# Ethnic in the USA



## StirBlue (Dec 20, 2006)

What are the ethnic foods of the USA?  Would that be a pbj wrapped in Kansas wheat bread?


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## JDP (Dec 20, 2006)

Your original post has a tongue and cheek feel to it but what we might refer to as regional could be considered American/Ethnic. Such things as BBQ's, Cajun, Tex-Mex. Although they may have roots from different parts of the world they have developed to be truly American. Just as pasta came from Asia it is most associated with Italian cuisine here. The US is a very young country that is made up of many cultures unlike Europe that has it's well defined Ethnic groups as well  as Asia, Africa and the Mediteraenean (sp). Give us time be proud of our American ethnicity and build on what we have done. We are a great country it's just as an "ethnic group" we come in many shapes, sizes and colors. It would truly be great if we could be non hyphanated Americans in the future.Sorry if I'm taking this in a path you didn't intend but I'm very proud to be an American and what we have to offer the world.  

Merry Christmas and Happy Chanuka (sp) 

JDP


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## StirBlue (Dec 20, 2006)

Well JDP that's why I eat pbj on Kansas wheat bread.  I am an American.  Mom's apple pie bakes here.  I just want to recognize my own roots.


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## skilletlicker (Dec 20, 2006)

StirBlue said:
			
		

> What are the ethnic foods of the USA?  Would that be a pbj wrapped in Kansas wheat bread?


  What the heck is Kansas wheat bread?  Okay I'm going to take a deep breath count to ten and reread Alix's advice in her Peace be with you? thread.

I hope that you discover the immense heritage of American cooking that all of our forefathers have passed on to us.  Clearly there are antecedents to our dishes from literally everywhere on earth but that is also true of virtually every other culinary culture.


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## JDP (Dec 20, 2006)

StirBlue said:
			
		

> Well JDP that's why I eat pbj on Kansas wheat bread. I am an American. Mom's apple pie bakes here. I just want to recognize my own roots.


 
Hey if you love your PBJ on Kansas Wheat bread then God bless you. I too enjoy a good PBJ. In your original post I was given the impression that you felt the United States of America has no ethnic American dishes and you where using sarcasim to make your point by using the PBJ on Kansas wheat bread as your only example. Again my point is that the USA has made many wonderful contributions to the culinary world in styles of cooking from the many different regions of this glorious nation. Take for example Bisquits and gravy, Shrimp Etouffe, Blackened redfish, the neuveau(sp) cuisnines of the 90's, American pizza, Door County Fish Boils, tailgating ( not really one food but could almost be considered an ethnic style), smoked ribs, pork butts and briskets. The list could go on and on.

Sincerely,

JDP


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## Robo410 (Dec 20, 2006)

bbq, chili, corn bread, deep greens, various soups and chowders such as Manhattan or New England clam or Maryland crab, gumbo...our regional cuisines are our ethnic recipes to other nations.


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## Veloce (Dec 20, 2006)

The traditional Thanksgiving dinner of turkey, stuffing, gravy, cranberry sauce, sweet potatoes, a green vegetable and pumpkin pie for dessert probably qualifies as ethnic american food.


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## devora (Dec 20, 2006)

*Whatcha mean?*

Hey, StirBlue:

Could you clarify what you meant in your first post? As others, I do sense a bit of sarcasm, but I can't quite tell if you really wanted an answer.

Do you think the USA has issues w/ 'ethnic' food? Were you intimating that our 'original' cuisine is dull...or non-existent? Make your case, I know many who'd be interested.

I think the best and truly most amazing thing about the USA is its adoption of  other cultures' foods. We will try anything! Remember when sushi was posh and chic? Heck, now folks go shop at WallMart and get sashimi on the way home. No black dress required. That is an incredible change in a culture in a few decades.

I have lived abroad for short periods. The food can be _so_ wonderful. But in Mexico, it's Mexican. In China, it's Chinese. In Thailand, it's...you get the idea. (I'm not including large cosmopolitan cities in those countries b/c the same is true all the world over: go to a big enough city and you can get just about anything.) But even in my 15K population town in I can get several kinds of Chinese, several versions of sushi, Northern Indian, Thai, and scads of Italian, Mexican, and W. European foods. That, to me, is the coolest thing about our (admittedly adopted!) 'ethnic' cuisine.


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## StirBlue (Dec 20, 2006)

I just think we need to look around our own country of greatness (USA) before we order out (another country).  No offense intended to those wonderful people of other countries who share so much with us.  
   I just thought we (USA) were being left out of the ethnic foods.  I guess now I know that we can be just as ethnic as everybody else.


