The United States

Its Food and Its People

Where It All Began

Our American Heritage

Food is a reflection of who we are & where we came from. The foods eaten in a given area will tell about geography, climate, history, and culture.

American Cuisine

• Dynamic• Diverse• Constantly changing• Carved out of layers of the past with each

generation keeping some traditions of the past while adding new tastes and flavors

• Uniqueness of each region is beginning to disappear

True American Regional Cooking Shaped by:

• History—who settled in the region; what traditions did they bring

• Climate---determined growing season: type of food that could be grown (wheat did not grow well in the NE

• Terrain---determined type of food that could grow; cranberries in the NE, rice in the south, etc.

• Availability of ingredients---seafood vs. beef

American Indians

• Excellent farmers (most were)

• Cultivated 50% of the world’s plant including: potatoes, pineapples, corn, beans, squash, pumpkins, tapioca, avocados, tomatoes, chili peppers and more

Early Settlers

• Poor farmers, sought Indians for advice

• Corn---how to use it.

• Grew corn & beans together then cooked them together (succotash)

• Substituted cornmeal for oatmeal & wheat creating new dishes.

The First Immigrants• The English settled in the

northeastern mid-south parts of what is now the U.S.

The Spanish settled in what is now Florida.

More Immigrants

• English, Dutch, German, French settled in the northeast.

• English, French, Spanish settled in the Deep South

• Most immigrants settled with individuals of similar culture.

• African slaves were part of all of the colonies

Reason for Immigration

• Reasons varied

• Religious freedom

• Slavery

• Opportunity to own property

• Economic opportunity

Unique Characteristics of Early American Food

• High protein base , high fat base

• Corn very important early; now wheat based

• Good bakers

Food Meant Hospitality

• First Presidents (Washington, Jefferson, Madison) established tradition of good food and dining.

• President Jefferson is considered the country’s first gourmet.

America Today

• Cornucopia of people

• More cultures, ethnic groups are found in the United States than anywhere else in the world

• Total of the minority population is close to exceeding the majority population

• Latinos are the fastest growing group

American Food

• Cuisine of the U.S. is a combination of all of these cultures and ethnic groups

• Each group tried to incorporate its cuisine into its new life in the United States

• We love to snack and love snack foods. It is believed to be a habit dating back to the 1800’s with free lunch in bars to encourage drinking

Holidays and Foods

• Holiday traditions are closely associated with food in North America

• Immigrants brought many of these traditions plus we have added many of our own

Example of Ethnic Based Holidays

• Mardi Gras (French for Fat Tuesday)– Cajun Foods– King Cake (baked with a tiny plastic doll---

person getting it is supposed to throw the next Mardi Gras party)

– Rich colors of purple & gold– Big time party

• Cinco de Mayo– Observed by the Mexican Americans– Means fifth of May– Marks the victory of Mexican troops over the

French– Foods include sweet breads coffee & cinnamon

flavored hot chocolate

• Kwanzaa– Relatively new holiday– African American– Focus on African cultural heritage– Between Christmas & New Year’s Day– Karamu---a ritual feast held on the next to last

night of the week long festival

• Chanukah– Eight day Jewish festival held in December– Also called Festival of Lights– Commemorates regaining of the temple of

Jerusalem– Light one candle each day (menorah)– Eat latkes (potato pancakes) & sufganiyah---

potato doughnuts among other things

NEW ENGLAND

Maine, Massachusetts, Vermont, Delaware, Connecticut, & Rhode

Island

New England Cuisine Influenced by:

• Location---abundance of seafood

• Short growing season---– Food had to be sensible– Crops had to be suited to the short season– Food needed to be hardy

The Indian Triad

• Corn

• Beans

• Squash

Corn• Corn lacks gluten---Mexican Indians

adapted by making tortillas, New England Indians did not.

Foods Made From Corn

Johnny Cakes: type of bread or pancake, consisting of corn meal, boiling water & salt. Dates back to 1621. (1st Thanksgiving)

Corn Mush: (Hasty Pudding) Cornmeal boiled in water

Fried Mush: Mush that is cooled, sliced, fried in lard and served as a pancake.

