What traditional American meal would you suggest a student make for their host family during a student exchange trip?

BBQ ribs, corn and cole slaw!
(Provided the host family is not anti-meat. It would be real hard to BBQ tofu and keep it from slipping through the slats in the grill.)

@Dog preempted my answer. Did I whine? Did I get angry? No! I gave him a GA.

BBQ Burgers with cheese and French fries.

What qualifies as “traditional” in America is totally dependent on what region you’re talking about. Traditional southern food is no where near the sort of thing that is traditionally served in New England or the Midwest.

Apple pie is a must for desert, it’s such classic American food. For the main course I’d try to make some kind of seafood chowder, but I’m in Massachusetts, so that’s much more “American” to me than southern food like fried chicken and slaw. (As @Ivan just pointed out – GA!)

@Ivan . . .i qualified your mom.

Cornbread. I looooove cornbread. And as a fellow new englander (Maine here) I would also suggest a chowder, or maybe some good old fried chicken and potato salad.

OK, Jambalaya. Red Beans and Rice. Gumbo.

@Ivan True. What American meal would you make for your German host family if you were an American exchange student?

Homemade mac and cheese (or American-style pizza/spaghetti) with yummy garlic bread and a romaine/spinach salad.

@jonsblond

I have a friend who lives in Germany and lived in the US for a year as an exchange student. I could ask him, if you want.

@Ivan That is kind of you to ask. I would love to know your opinion also.

@jonsblond

I’m not really qualified to answer, I’m not much of a food connoisseur and my diet consists mostly of venison and fast food.

Most everyone I have met associates Hamburger and fries with Americans. I think it has something to do with the universality of MacDonalds! I might substitute a steak for the burger, but fries and a salad with it all seem pretty Yankeefied!

Hot dogs and hamburgers, baked beans, cole slaw
Apple pie and brownies for dessert

I would also love to hear from anyone that is not from the United States. What traditional American meal sounds appealing to you?
I don’t know, none of them?

lard

I recommend a good old fashioned cookout. Bavarians should love that.

The only reason I wouldn’t make hamburgers or hot dogs is that they were both derived from german foods. Might come off as “Hey, here’s the ‘traditional American food’ that we actually stole from your culture!!!”

I had a German guy visit for a month, some years ago. He went absolutely mad for Boston Cream Pie.

Tried to take one on the plane home, but it spoiled.

Steaks or ground beef patties barbecued along with corn on the cob and mashed potatoes.

@PretentiousArtist I expected that answer from someone. lol… I really did!

My daughter was in Spain over Thanksgiving a few years ago. She was in a program learning to teach English as a second language. She made everyone a traditional Thanksgiving dinner. Very American!! Turkey, stuffing, mashed potatos and gravy… I think she even made pumpkin pie. She was the only American there.

My initial thought was a cookout, but I think @Judi hit the nail on the head.

Wait! We left out Twinkies and Cheeze-Whiz!

And Pop-tarts!

What ever it is, make sure it includes apple pie.

Twinkies and Cheeze-Whiz and Pop Tarts oh, my!

^^ A perfectly balanced meal, IMO. ;-)

@pdworkin ; There’s always cheeze whiz at thanksgiving isn’t there?

Not sure of the main course, but some fresh home baked pie for dessert topped with ice cream or whatever would just make your visitors salivate.

Meatloaf, buttermilk biscuits, mashed potatoes, a romaine-based green salad and succotash with apple pie for dessert.

@aprilsimnel I always had a rough time with meat loaf. Of all the things that could come in loaves, I never felt that meat could be prepared in a loaf in such a way that it wasn’t a little nasty.

Chili and Mexican cornbread. Or maybe beef stew or some other stew and Mexican Cornbread. Its fall. Chili and stew are so perfect in fall and winter. I like to provide shredded cheese, sour cream and fritos also if I make chili. Rice pairs well with the chili and and all the other toppings. If your a veghead make tofu chili. Gumbo would be good. I can get deer meat every winter and I love venison. Deer stew is fabulous.

P.S. If anyone needs venison i can get farmed inspected venison from my neighbor who farms deer for meat for his legit buthershop. They ship that stuff all over the place.

I made a full Thanksgiving dinner for a whole group of foreign students once when I was in university. They were most impressed and ran into several items they had never eaten before.

Turkey is a New World critter, as are pumpkin, potatoes, sweet potatoes, corn, artichokes, avocados, beans (kidney and lima), black walnuts, blueberries, cacao (cocoa/chocolate), cashews, cassava, chestnuts, crab apples, cranberries, gourds, hickory nuts, maple syrup, papayas, peanuts, pecans, peppers (bell peppers, chili peppers), plums, raspberries, squash, strawberries, sunflowers, tomatoes, vanilla, wild cherries, and wild rice. I would try to make up a menu from these foods, if they are available in the local market, and that will be most educational as well as tasty.

Brownies! I’m not sure if they have them in Bavaria, but my Spanish host family went nuts! We made them at my house when my exchange student was there, then she demanded that we make them for her family when I stayed with her in Spain. Finding baking chocolate itself took all day!

@fireinthepriory I agree that a seafood chowder would be great! Also from MA.

Great suggestions everyone. Thank you so much for responding.

What’s great about the Thanksgiving dinner idea is that it’s not radically different from the foods they’re used to, and everyone who owns a TV is familiar with Thanksgiving. Awesome idea.

What I would avoid is anything that’s heavy on corn. I’m from the German part of france and our cuisines are quite similar. Corn is one of the most unpopular foods there. I checked the wikipedia entry for German cuisine, and corn isn’t listed in the ingredients used in German cuisine so it would probably not be a good idea.

Shish-ka-bob. potato salad. fruit salad. Tell them it is traditional for Americans to continue eating until you can’t walk away, you crawl.

There’s a restaurant in New York City that will drag you out on skids, if you request it.

@Jack_Haas – One of the problems with corn in Europe is that they grow what Americans call “horse corn.” This is a very starchy variety and completely unlike the sweet corn that American farms grow for human consumption.

@Darwin You’re right. European production is a fraction of America’s, and sweet corn represents a tiny fraction of that fraction. This being said, corn is widely available (Le Green Giant is everywhere) and is quite popular in france despite being between 2 and 4 times more expensive than traditional veggies. Not so in the Germanic part of the country, though, at least it’s my perception.

So introduce folks to it in the form of a side dish that they can choose not to eat. It is a very American food and so is a good representation of American cooking (especially true if you consider the information presented in Barbara Kingsolver’s book Animal, Vegetable, Miracle or Michael Pollan’s book The Omnivore’s Dilemma).

Update (I can’t believe it’s been almost 8 months since I asked this!)

The students came up with the theme “American Hillbillies” + Bar-B-Q. The menu includes: hot dogs, bratwurst, baked beans, macaroni and cheese, canned chili, baked potatoes, bar-b-q sauce, jelly beans and s’mores.

Thanks again everyone!

Sounds like a fantastic heartburn deluxe treat! Bet they all loved it.

haha…Hopefully they have some Tums on hand!