Cuisine Focus – American – From Regional Diversity to Great Dish Variety

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The American cuisine is considered to be highly-diverse due to the presence of people with various backgrounds and origins. The country’s proximity to several places has brought changes and affected the way this cuisine has been formed. In the process, the cuisine has incorporated and acquired different styles of cooking taken from communities of different races and ethnicities.

American cuisine, being regional in nature, can actually refer to a number of relative cuisines namely Latin American, North American and cuisine of the United States. One may think that this cuisine is nothing but intricate, however, it can be said how such has developed importing both the cultural flavors and culinary know-how of each region concerned.

Some of the dishes are said to be either Europe or Mexico based like the pies, pizzas, hamburgers, burritos and tacos. Regional variations also brought region based cuisines like Cajun and Hawaiian. Seemingly, each forms part of a certain whole and in this case, the styles and regional diversity paved way for good food and ample dish variety.

One notable trait of this cuisine is fusion as created by the existence of these influences. For instance, immigrants from France or Africa affected the cuisine approach of the South. And though a number of American dishes seemed to originate from other places, American cooks eventually changed it in time and the previously acquired dishes cease to become non- American.

In terms of ingredients used, American cuisine enjoys an immense pool of choices. Since this cuisine involves a number of regions and dissimilarities, it is also important to note that our focus for now will be the cuisine of the United States.

The cuisine of the United States features a style of food preparation emanating from earlier days where cooking involves a vast amount of ingredients and bears a distinct character. From Native American cuisine to Colonial times, ingredients and cooking methods can be deemed unique in line with its place/region of origin. Below we will see the lists of ingredients normally used in Native American cuisine and in the colonial period.

Speaking of Native American cuisine, the following are typically used:

Root vegetables- sweet potato, white potato, prairie turnips, etc.

Greens- wild celery, salmon berry shoots, milkweed

Fruits- strawberries, blueberries, currants, cherries, plums

Nuts and seeds- butternuts, walnuts, pecans, hickory nuts, hazelnuts, chestnuts (nuts); pine nuts, sunflower seeds (seeds)

Legumes and grains- peanuts, honey locusts beans (legumes); maize

Native American cuisine also makes use of meats like turkey, quail, partridge and geese. These is due to the fact that during those times, hunting for so called ‘game meats’ are practiced by Native Americans.

Seafood- cod, herring, halibut, flounder, catfish, crabs, shrimps, lobster, crayfish, mussels

As for the Colonial period, the cuisine makes use of the following:

Meat- mutton, deer, wild turkey

Fats and oils- butter, shortening

Seafood- cod, lobsters

Vegetables- carrots, turnips, pumpkins, cucumber, beans, legumes, onions

Regional influences greatly define the American cuisine. Its beginnings may take us to a long list of cultures seemingly foreign and complex, but in the end, the American cuisine along side history, traveled far enough and managed to be different.

Authentic American Recipes

Blueberry Muffins:

1 cup oats
1 cup buttermilk
1 cup white wheat flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1/4 cup butter – melted
1 cup fresh blueberries – drained well
- or-

1 cup frozen blueberries – thawed, drained well

Preheat oven to 400°F. Combine oats and buttermilk in a small bowl; set aside and let stand. Combine flour, baking powder, soda, salt, brown sugar, stir well. Add egg and melted butter to oats. Add dry ingredients and stir just until all is moistened. Gently fold in blueberries. Spoon into muffin pan until three-quarters full each.

Bake for 17 to 20 minutes.
Yields 1 dozen.

Pumpkin Muffins:

1 cup raisins
1/2 cup unsweetened orange juice
1/2 cup egg substitute
1 cup canned pumpkin
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 tsp. ground cloves
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp. salt
1/3 cup canola oil
1 cup all-purpose flour
3/4 cup whole wheat flour
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. baking soda
Soak raising in orange juice for 5 minutes. Do not drain.
In large mixing bowl, stir in pumpkin, egg substitute, sugar, cloves, cinnamon and salt. Add oil, mix well. Stir together flours, baking powder and baking soda. Add to pumpkin mixture with the raisin-orange juice mixture and stir to mix. Fill paper-lined muffin cups 2/3 full. Bake
at 400F for about 25 minutes. Remove from muffin tins and cool on wire rack.

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