What exactly is "american food" ?!

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Most of American Cuisine has evolved from the food of other culture. The Hamburger developed in the U.S. from the Hamburg Style Steak, and the Hot Dog came to being in America when the german sausage met the bun. The ice cream cone is another case of America putting our twist on someone else's food. But one truly American food has to be Bar-B-Que. The slaves in the south developed this style of cooking as a way of improving the low quality cut of meat they were given to eat. Yup, BBQ more American than apple pie.

One other food that most people don't realize is completely American is the Fortune Cookie. First made in Los Angeles and was only just recently introduced in China.

American cuisine runs the gamut. Your examples are finished dishes (and very broad at that). American food consists of game, seafood, livestock, hard liquor, native fruit and the industrialization of foods for safety and ease of preparation ... including cereal, canning, freezing, and yes, the fast food and mid-level restaurant.

American cuisine is also an amalgamation of the foods that immigrants from all over the world brought to the United States.

Hamburgers are all American.

Common knowledge. However, the other day I happened to watch a show on the history of American food, and there was a huge segment on how hamburgers came to be. It stuck in my mind that a slogan at the first hamburger joint used to be, "..so healthy you can buy 'em by the bag!" and something about kids can survive on hamburgers alone. Geez! LOL

Jerky. The native Americans used to dry meat to preserve it. Also hominy, succotash, grits, and a lot of corn dishes like tortillas and corncakes/breads. Corn, sweet potatoes and pumpkins were major crops for the native Americans. Maple syrup was first used by native Americans.

As someone else said, since Europeans settled in America, it became a melting pot of other cultures. You have to look earlier than that to find true American foods.

Hang on, Coca Cola!

It's American food BTW
We have just about every ethnic melting pot here so there is no one cuisine you can pigeon hole as being 'American'.

I'd say probably what you said- fast food/street food which are basically the same.

Since America is considered the melting pot of cultures. All of those foods are American foods

Grits.

stuffing the turkey (turkeys do not exist in Europe before the discovery of America)

Hamburgers?

Aren't Hamburgers from Hamburg?

steak and potatoes
apple pie

we got......... pancakes
& ice cream cake...





so yeah
what now.