ago
I will respectfully disagree about the mustard. I don't really dislike mustard, but if it's on a hamburger it overpowers the other flavors, and then it's all I can taste. I feel the same way about dill pickles. If I get a hamburger with dill pickles I'll remove the pickles and eat them by themselves, and then eat the burger.
Load More Replies... BarkingSpider 2 years ago
I'm more for mustard and ketchup on the burger, or occasionally BBQ sauce, and ranch with the fries. I guess ranch dressing is a super American thing? It's so delicious.
Duuuuuuude 2 years ago
I like mine with lettuce and tomato, hienz 57 and French fried potatoes...
Widdershins66 1 year ago
I'm not a fan of mayo, but I love mustard, Coleman's of course 🤗
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LeighAnne Brown-Pedersen 2 years ago
I like mine with lettuce and tomato, heinz 57 and French fried potato. 🎵. It’s almost like a … cheeseburger in paradise.
Beth H 2 years ago
While burgers and fries are delicious I don't like to think they are the pinnacle of American food. Although I probably am wrong.
#4
Chocolate chip cookies. I live in the Netherlands now, and they have foods resembling chocolate chip cookies here, but they are mediocre at best. And they call them all 'American cookies' — which I think is hilarious. I once made chocolate chip cookies from scratch and gave some to our Italian neighbors. Watching their faces as they ate them for the first time was amazing. There's nothing like that crispy edge, soft middle, and buttery, chocolaty deliciousness.
Kelly Scott 2 years ago
I found a recipe that uses cream cheese and OMG. Like eating cake cookies with chocolate chips.
Eva-Katherine Smith 2 years ago
What's your recipe this sounds delicious.
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Judes 2 years ago
Yep, traditional European biscuits/cookies are pretty boring compared to the delicious decadence of an American cookie.
#5
The USA are fierce contenders against mainland Western Europe for the greatest breakfasts in the world. You people are visionaries when it comes to breakfast. Like, chicken and waffles? Who the f**k thought of that? You did, that's who, you beautiful bastards. It shouldn't work, but by god, it does. And steak and eggs? Who the f**k eats steak in the morning? THIS GUY, THAT'S WHO. I LIKE YOUR STYLE, AMERICA.
DE Ray 2 years ago
I can't remember the answer to the "who the f**k thought of that?" question, but it was a jazz musician in Chicago who invented chicken and waffles. People from outside the South always make a big deal about "it's a traditional Southern meal" - naw, it's from 1930s Chicago.
Stephen Taylor 2 years ago
Most musicians in Chicago in the 1930s came from the South during World War One, as part of the Great Migration
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Dddad 2 years ago
As a European I tell you, you guys win with this one. It took me a ridiculous amount of time to know what specific stuff I like the best because you can get any single item on your plate in an unimaginable amount of different ways. It's wonderfully ridiculous.
HTakeover 2 years ago
UK does pretty well too, as long as they get rid of the beans. Full Irish or Scottish breakfast. But definitely not the sheer variety of USA's options.
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Ozymandias73 2 years ago
Agree with the "American iconic foods" bit but personally, toss the eggs and give me hash browns in its place. I can't stand eggs.
Nicole Weymann 2 years ago
"Mainland Western Europe": you mean France? French breakfast is one café au lait and a croissant, at least from what I observed on holidays. Spain is no better, with one carajillo and perhaps a chocolate bun, and I don't think Portugal has that much of a breakfast (breakfeast? LOL) culture. That leaves Belgium, Luxemburg, and the Netherlands, who all have great food and, I think, emphasize more on breakfast than France, Portugal and Spain (possibly even combined) do, but "greatest breakfasts" seems a stretch.
Taibhse Sealgair 2 years ago (edited)
I thought steak and eggs for breakfast was invented during the early Mercury (NASA) program. The idea was that the individual astronauts needed to eat some that was, (ahem) low-waste, since they'd be bolted into a capsule for several hours. From there it got picked up as some kind of super breakfast.
Taibhse Sealgair 2 years ago
Chicken and waffles, though? Yeah, we'll take a victory lap on that one.
