Serious Eats - seriouseats.com

When I think of American foods I think of foods native to the new world: corn, blackberries, strawberries, tomatoes, turkey, pumpkin, sweet potatoes, peanuts, chocolate +vanilla (south/central america). And foods I missed when I lived abroad--cheetos, peanut butter cups, cheddar cheese, hot dogs (sausage is everywhere but sometimes you want a regular ol hotdog), barbeque... And then all the crazy things we americans have managed to do with the above, once we stopped thinking tomatoes were poisonous and whatnot.

Prime Rib - rare.

NY Cheesecake (not the fluffy west coast kind).

MMMMmmm She Crab Soup! On Clearwater Beach there is a place called Frenchy's that does an amazing SCS.

I think what is most American is the concept that we take our own local ingredients, everyone else's ingredients, other people's basic recipes, and then recombine it all in new and different ways.

Other cultures have traditional foods and traditional recipes that you just don't mess with. Our culture doesn't have those deep roots on this continent. So we're not so afraid to mess with the traditional recipes from other countries. Sometimes it works, sometimes it's just canned glop.

Jeez, we're like a garbage can. We take everyone's scraps, shake it up, and make it ours! Errr...must think more positively, we're a melting pot. :P

Wish we could take credit for beef jerky. :(