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.

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