Load More Replies... #6
I was grocery shopping recently when a very nice German guy approached me for advice. He had friends coming to visit from his home country and he wanted to introduce them to peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, and could I advise him on the best ingredients? He already had some kind of b******t artisan bread from the bakery department in his cart. I told him to put that back, go to the bread aisle and get the crappy white Wonder Bread. Then there was discussion about the merits of Welch’s grape jelly vs. strawberry jam, and how most big brand peanut butter is optimal as opposed to the oily natural kind. Lastly he learned to use the term “PB & J.” He went away delighted, and it felt great to be a cultural ambassador!
DukexNukemx007 replied:
Cheap and mass-produced PB&J is an American staple, and eating one is part of the cultural experience of living in the US. From sea to shining sea, we all, at some point, ate a Walmart-tier PB&J.
Shelby Moonheart 2 years ago
While in Paris, France we introduced a British guy to peanut butter. We'd find him in the kitchen eating big spoonfuls.
Spittnimage 2 years ago
I knew a girl that didn't like peanut butter, she'd have a cream cheese and jelly sandwich.
LavenderHippoInAJar 2 years ago
I do like peanut butter, but I've had cream cheese and jelly sandwiches before and they're not half bad!
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Catlady6000 2 years ago
Kick it up a notch. Butter both sides of the 'wich. Grill it like a grilled cheese. Careful, turns the jelly/jam to lava
Privacy Much 1 year ago
Oh yah, my dad made grilled peanut butter sandwiches when I was a teen. I had no idea how good they were!
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Sue User 2 years ago
My Frech husband was appalled you would mix peanuts with something sweet.
Superb Owl 2 years ago
Chocolate cake with salted peanuts in it - absolutely delicious.
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Widdershins66 1 year ago
I love crunchy pb with blackcurrent jam on seeded sourdough bread mmmm heaven 😇
Jack Lantern 2 years ago
I can't digest anything made from peanuts, so instead of a PB&J, I make a sandwich using Biscoff spread and blueberry jam. I think it's an elite upgrade.
Thomas Ewing 2 years ago
Some friends from the Philippines had never heard of PB&Js and came up with two slices of white bread with a very thin touch of jelly and two slices of white bread with a light touch of peanut butter making two different sandwiches. I showed them the decadent American style.
Mama Penguin 2 years ago
Strawberry preserve and chunky Skippy on Arnold oatnut bread is my go to.
#7
Ranch dressing. Anything you dip in ranch dressing is American by baptism.
Bouche and Audi and Shyla, Oh My! 2 years ago
I like my raw veggies, chips, and whatnot naked.
Janine Randall 2 years ago
Only the kind from the mix. You don't even need buttermilk, I use a container of sour cream. None of the bottled ones come close.
#8
Buffalo wings, s'mores, biscuits and gravy, grits, jambalaya, BBQ, apple pie, Chocolate chip cookies, Jerky, meatloaf, cornbread.
Diemond Star 2 years ago
Meatloaf served with mashed potatoes, macaroni and cheese is the best American meal.
#9
Oh my god so many things. Popcorn, peanut butter and jelly, turkey, Caesar salad, brownies, chocolate chip cookies, pumpkin pie, soda, breakfast cereal, sure. But also pizza, lasagna, French fries, hamburgers, tacos, nachos, jambalaya, fried chicken, barbecue, apple pie, egg foo young, sweet and sour chicken, pancakes, omelettes, hot dogs, doughnuts, bourbon whiskey, bagels, grits, clam bakes and fish poke. “Hold up”, you say, “most of that second list is bastardized versions of other countries’ cultural foods, and I’m not really sure about all the stuff in the first list either. You even included some indigenous peoples’ dishes!” Exactly. **The hallmark of American cuisine is borrowing, adapting, and combining stuff from cultures around the world to make our own unique food landscape.** You claim chicken adobo as your unique national dish? That’s great, Americans are gonna put it on a pizza. And let’s be clear: every country does this. Italy didn’t invent noodles, or tomato sauce. Vindaloo is borrowed from Portugal, massaman curry isn’t originally Thai. Every old-world dish that contains tomatoes, potatoes, corn, or peanuts was invented after these ingredients arrived from the Americas. But American cuisine is defined by its variety and its willingness to be inspired by and combine foods from the whole world. You wanna know what makes America great? We’re the land of the kalbi taco, spam musubi, the kimchi quesadilla and the tandoori pierogi. Okay I just invented tandoori pierogi for this post, but now I want one. And that’s the point.
Dumpster Fire 2 years ago
Convincing argument. Too bad you've completely changed my mind and helped me to discover a newfound respect for American cuisine. Bet you didn't see that coming, did you?
