Defining American Cuisine
American food is a subject that inspires both pride and debate. Unlike many countries with centuries-old, well-defined culinary traditions, the United States is a relatively young nation whose cuisine has been shaped by waves of immigration, regional geography, indigenous traditions, and constant innovation. The result is a food culture that is remarkably diverse, endlessly creative, and sometimes difficult to define precisely. What is considered American food depends partly on perspective: is it the iconic fast food that has been exported to every corner of the globe, the sophisticated farm-to-table movement that has transformed fine dining, or the countless regional and ethnic cuisines that make up the vast tapestry of eating in America?
The answer, of course, is all of the above. American food encompasses everything from the hot dogs served at a Coney Island boardwalk stand to the multi-course tasting menus of Michelin-starred restaurants in New York and San Francisco. It includes the indigenous food traditions of Native American peoples, the soul food developed by African Americans, the Tex-Mex cuisine of the Southwest, the Cajun and Creole cooking of Louisiana, and the fusion cuisines created by immigrant communities from every corner of the world. Understanding what is considered American food requires embracing this diversity rather than trying to reduce it to a single definition.
The Classic American Icons
When most people around the world think of American food, certain iconic dishes immediately come to mind. The hamburger is perhaps the single most recognized American food item globally. While the exact origins of the hamburger are debated, with several American cities and individuals claiming to have invented it in the late 19th or early 20th century, there is no dispute that the hamburger as we know it is an American creation. From the simple cheeseburger served at a roadside diner to the gourmet burger crafted with artisan cheese and locally sourced beef, the hamburger in all its forms is a quintessentially American food.
The hot dog is another iconic American food, closely associated with baseball games, Fourth of July celebrations, and New York City street vendors. German immigrants brought the sausage traditions that inspired the hot dog, but the combination of a frankfurter in a soft bun with mustard, ketchup, relish, onions, and other toppings is a distinctly American innovation. Regional hot dog styles, from the Chicago dog (with mustard, relish, tomato, pickle, sport peppers, and celery salt, but never ketchup) to the New York dirty water dog to the Sonoran hot dog of Arizona (wrapped in bacon and topped with pinto beans), demonstrate how even a simple food can become a canvas for American regional creativity.
Apple pie has become so synonymous with American identity that the phrase "as American as apple pie" is a common expression. While apple pie existed in various forms in European cooking long before America was colonized, the American version, with its double crust, generous use of cinnamon and sugar, and association with home cooking and patriotism, has become a unique cultural symbol. Served warm with a scoop of vanilla ice cream or a slice of sharp cheddar cheese, apple pie represents the comfort and nostalgia that many Americans associate with their food culture.
Barbecue: America's Greatest Culinary Art
If any single cooking tradition can be called uniquely and originally American, it is barbecue. The slow smoking of meat over wood fire is a technique that was practiced by indigenous peoples and developed into a distinct culinary art form by enslaved African Americans in the Southern United States. Today, American barbecue is recognized as one of the great culinary traditions of the world, with regional styles that are celebrated, debated, and endlessly analyzed by food lovers everywhere.
Texas barbecue is centered on beef, particularly brisket, which is rubbed with salt and pepper and smoked for twelve to eighteen hours over post oak wood until the meat is incredibly tender and infused with deep, smoky flavor. Kansas City barbecue is known for its thick, sweet tomato-based sauces and its variety of meats, including ribs, burnt ends, pulled pork, and sausage. Carolina barbecue focuses on whole hog or pork shoulders, with a sharp distinction between the vinegar-based sauces of Eastern North Carolina and the tomato-vinegar sauces of Western North Carolina and South Carolina's distinctive mustard-based sauce.
Memphis barbecue is famous for its dry-rubbed ribs, which are coated in a complex blend of spices and smoked without sauce, allowing the flavor of the meat and the rub to take center stage. Alabama white sauce, a mayonnaise-based barbecue sauce used primarily on smoked chicken, represents yet another regional innovation. Each of these styles has passionate adherents who consider their regional tradition to be the best, and this friendly rivalry is part of what makes American barbecue culture so vibrant and engaging.
