What's the best example of an American home made meal that you would serve to a foreign guest in your home?
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ucme (
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April 10th, 2010
I’m English & I would love to know what citizens of the US would consider to be a meal representative of their nations culture & tradition. Above all, something that sums up all that is best in American produce & cooking.So hit me with your recipes & tantalise my taste buds.While you’re at it a drink would go down just nicely.
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53 Answers
Fried chicken and lasagna. don’t ask me why, it just sounds right.
Enchiladas, refried beans and rice. That’s my classic American food.
America is so varied. There is no such thing as traditional American food. Apple pie?
Meat loaf, mashed potatoes & gravy, fresh snap beans or corn on the cob, homemade biscuits & banana pudding. Served with iced tea (sweetened, since I’m in the South).
But our population is so varied, finding one traditional meal that represents America would be impossible.
Maceroni and cheese, or maybe cheeseburgers and fries. Peanut butter and jelly sandwhiches for lunch.
I’d do a bbq if it was a nice summer day and include seasonal vegetables.
bbq’d ribs, steak or chicken. Baked beans. Corn. Apple pie.
When the King and Queen visited in 1939, President Roosevelt held a picnic and served hot dogs.
America’s First Royal Visit Remembered for World’s Most Famous Picnic
…This picnic became historic, however, when dinner was served. To the horror of Sara Roosevelt, Eleanor chose to serve the King and Queen of England hot dogs on buns to be eaten with royal hands, not sterling silver place settings.
Playing this break with protocol for all it was worth, FDR had his son, Franklin Jr., present the Queen a hot dog on a bun placed royally on a silver tray. Once the laughter subsided, the Queen whispered to the President, “How do you eat it?” “Very simple,” FDR responded. “Push it into your mouth and keep pushing it until it is all gone.”
The following morning’s headlines in newspapers on both sides of the Atlantic echoed page one of The New York Times stating, “King Eats Hot Dog, Asks for More.”
I guess you could go with a traditional meal, one served at holidays; turkey with stuffing, mashed potatoes and veggies and the like…cranberry sauce, too.
I’m not American though. I prefer snails.
I’d probably choose a full blown Thanksgiving Turkey dinner.
About as american as it gets.
My home made stuffing and cranberry apple relish, mashed potatoes, gravy, corn, baked yams, pumpkin pie!
No other country celebrates american Thanksgiving so it would be a fine multi-cultural meal.
fried chicken, turnip greens, white beans, cornbread, pecan pie
Philly cheese steak sandwich. Pot Roast, Roast Turkey with stuffing
@tinyfaery totally agree w you, i kept thinking and thinking about what would i cook, then i had and idea: fast food, either i would cook or just buy it.
Boiled hot dogs cut into ⅓’s and a can of cut string beans stirred into a box package mix of Macaroni ‘n Cheese.
edit: should have read the previous posts!
Traditional Thanksgiving. Turkey, stuffing, mashed potatos, gravy, candied yams, cranberry sauce and pumpkin pie :-) And don’t forget the green bean caserole!
Do any of you people eat salad?
Hamburgers! A big juicy gourmet hamburger. You can add fancy or unique ingredients and toppings.
@j0ey I love salads, but they’re not so specifically American, are they?
@j0ey is salad an american dish?
Steamed clams and boiled lobsters served from a pit on a beach, with foil-wrapped baked potatoes buried in the coals and baked yellow-eye beans on the side. Roasted corn (roasted in the coals, in the husks) for those with more room, and hand-cranked ice cream for dessert.
You all are making me hungry…Im leaving
@CyanoticWasp THAT MADE ME HUNGRY TOO!!! WHAT A TASTEFUL selection of food. so interesting!
It’s not just the leaves and fantastic weather that keeps some of us in New England (or coming back).
never been there, I will google it
@Neizvestnaya Peas instead of the green beans and sounds good to me. But I also second BBQ with potato salad and homemade cole slaw with mayo and carrots.