Pewpie Diaper 2 years ago
Exactly! Here's one of my favorite bastardizations: a mountain of Korean spicy pork or bulgogi on top of Tostitos corn chips, smothered in shredded cheese and a jar of queso. Put it in the oven to melt the shredded cheese, and then dump about a cup of your favorite salsa on top, too. Bang! Now sip on a few beers and enjoy. :)
Let’s roll 2 years ago
Don’t forget chillies. We didn’t have spicy food up until that discovery either. This is my approach to food and many things in life. Just enjoy yourselves and always read the label.
#10
Cornbread.
Tabitha 2 years ago (edited)
Don’t forget black eyed peas and collard greens. Especially on New Years Day. (If you know, you know.)
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k sand 2 years ago
It does look out of place there with the other sweets. It kinda looks like there's a bit of a sugary glaze on top too. Lemon glaze?
Load More Replies... Ozymandias73 2 years ago
With butter/honey butter melted on top and in the middle after slicing your piece in 1/2
Flora Porter 2 years ago (edited)
Nothing against cornbread, but I think that photo's lemon drizzle cake. No idea why BP censors normal words but not that name under the photo, BTW.
#11
Creole food like jambalaya and gumbo. This cuisine is arguably the most truly 'American.' Aside from a handful of cooking techniques taken from the French, the dishes are really unique.
Cajundawg replied:
Cajun and Creole cooking. It's a derivative of French cooking, but it's so far removed now that it's a unique cuisine. You're not getting boiled crawfish made properly anywhere outside of southern Louisiana.
David 2 years ago
Canjun's were a racial mix of black, white, and native (though mostly white) back hundreds of years ago. Their culture shows that.
Load More Replies... Mike Loux 2 years ago
My wife is Acadian, from Nova Scotia. The reason we have Cajun is because the Acadians got deported by the English and ultimately ended up in Louisiana. Acadian => Cajun. And, yes, she has relatives down there. I don't think I've tried Creole gumbo, but Cajun gumbo definitely does not suck.
Sheena Leversedge Wood 2 years ago
some of my favourite food. I love food that springs up from regions with a diversity of people, it tends to result in some amazing combinations and flavours.
#12
Chicken fried steak.
Yes I know some of you are going to say “what about German schnitzel?” … IT IS NOT THE SAME AND YOU KNOW IT.
The size of a dinner plate and served with white gravy.
Hans Georg 2 years ago
No, I do not know that. What is the difference, apart from chicken and pig?
The Original Bruno 2 years ago
Chicken-fried steak is steak (beef) fried like certain fried chicken. Schnitzel could be pork, but Americans usually think first of wiener schnitzel (veal), and then pork, beef or chicken.
Load More Replies... Ozymandias73 2 years ago
I swear I've become a self-proclaimed country fried steak connoisseur. If we go out to a new restaurant we haven't been to before and I see they have CFS on their menu, better believe I'm trying it! Then I compare the taste to other restaurants I've been to. Some have been mouth-watering delicious, some have been just meh.
BarkingSpider 2 years ago
I have only recently started eating chicken fried steak on occasion and damn I was missing out.
MayaGeGe 2 years ago
I sincerely don't see the difference with chicken schnitzel, what's the diff ?
g90814 2 years ago
"chicken fried" means it's fried like chicken, but the meat involved is steak(beef).
Load More Replies... #13
Tex-Mex - it’s not Mexican food but rather a Texas creation that extends even to fajitas and margaritas
LeighAnne Brown-Pedersen 2 years ago
Ok my myopic cultural narrow mind was widened by ‘Mexican’ food. Mexico is a big country, with cultural regions and different tastes and people. Northern Mexican, pacific coast, central Mexico, etc. like the entirety of US, there are regional flavors to be discovered.
Robin DJW 2 years ago
Middle Rio Grande "Mexican" food. Unique to New Mexico and for people who actually like chili. Tex-Mex is for people who don't.
Two_rolling_black_eyes 2 years ago
Tex-Mex is the hubris of Texans expressed as food. They honestly think they invented something when it's actually just a stolen identity of something better that's been around for centuries.
Kelly Quinn 2 years ago
TexMex is NOT traditional Mexi an food. Ask anyone with recent Mexican heritage. AND, it was created by Tejanos. Texans of Mexican decent.
