The quintessential American meal...
 

As I sit here tonight planning my next trip and about to feast on my slab of barbecued baby back ribs and home grown corn on the cob with a side of slaw, it strikes me that for me, this is the quintessential American meal and what I would recommend first to any visitor to the states.

How about you, what would you say is the quintessential American meal? I'm especially curious as to what visitors to the USA think?

We were on a cruise on July 4th one year, and what you are having tonight is precisely what the chef recommended for the evening meal. Now, if you just have some banana pudding for dessert!!

When we had visitors from Europe (teenagers staying at our house - twice from England and once from Spain) we always cooked them a Thanksgiving-style dinner once.

I grew up in NC..I would have said fried chicken, okra and potato salad with cobbler for dessert..washed down with iced tea (sweet).

I spent the majority of the years since, in NYC...I cannot think of what is the quintessential "American" meal now...my friend Houng Yee and husband (both born in the US) would say Stir fry tofu and seafood..the young man from India that worked for my husband (born in NJ) would describe a Punjabi feast..
I guess now that I live outside of the US, I would look back on things that I have not found here (yet)..lobster dipped in butter at the beach, roast turkey/chicken with stuffing and potatoes etc..
If you ask my son, he would say Spaghetti :)

Cheeseburger with fries (and Heinz ketchup) with a Coca-Cola.

I think this is a regional thing. I never had BBQ until I went to the midwest - and frankly, it's not my favorite.

Althoug I do love sweet corn - but only local - if it wasn;t picked that day it's no good - so our access in NYC is limited.

I agree to the turkey dinner - typical both in a culinary and historical sense.

Anf yes, by brother - th eonly one with a backyard - does grill - but mostly chicken, marinated veggie kabobs, and tilapia or tuna steaks - once in a while lobster.

Agree - Thanksgiving Dinner - turkey with all the trimmings is the closest we have to a quintessentially american meal. Otherwise, there are so many regional variations that it's going to be hard to nail down. The previously mentioned, burger, fries, and a coke comes pretty close, too.

Meatloaf, mashed potatoes, green peas, hot buttered rolls, salad with orange -y french dressing and apple pie a la mode with vanilla ice cream. Real diner dinner!

Debi

The burger is a national symbol recognized as widely as Old Glory, the Eagle, and the Statue of Liberty.

Not our best by a long shot, but I think, quintesential.

Personally, I'd have the lobster or fried chicken.

I'll have all of the above and lets throw in some pot roast with root veggies for good measure :)

Since I'm in Seattle, I'll say broiled salmon.

definately regional. EAST COAST FOR ME MEANS: Salmon for the 4th or a BBQ.
Goose for Christmass or NeW Years.
Lamb for Easter.
Turkey for Thanksgiving

European guests cannot see themselves eating "horse food" -- that's what they call corn on the cob. That's OK -- we are glad to eat theirs.

YES USNR but that is differnt breed of corn. It's a variety grown for animal food.

hot dogs and beer or pop. with a bag of peanuts (roasted, in shell), maybe some Cracker Jacks.

Not a meal, of course, but is there anything more quintessentially American than popcorn?

We once ate what we thought to be a conventional home dinner in the USA:meatloaf with mashed potatoes and we liked it.That was on our last day before returning to Belgium in 2004.It was in Plymouth Ma.Last year when we toured the southeast states I wanted to have the meatloaf again but we could not find a restaurant serving it. The receptionist in Asheville called several restaurants for us enquiring whether they had meatloaf on the menu but no luck.Paul

Our visitors are all amazed with sodas in restaurants. When taking teenagers to standard chain type restaurants (Chilis, Applebees) in US they were all amazed with being served a huge soft drink that was refilled spontaneously whenever the level edged towards empty. Drinking a quart of Pepsi with a meal was a pleasant oddity to them.

My first thought was the full Thanksgiving type meal ending with apple pie ala mode or the hamburger with fries and a coke or milkshake.

Pour Heinz Ketchup, the quintessential American condiment on anything and it becomes the quintessential American meal.

I agree with the turkey and trimmings but even with that meal there are so many regional differences...stuffing vs. dressing, bread vs. cornbread. I serve a cornbread dressing with crawfish. When I was an exchange student 20 yrs ago it was something I really missed on Thanksgiving Day was turkey.

Hotdogs or burgers (cheeseburgers) on the grill and fries

or

meatloaf, mashed potatoes, and peas

And definitely apple pie a la mode for desert!

WHAT???? Nobody has mentioned Jello!! Or the salads made with Jello and cool whip or Miracle Whip.

Typical growing up: Steak, Baked Potato, overcooked green beans and JELLO

Typical now: Gardenburger, pasta salad, fresh cherries

I think the idea is to come up with what is the most representative national food, not regional food. As a Canadian (now living in the US) I'd have to agree that the hamburger, fries and coke combination would be widely recognized to outsiders as an American meal. I would add beer and jello or a twinkie for dessert to complete the truly American menu.

<I never had BBQ until I went to the midwest - and frankly, it's not my favorite.>

That's because Texas has the best BBQ!

While not necessarily quintessential American style, I do believe on thing that sets American food apart from many other places is in the world is quantity of food served and consumed.

If you want to give visitors a sense of what many Americans eat I think you hit on the operative word "feast". You could serve them one of these choices as well:

1. all you can eat buffet (chinese, homestyle, or other)
2. IHOP breakfast - 3 eggs, 4 pancakes, sausage, bacon, potatoes...
3. heaping plate of overcooked pasta - preferably ziti covered in melted cheese
4. >1/2lb hamburger + fries, with cheese and bacon, of course
5. an entire bucket of KFC (now with 0g transfat!!)
6. monster plate of nachos, covered in gooey pseudo-cheese substance, just as an appetizer, of course.

