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 posts you can find the 1st, 2nd and 3rd posts of my list here.
So let me just ‘dig in’ as it were, and begin. They’re not in any special order though.
Peanut butter sandwich
Creamy or chunky? Unless you have to deal with a peanut allergy it seems everyone loves a good peanut butter sandwich. Well, almost everyone, we know someone here in Switzerland who absolutely hates it. I like peanut butter okay but I can hold out on peanut butter sandwiches. But I think that me and the person mentioned above are the exceptions to the rule. My sister absolutely adores PB & J (peanut butter and jelly) sandwiches. That was her lunchbox staple for years.
In 1884 peanut butter was, as far as I know, patented. Over 130 years later peanut butter is an American mainstay.
We met an American family of 4 who was living in Berne for a year. One of the things the mother found remarkable about Switzerland was the size of the peanut butter jars along with the price. She said she could buy a gallon of peanut butter in the States for the price of about two spoonfuls in Switzerland. Her problem was she had to buy peanut butter because that was only what her kids would eat for lunch. She asked me how I managed in this unbearable situation. I just sort of shrugged my shoulders and mumbled something like ‘the best I can’. I think she ended up having friends send her care packages while they were here.
Peanut butter and jelly is the classic version of the sandwich. There is no end to the imagination as to what can be used as alternatives to jelly though. None of which, I may add, have I ever tried. Add Marshmallow fluff for a sandwich called a ‘Fluffernutter’. Add honey instead of jelly is another variation. Another way to try peanut butter sandwiches is the way Elvis Presley liked them: with ripe mashed bananas, grilled in butter.
When I read off my list of alternatives to jelly to my sister, she said ‘… and potato chips?? You forgot potato chips!’ She said that adds crunch to your sandwich while eliminate any chances of it getting soggy. She’s not the only one who has eaten it that way, she said that her daughter adds potato chips, too. Go figure.
Baked beans
It is unthinkable not to have baked beans at a cookout, barbeque or potluck party*. I thought everyone knew what baked beans were. Nope. This is very American as I have come to find out.
Like I said in a post a couple of years back I make it with bacon among other things. Other additions include bits of hot dogs which my mom sometimes added. My sister told me one of her neighbors made a great baked bean casserole; a cross between baked beans and chili with barbecue sauce and was delicious. It must have been if she is still talking about it years later.
The Native American’s recipe was to mix beans with maple syrup and bear fat and slow cook them in a hole in the ground. Americans still like their baked beans somewhat sweet. The settlers adopted and made this dish so much that sailors and traders referred to Boston as ‘Beantown’. Of course, Bostonians never refer to their town like that.
When I bring the dish to a Swiss party everyone recognizes that it’s made with beans. After they try it they are surprised it has a sweet touch to it. I don’t think I’ve ever brought any leftovers home after a party.
*I talk about my potluck party here.
Popcorn
Yet another variety of corn in my list of favorite American foods, after cornbread and grits. Popcorn isn’t a new invention it’s been around since 3600 B.C. Popcorn is low on fat and high on carbohydrates. Depending on what you add to the popcorn, like butter, salt, sugar or caramel covered with peanuts you add more calories to it. And yes, Americans love sweet, so don’t look surprised if you see popcorn with a chocolate sauce.
As with many products, some towns identify with a food to create their identity. Popcorn is no exception. The ‘Popcorn Capital of the World’ is… drum roll please, Ridgway, Illinois. No, wait, Valparaiso, Indiana or was it Fan Buren, Indiana or maybe Schaller, Iowa, Marion, Ohio or North Loup, Nebraska. You get the idea, a lot of places think they are the ‘Popcorn Capital of the World’. No matter, it’s a ‘super snack’ anywhere.
Although popcorn is inseparable with cinemas, initially cinema owners weren’t thrilled with the idea of eating popcorn and watching films. They thought it distracted from the films. They changed their minds when they saw the dollar signs ‘popping’ up with the popcorn sales. In 1938 a Midwestern theater owner installed a popcorn machine in the lobby of his theater.
To this day, the addiction to popcorn hasn’t declined at all. Americans currently consume about14 billion liters of popcorn a year, not only in theaters. That’s 43 liters a year per American man, woman, and child.
If you enjoy festivals, after you finish visiting the Banana Split Festival in Ohio you could ‘pop’ over, as it were, to Valparaiso, Indiana. There you can enjoy the Valparaiso Popcorn Festival the first Saturday after Labor Day (the first Monday in September).
You might think ‘you can’t make perfection better’. Surprisingly there have been technical advances after the popcorn machine that have made the consumption of popcorn grow. The microwave popcorn bag (patented in 1981) for example, boosted the popularity of popcorn. Who needs to go to the cinema when you can have perfectly popped corn at home?
I can take or leave eating popcorn but I still love it. For many Christmases we would decorate our Christmas tree with hand strung popcorn. I would string them much faster than my sister who ate one, strung one. The nice part about the popcorn decoration was after Christmas and after taking down the tree. We always put the strung popcorn on trees outside for the birds to enjoy.
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 everything, some things are better left untried.
Stay safe and healthy everyone.
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