What is American food?

This week’s readings consisted of “Eating American” by Sidney Mintz and “Consumer Culture and Participatory Democracy: The Story of Coca-Cola During World War II” by Mark Weiner, both of which explored the idea of American identity in food. Weiner claims that Coke provided a sense of familiarity and companionship on the battlefield and also created a community at home for the Allies’ cause. This is particularly interesting because I have never thought of this soda as American since it is so present on the international stage. However, it makes sense to appeal to the masses on something so basic a level as good and evil- Coke being the good in the evil of the war. But would Coke be as well-known as it is today had it not been accompanied my such an accepting market as the years around the war were? Who knows, maybe we would all think of Sprite as the national soda.

It is difficult for me to see that Coke is truly symbolic of American culture. In other countries, traditional foods are the pride of the nation and are usually dishes particular to a region. For example, white sausages in Germany, borscht in Russia, and gnocchi in Italy, are all associated with generations of a specific people. Mintz asserts that the reason the United States does not have a similar national food is due to the fact that our lifestyle is fast-paced and more centered around snacks or eating out than sit-down meals. Another interesting point is that America was established on immigrants who came to start a new life in a new country and did not continue their old food culture in their transition. We do, however, have what Mintz calls “regional cuisines” such as TexMex in the Southwest, Cajun in the South, and European (Italian, German, and Russian) in the East. These are no longer specific to these areas because of mass transportation and the ability to ship packaged foods all around the globe so that anyone in any place can try almost any food, even if it is nothing close to the authentic version. But is it bad that we are losing some food culture through large-scale manufacturing? In some respects I believe it is a small tragedy, but I am not one to complain when I can buy New England clam chowder in a can from any supermarket in the country. I guess I am American.