The American Food Brain

The American Food Brain

American Food Culture Begins

No country in the world thinks about food like America does. No other people in the world have access to the breadth and scope of foods that the average American does.  In the culinary world, the United States stands alone as its own monster.
In 1908 Israel Zangwill's play, The Melting Pot first hit the stage at the Comedy Theatre in New York. It depicts the life of a Russian-Jewish immigrant family, the Quixanos. David Quixano has survived a pogrom (a riot against Jews), which killed his mother and sister, and he wishes to forget this horrible event. He composes an "American Symphony" and wants to look forward to a society free of ethnic divisions and hatred, rather than backward at his traumatic past.

The hero of the play proclaims : "America is God's Crucible, the great Melting-Pot where all the races of Europe are melting and reforming... Germans and Frenchmen, Irishmen and Englishmen, Jews and Russians - into the Crucible with you all! God is making the American." 

While the play is filled with the swelling pride of a quickly growing American nation and carries more of political tilt to its message and audience (Theodore Roosevelt loved it); it is because of this play that the term "melting pot" became widely used for the melding of cultures to create the American identity. Regardless on your political feelings on the term, I cannot help but marvel at what being the melting pot of the world has created in America's food culture.  And thats what I want to talk about in this post.

Lets Talk About You

What is your favorite food? Tough choice? I certainly have trouble answering this question when asked by friends, family, and co-workers. If only it were so simple.  

If you answered say, pizza, your in good company, as American's eat roughly 100 ACRES of pizza a day. Thats about 350 slices every second across the nation.  This Italian staple as been made and re-made into so many variations here that its nearly unrecognizable when compared against a simple Pizza Margarita born in Italy. As Americans there is some ingrained genetic that if there is something good, there must be a way to make that something better. So we add Duck, Veal, Cajun Shrimp, Eggplant, Oysters, Crab, and anything else we can put our hands on. 

Most people are probably like me. Some nights, I'd trade a root canal for some fresh barbequed ribs.  Other nights, I'd rather head to get some Cambodian-Thai, or swing by Sushi. Or maybe just stop in and get some Bacci & Prosciutto. Chinese..or...a nice steak does sound pretty good.....

But this is what WE (Americans) do with food. We don't just eat to live. We live to eat. The generation that I am part of and those coming behind have more access to more food than our grandparents ever imaged. Fusion, Tapas of all varieties, Indian, Pakistani, French, Spanish, and on and on. We are enjoying the fruits of a process started many generations ago when America was still learning about itself.

Its a Small World After-all

Immigrants have shaped America's food landscape from day one. Slowly, we became more than the staple foods of our european ancestors. From German Sauerbraten (left), French crepes, and English Beef Stew, we've come to a place where remnants of these dishes can all be found, but completely transformed. Now instead of just "beef stew", you have dishes like Asian Fusion Beef Stew, which blends the classic beef stew, with Chinese Beef and Noodle soup and spices to open up whole new flavor profiles. The blend and assimilation doesn't happen by accident, it comes from immigrants of every nation and creed coming together and finding out that not only can they love their own "traditional" foods, they can take pieces from other cultures and cuisines and create something that simply explodes the taste buds and is a flavor and meal all its own.  

The world is getting smaller daily. No, not physically, but in the world we live in, you can be just about anywhere in the world in half of one day. As the world gets smaller, more and more collaboration and theft of food ideas happen and more and more foods that never existed before appear every day. This is why we are a food driven society. Now, for birthday's or anniversary's we celebrate by going out to eat at their favorite restaurant, or an expensive restaurant that isn't a usual spot for eating. There was a time when these parties were held at home, with the family making dishes and bringing them in. You'd see corn casserole, an assortment of puddings, potato salads, and the main dish would be grilled burgers, or sloppy joes, or some other standard that was baked in a pan. This certainly does still occur from time to time, but now we go out to eat to enjoy foods.

