Think ‘American food’ and your mind quickly turns to fast, junk or processed foods. After all, that’s what most of the world thinks American food is. It might better be described by words like greasy, generally unhealthy, industrial output. When I first arrived in Switzerland I remember a few people wondering out loud if Americans ate anything other than hamburgers. I won’t dispute it, some Americans eat badly, but not all do.
To celebrate its sheer endless culinary creativity, good or bad, here’s the next in my list of the 24 most popular American foods or dishes. Of course, remember, I’m from the east coast (with a bit of Chicago thrown in for good measure). There will be inevitably missed regional specialties of foods I’ve never tried from places I’ve never been. If you missed my previous food posts you can find the 1st and 2nd posts of my list here.
So let me just ‘dig in’ as it were, and begin. The list isn’t presented in any special order.
Macaroni and cheese
The ultimate comfort food which can be made by scratch or bought in a box. The store bought variety is my favorite. I know, I know, typical American. It’s a fast, not so healthy food made by Kraft. My sister hated it, my brother ate it because he had to and I loved it. That was certainly my go-to ‘feel like home’ food after I moved to Switzerland. You can’t buy it in Switzerland so it’s one of the few things I actually asked my family and friends to send me from the States. There is just something so satisfying about the ghastly orange cheddar cheese sauce.
Many years ago friends of ours honeymooned in the States. We were to look after their dog while they were there, so they asked us if they could bring anything back for us. I jumped at the chance and said ‘Macaroni and cheese’! I told them they could find it in every grocery store. After returning they said they couldn’t find it in the grocery store so they asked someone, presumably a patron. This person said ‘you don’t buy macaroni and cheese, you make it.’ Our friends were a bit confused, believing they had misunderstood me, and came back empty handed. It just goes to show, some Americans prefer homemade to the box version.
But I’m not the only person who likes the combination of pasta and cheese although there is really nothing particularly American about it. Thomas Jefferson, the principal author of the Declaration of Independence and the 3rd president of the United States liked it too. While on a European trip he enjoyed a noodle dish so much he took notes and had it served back home at a state dinner as “macaroni pie.” Jefferson’s cousin Mary Randolph included a recipe for “macaroni and cheese” in her 1824 cookbook “The Virginia Housewife.”
Once, while visiting my parents at my request they made Kraft macaroni and cheese for lunch. My brother and his family were there, too. One of the children said ‘This tastes like dinner, Mom!’ A long cry from a Thomas Jefferson state dinner, I’m sure.
So, whether you’re eating a gourmet version by one of the countless chefs who’ve put their own spin on it, or just digging like a desperado in the pantry for that box of Kraft, it’s here to stay.
Maryland crabcakes
Maryland and the Chesapeake Bay yields more than just the regatta-loving suntanned class in their sock-free topsiders.
The Bay is home habitat of the blue crab, which both Maryland and Virginia claim as their own. Crabcakes can be eaten while on a leisurely stroll on a boardwalk on a bun or served fried, broiled or baked at fancy restaurant. It seems any crab can be used but the blue crabs of the Chesapeake Bay are preferred.
My dad once said that he didn’t like crabcakes because he always got a headache after eating them. My sister aptly pointed out that it wasn’t the crab that was giving him headaches, it was all that beer he drank with it.
A magazine in Baltimore listed the best places to get the city’s signature food declaring simplicity the key. But as is the fate of many regional foods the main ingredient, here crabmeat, quite often doesn’t even come from home turf these days. Kind of makes you crabby, doesn’t it?
Potato chips
Of course Americans love their potatoes, after all, they are indigenous to the Americas. That brings us back to Thomas Jefferson’s cousin Mary Randolph and her 1824 cookbook “The Virginia Housewife.” In it is also a recipe for potato chips.
Although it was in the 1824 cookbook, the story of the invention of potato chips is often associated with Saratoga Springs, New York in 1853. The native American chef George Crum was a cook in the kitchen at the Moon Lake Lodge. A fussy customer more than once, sent back his French fries (then eaten with a fork) for being too thick and soggy and with not enough salt on them. Annoyed, Crum made each batch thinner and saltier. About the second or third time the fries came back he was stinking mad and added good portion of attitude to the next, hopefully last portion he made. He sliced the potatoes so thin, the crispy things couldn’t possibly be called soggy and so the customer couldn’t say there wasn’t enough salt, he sprinkled them generously with seasoned salt. To everyone’s surprise, the wafer-thin fried finger-food potatoes were a hit. The customer is always right, right?
My sister and I have fond memories of the morning after my parents had bridge* parties at our home. We loved it when they had those parties. Although we couldn’t imagine anything more boring than a bunch of adults playing cards, the leftover snacks were great. The morning after, we were like hungry vultures swooping on prey, or maybe better, not so violent analogy would be a clean-up crew after an event. At any rate, I would gravitate to the potato chips and onion dip and my sister to the nut mixes. Being the wonderful sister she is, she would help me with the potato chips if I was too slow. In no time at all, everything was gone.
*Bridge is a partnership, trick-taking card game played with 4 people and a standard 52-card deck. Skills needed to play are tactics, communication, memory and probability. It can be played socially, as my parents did, or in clubs, tournaments or online. I believe one of my mom’s cousins played bridge professionally and even won national bridge competitions.
Hope you enjoyed my list so far, there’s more on the way soon! Oh, and just because they are on my list doesn’t mean you have to go out and try them, some things are better left untried.
Stay safe and healthy everyone.
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