Soul Food and Southern Cooking
Soul food, the cuisine developed by African Americans primarily in the Southern states, is one of the most important and influential branches of American cooking. Rooted in the culinary traditions that enslaved people brought from West Africa and adapted using the ingredients available in the American South, soul food encompasses a rich array of dishes that have become beloved nationwide. Fried chicken, collard greens, cornbread, macaroni and cheese, sweet potatoes, black-eyed peas, catfish, and peach cobbler are just a few of the dishes that define this profoundly American cuisine.
Southern cooking more broadly includes soul food along with other regional traditions such as Lowcountry cooking from coastal South Carolina and Georgia (known for shrimp and grits, she-crab soup, and Hoppin' John), Appalachian cooking (known for cornbread, soup beans, and apple stack cake), and Gulf Coast cooking (known for seafood, rice dishes, and the influence of French, Spanish, and African cuisines). The warmth, generosity, and deep flavor of Southern cooking have made it one of America's most cherished and widely enjoyed culinary traditions.
Regional American Specialties
One of the most fascinating aspects of American food culture is the incredible regional diversity that exists across the country. Every region, state, and often individual city has its own food specialties and traditions that reflect local ingredients, immigrant communities, and cultural history. New England is known for clam chowder, lobster rolls, baked beans, and brown bread. The Mid-Atlantic states claim the Philly cheesesteak, New York-style pizza, Maryland crab cakes, and bagels with lox and cream cheese.
The Midwest, often called America's heartland, is known for its hearty, practical cooking: hot dishes (casseroles), cheese curds, bratwursts, deep-dish pizza in Chicago, and the iconic loose meat sandwich of Iowa. The Southwest brings Tex-Mex cuisine, green chile dishes, fry bread and Navajo tacos, and the distinctive flavors of New Mexican red and green chile sauces. The Pacific Northwest is celebrated for its fresh salmon, Dungeness crab, craft coffee culture, and a farm-to-table ethos that predates the term itself.
Hawaii offers a unique fusion of Polynesian, Asian, and American culinary traditions, with dishes like poke, plate lunch, spam musubi, and shave ice reflecting the islands' multicultural heritage. Alaska's food culture revolves around the incredible wild seafood and game available in the state, including king crab, wild salmon, halibut, and game meats like caribou and moose.
The Melting Pot: Immigrant Contributions
Perhaps the most defining characteristic of American food is its immigrant heritage. Wave after wave of immigrants from every corner of the globe have brought their culinary traditions to the United States, and these traditions have been adapted, blended, and transformed into new creations that are uniquely American. Italian immigrants gave us American-Italian cuisine, including dishes like spaghetti and meatballs, chicken parmesan, and New York-style pizza that differ significantly from their Italian originals but are delicious in their own right.
Chinese immigrants created Chinese-American dishes like chop suey, General Tso's chicken, and fortune cookies that are distinctly American inventions. Mexican immigrants and Mexican-American communities developed Tex-Mex cuisine, which includes dishes like nachos, burritos, and fajitas that are now consumed across the country and around the world. Japanese, Korean, Vietnamese, Indian, Ethiopian, Middle Eastern, and countless other immigrant communities have similarly enriched American food culture with their unique flavors, ingredients, and cooking techniques.
Modern American Cuisine
Contemporary American cuisine is defined by creativity, quality ingredients, and a willingness to draw inspiration from any culinary tradition. The farm-to-table movement, which emphasizes locally sourced, seasonal ingredients and close relationships between chefs and farmers, has transformed the American restaurant landscape over the past two decades. This movement has its roots in the work of pioneering chefs like Alice Waters, whose restaurant Chez Panisse in Berkeley, California, championed California cuisine and the philosophy of cooking with the finest local ingredients available.
American chefs today are among the most innovative and celebrated in the world, blending techniques and flavors from multiple culinary traditions to create dishes that are impossible to categorize by any single national cuisine. This boundary-crossing approach, sometimes called New American cuisine, reflects the multicultural reality of American life and the creative energy that has always characterized American food culture.
Conclusion
What is considered American food is ultimately everything that Americans eat, create, and share at their tables. From the hamburgers and hot dogs that represent American food to the world, to the deeply rooted traditions of soul food and barbecue, to the regional specialties that give each corner of the country its own culinary identity, to the constantly evolving fusion cuisines created by immigrant communities, American food is a living, breathing expression of the nation's diversity, creativity, and appetite for both tradition and innovation. Rather than being defined by a single dish or cooking style, American cuisine is defined by its remarkable breadth and its endless capacity to absorb, adapt, and innovate.
