Regional foods in the US?!
Regional foods in the US?
I have to select a regional food from any part of the USA and give a presentation on it. Now whole of america basically eats the same food. Please give me names of some dishes that belong to certain region in US.
Answers: You've got southern food, cajun/creole from Louisiana, tex-mex, california cuisine, new england lobster bake... Plenty of choices - do a little research at foodtv. use this site for the Carolina's
http://www.carolinaliving.com/life/cuisi... The south.....Fried chicken, greens, (collards, turnip greens with turnips etc.) mashed potatoes, corn bread, fried okra. These are just a few that we eat. Due to a lot of people living on farms, even still today, people live off the land. These were the foods that people ate going back 100 years. People had chickens in their yards and grew their crops. It's still what we eat and boy is it good. Dessert of course was apple pie, or peach cobbler. You are definitely wrong about America's food not really being regional! Southwestern area has a lot of Mexican influences. Midwest has a lot of German influence, East Coast uses a lot of fish, California is very ecletic. You don't find grits in Midwest Ohio very often, but they're a staple down south! Pecan pie for dessert, mint julep for a cocktail are all tradional southern foods! SLOW FOOD: is dedicated to the preservation of regional American cuisine.
Here's some good articles to help:
http://whatscookingamerica.net/americanr...
http://www.restaurant.org/rusa/magarticl...
http://www.clpgh.org/subject/food/americ...
New England is known for their seafood: NE Clam Chowder, Maine Lobster & Crab Boils
New Orleans is known for their Cajun & Creole dishes
The South has it's own cuisine (soul food and Southern dishes)
Texas is famous for it's BBQ & Tex Mex
Southwestern states of AZ, NM are prized for their chile based foods
CA has it's own cuisine
A easy regional & unique cuisine is the foods of HAWAII: poi, kahlua pig, spam musubi... The south has probalbly the largest variety of specialized dishes. Even the BBQ in the soouth varies from other parts of the country. Fried Green Tomatos, Fried Dill Pickle Chips, Grits, Hog Jawls, Pigs Feat, chitterlings, cajun and creole and the french infuences in Louisianna, pork rinds, Alligator, sausage and bisquits, Fried Okra, Jumbalaya, Gumbo it goes on and on. The link I've listed has foods according to regions in the US. One of the great things about travelling in the US is trying the local specialties. Hawaii has many different foods. Sweet bread, poi, passion fruit and guava jams and jellies. Midwest: lots of meat, dairy, wheat, and potatoes (mashed potatoes, burgers, sausage, bread, cheese,etc.). Tons of German and some Scandinavian influences here. You can also find quite a bit of pasta and pizza here, but it is "Americanized", not authentic Italian.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/cuisine_of_...
Northeastern: In general, it depends on the area. If you are talking about the New York and New Jersey area, there will be quite a bit of Italian. However, the Northeast in general has a lot of British food and seafood.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/cuisine_of_...
Southern: A lot of soul food. A lot of corn (grits and cornbread), pork, BBQ, beans, peppers, and tomatoes.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/cuisine_of_...
Southwestern: A LOT of Mexican food. That should explain it all.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/category:cu...
Californian: California has everything! There is an especially large amount of Asian, Mexican, and "classic" American food (think burgers, pizza, etc.).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/california_...
Hawaiian:Lots of seafood and fruit. They also seem to love SPAM. Mostly Asian, with some Portuguese and American influences (as I said, they seem to love SPAM).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/cuisine_of_... New Englanders do have a penchant for choosing seafood for a regional example, but we're more than jus tthe oceanside. Apples, corn, potatoes, tomatoes, wild game. Our dishes are based on the heritage of the original inhabitants and the original settlers and the necessities of surviving in a harsh land. There's a lot of French influence in Maine, Portugese in Rhode Island and Massachusetts, and English in Massachusetts and Connecticutt. Vermont has mostly English and Scottish influences, with the northern part influenced by the Canadian people on the border (English and French. The same for New Hampshire.
So, yes, there are tons of seafood recipes that would represent New England cooking, but there's also venison stew, hunter stew, corn bread, apple pie, bear paw chili, squirrel pie (ick), pigeon pie (ick, ick), rabbit fricassee, berry tarts, donuts, ployes (buckwheat pancakes), meat pies (ground pork, forget what they call them in Quebecois).
phew! I think that's enough for now! Recipes
Chess Pie.............................. 150
Old Fashioned Turnip Soup............................. 151
Cornbread ................................. 152
Southern Fried Chicken.......................... 152
Chicken and Sausage Gumbo ................................. 153
Creole Seasoning ................................. 153
Sweet Potato Pie ................................. 154
Fruitcake Cookies ................................. 154
Mardi Gras King Cake ................................. 155
Collard Greens with Hamhocks ................................. 157
Sweet Tea ................................. 157
Pralines ................................. 157
1 GEOGRAPHIC SETTING AND ENVIRONMENT
The South is distinctive in its customs, food, and even dialect and accent. More than any other regional group, people born and raised as Southerners tend to think of themselves as Southerners all their lives, no matter where they live. By most geographic definitions, the northern border of the South is marked by the Ohio River and is straddled by the nation's capital, Washington, D.C.
In alphabetical order, the states in this region are Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, and West Virginia. Some people also consider Maryland part of the "South."