In other countries across the world. There are no favorite places to go eat for different foods.  In Italy, you don't decided that tonight you want to go find a nice steak house. You don't think about wanting Tacos, or finding a tasty fried chicken join. Bar-b-que? Not in the sense we Americans know it.  See, when your in Italy, there is Italian food, and more Italian food. In the biggest cities there are restaurants that push the boundaries, and the taste of the the dishes are different from north to south, but you don't go to a restaurant because of the type of food they make, you go because they are good at your favorite ITEM in Italian cuisine. One place might be know for their fried pizza (amazing by the way), one is known for their meatballs, another for their lasagna.  One is known for the sausage dishes or bread.  This is how most of the world is. You don't go out looking for "what type of food do we want tonight?" it's simply where are we eating "our food" tonight.

This is what I love about America. It's ALL our food. For better and sometimes worse, we take the dishes from around the world and make them decidedly American, either by fusing many cuisines, or just by trying something that hasn't been done before.  Maple donuts with bacon? No clue who had that genius idea but its delicious.

So, there is the surface of the American food brain. Many books have been written on it, so I didn't even attempt to fully go through it all, but I encourage you to dome something. The next time you see something different on the menu at a restaurant, or hear about a recipe that blends things you wouldn't have thought about putting together, order it.  Don't be afraid to try it. Somewhere there was a ton of people who loved that "thing" so much it made it to the mainstream. Someone figured out that blend of flavors to perfectly accompany the rest of the dish and add a new dimension too it. As much as I love a burger and fries, or chicken fingers, there is a whole world of good food out there that is just waiting to be explored.

Be bold.

The Recipe of the Post!

To celebrate the unity of declicious foods into more delicious foods, here is the recipe for the above mentioned, delicious Asian Fusion Beef Stew from Tasty Meals at Home.com

Asian Fusion Beef Stew @ Tasty Meals at Home

It is inspired from both the Western Beef Stew and the Chinese Beef Noodle Soup. The combination of Western and Asian ingredients marry beautifully together and brings about a delicious flavor that one cannot quite place a finger on–”what is IN this?” Well, it is a combination of many things. To name a few: beef (duh), tomato, soy sauce, star anise, and ginger. Are you excited yet? :)

Another great thing about this recipe is that it is very cheap to make. You can make a whole pot of this and enjoy it for the rest of the week with rice…with bread…with noodles…or just alone. Please, next time you are craving beef stew, give this stew a chance. You do not want to miss out on this dish! 

What You Need:

• Beef for stewing (beef shank brings great flavor!)
• Soy Sauce
• Whole Star Anise (We found this at the local Asian Store)
• Ginger (ginger flavor is not too strong, so for you ginger haters, don’t worry)
• Garlic
• 1 Can of Beef Broth
• 1 Can of diced tomato
• Hon Dashi
• sugar
• Carrot
• Onion

What to Do:

1. First, we have to cut the carrots and onion–cut into bite size pieces. Let’s also dice the garlic and slice the ginger.
2. Next, cut the beef into a nice stew-size:
3. Now, heat up some oil in a big pot and brown the meat.
4. After the meat has browned, you can either take the meat out while you cook the onions, but being lazy, we decided to just add the onions, garlic, and ginger in the pot with the meat. Stir, stir, stir!
5. Next, add in the carrots.
6. Ok, the hard part is done. Open the can of tomatoes and pour it into the pot.
7. Open up the can of beef broth, and pour that in. Pour in one and 1/2 cans of water into the can, and pour that in as well.
8. Now put in 3-4 star anises into the pot. You can choose to put them in a cheese cloth if you do not want to deal with the star anise when you eat the stew–up to you.
9. Next, put in 4-5 spoons of soy sauce.
10. And now for the last step, put in a pinchful of hon dashi and about 1/2 spoonful of sugar.
11. Now, bring the stew to a boil…then turn down to heat, cover and let simmer for a couple hours.