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🍔Taste

American cuisine · The most accessible table in the atlas: barbecue, diner eggs and a cuisine made of regions and immigrants.

The dishes that carry American cuisine are the ones a market cook and a home kitchen would both recognise.

Eight signatures below explain the table to a first-time diner and to a grocer stocking the aisle.

Podium

Barbecue
Barbecue
United States
2
Hamburger
Hamburger
United States
1
New England clam chowder
New England clam chowder
United States
3

The legends

1
Hamburger from United States Hongreddotbrewhouse · CC BY-SA 3.0

Hamburger

United States · staple

Griddled beef in a bun — the industrial-and-craft national sandwich.

Story

Hamburger is cooked from New Orleans to diaspora rooms as a reference plate of American cuisine.

“The pantry lesson is pickles / hot sauce / cheese beside wheat / corn / potato.”

Reach
icon
Craft
kitchen
Heat
relative
2
Barbecue from United States vxla from Chicago, US · CC BY 2.0

Barbecue

United States · regional craft

Smoke traditions of the Carolinas, Texas, Kansas City, Memphis.

Story

Barbecue is cooked from New Orleans to diaspora rooms as a reference plate of American cuisine.

“The pantry lesson is pickles / hot sauce / cheese beside wheat / corn / potato.”

Reach
icon
Craft
kitchen
Heat
relative
3
New England clam chowder from United States Jon Sullivan The original uploader was Y6y6y6 at English Wikipedia . · Public domain

New England clam chowder

United States · regional soup

Cream-and-clam of the northeast.

Story

New England clam chowder is cooked from New Orleans to diaspora rooms as a reference plate of American cuisine.

“The pantry lesson is pickles / hot sauce / cheese beside wheat / corn / potato.”

Reach
known
Craft
kitchen
Heat
relative
4
Gumbo from United States Amadscientist · CC BY-SA 3.0

Gumbo

United States · Louisiana

Roux, okra or filé, a West African-French-Native stew.

Story

Gumbo is cooked from New Orleans to diaspora rooms as a reference plate of American cuisine.

“The pantry lesson is pickles / hot sauce / cheese beside wheat / corn / potato.”

Reach
known
Craft
kitchen
Heat
relative
5
Bagel and lox from United States Shisma · CC BY 4.0

Bagel and lox

United States · NYC

Jewish-American breakfast that became a city staple.

Story

Bagel and lox is cooked from New Orleans to diaspora rooms as a reference plate of American cuisine.

“The pantry lesson is pickles / hot sauce / cheese beside wheat / corn / potato.”

Reach
known
Craft
kitchen
Heat
relative
6
Fried chicken from United States Evan-Amos · CC0

Fried chicken

United States · South / national

A West African-Southern fry that chains later industrialised.

Story

Fried chicken is cooked from New Orleans to diaspora rooms as a reference plate of American cuisine.

“The pantry lesson is pickles / hot sauce / cheese beside wheat / corn / potato.”

Reach
known
Craft
kitchen
Heat
relative
7
Apple pie from United States The-Wuje · CC BY-SA 4.0

Apple pie

United States · dessert myth

A British-American bake sold as patriotism.

Story

Apple pie is cooked from New Orleans to diaspora rooms as a reference plate of American cuisine.

“The pantry lesson is pickles / hot sauce / cheese beside wheat / corn / potato.”

Reach
known
Craft
kitchen
Heat
relative
8
Tex-Mex combo from United States Scott Bauer, USDA ARS · Public domain

Tex-Mex combo

United States · border dialect

Chili gravy, nachos, fajitas — a real US cuisine.

Story

Tex-Mex combo is cooked from New Orleans to diaspora rooms as a reference plate of American cuisine.

“The pantry lesson is pickles / hot sauce / cheese beside wheat / corn / potato.”

Reach
known
Craft
kitchen
Heat
relative

Stats are relative 0–100 marks within this cuisine, for comparison only.

Comparison Lab

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Debate

Home pot vs export icon

Does Hamburger abroad still count as American cuisine when the pantry is rewritten?

Whose regional recipe?

Capitals claim Barbecue; provinces disagree, loudly.

Keep exploring

More in The Americas