America Doesn’t Have a National Dish (But Here Are 5 To Consider)

Somehow.. a country known as the Melting Pot has no official National Dish. Now perhaps that’s part of the problem. With a country that is so diverse, it can’t be easy summing everyone up with one simple food preparation.

However, America is a foodie nation. It’s the country that brought you the largest restaurant chain in the world. It’s the country that brought you an entire Food Network television channel. And it’s also a country that’s named after a pickle dealer.

So with that being said and with countries from France to Spain to Japan, all representing their edible pride on a national level, the United States is perfectly capable of coming up with an example of capital cuisine for the entire country. Although, that does beg the question… what dish should America choose?

I’ll Gladly Pay You Tuesday For A…

The most obvious candidate and the one most associated with America by Non-Americans would have to be the Burger. Ham, Cheese or Bacon, it doesn’t really matter. After all, that largest restaurant chain that was mentioned earlier was, of course, McDonald’s. For better or worst, there are many around the world who think of the fast food giant when they think of American cuisine.

Further more, it’s not like Americans themselves don’t love the humble hamburger. Just think about it. What proper American Independence Day Cookout would be complete without those grilled all beef patties sandwiched in between toasted buns? And especially with all those toppings. From ketchup to mustard to relish to cheese to even fried eggs, maybe the best way to represent a wide variety of people is to have a dish with so many variations to go on it.

However, despite all that, there are many Americans who would prefer if their country wasn’t represented by the Golden Arches and their main food stuff. Not only is the dish not 100% American in origin, (As it originally hails from Hamburg, Germany) but a National Dish is not based on what other countries think about your cuisine, it’s about how you define your own food. And as the culinary consciousness grows in this country, there are those who would hope that the United States could have a slightly more elevated palette and one of American origin. In which case, it might be best to take a holiday…

Pilgrimage

Thanksgiving is probably the most American Holiday when you stop to think about it. Plenty of other countries have a party for their own nation’s birthday. Christmas is celebrated all over the world. And ringing in a New Year happens no matter where you are.

Now sure, the US is not the only nation that has a day to give thanks. However, the version celebrated in the United States has the Americana running deep within the holiday’s roots. With the symbolic origin of the Pilgrims and the Native Americans breaking bread together being not only the start of the holiday, but it’s also the start of America as well.

Additionally, beloved President Abraham Lincoln was the one to officially declare Thanksgiving as a November Thursday Tradition. Not to mention that Benjamin Franklin himself suggested that turkey be the national bird rather than the eagle.

Now while Franklin didn’t get his wish on that, it’s not too late to give turkey a chance to represent the United States on the dinner table, especially with all the trimmings.

Although, the downside is that when we look back at that first Thanksgiving, turkey was merely a component of the meal and not the star. Sharing the stage alongside deer and lobster as well as other foods no longer deemed as traditional. Which is par for the course really. As a lot of the traditions in Modern Day Thanksgiving are based off of the ideas of the holiday more than historical accuracy. Which makes having one definitive meal hard to come by.

Not to mention that no two Thanksgiving tables are ever completely alike. With every family having their own specific spread to mark the occasion. Which brings us right back to the problem of having too much variation to pick a clear and concise representative dish. So maybe it’s time to simplify.

As American As…

What if the National Dish was just one simple recipe, no side dishes, no toppings and no excuses. And why not lean into America’s sweet tooth in the process. After all, what could be more American than mom, baseball and… Apple Pie.

People tend not to think of desserts as prime examples of cuisine, but that’s a real shame. Just because it comes after the meal, doesn’t mean it’s not a meal unto itself.

And as far as being an American poster child is concerned, Apple Pie’s history is more in line with fact than all of the misconceptions that come with Thanksgiving. Further more, it also does do a great job of encapsulating the American story. As the way Americans make their Apple Pie comes directly from Jolly Old England. However, just like the United States itself, it came into its own once it arrived on these shores.

