American cuisine
pluses and minuses

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Split personalities

American cuisine has both an exciting and dull side:

Exciting = Regional and ethnic cooking

Dull = Fast foods and overly processed grocery-store foods

My American cuisine section focuses mainly on the better half, the regional and ethnic cuisines. They are the ones sophisticated palates seek.

Click blue links to learn about them:

California

Creole & Cajun

Hawaiian

New England

Soul Food

Southern

Southwestern

Tex Mex + New York Ethnic

Penn Dutch + Midwest farm

Native American

Cowboy + Pioneer

American city specialties

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Innovation

American cuisine is the most innovative major cuisine on our planet. This is not because Americans cooks are naturally more creative than their counterparts abroad. They're not. A prime reason is the nation's cuisine is relatively new. It is not as encumbered by ironbound culinary rules as in, say, the French and Chinese cuisines. The Americans have more freedom to experiment.

This has been particularly true with the regional Southwestern, Californian and Hawaiian cuisines.

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Land of plenty

America has so much land suitable for farming that it could support twice its population.

The arable land that could be used for agriculture is not wasted. Much of it is used by the cattle industry (which requires extensive grazing land). This has allowed meat eating to become a significant factor in American cuisine.

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Production science

America has been a key pioneer in the scientific production of foodstuffs that has increased availability and lowered costs. Some methods have been adopted by other nations.

Mass-scale poultry rearing
This is a good example of modern food production science. Most of the chicken in America are raised in indoor farm factories that spew forth less expensive poultry (though a mixed blessing because the meat is less flavorful).

Cost-efficiency methods
They have also been applied to grains, vegetables, and fruits. Advances in canning, freezing, transportation, and processing make it possible for Americans to eat almost any food grown anywhere in any season. This accessibility has added year-round variety (but it has also suppressed flavor, texture, and some of the rich traditions of the regional cuisines).

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Test yourself

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