American Cuisine
I have done it before, but it has been many years: taken too many credits for a given quarter. It will be a full Winter Quarter but I am jazzed. And one of my classes is called American Cuisine. This class is meant to give an upcoming chef a broad stroke perspective of American cuisine, by region. From Native Americans to colonists and a regular flow of new immigrants, America’s food story is one of survival, novelty and reciprocity. It is a rich, layered story of learning from one another, learning from the land and respecting the seasons. Different regions in our country offer a unique culmination of food lore, supplied by heritage and homesteading, influenced by neighbors and history, informed by land and sea.
I am no expert. But I am curious, and intrigued, by the range of cuisines alive and well in America. In the text provided by the class, the regions are broken up accordingly, including a few states with their own chapter:
1. New England (Maine, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Vermont, Connecticut)
2. Mid-Atlantic (New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia)
3. Southern (Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi, N. Carolina, S. Carolina, Tennessee)
4. Florida (Florribean cuisine)
5. Louisiana (Cajun & Creole)
6. Central Plains (Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, N. Dakota, S. Dakota, Ohio, Wisconsin)
7. Texas (Tex-Mex)
8. Rocky Mountain & Southwest (Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, New Mexico, Utah, Wyoming)
9. California
10. Hawaii
11. Pacific Northwest (Alaska, Oregon, Washington)
This is one book’s breakdown on American Cuisine: note that it does not list each and every state, and is meant as an overview not an exhaustive deconstruction of American Cuisine. But budding chefs need to know—and cooks all over may be curious—about general cuisines in varying parts of the country. So with a grain of salt, or pepper or likely Old Bay Seasoning: I will share a bit about my experiences in American Cuisine.
Tags: American Cuisine, culinary school
Comments
What’s the name of the text? I’d be interested in reading it just for pleasure.
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I adore food texts and this one offers a good overview of American Cuisine. It is a textbook: Second Edition, American Regional Cuisine; author is listed as The Art Institutes. So it is a text written by and for my the Art Institute culinary schools… happy reading!
Sounds like a lot of fun and a little exhausting, too. Do post as you go along…will be great to see American go by.
Hm, I’m interested in this book too. I think it would be good for me to read some on American cuisine, since I have a bit of an ungrateful attitude toward it…picturing fast food and fried everything and twinkie-like desserts as American fare. That’s such a limited perspective, I know, but my mom raised us on so many international foods that a lot of American food seemed boring or bland to me. I’m willing to be proved wrong…though I will always stand against chicken fried steak
Elle: thanks, I will post as much as I can!
Lael: Not a bad plan, and I really appreciate you sharing your experience of American food. You are so not alone! This is good for me for the same reason!
We’d be interested to read this too. It would fit with our food around the world thing that we do.