Load More Replies... #14
Americanized Chinese food. Even while living in Asia, I would crave General Tso's chicken and honey walnut shrimp because it's just not the same abroad.
AppHelper replied:
Americanized Chinese food, and specifically East Coast Chinese food. Stuff like General Tso's chicken, egg rolls, egg drop soup, oily, soy sauce–laden lo mein, beef and broccoli, and fortune cookies. Funny enough, this stuff doesn't exist in Asia. I was so happy to see that an American Chinese restaurant opened in Shanghai, but it closed down.
Javelina Poppers 2 years ago
I used to go to a floating market on the Chao Phraya in Ayutthaya Thailand in the 70s. I would get fresh spring rolls with ginger sauce from a little lady in a dugout canoe with a charcoal grill. I've never found any since then that tasted as wonderful as hers.
Graham Berry 2 years ago
Mom and Pop restaurants are the best any where in the world.
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Barbara Kayton 2 years ago
I miss American fried rice when I am abroad. In Australia, it is “special fried rice” and always includes shrimps, which I am not fond of.
Mike Loux 2 years ago
That is an excellent point about the East Coast. I am from the northeast, but lived in Texas for almost 10 years, and the (American) Chinese food there was just...not as good. The sauces were too thick and sweet. Recently moved to Virginia, and am very happy to experience "good" American Chinese food again.
Sky Render 2 years ago
In the last 50 years the most iconic Chinese-American food has become orange chicken. You can thank Panda Express for that one!
#15
Chili. It’s based on New World ingredients, every region of the US has its own variation, families have their own recipes, and internet wars have been fought over how to define 'real' chili. (Most of us can agree that Cincinnati is wrong.) We’ve mass-produced it, added it to fast food, and made it even worse for you by adding tons of cheese and pouring it over fries.
and_a_touch_of_the_’tism 2 years ago
Nothing can be made worse by adding tons of cheese. Unless you’re lactose intolerant.
Regina Holt 2 years ago
agree that nothing can be made worse by adding cheese. I'm lactose intolerant, but will take those lactase pills until the day I die. I CANNOT live without cheese.
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Megan Curl 2 years ago
Yes, but I don’t know wtf that is a picture of because it sure isn’t any kind of chili with a ton of corn and big a$$ pieces of red pepper. Nope.
Sky Render 2 years ago
I rather like Wolf brand chili. My wife introduced me to that Texas staple!
Auntriarch 2 years ago (edited)
I bet they're all very tasty though, I mean if you need an impartial judgement, I'm willing to put myself forward as a sacrifice
HTakeover 2 years ago
Then you start getting into the debates over white chili, beans or no beans, etc.
Papa 2 years ago
There's no such thing as white chili, and when you add beans to it you've made soup instead of chili.
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Thomas Ewing 2 years ago
I discovered a canned chili that rivals any fresh cookout chili: Stagg Chili Laredo w/ beans. Amazing.
Ms. Allison 2 years ago
I have been perfecting my chili recipe for about 20 years now. It will always be a work in progress and a labor of love.
#16
Mac 'n' cheese. My non-American wife first thought it was called 'mecan cheese,' which she assumed was short for American cheese. She had never seen the word in writing before, and I'd often talk about how I missed my mom's homemade mac.
Stephen Taylor 2 years ago
What is pictured is not proper mac and cheese! The proper stuff is baked in a casserole and topped with real shredded cheddar.
digitalin 2 years ago
Sometimes, to be a certain type of authentic, it has to come out of the blue box.
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David Albro 2 years ago
I can pass on the box stuff, but a good one with chives and bacon...ooh wee!
Debby Keir 2 years ago
The US invented 'boxed' mac'n'cheese, but macaroni cheese is a whole other (better, more delicious and fewer chemicals) dish.
Anna Drever 2 years ago
I don’t make it anymore because reasons but I used to make it from scratch with a good homemade cheese sauce and add some Dijon mustard to give a teeny bit of bite.
Load More Replies... #17
Clam chowder — specifically, white chowda, and none of this red sauce shenanigans. And lobstah, of course. I know it's a global food at this point, but the best lobster in the world is from New England (mostly Maine), and wow, is it good.
JuniorCJ82 2 years ago
What in the holy hell is that in that picture? It looks like baby clams next to a bowl of Velveeta.