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## JDP (Dec 21, 2006)

Sorry Stir blue I got the impression that you felt we brought nothing to the table when with came to the culinary world. In a way we are also like the  BASF commercial. We didn't make the dish...but we did make it better. 

Merry Christmas,

JDP


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## urmaniac13 (Dec 21, 2006)

Probably you can count "Pepperoni Pizza", "Fettuccini Alfredo", "Caesar's Salad", "Chicken Parmesan" among other things as "American ethnic"... they are practically unknown anywhere in Italy!


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## YT2095 (Dec 21, 2006)

Technicaly unless you eat Native "American" Indian food, everything you Eat is of some ethnic origin or another, and not native to the America per se.

I say Bring-it-On, the more new stuff you can try and experience the Better


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## Andy M. (Dec 21, 2006)

YT2095 said:
			
		

> Technicaly unless you eat Native "American" Indian food...


 

Not really.  The Native Americans/American Indians were immigrants too.  They just got here before the rest of us.


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## buckytom (Dec 21, 2006)

lol andy. well said. just strecthing out that timeline, huh? always good for a better perspective.

i wonder if older cultures laugh at our (the u.s. and canada) growing pains, historically speaking. if they do, i hope it is as a big brother or sister laughs at their younger sibling, having only recently been there themselves.

we've done a pretty good job trying to catch up to the cuisines of older nations, but it certainly was with their help and/or experience.


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## college_cook (Dec 21, 2006)

Could cornbread be considered ethinc american?

Other than that I can't come up with anything thats really ours that hasn't come from something else first, though we do have a variety of unique cuisines here, including cajun, creole, tex-mex, and southern.


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## angelbear9114 (Dec 21, 2006)

In my opinion America is a hodgepodge of cultures from around the world...That is what makes America a melting pot both culturally and in the kitchen. It is a wonderful thing. In America we have taken recipes brought over here with our ancestors and "re-tooled" them to better fit this country...If you think about it that way any cuisine is American cuisine because America is home to people from evey backround imaginable.


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## YT2095 (Dec 21, 2006)

AND being such a large country you`re also lucky enough to cover several Climate zones for growing too


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## skilletlicker (Dec 21, 2006)

I think this is a topic I'm just too dumb to understand.



			
				YT2095 said:
			
		

> Technicaly unless you eat Native "American" Indian food, everything you Eat is of some ethnic origin or another, and not native to the America per se.
> ...


 YT, wouldn't that line of reasoning make foods made with tomatoes, potatoes, corn, or chocolate ethnically American?


			
				Andy M said:
			
		

> Not really.  The Native Americans/American Indians were immigrants too.  They just got here before the rest of us.


 Therefore every human on the planet is an immigrant with the exception of a single region, probably in Africa and perhaps named Eden.


			
				urmaniac13 said:
			
		

> Probably you can count "Pepperoni Pizza", "Fettuccini Alfredo", "Caesar's Salad", "Chicken Parmesan" among other things as "American ethnic"... they are practically unknown anywhere in Italy!


 I think urmaniac has probably got it about right, which makes this a pretty rich and diverse cuisine.


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## YT2095 (Dec 21, 2006)

skilletlicker said:
			
		

> YT, wouldn't that line of reasoning make foods made with tomatoes, potatoes, corn, or chocolate ethnically American?



no, not really.

and I wouldn`t let the "Letter" of the post spoil the meaning behind it either


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## Andy M. (Dec 21, 2006)

skilletlicker said:
			
		

> ...Therefore every human on the planet is an immigrant with the exception of a single region, probably in Africa and perhaps named Eden...


 

That's not what I said.  Nor is there any evidence that, if there was an Eden, that it was in Africa.

The Americas; North, Central and South; were populated with humans very late in comparison to Eurpoe, Africa and Asia.  The original inhabitants of these continents migrated over the land bridge at the Bering Strait, across and down through these continents.  

My point was addressing YT2095's post about Native American food being the only American food that was not ethnic.

We're just having a little fun with the topic.


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## skilletlicker (Dec 21, 2006)

Well Andy, like I said, I may not be smart enough.


			
				Andy M. said:
			
		

> We're just having a little fun with the topic.


 That's the only part of the post that makes sense to me.

Speaking of last sentences, in my post when I said "this a pretty rich and diverse cuisine,"  I should have said food culture instead of cuisine.


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## BreezyCooking (Dec 21, 2006)

Do all of yourselves a favor & pick up some decent cookbooks on regional American cooking. Both the "Saveur" American cuisine cookbook, & the line of American regional cooking in "The Beautiful Cookbook" series should open more than a few eyes here.