With unlimited refills of coke, pepsi, or any other favorite sugar syrup.

Being from New England (RI to be exact), I would choose either a hot lobster roll or whole belly fried clams with a side of fries, cole slaw, and a nice cold beer to wash it down!

Fortunately, for us, USNR has it exactly right..the French consider ANY corn on the cob as "horse food."

Thus as consumers of horse meat, they are secondary consumers of corn on the cob.

Basball, hot dogs, apple pie & Chevrolet as the song goes.... At first thought, I would say either cheeseburger & fries or steak, baked potatoe and salad.

Someone finally mentioned jello salads! A few years back we had our neighbors, who are British, over for Thanksgiving. The thing that totally baffled them was a jello mold (you know, orange jello, cream cheese, pineapple) that I had made. I realized that that was the type of food that is typically only made in a home. You could live in the US for decades, eating at restaurants frequently and unless you went to a church pot-luck, you'd likely never encounter a jello mold. (I will say that Neiman Marcus' Zodiac Room serves a mandarin orange jello mold with their chicken salad.)

Smom,

The thing about Turkey and Thanksgiving, is that even the regionalism or variations is a celebration of what America is. When new immigrants come to the country and celebrate their first Thanksgiving, they may go traditional, or they may adjust it to their respective ethnicity. Instead of a roast turkey, they may have turkey curry or turkey burritos or a turkey stir-fry. The thing is, the turkey as part of the Thanksgiving meal represents a cultural and historical legacy that ties us back to the first colonialists. The important thing is that it's a shared meal with elements that are common across Americans despite our many variations - cultural or ethnic.

I have to agree that it's the 'quantity' on the plates which make an American meal, different - everything you eat we eat here (UK) too - even popcorn!! :) I think burger/fries and coke is the 'quintessential', if there is such a thing. I make a Thanksgiving meal every other year or so (I live in Plymouth and we actually celebrate it here (we raise the Stars 'n' Stripes outside the Guildhall anyhow!) and it's a good excuse for a family get-together (not that any of us are American!). I do make it, but I still can't get to grips with your mashed potato with the turkey. It's a bit sickly for my palate - much better roast potatoes!
Who are the British neighbours who've never heard of a jello mold???? (Although we call it jelly - which is what you call jam!)
Actually, if I had to plump for one thing which I would say is 'American' it's your deli sandwiches! We just don't do them like that in Europe. They are YUMMY!! I remember ordering an egg mayonnaise sandwich in San Francisco - I expected a few slices of egg and the girl was shovelling in dollop after dollop, until it oozed out the sides and was about a mile thick!!

I think I remember a post on the European board where somebody went to various European-language travel websites to see what kind of restaurants they visited when they came to the U.S.

The recurring theme was Denny's, and in particular the Grand Slam Breakfast. They couldn't believe all the food you get for the equivalent of several euros.

When you rule out the regional favorites that vary widely across the U.S., you come to the 3 true contenders. Two have been mentioned, but one is conspicuously absent! 1. Turkey Dinner (in all it's wonderful manifestations). 2. Burgers and Fries (or possibly potato salad or slaw if you're grilling them at home).

AND . . .

3. Pizza! It's another of the few foods that nearly all Americans like and that unites us from sea to shining sea. (Who cares what it's origins are; as a new country, we have to co-opt nearly everything from others anyway.)

1. Turkey dinner- roasted, with mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, gravy, home made biscuits, cranberry salad, multitudes of vegetables (NOT canned) etc. - plus pumpkin pie /whipped creme dessert- all home made from scratch.

2. A great steak dinner- 12 to 16 oz T-bone or prime rib with all its mushroom/onion or potato choice accompanying detail- plus a top notch Caesar or quality mix/home made dressing salad.

3. BBQ- massive in its quality and quantity. There are all kinds of bbq- but ribs, chops, and pulled pork choices abounding with great corn on the cob. And a side of home fried chicken. The American cook out.

And as a person who has relatives in 3 different European countries, I can tell you that their corn is NOTHING like ours, and that when they come here and taste mine they absolutely hum like an electrical wire. It melts in your mouth.

I had "peaches & cream" variety last night and cooked 6 ears and guess what was left. ZERO. That and the great tomatoes just picked with salt/pepper. My 60 year old man's favorite dinner. And we didn't even get to the cucumber salad or the fresh roasted peppers yet.

Wildblueyonder - anything but mashed potatoes with Thanksgiving dinner will not be tolerated!!! Blasphemy even! I can't understand your revulsion - you did have pan-dripping gravy with them, no? Mmmmm. Is it Thanksgiving yet?! (I'm lucky - being from Canada and living in the US I get to celebrate two Thanksgivings!)

Our relatives in Denmark and Germany love the ribs in Chicago, the fabulous steaks (particularly beef tenderloin) and.....the salads! They just don't do "fancy" green salads there like we do.

But I think if you asked them what was really different about eating here is that we eat a lot of foods with our hands. Hamburgers (they eat theirs with a fork and knife), pizza (ditto), fried chicken (ditto), shrimp cocktail (same), hot dogs (they eat a million kinds of sausages, none on a bun), corn on the cob (never had before), and their favorite, bbq ribs, which they all took pictures of themselves eating in a restaurant wearing plastic bibs. They thought it was hilarious.

savages.
We're just savages.