|
|
CUISINE OF THE UNITED STATES
Mainstream American culinary arts are similar to those in other Western
countries. Wheat is the primary cereal grain. Traditional American cuisine uses
ingredients such as turkey, white-tailed deer venison, potatoes, sweet potatoes,
corn, squash, and maple syrup, indigenous foods employed by Native Americans and
early European settlers. Slow-cooked pork and beef barbecue, crab cakes, potato
chips, and chocolate chip cookies are distinctively American styles. Soul food,
developed by African slaves, is popular around the South and among many African
Americans elsewhere. Syncretic cuisines such as Louisiana creole, Cajun, and
Tex-Mex are regionally important. Characteristic dishes such as apple pie, fried
chicken, pizza, hamburgers, and hot dogs derive from the recipes of various
immigrants. French fries, Mexican dishes such as burritos and tacos, and pasta
dishes freely adapted from Italian sources are widely consumed. Americans
generally prefer coffee to tea. Marketing by U.S. industries is largely
responsible for making orange juice and milk ubiquitous breakfast beverages.
During the 1980s and 1990s, Americans' caloric intake rose 24%; frequent dining
at fast food outlets is associated with what health officials call the American
"obesity epidemic." Highly sweetened soft drinks are widely popular; sugared
beverages account for 9% of the average American's caloric intake.
|
|