Oh, & let's not forget the American cuisine cookbooks put out by Pierre Franier & James Beard.


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## Alix (Dec 21, 2006)

I always smile a little to myself when this subject comes up. Folks are so passionate about their food and their regions that hackles go up hard and fast on this topic. 

I personally think that the US and Canada are lucky to be "newer" on the scene and can run the whole gamut of cuisines. I think it was buckytom who brought up once that you can find nearly every ethnic variety represented in NY City. How cool is that?

Lots to be proud of all over the continent. I think I'm going to go have some shortbread (Ishbel are you reading this?) and some tea, and maybe later I'll make some pizza for dinner.


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## shpj4 (Dec 21, 2006)

I would think that Hot Dogs, Thanksgiving Dinners and all the great foods that come out of New York City would be considered to be Ethnic Foods in the USA.


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## Andy M. (Dec 21, 2006)

I'd be willing to bet North America has more ethnic diversity than any other major country in the world.  Lucky for me.  I'm first generation.

It's that mix that makes the foods available to us so great.  Every ethnic or national group that has come here has brought their foods with them.  Some have survived as they were and some have been changed is various ways to make them uniquely new world.  

Some of the diverse dishes that are American in origin have already been mentioned.  There are so many more.

As time goes by the mix changes as people from different areas come here.  In the 70s and 80s there was a major migration from Southeast Asia, providing us all with new foods and cultures we had never before experienced.  In the 90s and 00s there has been a significant influx of people from India.  More great foods and customs.  (I realize there  is more to these newer immigrants than their foods but this is a food topic).

I can't wait to see what new stuff comes from all this.


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## karadekoolaid (Dec 21, 2006)

As a distinctly NON- American, I see the question in a different light. 
When I think of food in the USA, I think: 
Steaks
BBQs
Submarine sandwiches
Pizzas
Hot Dogs
Burgers
Fried Chicken
Turkey with the trimmings
Sweet corn
Squash 
Sweet potatoes
Chili con Carne
Caesar Salad
Chow Mein
etc. 
I would consider those to be "typical" American food - not ethnic. 
"Ethnic", for me, means something pertaining to a specific race, group, language, and in general a minority. So if you tell me that a dish from San Salvador is all the rage at the moment, I'd agree - it's ethnic. If you tell me of a specific dish made by the Navajo Indians, or the Eskimos from Alaska - I'd say, yes - ethnic. 
I'd even consider "American Sushi" to be an ethnic dish. 
Does that help, or does it just serve to muddy the issue?


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## StirBlue (Dec 21, 2006)

Middle English, _heathen_, from Late Latin ethnicus, from Greek ethnikos, from ethnos, _people, nation_.


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## ironchef (Dec 21, 2006)

Ethnics foods are just that: Italian, Thai, Greek, Chinese, etc. 

Regional foods are something else entirely, which is what I think people are confusing ethnic with. 

Where's that thread about about what food is famous for whatever area you're from? That should answer the original question.


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## skilletlicker (Dec 21, 2006)

ironchef said:
			
		

> Ethnics foods are just that: Italian, Thai, Greek, Chinese, etc.
> 
> Regional foods are something else entirely, which is what I think people are confusing ethnic with.
> 
> Where's that thread about about what food is famous for whatever area you're from? That should answer the original question.


Ironchef, you are classically trained whereas I am totally ignorant on the subject. As to European foods.  Wouldn't you find a huge influence in the Italian recipes of Northeastern Italy from their Germanic neighbors. At the same time were there not Southern Italian influences from Northern Africa Spain, the Middle East, and not to mention the infamous Vikings.  Could we not say the same thing of all European cultures (including of course their recipes).


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## ironchef (Dec 22, 2006)

skilletlicker said:
			
		

> Ironchef, you are classically trained whereas I am totally ignorant on the subject. As to European foods. Wouldn't you find a huge influence in the Italian recipes of Northeastern Italy from their Germanic neighbors. At the same time were there not Southern Italian influences from Northern Africa Spain, the Middle East, and not to mention the infamous Vikings. Could we not say the same thing of all European cultures (including of course their recipes).


 
Every cuisine has their crossover dishes and dishes that were influenced by another country, but they also have a large base cuisine which they call their own. To break it down further than that to me is just debating it for the sake of debating it. Why not simply enjoy the different flavors and foods that each cuisine offers?


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## kitchenelf (Dec 22, 2006)

I read it as cliveb read it.  With that in mind I'd say anything cooked on a Chevy engine is "born in the USA" -


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