American Dining Overseas

Hamburger is a German word, French fries aren’t French, and pizza is clearly an American adaptation of an Italian dish.  In the modern world, it is very difficult to put identify a food with one particular culture.  However, if you go to a Chinese restaurant or a Mexican place, you can easily predict what is on the menu.  I have often thought about what an “American” restaurant would serve overseas.  When I’ve asked this to people, they don’t hesitate to name some fast food restaurant, or say “burgers and fries.”  Even before this assignment, I knew there was a deeper meaning to American food.  So, let’s say for a moment that I am opening up a chain of American restaurants throughout Europe.  What would be on the menu?

            First, I would serve a dish rich in tradition in America, turkey.  Turkey is associated with holiday feasts in the U.S. and seems to be quintessentially American.  We love roasted turkey, turkey and swiss sandwiches, and the comparatively healthy turkey burger.  Keeping with America’s love of poultry, I would also serve many fried chicken dishes.  Fried chicken is the heart of the cuisine in the southern states, which are some of the most patriotic in the nation.  One example of a fried chicken based dish is buffalo wings.  To me there is nothing more American than a fried chicken wing drenched in sauce so hot that it hurts.  It is a necessity that a good American restaurant overseas has wings and a wide variety of sauces.  Buffalo sauce was named after Buffalo, New York, a quintessential northern city, while fried chicken is a southern staple.  This makes buffalo wings an uniquely American dish that encompasses more than one region of the U.S.

            Due to the recent health food craze sweeping through America, another item that is imperative to include on an American restaurant’s menu is a variety of soups and salads.  There are a multitude of places in the states that boast a soup and salad combo.  Nearly every deli and even some fast food sandwich shops have this to offer.  The most American of soup and salad would be chicken noodle soup with a house salad with ranch dressing.  This would be a healthy alternative on an American menu.

            After eating a salad, a visitor to an American restaurant overseas can’t leave without treating themselves at least a little bit, after all the U.S. is the one of the most overweight nations in the world.  A dessert would have to be an option on an American restaurant’s menu.  And aside from the quintessential apple pie, the menu would also include pumpkin pie, another favorite of the United States.  Also, birthday traditions are very important in America.  Strange as it sounds, I would like to put homemade cake and vanilla ice cream on the dessert menu.  Nearly nowhere in America can you find this on a restaurant’s menu, yet cake and ice cream is a tradition deeply rooted in American culture.