Certain Foods Symbolize American Cuisine

By Bill Daley, Chicago Tribune

July 1, 2009

The debate about American food has been swirling for decades. It will likely continue almost as long. Still, people keep trying to nail down an answer, often zeroing in on a specific food.

--Karen Resta, a Virginia-based writer and blogger, went all out. She listed some 40 iconic American foods, from shad bakes to soft-serve ice cream, as a way of providing a definition, but then got fed up. "This is ridiculous," she wrote on Facebook. "There's no end to this question. I have to say two more things: fluffernutter and Larry Forgione (the restaurateur behind An American Place restaurant in St. Louis -- the legendary Manhattan original has closed -- and the so-called "godfather of American cuisine"). Really. Why always Alice Waters (of California's Chez Panisse) and no Larry Forgione?"

--Molly O'Neill, editor of "American Food Writing: An Anthology with Classic Recipes," told a crowd at the Printers Row Lit Fest last month that the American food icon is fried chicken. She explained: "Because it goes across class lines, regional lines and cultural and ethnic lines. The idea of fried chicken was spread by churches. It's a great equalizer."

--Clark Wolf, the guru of hot food trends, cheese expert and author, described the American appetite this way: "We love the whole food, the whole chicken kind of thing, while when it comes to beef we want it sliced and we want steak. American food seems like Western European food meeting Japanese simplicity."

--Roy Finamore, a cookbook editor and author, said his mind goes straight to "the juicy cheeseburger that drips down your arms when you eat it," especially when "American" is coupled with "4th of July." He added: "No matter what part of the country you're from, baked bean and potato salad are American. ... And so's apple pie."

Finamore thinks the term "American cuisine" suggests an agreed-to conformity that American fare doesn't quite have.

"American cooking is in flux all of the time," he said. "We're still adapting."