What's your favorite "american" dish?

[Anonymous]

ooh and peach cobbler, cherry and apple hand pies/cobblers. brownies

[Anonymous]

Chilli and cornbread - personal fave
Key lime pie, lemon meringue pie
Jambalaya
Shrimp and grits
Carolina, Texas, or Kansas City style bbq
Philly steak
Scrapple
California rolls
Spam

[Anonymous]

Biscuits and syrup

[Anonymous]

Are you the same OP that has the German student who finds his classy too easy? If you’re in this area, you could take him to Lancaster, PA for its Amish culture. They have lots of food options there. We stopped at a little bakery stand on the side of the road being changed by Amish kids. The baked goods we took home were all increidlbe. The whoopie pie was my favorite. It also might be interesting for him to see the culture, especially since it derives from German culture and language.

[Anonymous]

Where’s he from? I’ve travelled a lot in Asia and to them, American food is chain restaurants like TGI Fridays, Chili’s, and Outback…burgers and fries, steak, and chicken wings.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Where’s he from? I’ve travelled a lot in Asia and to them, American food is chain restaurants like TGI Fridays, Chili’s, and Outback…burgers and fries, steak, and chicken wings.

This better not be that kid from Germany from the other post

[Anonymous]

There is no truly "American" dish as we are a county based on immigrants.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Are you the same OP that has the German student who finds his classy too easy? If you’re in this area, you could take him to Lancaster, PA for its Amish culture. They have lots of food options there. We stopped at a little bakery stand on the side of the road being changed by Amish kids. The baked goods we took home were all increidlbe. The whoopie pie was my favorite. It also might be interesting for him to see the culture, especially since it derives from German culture and language.

Amish food is basically the same as German food. Why would an exchange student from Germany find this exciting?

[Anonymous]

I am hosting an exchange student who wants to taste "all the american cuisine" but can't really articulate what that means beyond burgers and fried chicken.

My family likes to keep a very global meal rotation (tacos, thai, pasta, indian, etc.), and while I've tried explaining that this is normal for an american house, he keeps mentioning that we don't really eat "american" food.

We have already covered BBQ, mac and cheese, fried chicken, burgers, tomato soup and grilled cheese, stupid expensive hipster lattes, starbucks, chocolate chip cookies, avocado toast, banana bread, cereal and oatmeal, bacon egg and cheese sandwiches, blueberry pancakes, breakfast potatoes, and Eggo waffles. He's been here 2 weeks.

I would serve this kid knuckle sandwich.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The floatie thing, ice cream with coke… never seen it anywhere else i visited.

This is called an ice cream float

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am hosting an exchange student who wants to taste "all the american cuisine" but can't really articulate what that means beyond burgers and fried chicken. My family likes to keep a very global meal rotation (tacos, thai, pasta, indian, etc.), and while I've tried explaining that this is normal for an american house, he keeps mentioning that we don't really eat "american" food.

We have already covered BBQ, mac and cheese, fried chicken, burgers, tomato soup and grilled cheese, stupid expensive hipster lattes, starbucks, chocolate chip cookies, avocado toast, banana bread, cereal and oatmeal, bacon egg and cheese sandwiches, blueberry pancakes, breakfast potatoes, and Eggo waffles. He's been here 2 weeks.

I'm not interested in overhauling my entire approach to feeding my family for this kid, but am open to adding a few new things here and there I might not typically consider for rotation. What's YOUR favorite American food, and if there's a recipe please share! Thanks!

Pizza and Chinese food are pretty good. Nominally they are ethnic but the American take on them is pretty distinctive.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Any kind of pie like apple, cherry, sweet potato, key lime
Rice Krispie treats
Whoopie pies
Fruit cobblers
Brownies
Bananas foster
Cheesecake
Boston cream pie
Red velvet cake

Yes I wanted to go down this road, but he doesn't like sweets.

[Anonymous]

This kid sounds incredibly rude.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It’s not about asking the exchange student what they want. In many countries, hosts naturally serve dishes that are typical of their culture—paella in Spain, dolmas in the Mediterranean, onion soup in France, etc. Those foods are strongly tied to national identity.

The U.S. is different. Because it’s built from many waves of immigrants, there isn’t one single “traditional” cuisine in the same way. That’s why people struggle with this question. American food is diverse, and much of it comes from other cultures and was adapted over time—like pizza, which became very different from the Italian version.

Some foods that are distinctly American today include cornbread and U.S.-style BBQ. But the key point to explain to the exchange student is that American food reflects many cultures, not just one.

Yes, I explained all of this even before he arrived and he blew it off as I don't want to eat food from other places, I want to eat american food. I've then repeated it a couple of times (nicely, obviously). I, too, don't want to eat indian food while I am on vacation in Italy, but America is not the same scenario. It's kind of become clear he's seen stuff online and thinks that's the "real" american food, but I've asked him to tell me specific restaurants he has heard about and wants to try and the only place he could think of was Raising Canes (so we did).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Are you the same OP that has the German student who finds his classy too easy? If you’re in this area, you could take him to Lancaster, PA for its Amish culture. They have lots of food options there. We stopped at a little bakery stand on the side of the road being changed by Amish kids. The baked goods we took home were all increidlbe. The whoopie pie was my favorite. It also might be interesting for him to see the culture, especially since it derives from German culture and language.

No, not me. I don't live in the DC area anymore and my student is from Italy.