Particularly thanks to a major part of American iconography, John Chapman, better known as Johnny Appleseed. A man who traveled America, wearing a pot on his head and spreading apples all across the land. This bit of history is baked right into the crust of this country and explains how apples became a staple of America. Not just as food, but also as mythos.

And why shouldn’t it be? No other food has been said to be everything from forbidden knowledge to a method of keeping doctors away. Plus as far as the pie part is concerned, well let’s just say that we’ll be singing “Bye, bye Miss American Pie.”

However, just as the National past time of baseball isn’t exactly as popular as it once was, Americans don’t seem to have as many pies cooling on the window sill as they used to. So while a Don McLean tune may be stuck your head right now, perhaps it’s Bob Dylan’s words that should be taken into consideration. Because the times, they are a changing. But while baseball and apple pie may be falling out of fashion, mom is just as important as ever. And with that being so, maybe a mom is exactly who we need to turn to.

Winging It

Said to have been created late one night in Buffalo, New York by one Teressa Bellissimo, the Buffalo Wing was made up right on the spot in order to feed her son and his college friends. Scrounging around using whatever she had available at the now famous Anchor Bar where she worked.

As such, Buffalo Wings embody American ingenuity and the mother of invention being created by a mother to feed her son. What a lovely sentiment of family now isn’t it?

Going back to the idea of contemporary cuisine, this creation happened in the 1960’s. As opposed to Apple Pie, the Hamburger or Thanksgiving Dinner which are all significantly older.

Continuing onward, after the groovy 60’s ended, the relatively new invention of the Buffalo wing has been taking off ever since. With entire restaurant chains dedicating themselves to the dish. And if entire franchises can be represented by the food, why can’t the whole country too?

Plus, while Buffalo Wings were created on the fly, their experimental nature is still greatly involved with the dish. America still cares about it and is evolving the food further. As people are continuously concocting new variations on the product. And not all of which stem from the original hot sauce variety. With teriyaki, herb butter and BBQ sauces all getting their shot at sitting pretty on a hot wing. But speaking of BBQ…

Right On Que

The problem with the Buffalo Wing is that it hails from Buffalo, New York. And while Buffalo is in America, it’s still a very tiny portion of the country overall. Instead, what if there was a dish that represented a much wider range of Americans.. such as the American South.

While it may not seem like it to city folk, below the Mason Dixon line covers a lot more ground than any urban town. As a result, country cooking is a better representative for the country on the whole. And when it comes to the food song of the South, it’s hard to think of any tune better than Barbecue.

Now the most Patriotic part of this whole parade is that when it comes to Barbecue, America really is the best bar none.

No one else can do it the way Americans do and most people just get it wrong. A lot of countries will produce a food that is grilled hot and fast and call it barbecue, forgetting that real Barbecue is low and slow and always includes smoke. Which is something that many people seem to forget.

However, this faux pas isn’t reserved just for Non-Americans as plenty of people State side seem to fail at making this distinction as well. How many Americans interchangeably use the terms grilling and barbecue as if they were the same thing? How many Americans think that just slathering a sweet and sticky sauce on something makes it two B’s and a Q?

If this is going to be the National Dish, then shouldn’t it be something that all members of the Nation (or at least the majority of it) know how to define? Shouldn’t this be something that Americans can come to a simple understanding of? Isn’t this something that America should be able to come to a collective agreement on?

Conclusion

In the end, that’s what this is really all about isn’t it? If America is to come up with a National Dish, then America as a whole should have an idea of what that dish is. And while all of the aforementioned dishes have their pluses and minuses, this is all the more reason why the discussion of this topic should be happening. We need some sort of consensus on how we really feel about this as Americans. And perhaps, a National Dish has never been made official because we don’t really ever talk about it, think about it or come to a democratic ruling on it.

However, after reading this, you are probably going to give the subject some thought right now. You may even bring it up to your friends, your co-workers and your neighbors. And by doing that, you are doing your part. Because as the conversation brews, simmers and sizzles, we get all the more closer to serving up… America’s National Dish.