Donald 2 years ago
Some artsy fartsy bisque, that's no New England clam chowda!
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digitalin 2 years ago
Article: "Lobster and clam chowder!" BP photo: "Butternut squash soup and mussels!"
Sugar Shack 2 years ago
May as well have a picture of tomato soup... that is not chowder, er chowdah.
Mike Loux 2 years ago
What Maine gets for lobster is in international waters, and technically it's Nova Scotia lobster. Huge point of contention between the fishermen on both sides. No less delicious, tho, especially when poached in butter. As for chowdah, the best kind is the one you can stand a spoon up in. With a metric asston of oystah crackahs.
#18
As someone not from the states I would k**l to try a peach cobbler or a pumpkin pie
CJK 2 years ago
Yes! Sweet potato pie. It's like pumpkin pie but SO much better. My family disagrees so I have disowned them.
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DE Ray 2 years ago
Most custard pies (that's a style, encompassing pumpkin pie, buttermilk pie, sweet potato pie, key lime pie, etc.) have enthralled my international acquaintances more than I expected. I usually make a point of having several for them to try when they visit.
Robin DJW 2 years ago
Pecan pie. I had Australian friends who had only read about it. Made it for them on Thanksgiving and the angels sang for them.
Huddo's sister 1 year ago
I'm Australian and got to travel to Canada for Christmas 2019. I was so happy to find a gluten free bakery that sold a pecan pie and it tasted so good! Tried to make it not long ago and it didn't really work.
Load More Replies... Sugar Shack 2 years ago
I despise pumpkin pie (and all things pumpkin spice for that matter), but give me a nice pecan pie, apple-cranberry or cherry pie any day!
DE Ray 2 years ago
I have always thought there were two distinct dishes called cobbler - one with a crisp crust, the other with a thick, chewy, dumpling-like "crust". It seems like the chewy type is dying out and nobody makes it anymore. Online recipes are only for shatteringly crisp styles.
HTakeover 2 years ago
I'll point you to the hand chart showing the names of the variations. But basically, cobbler is the chewy one like you're describing with dough like dumplings on top, and the crispy top is a "crisp" made using stuff like oatmeal & sugar. Types: a3lip833d8fa1.jpg 
#19
Philly Cheesesteak
Featherytoad 2 years ago
I was floored when I found out they use Cheeze Whiz. I thought for sure it would have been real cheese. Am I wrong, was I misinformed?
Robert Trebor 2 years ago
There are good ones in Philly. Just not safe to go where they are.
Load More Replies... Dumpster Fire 2 years ago
Some dreams are just not to be. Disappointment has hit me as well.
Load More Replies... #20
Was recently in Prague and a local guy told me that the most American food to him was a corndog and that is probably the right answer.
Suck it Trebek 2 years ago
Corn dog, Chicago Dog, Chili dog, and just plain hot dogs. All American all the way!
#21
The Cuban sandwich - originated in Tampa Bay.
The Original Bruno 2 years ago
Or even moreso: the Reuben! Yes, the various parts come from different nations, but the combination is so American. Thousand Island dressing, sauerkraut, pastrami and swiss cheese on Rye.
Philly Bob Squires 2 years ago
Love thse but I prefer cole slaw over the sauerkraut. I love sauerkraut too but just prefer slaw on my sammitch!!
Load More Replies... Debby Keir 2 years ago
The cuban sandwich came from Cuba (surprise) and was imported by cigar workers who immigrated to Florida.
#22
Truck stop/diner/greasy-spoon breakfast. Doesn't matter what you order and if you're somewhere in the mid-west- even better. Or, if you ever find yourself in a church basement in Minnesota after an event, you will know the authentic, All-American comfort of many kinds of salads with no lettuce, dessert bars, and hotdishes. These, and the sing-song accents of grammas and grampas, are what I missed the most living abroad.
JP Doyle 2 years ago
Oh my... Two sunny side eggs over a plate of corned beef hash with hash brown potatos and toast. With a dollop of ketchup on the hash browns. YUM!
Mike Loux 2 years ago
I prefer my eggs scrambled hard, and home fries instead of hash browns. But the corned beef hash? F**k yes.
Load More Replies... HARRY KOPPERS 2 years ago
American Diner Food is fast, easy,and remarkably uniform across the country, from the little joint north of San Francisco to the Waffle House in Atlanta. The little places are best, from a grill that hasn't been washed in 20 years just scraped off daily, one waitress, dirt parking area, counter with 5 old guys sitting there.
