Eating American

Sidney Mintz is an anthropologist who tackles the question, “Is there such thing as American cuisine?” in his article “Eating American.” Mintz argues that Americans do not have a cuisine because we cannot generalize the whole countries eating habits. As evidence, Mintz says that America is made up of so many cultures and although immigrants have become Americanized, they still keep their traditional foods. Mintz believes that although we have access to so many types of cultural foods, it does not define a unique American cuisine. Rather, this compilation can be seen as “regional cuisines”. Some of these regional cuisines include New England cooking and Southern cooking. Each has its own distinctions and is affected by the types of foods available in that region. However, Mintz says that when some other part of America tries to recreate these dishes, it become simplified and lacks in comparison to the original. Mintz repeatedly reminds us that we cannot represent the American cuisine on a national scale.

What struck me as most interesting was when Mintz said, “I do not see how a cuisine can exist unless there is a community of people who eat it, cook it, have opinions about it, and engage in dialogue involving those opinions.” Some people consider American cuisine to be hamburgers, fried chicken, hot dog, and pizza. However, based on Mintz’s analysis of what cuisine should be, these foods usually seen in fast food settings do not fit the criteria of being a culturally defined array of cuisine. Of course people eat vast amounts of fast food, but no one really stops to create it from scratch or discuss its origins or even sit down to enjoy the meal. This also goes back to the idea of rationalization and how Americans are trying to be efficient by eating fast food.

After reading this article, I was forced to think about the types of food I was putting on my plate for tonight’s dinner. There was Cajun tofu which can be easily placed in the cultural pile. However, there was also roast beef, chicken nuggets, and mashed sweet potatoes. Although Mintz did explain why these dishes were not American cuisine, I’m still left confused as to what these foods can be defined as. If they aren’t American, what are they? Also, isn’t it easier just to call it American cuisine when most other people in the world consider it as such?