American Cuisine, Existence Of

Abstract

SynonymsEthnic foods; Fast food; Food culture; Foodways;Mass-produced foods; National cuisine; Native American foodways;Regional foodsIntroductionDoes an American cuisine exist? Themulticultural and theoretically egalitarian society of the USAas well as its relatively recent establishment as a nation makesit difficult to identify specific foods that accurately andinclusively represent the country. It also raises otherquestions. What is a cuisine? Is a description of what Americanseat the same thing as a description of cuisine? Can those eatingpatterns constitute a cuisine? In what ways do those patternsreflect and, perhaps, even shape the history and identity of thenation? Who gets to answer these questions and why do theymatter anyway?This entry reviews a variety of approaches to theinitial question, treating the definition of cuisine as afundamental starting point. Some scholars (Long 2009; Mintz2002) see it as a publicly recognized and officially establishedrepertoir ...