American Food

My American restaurant would of course have the obvious staples like hamburgers, hot-dogs, and pizza. But to me American food is the combination and modification of other countries staples food. For instance let’s take the college campus champion, CHIPOTLE. This burrito place in the past 18 years since it first opened has taken the food industry by storm. By using Mexican staples like refried beans, guacamole, salsa, and tortillas, this restaurant is quickly becoming an American favorite and classic. Even restaurants that aim to serve “Simple Fresh American Dining” (Ruby Tuesday), serve things like crepes, carbonara, and Asian dumplings, all of which have foreign origins. The reason I think this happens is because America is a country comprised of so many different types of people from hundreds of different countries.  Even from the “start” with settlers at Jamestown then to Ellis Island migration, to the current immigration issues we face, America has always been, and will continue to be a country full of diversity and this is easily reflected in our food.

                That being said the first thing is, my menu would be organized, for efficiency by continent of origin. A few items present in the Asia section would be your normal Chinese takeout essentials, like orange chicken, sesame chicken, general tso chicken, and of course fortune cookies. There would also be sushi, Japanese pan noodles, fresh seafood and of course curry, pad Thai, ramen and tikki masala, just to name a few. In the African section there would items like cassava, yams, lots of spices and stews. Falafel and couscous would also be present.  The European section would much more expansive and contain things like pasta, meals oriented around sausages, potatoes, cheese, cabbage, lamb, beef, and  the finest pork and dairy products available. In the South American section things like fajitas, enchiladas, empanada fritas, queso dips and burritos would be available for ordering as well. In the Australian section items like colorful salads, grilled entrées, meat pies, and exotic meats, for the daring patron would also be available.

                The difficulty in creating a menu setup in this fashion is that a lot of these meals true origins are unknown or debated, still I think that a lot of American favorites even though they are foreign like spaghetti and meatballs (Chinese origin) pancakes (European origin), and bagels( Austrian origin) are facets of American cuisine. Since an overwhelming percent of the population’s family at one point or another migrated to America it is easy to see why some of our favorites, were not created here.  Even if these items did in fact originate somewhere else, we as Americans’ have done a good job of modifying them to fit our taste, this will also be reflected in the menu as well. Another reason I have decided to center my menu on our foreign favorites, is because a large percentage of American dining is comprised of multinational meals (i.e. Panda Express, Godiva, Sbarros, & BD’s Mongolian Barbecue). I believe that this will give non-Americans’ a pretty fair depiction of American food. And of course  the North American section of my menu  would  include things like ice cream, chicken nuggets, and of course apple pie.