American cuisine and global food culture

American Cuisine

America has long been heralded as the world's melting pot because of the diverse mix of nationalities that affect nearly every aspect of American culture. The effect of several nationalities and cultures is readily apparent when one considers the uniqueness of American cuisine.

Without a doubt, American cuisine has been affected by a variety of cultures, such as German, Italian, Asian, French and Creole. However, another interesting aspect of American cuisine is that it is clearly affected by geography, as the nation is geographically diverse, ranging from the cattle country of the Midwest to the seacoast lifestyles of the Northeast. The combination of culture and geography both have a strong influence on the shaping of American cuisine, allowing it to develop into an eclectic mixture of food styles as diverse as America itself.

The impacts of culture and geography

There are a variety of factors that influence the development of national cuisine. Lynne Olver defines the main factors as food availability; technology; climate; religion; socio-economic class; and politics (culture, immigration rates, etc.) (Olver, 2000). Really, we can condense these influences and note that they all indicate that a nation's cuisine is determined by cultural influences and what is available (either because of climate, geography or social status).

Sam Gugino points out that defining American cuisine requires a regional approach. Northeastern cuisine is often defined by seafoods (think Maine and Massachusetts lobster), and regional cuisines, such as Italian, German and Asian food (Gugino, 2006). The Midwest and West, America's bread and livestock basket, tends to feature food heavy in meat and vegetables, while the South offers cuisine full of spice and flavor, largely due to the influence of Creole and Cajun cultures (Gugino, 2006).

Naturally, it is possible to drill down into even smaller subsections of America's culture and to analyze the distinctive cuisines that have developed. Groups like the Pennsylvania Dutch, for example, may argue that their cuisine is distinctive. but, at any rate, the factors of culture and availability hold up in just about every situation.

In the Northeast, for example, there are several coastal states where people have spent generations making their livings from fishing. The fact that fish are abundantly available has a strong influence on the region's cuisine. Similarly, many immigrants in America's early days settled in clusters in various parts of the Northeast, where they continued to cook their Old World cuisines. To this day we see population clusters in major Northeast cities, which almost invariably will have a Little Italy or Little China. These Old World cooking traditions survived and impacted American cuisine.

Similarly, the Midwest and West, both rich agricultural areas, developed their cuisine around what was available. There were abundant crops and cattle, so we see a strong influence of beef, poultry and vegetables in Midwest cuisine (Gugino, 2006). In short, a meat-and-potatoes culture developed with a heavy presence of steak and chicken dishes. and, really, this is not a tremendous departure from Native American cuisine, as these earlier inhabitants of the Plains consumed diets rich in meats and vegetables.

Culture and geography also play key roles in Southern cuisine. The Creole and Cajun people of the south are descendents of Spanish, French and Portugese colonists and the foods of these nationalities are rich in spice and flavor, as is much of the cuisine of the South (Gugino, 2006). The spices are added to the various foods abundantly available in the South. Much of the region is coastal, making foods such as fish, shrimp and prawns common, while the favorable climate also allows agriculture to thrive, bringing a meat and vegetable presence (Gugino, 2006).