Indian Pudding: Milk flavored with molasses & thickened with cornmeal. It may have eggs, sugar, butter, etc.

• Brown Bread: Cornmeal, wheat flour, sour milk, molasses. It was often prepared by steaming.

• Corn Chowder: Green corn kernels, mild, potatoes, onions and salt pork.

Squash

We ate pumpkins at morning

Pumpkins at noon

If it were not for pumpkins

We would be undoon.

Beans

• Unknown food to the Europeans

• Quality source of protein

• Often planted together with corn

Dishes Prepared with Beans• New England Baked Beans (Boston Baked

Beans): the most important bean dish. An acceptable food for the Sabbath because it could be prepared the day before. – Any type of bean cooked with salt pork,

molasses, and sometimes sugar. Tomato was seldom used.

• Succotash: Corn and beans cooked together; sometimes prepared like a chowder.– Hominy is often the form of corn used today.

Other New England Dishes

• New England Boiled Dinner: Dates back to the days when the only cooking utensil was a large kettle. Combination of meat (often corned beef) cooked with potatoes, onions, carrots, beets, cabbage.

• Red Flannel Hash: made from the leftovers of a New England Boiled Dinner. The leftovers, including beets were ground & fried in an iron skillet. Name comes from the appearance the beets gave the food.

•

• Chowder: cream soup made from thickened milk. Clam Chowder is one of the more popular forms today. (Our potato soup is a form of chowder.)

• Lobster• Clam Bakes• Cranberries• Maple Syrup

– Sugar in the snow: maple syrup poured over bowls of clean snow where it hardens like taffy.

MIDDLE ATLANTIC STATES

New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Maryland

Original National Cuisines

• Dutch (Netherlands)

• German

• English

New York (New Netherlands)

• Farmers and bakers

• Bread Basket of the Colonies

• Brought animals from Europe

• Preserved foods

Dutch Foods

• Koekjes---cookies

• Olykoeks---doughnuts

• Molasses cakes

• Gingerbread men

• Waffles

• Cole slaw

• Cottage cheese

Pennsylvania DutchFeinschmecker Country

• Feinschmecker: those who know how good food tastes and eat plenty of it.

• Dutch---actually Deutsch• PA Dutch country is located between Lancaster &

Allentown, PA• Settled there in search of religious freedom

Religious Groups

• Mennonites---most important group

• Crefeblers

• Dunkards

• 7th. Day Adventists

• Amish

• Moravians

Main Religious Groups Today

• Plain People: Amish, Mennonites

• Gay Dutch: Lutherans & reformed churches

Two Common Bonds

• Common language: German dialect interlaced with English and own idioms.

• Huge appetites---believed that if you were not hungry it was because you were not working hard enough.

Foods Created by PN Dutch

• Pickled pigs feet

• Blood pudding

• Scrapple: pork with cornmeal

• Smoked beef tongue

• Hog Maw: cleaned pig’s stomach stuffed with sausage, diced vegetables and baked.

Seven Sweets and Seven Sours

• Believed in serving a balance at each meal

• Mixture of sweet and sour relishes, dried fruits, salads

Big Time Bakers

• Kuchen: yeast dough coffee cake

• Lebkuchen: Xmas Cookies

• Sticky buns

• Funnel cakes

• Crumb cakes

• Pretzels & pretzel soup

• Pies at every meal: shoofly, green tomato, vinegar, funeral pie (raisin), Amish half-moon pies

Other PN Dutch Foods

• Chicken corn soup• Dishes made with cabbage• Starchy foods---dumplings, potatoes, pies, noodles• Anything with apples• Sauerbraten: beef roast marinated in vinegar• Schnitz & knepp: ham butt, dumplings, & dried

apples

Philadelphia

• Ice Cream

• Home of the ice cream soda (1874)

• Philadelphia cheese steak sandwich

New Jersey

• Fresh vegetables

• Truck farmers

• Home of the beefsteak tomato

Maryland

• Chicken

• Terrapin soup

• Blue crabs