Roan The Demon Kitty 2 years ago
I didn't know the US used the term "greasy spoon" too, I wonder where the term originated, because we use it the same way in the UK, places you can go to get a cheap but satisfying full english breakfast, or a burger at lunch, etc.
#23
Tater tots
#24
Fried Chicken. It's a combination of a Scottish cooking style where they fried unseasoned food in Lard and west African seasonings.
Multa Nocte 2 years ago
When I was in the United States I was seriously addicted to fried chicken.
Happy Homemaker 2 years ago
The South really does it the best. I really miss a great fried chicken and I have really been craving this badly. Another thing the South does that I have been craving is fried pickles. I became obsessed with them after living there. The best ones were ones that a restaurant near me does. They have a slight kick to them. Oh so good!
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Let’s roll 2 years ago
A fun fact no one asked for…. I can’t eat chicken cold at all, not in a salad or or sandwich or anything. Just makes me queasy.
Load More Replies... #25
Barbecue.
Pizza and burgers may be more commonly eaten here, but they're really adaptations of food from Europe. Brisket, ribs, or pulled pork, slow cooked in a pit smoker and smothered in barbecue sauce, are more American in origin, and extraordinarily delicious.
There are lots of regional variations too. Mostly a result of what resources were available (ie, it's smoked with whatever wood is readily available in that region), but now they are a strong point of regional pride, and the topic of endless "which region has the best BBQ" debates. (I'm a fan of Memphis style, myself, but it's all good.)
Debby Keir 2 years ago
Barbecue was 'invented' by a Caribbean tribe, discovered by the Spanish, and also taken to Portugal, before (eventually) making it's way back to the US....
Cubone 2 years ago
That's south Carolina, specifically:) North Carolina has vinegar based in the east and tomato in the west
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HTakeover 2 years ago (edited)
Every time I travel, I spend a lot of downtime window shopping for locations & thinking over logistics to open a classic BBQ joint. The majority of time, there's a supply chain issue that makes it not feasible. No beef, no pork, no wood for smoking (seriously, ran into that one a couple of times), whatever necessary supply.
Javelina Poppers 2 years ago
You've never tasted good bacon till you start making your own and got creative with your brine.
#26
Louisiana boiled crawfish and crabs.
#27
Popcorn. Who can see a movie without it? It was first made by Native Americans.
Happy Homemaker 2 years ago
If you make popcorn at home, get some Flavacol from Amazon. It’s a popcorn salt that makes your popcorn taste like movie theater popcorn. I highly recommend it.
Xitxarel•lo Panda 2 years ago
I will do it TY. But seriously, looking the name it's look like some kind of medicine. 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
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Felidae 2 years ago
The title of this post is not really correct, because fossil evidence from Peru suggests that corn was popped as early as 4,700 BC. But I do agree that popcorn is delicious, and it does not matter if you like salty, sweet, savory or spicy popcorn, and loved all over the world. I live way at the bottom of the African continent and it is very popular here.
Roan The Demon Kitty 2 years ago
Or Kettle Corn, I guess. xP (which is basically the same thing just air popped rather than popped with oil or butter, right?)
#28
Buffalo wings, which were invented and perfected in Buffalo, New York. This creation has no roots in any other countries.
#29
Betty Crocker recipes. Betty defined the classic middle American dinner for decades. Think: chicken breasts topped with provolone slices, covered in cream of chicken soup, then covered with stuffing mix and butter and baked at 350 degrees for 40 minutes.
Kelly Scott 2 years ago
Hmmm. Try mixing half a container of Cool Whip with a small container of sorbet, let it freeze, then spread the rest of the Cool Whip on top. To die for.
Scott Rackley 2 years ago
Betty Crocker was in the Great Aspic Wars, and we all know which side she chose.
#30
fried oreo's from the state fair. Pretty much anything deep fried at the state fair is American culture.
Ellykay995 2 years ago
Isn't that where they first deep fried the first Mars bar?
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PlatinumThe8-BitCat 2 years ago
I have not had a funnel cake in a long time and now I really want one
Load More Replies... #31
Midwestern-style casserole, specifically one made with at least a can of Campbell’s cream of chicken, vegetable, or mushroom soup as a main ingredient.