If I was preparing it in the kitchen:
I’d start with a garden-fresh green salad, with buttermilk ranch dressing. The entree would be chicken fried steak with garlic mashed potatoes, cream gravy, maybe corn on the cob, if it’s in season, or succotash or other vegetable mix. Corn bread with butter. For dessert I’d have apple, cherry, or peach pie.
If I was grilling, I’d go with ribs, chops, or a mixed-meat grill of brisket, ribs chicken and brats;.brill-baked potatoes; I’d still go with corn-on-the-cob (probably the iconic American food, next to the hot dog and hamburger).
If it were informal I’d go with burritos.
See, now the crowd that thinks burritos arent authentic mexican food have a decision to make
Hmm. I’d probably whip up some macaroni & cheese, collard greens, black-eyes peas, candied yams and either a baked ham or fried chicken with some corn bread and butter on the side. And an apple pie. And a sweet potato pie.
That was a Sunday dinner at my house about twice a month. The rest of the time, we’d eat stuff like meatloaf, mashed potatoes and corn or peas, or green beans and carrots, with rolls, or spaghetti and meatballs, or lasagna. Or burgers and home fries. Or hot dogs and baked beans. Or polska kielbasa, sauerkraut and potatoes. Or goulash. Or bratwurst and sauerkraut. Or sauerbraten and noodles. Or dumplings. Come to think of it, for people who were supposedly African-American, we sure ate a lot of German food. Making tacos or ordering a pizza was a once-in-a-while treat.
Now if you were eating at my (late) grandmother’s back in the day, you’d be more familiar with her food. She made shepherd’s pie and traditional English Sunday roast dinner, except we called Yorkshire pudding “popovers”. She also made bread and butter pudding, etc. etc. I can only think that this was handed down from daughter to daughter via some distant English ancestor as her family kept marrying in with non-Europeans.
traditional ENGLISH ? Oh, i thought it was about american food
Cheers all been away watching the golf,got a bet on Mickelson.I’m now superfly tnt hungry drool!! Some really tasty offerings.Once again thanks, happy eating.
I recently had guests from Germany and I served them deep fried catfish, red beans and rice, fried green tomatoes and deep fried hush puppies. They seemed to enjoy it.
BTW, I love your avatar.
@Silhouette…. & I yours, you have what is known as the classic profile ;¬}
I would serve a sirloin steak, baked potato, and asparagus, maybe a small side salad with ranch dressing.
it really depends on what area of the country we are talking about.
Where I live, in the southwest, we eat loads of red and green chile with enchiladas, burritos, beans, tortillas, pork, thinly sliced beef called ‘carne asada’, rice, potatoes, zucchini, corn, and more beans (pinto to be exact) =)
When I lived in Denmark they had never eaten macaroni and cheese (which is one of my favorite foods!).
they also had never eaten peanut butter, which is a staple for every kid growing up! Peanut butter and jelly sandwiches! mmm
Biscuits and gravy!!!!!!!!!!
Enchiladas, burritos, tacos, and tortillas are mexican food not american.
a big juicy burger. or chicken noodle soup and biscuits which i made last night and it was so good.
I would serve great american comfort food…macaroni & cheese, fried chicken, apple pie. YUM…pretty unhealthy but what a great example.
anything fried…i know this restaurant that serves fried just about everything: fried mac n’cheese, fried cheesecake, fried…strawberries. actually they dont fry fruit but why not?!
I’ve found they always like pork roast with rice and gravy.
Pot roast and mashed potatoes
Hot dogs, Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwiches and maybe throw in a toasted Grilled Cheese with potato chips and then take them to Dairy Queen for dessert!
Breakfast sausage, sausage gravy, buttermilk biscuits, southern style fried chicken and grits. Wash them down with sweetened sun brewed iced tea. Finish off with apple raisin bread pudding.
Fried chicken, mac & cheese, corn on the cob, green salad with a choice of dressings, applesauce, steamed green beans, then for dessert, apple pie and pumpkin pie.
@jbran Many parts of the US used to be Mexico.
@jbran steak is a European food.
Burritos are actually not a mexican food. They developed in along the southwest boarder using mexican influences. they are an american/boarder food.
maybe you haven’t noticed, but there is more than one kind of “American” in the US…
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