American Food & Drink   American cuisine can be summed up in two words: "regional" and "diverse." Nothing shows this more than travelling across the country. Every hamlet, town and city has its unique food traditions and establishments that combine local traditions and diverse influence from around the globe. All different groups of immigrants that arrived in America have also brought their varieties of food which have shaped what is known as "American food" now. Besides English, and in particular Puritan influences, there were also French, Spanish, German, and Italian settlers who not only enriched the American way of life with their specific culture but also contributed diverse eating traditions. While the Spanish influenced the Mexican cuisine, the latter developed a great and popular kind of food that spread from the South West to almost every part of the US. Italy introduced a great amount of dishes that almost every American would call genuinely made in the US. The former slaves brought in African cooking and different religious groups, such as the Quakers and the Amish people, tagged part of a food culture with their names. All became, in their own way, American. HISTORY The history of modern American food begins after Christopher Columbus set his foot on the Island of Guanahani, West Indies, in 1492. His successors, for instance the Spanish Conquistadors of the 16th century, entered a continent which he had believed was India. Of course it was not, but nevertheless they had encountered not only America's people but also its food. They found tomatoes, potatoes, chillies, corn, beans, and many other vegetables that have "conquered" the tables of the whole world since then. What is now known as Mexican food is a conglomerate of Spanish and Native American dishes. This gathering of two different cultures consists of old Native recipes and new Spanish ways to prepare meat, especially cooking and frying with fat. Examples of this intermingling of Spanish and Native cuisine are tacos, burritos, enchiladas or tortillas. English influence About one hundred years later, in the 17th century, the English established their first permanent settlement at Jamestown, Virginia in 1607. To keep control over the colonies the English crown founded so called "joint stock companies" to recruit settlers that were, however, scarce until these companies offered free land for settlers. After that the situation rapidly changed. The new colonies expanded fast and the first tobacco and cotton plantations were established. In order to run these plantations which were mostly located in the south the colonists imported the first black slaves. While the English settlers were bringing their typical sturdy food with them they started to blend it with local ingredients, for example turkey, lobster, maple syrup, clams and almost always corn to provide dishes such as Indian pudding, Boston brown bread, clam chowder and Maine boiled lobster. The famous story about Native Americans helping English settlers over the winter by showing them the way to use local fauna and flora resounded in the holiday of Thanksgiving and its dinner, which was celebrated the first time in 1621 and showed how English cuisine was influenced by the Indians in the New World. Influences from Africa Further in the South, people gained advantage from a more moderate climate which allowed them to use an even greater diversity of vegetables. The food was still English but appeared more southern in spicing and ways of cooking. African Americans introduced the barbecue, all kinds of fritters and many greens. They also brought with them important techniques, e.g. how to smoke meat, fry greens and make up spicy sauces. They played an important role in moulding English, African, and Native American cooking into what is called or known as Southern Cuisine today - simply because it was they who were the servants in Southern kitchens.   Germans and Italians What would an American sporting event be without a hot dog? Well, Germans have introduced a whole lot of ways how to make sausages, and the fact that they moved into the Midwest was the reason why Milwaukee is now one of the Nation's greatest beer brewers. Another European nation that joined the gourmet-tongues of America is Italy. The Italians, who arrived in the late 19th century, gave America one of its most important touches in taste. They have re-imported their use of the tomato, which we think is the most Italian vegetable of all, used to spice up all that pasta, pizza, and salads. French cuisine is on the way The French should not be excluded here, either. When the US made their bargain with the largest real estate deal in history by buying the Louisiana territory people of French origin were included in the American way of life. They have kept, however, their way of cooking. In southern Louisiana we can still find some examples like Creole and Cajun cuisine. Both have the use of rice and seafood in common, both are highly spiced and borrow concepts from each other. The difference is that the roots of Creole cooking have grown from the region's earliest colonial history when the French first settled the area and fought with Spain for control long before the Louisiana Purchase. Their way of cooking is a mixing of French cuisine strongly affected by Spanish, African and Caribbean food, whereas Cajun food is more of a country way of cooking. After the French inhabitants of Nova Scotia were driven out by the British in 1755 they went south and finally found their place in the swamps of Louisiana. They learned to keep their cuisine and added the available ingredients such as game, shrimp, and crawfish. They only use few herbs but serve the food which is mostly cooked in one pot with a relatively hot sauce. Asian taste Another really exciting branch of American cuisine adds the Asian influence to its taste. The late 19th century brought many Asians to America, first Chinese then Thai and Indian. Of course they had come before too, for instance on Spanish galleons; but political reasons like the lost First Opium War, several floods and crop failures along with other reasons brought many Asians to America. Especially due to its geographical location, California was one of the centres for Chinese immigration. The result was that these new Asian Americans not only brought their native food but also mixed it with the Mexican cuisine resulting in new dishes. Fast food Although fast food is not actually an American invention - the ancient Romans had something like fast food and medieval German construction workers invented the "Würstlbude" - it was the Americans who made it an economic success. And only through all those well known fast food chains, American cuisine in its fastest form has become famous all over. Most of those restaurants use all the different styles of cooking from Mexican food to classic hamburger sandwich, from seafood to fried chicken, or pizza and pasta in all its variety. But America's food is not only fast food. Like a dry sponge America's culture has sucked up all cuisines, spices, and tastes and created its own. Since the Seventies this trend has often been called fusion food. The diversity that is America is as reflected in its cuisine as it is in its peoples. Many think of American food as burgers, pizzas, hot dogs, doughnuts and little else. They are certainly available 'ad nauseam' but so are some of the greatest restaurants in the World like The French Laundry and Per Se plus wonderful regional food reflecting the immigrant influences throughout history. With their love of meat, the cuisine of America has built up a reputation for quantity but modern thinking is tempering this for the good of the whole nation without compromising quality.       top