Megan Curl 2 years ago
My MIL was from the Midwest, and did not have a single non dessert recipe that didn’t contain a can of Campbells, and all desert recipes contained a container of Cool Whip.
#32
Blueberry pie. Or anything with blueberries since they originated in North America.
Wingsofwrath 2 years ago
Ok, to clear up the confusion, "blueberries" in Europe are normally small, black in colour and grow on a low shrub, while the US ones are big, actually blue and grow on a tall bush. Currently, farms on both sides of the Atlantic mainly cultivate the US ones because they're easier to care for, and more profitable, so that's the ones you find in supermarkets, but there are people stil gathering wild native berries so you can still find them at farmer's markets instead.
Roan The Demon Kitty 2 years ago
Blueberries may be native to North America, but they're also Native to a lot of Europe.
Annik Perrot 2 years ago
We do have blueberries here in France. They grow wild in à few mountainous regions like Morvan and Vosges. Here they're called Myrtilles.
Auntriarch 2 years ago
What colour are they inside? Our wild ones in UK are as dark as the skins
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Lee 2 years ago
I'm not from the US so I looked this up online. Everything I'm finding says they are native to North America, were a staple food to natives and then blueberries were cultivated in the early 1900s by US botanists.
Load More Replies... #33
S'mores. I've traveled the world, and no one knows what s'mores are besides Americans.
Sheena Leversedge Wood 2 years ago
I think it's only the past few years I've actually known what they are. never had them though.
Roan The Demon Kitty 2 years ago
shops near me would beg to differ given all the s'mores kits they've been flogging off.
#34
Fluffernutter sandwiches, which is peanut butter and fluff. Just make sure you get the real Marshmallow Fluff and not a knockoff.
Vidas Zlioba 2 years ago
Maybe they loved themselves at some point, but clearly they no longer gaf.
Load More Replies... Jack and Coke 2 years ago
Fluffernutter is my go-to breakfast sandwich. With chocolate milk. Yum.
#35
I was recently in Tokyo and came across a place called Bubby's American Cookery. Their special was meatloaf wrapped in bacon, so I guess that says it best.
Suck it Trebek 2 years ago
Mmmmmm bacon wrapped meatloaf with a big helping of mashed potatoes.
HTakeover 2 years ago
Not too far from a Bacon Explosion, which uses sausage and more bacon instead of meatloaf. Plus BBQ sauce & such.
MotherofGuineaPigs 2 years ago
I think I just heard an artery harden just reading that.
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#36
Shrimp and Grits Nashville style Fried Chicken Texas BBQ Carolina BBQ Kansas City BBQ Memphis BBQ NY Style Pizza Po Boys Jambalaya/Gumbo Hotdish Ambrosia Salad Clam Chowder Manhatten Clam Stew (it is not a chowder) Conch Fritters Chicago style Brownies Chicago style Italian beef Philly style chopped steak and cheese (NJ and DE have pretty good ones too) Beef on Kimmelweck with creamy horseradish sauce Lobstah Rolls (Maine only, every other one sucks) Maryland crab cakes Tex-mex style everything Chicago Deep Dish Pizza Chicago style hot dogs Texas style corn dogs Bagels with Lox (smear optional but I never get one without it)
Vidas Zlioba 2 years ago
Food looks good, the list will give you indigestion.
Load More Replies... #39
Pecan pie Biscuits and gravy Submarine sandwiches Corn pie Scrapple Deep dish pizza
Angela Allen Simms 2 years ago
Scrapple!!!! My grandmother made it from scratch!!! Only those with a refined palate knows scrapple!
#40
I think, as a non American, Italian-American and Tex-Mex are two that are found all over the US and now the world. Spaghetti meat sauce, non bechamel lasagna, deli style pizza: chili con carne, loaded nachos, etc.
Other dishes that may be more regional just aren't found everywhere even in the US.
#41
Hotdogs
Bouche and Audi and Shyla, Oh My! 2 years ago
In 1939, the Roosevelts served the King and Queen of England hot dogs.
Starwhisper Nighthush 2 years ago
Don't know why you were downvoted, but I gave you an upvote to neutralize it.
Load More Replies... Sky Render 2 years ago
I prefer Polish sausages as an adult. But I used to adore hot dogs as a kid!
#42
Grilled Cheese Especially with Kraft American Singles
Beth H 2 years ago
I don't know. An old school grilled cheese with American cheese and white bread is super comforting.
