American Regional Cuisine

What Is American Cuisine?

History

“Melting pot” - blending of different ethnic groups to form one culture

The United States developed as a nation of immigrants creating a melting pot of ethnic diversity

Between 1820 and 1920 - around 33 million people immigrated to the US

To escape religious or political persecution

In search of economic opportunity

The New Colossus- Emma Lazarus “Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to be free.”

Immigrants came

Immigrants came

To avoid famine and starvation To find a better life for

themselves and their families

Between 1880 and 1924 - two and a half to three million Jewish immigrants came from Eastern and Central EuropeThey shared a religion but not

necessarily their nationality. The Jewish melting pot melded

cooking traditions from many different countries, kosher dietary laws, and influences from their new home.

Immigrants prepared the recipes from their homeland, replacing traditional food items with available ingredients.

People shared recipes with friends and neighbors, adopted all they liked, and added new recipes, ingredients, flavorings, and cooking techniques.

Individuals altered the recipes and the cuisines fused.

They spoke their native language in both homes and businesses.

They had easier access to the food products needed to prepare their native dishes.

Immigrants settled into ethnic neighborhoods

First settled by the Dutch in 1624 and called New Amsterdam

Served as the major embarkation port for European immigrants in the early years

New York City

After 1820s - Jewish immigrants came

1840s - Irish came to escape Potato Famine

Late 1800s to early 1900s - Italians settled on the east side

Asians moved to Chinatown on the east side

Puerto Ricans and Africans settled in Harlem

Immigrants from foreign countries People moved from rural areas in

the Plains and Midwest to trade farming for urban living

Drawn to jobs in factories, stockyards, slaughter houses, steel mills, or refineries

One of the biggest Polish communities in the United States

Chicago

Gold prospectors from the US and around the world

Laborers to work on the railroad Factory workers Workers in agriculture Spanish missionaries

San Francisco

By 1852 - twenty thousand Chinese immigrants lived there

Many Japanese and other Asians came because of nearby fertile fields

Even living outside the city, they came to Chinatown to purchase food and other goods

1853 - native Hawaiians were 97% of the population

1923 - native Hawaiians made up only 16% of the population

Hawaii

Around 1820, Portuguese began arriving on whaling ships. They worked in

Fishing industryAgricultureDairy farmsRanches

To fill the need for cheap labor for the sugar and pineapple plantations, they brought46,000 from China180,000 from Japan66,000 from the PhilippinesMany Portuguese and Puerto Ricans

Originally, many immigrated from Ireland ItalyChina

Today, African Americans are 25% of the population.

Boston

Largest Middle Eastern population in the United States

African Americans make up 81.6% of the population

Detroit

Capital of the Cuban American and Latin American population in the United States

60% of population is Hispanic

Miami

Immigrants came for work in agriculture

Many Mexicans crossed the border and settled in Los Angeles

Sprawling city - Los Angeles covers more than 465 square miles

Los Angeles

Indigenous Cuisines

The pre-contact cooking styles of original inhabitants

Based on indigenous ingredients native to the land (wild or cultivated) and indigenous cooking technology

American examples: wild turkey, corn on the cob, squash, wild rice, cranberries, chilis

Old Word Cuisines

The European cooking styles of America’s earliest settlers while in their former homes

Based on Old World ingredients and cooking technology

English examples: roast beef, apple pie. Over time may lead to Regional Cuisine?

History Creates CuisineIndigenous group: the

descendants of a land’s original inhabitants

First settlers: the earliest non-indigenous people to arrive in a region

Colonists are sponsored by a nation to settle an unclaimed, unsettled land (English coming to America)

Pioneers settle wilderness areas of their own nation (Virginia to N.Y or Pennsylvania)

Second settlers come later: often called immigrants

Hybrid Cuisine

Positive interaction between indigenous groups and first settlers typically leads to a blending of cuisines: the resulting new coking style is called a hybrid cuisine.

Indian Pudding: British Hasty Pudding (wheat)using corn meal (Indian flour) To replace scarce wheat. It was then flavored with molasses or maple syrup for sweet pudding or drippings ofsalted meat for savory.

In time it evolved into a resoundingly sweet dish.

Hybrid Cuisine

Based on indigenous foods and colonial domesticates (Old World foods successfully raised in the new colony)

New England-style cornbread (Old World wheat flour and

American cornmeal) Roast stuffed turkey (Old World wheat bread and American-

origin turkey)

Understanding Regional Cuisines

A regional cuisine is a unified style of cooking common to most of the people living in a culinary region.

Regional Cuisines

~ Defined by 3 criteria:

Geography Homogenous

food culture Defining dishes:

That are unique and noteworthy

A Defining Dish Unmistakably represents a particular culinary region Singular enough to be readily distinguished from the

dishes of all other regions Examples: Chowder, Boston Baked Beans, Collard

Greens Below: Southern Fried Chicken, a Plantation South defining dish

Characteristics of the Land

Land characteristics determine the success of agriculture, the source of most of our food.

SOIL: rich, deep, plentiful, and properly managed soil is conducive to large-scale agriculture

CLIMATE: determines which food plants and animals will grow in a particular area

TOPOGRAPHY: affects climate and the use of farm machinery, and therefore affects agricultural success (grapes)

PROXIMITY to other regions affects the exchange of ingredients and culinary ideas

The Food Culture of the Indigenous People

For most pre-contact Native American cuisines:

Ingredients: Game meats and fish The Three Sisters (corn, beans, squash)

Cooking Methods: fire technology; stone, skin, earthenware

The Food Culture of the First Settlers

The Homeland Cuisine Colonists bring Old World cuisine to the new land Pioneers bring Colonial cuisine to the new land

The Hybrid Cuisine Some first settlers embrace indigenous

ingredients and cooking methods, creating a new and vibrant hybrid cooking style.

Other first settlers reject most indigenous ingredients and create a cooking style based primarily on colonial domesticates (Old World Foods Successfully Raised in the New World= Transplanted Cuisine)

Foods and Cooking Techniques

Brought by Immigrants

Ingredients and cooking methods introduced by immigrants are often more exciting and complex than those of the existing regional cuisine.

The culinary impact of immigrants often changes the destiny of a region’s cuisine.

Economic ViabilityEconomic viability is the point at which a region can

support its own population with the revenues from its goods and services.

The population has moved from subsistence to affluence.

A sizable upper class has disposable income to spend on dining.

Home cooks have leisure time to prepare complex dishes. Chefs are paid high salaries to create culinary masterpieces. Diners are experienced and educated, and can afford expensive

restaurants. Economic viability generates travel and trade,

which enrich the cuisine with new ingredients and ideas.

Foreign Cuisines in America

A foreign cuisine is a national or regional cuisine practiced outside its homeland.

Remains virtually unchanged, because immigrants are able to obtain authentic ingredients. After about 1970, global trading made ingredients available from other world regions.

Examples: Chinatowns in N.Y. and San Francisco, Indian, Thai, Korean.

America’s National Cuisine

A national cuisine is a unified style of cooking common to most of a country’s population.

America’s national cuisine emerged in the late 1800s as a result of improved transportation and the emergence of national media.