2 HISTORY AND FOOD
The population of the Southern United States is made up of many different peoples who came to the region in a variety of ways, each contributing to what is now called "Southern cooking." American Indians, native to the region, taught European settlers to grow and cook corn, a grain unknown in Europe at the time. Spanish explorers in the 1500s brought pigs with them, introducing pork to the region. West Africans carried some of their traditional foods with them, such as watermelon, eggplant, collard greens, and okra, when they were brought to the United States by force as slaves beginning in the 1600s. Creoles, known for their unique use of spices, are descended from French and Haitian immigrants who later mingled with Spanish settlers in the New Orleans area. "Cajuns,"
also recognized for their unique style of cooking, were originally Acadians, French settlers in Nova Scotia who were driven out by the British in 1755 and made their way to New Orleans. In Louisiana, crawfish (resemble miniature lobsters) and catfish are popular, prepared in dozens of different ways. Fried catfish is popular all across the South. Texas's spicy and flavorful "Tex-Mex" cuisine reflects the state's close proximity to the spicy cuisine of Mexico.
The American Civil War (1861–1865) had a major impact on the South and its food. Many plantations and farms were destroyed during the conflict. To survive, Southerners ate whatever they could grow or find, and nothing went to waste. When the economy began to recover, most African Americans were not allowed to share in the newfound wealth and continued to eat the simple foods that were available during the war. This type of simple and inexpensive food became known later as "soul food." The first African American, and the only ex-slave, known to have written a cookbook was Abby Fisher. Her book, What Mrs. Fisher Knows About Old Southern Cooking, was published in 1881 and includes many recipes that would now be considered soul food.
Chess Pie
No one knows for sure how chess pie got its name. Although there are many recipe variations, all have eggs, sugar, and butter in the filling, and many contain buttermilk.
Ingredients
? cup butter
? cup brown sugar
1 cup white sugar
3 eggs
1 Tablespoon vinegar
? teaspoon vanilla
1 Tablespoon cornmeal
9-inch pie crust, unbaked
Procedure
Preheat oven to 350°F.
Melt the butter and add the brown and white sugar to it. Stir well to combine.
Add other ingredients and stir gently to mix. Do not beat the mixture.
Pour into unbaked pie shell and bake for about one hour, until a knife inserted in the center comes out clean (with no custard sticking to it).
Cool on a wire rack and serve.
Serves 6 to 8.
Old Fashioned Turnip Soup
Ingredients
2 pounds veal bones
1 pound turnips
? gallon water
Salt and pepper, to taste
Procedure
Place veal bones in a large pot with ? gallon of water.
Boil the water and veal bones until the water is reduced by half the amount.
Put the turnips in the pot with the bones and boil until the turnips are soft.
Pour off the liquid, then add salt and pepper to taste. Serve hot.
Makes 4 servings.
Because kitchens only had wood-burning stoves in the late 1800s, recipes did not give baking temperatures or times. Bakers simply had to guess how long something would take to bake and keep checking it. Even if they had baked something many times before, the fire could be hotter or cooler each time, so baked goods had to be checked frequently to make sure they did not burn.
3 FOODS OF THE SOUTHERN UNITED STATES
The staple food of the Southern United States is corn—it is used in grits (hulled and coarsely ground corn cooked to a thick–soup consistency and eaten at breakfast), a wide variety of breads and cakes, and as a breading on fried foods. Corn is native to the United States and was introduced to
The turnip, popular for generations in the South, is the main ingredient in Old-Fashioned Turnip Soup. EPD PhotosEuropean settlers by American Indians. Another staple food in the South is pork, originally brought to America by Spanish explorers in the 1500s. Chitterlings (pronounced CHIT-lins), made from pig intestines, were traditionally seen as a "poor person's" food, but have recently begun to appear in fine restaurants. Barbecued meat, usually pork, on a grill is a Southern tradition.
Besides grits, most people also think of southern-fried chicken when they hear "Southern cooking." Traditionally served for Sunday dinner, fried chicken has become a stereotype of Southern food, popularized by Colonel Sanders' Kentucky Fried Chicken. Other meats, such as steak, are also "chicken-fried" in the South by breading and frying them. Cornbread, made from cornmeal, is typically eaten with a Southern meal.
Okra, black-eyed peas, and collard greens are all common Southern-grown vegetables that were brought to the region by African slaves. The name for meat stew, gumbo, often thickened with okra, comes from a West African word for okra, quingombo. Jambalaya, a pork and rice stew from the Creole and Cajun New Orleans region, takes its name from the French and Spanish words for ham: jambon and jamón, respectively. Crawfish, catfish, and shrimp are enjoyed all across the South.
Favorite desserts in the South include chess pie, sweet potato pie, pecan pie, key lime pie, and watermelon, which is also the most popular melon in the United States.
check out the website lots of info Pennsylvania Dutch: Schnitz & Knepp (dried apple wedges, ham, and dumplings); Ham & String Beans (or "Speck a Bohne", with potatoes and vinegar); Chicken Pot Pie (a soup with large, thick square noodles, potatoes, and often giblets along with the chicken); pig stomach (filled with diced potatoes and pork or ham; tied shut, browned, and baked); beef heart; beef tongue; pickled tripe, souse, head cheese, scrapple, liver pudding, ring baloney, blood & tongue loaf; rivel soup; shoo-fly pie; funny cake; Fastnachts; raised potato cakes New England Clam Chowder
New York Clam Chowder
Key Lime Pie (from Key West Florida)
Boston Cream pie In Cincinati they eat chili over spaghetti. That's unique. In the deap south you have Creol, Cajun, or Soul cooking. All of which have their own twist.
The "water" states tend to have regional seafood dishes - like the "clam bake" or lobster rolls
There are plenty to choose from, just do some research.