Kelly Scott 2 years ago
Even better when you add ham to it and sprinkle the outside of the bread with Parmesan cheese.
Load More Replies... Barbara Kayton 2 years ago
Traveling abroad has changed some of my tastes, and while I sorely miss American food at times, I cannot stand “American cheese” anymore. It is just vile. Give me a grilled cheese anytime, but use real cheese. Sadly, places overseas are now serving burgers with “American-style” cheese, because it melts easily and looks good as a consequence. Still tastes horrible.
Bobby 2 years ago
American cheese, the stuff you get from the deli, not wrapped in plastic, is a combination of melted cheddar, Swiss, and Colby with an emulsifier added to improve melting. It should only ever be eaten when melted because it's best used as a cheese sauce than actual cheese
Load More Replies... #44
General Tso’s Chicken.
Michael Largey 2 years ago
When they served this at the school where I taught, kids would be lined up for it out into the hallway, We called them General Tso's Army.
#45
The fried pork tenderloin sandwich.
Michael Largey 2 years ago (edited)
There was a restaurant near us who served the plate sized tenderloin on a plate sized bun. You could feed a family for weeks on it.
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#47
Apple pie
Michael Largey 2 years ago
If its temperature didn't cause you to burst into flames before.
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Andy-Pandy-Panda 2 years ago
So basically dishes created by various other countries with added corn and/or plastic cheese.
What do you think ?
The Original Bruno 2 years ago
Can we talk about bacon? Not slices of pork, but heavily smoked, fried-to-a-crisp porkbelly strips. Yes, it's terrible for you. You wouldn't see Americans on the internet craving it so badly if we all fully indulged; 3 strips adding up to about 1 cooked ounce is normal. But it is SO good.
Sugar Shack 2 years ago
I just had breakfast but after scrolling through this list, I'm feeling an urge for a Second Breakfast.
Angela Allen Simms 2 years ago
Why is Maryland C**p Cakes NOT on this list!!! It a regional delicacy but if you want to get juicy, steam a bushel of lady crabs, some beer and pick the meat and eat'em both ways!!!
SheamusFanFrom1987 2 years ago
Not American and have yet to try this, but do Rocky Mountain Oysters count?
DeoManus Argentem 2 years ago
Fajitas, spaghetti and meatballs, chicken parmesan, shrimp scampi (though I've heard some debate if this originated in Italy), and orange juice (I've been to over 55 countries, and I dunno what kind of oranges they use, or what they're doing elsewhere, but there's nothing like freshly squeezed 100% Florida OJ!) Just a few of my favorites I didn't see listed! Oh, and pizza! Napolitano pizza from Italy is good, but it's completely different to NY/Chicago/Detroit styles, so much so that it's really a different category!
Tracy Wallick 2 years ago
Turkey. They're native to North America and the centerpiece at any Thanksgiving table.
The Original Bruno 2 years ago
Can we talk about bacon? Not slices of pork, but heavily smoked, fried-to-a-crisp porkbelly strips. Yes, it's terrible for you. You wouldn't see Americans on the internet craving it so badly if we all fully indulged; 3 strips adding up to about 1 cooked ounce is normal. But it is SO good.
Sugar Shack 2 years ago
I just had breakfast but after scrolling through this list, I'm feeling an urge for a Second Breakfast.
Angela Allen Simms 2 years ago
Why is Maryland C**p Cakes NOT on this list!!! It a regional delicacy but if you want to get juicy, steam a bushel of lady crabs, some beer and pick the meat and eat'em both ways!!!
SheamusFanFrom1987 2 years ago
Not American and have yet to try this, but do Rocky Mountain Oysters count?
DeoManus Argentem 2 years ago
Fajitas, spaghetti and meatballs, chicken parmesan, shrimp scampi (though I've heard some debate if this originated in Italy), and orange juice (I've been to over 55 countries, and I dunno what kind of oranges they use, or what they're doing elsewhere, but there's nothing like freshly squeezed 100% Florida OJ!) Just a few of my favorites I didn't see listed! Oh, and pizza! Napolitano pizza from Italy is good, but it's completely different to NY/Chicago/Detroit styles, so much so that it's really a different category!
Tracy Wallick 2 years ago
Turkey. They're native to North America and the centerpiece at any Thanksgiving table.
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