You Are Here: 21st Century Regional American Cuisine

REGIONAL IS AS REGIONAL DOES

But one person’s favorite childhood rugelach might be another’s gastronomic exotica, which leaves us asking what regional cuisine means to Americans from disparate regions. “American regional cuisines tend to be made up of ‘iconic’ types of foods that vary across the country,” Young says—like those Detroit Coneys that Julius craves. Yet what makes those Coneys so special is that they’re worlds away from the hot dog you’d get at a ballpark in, say, San Francisco—or Coney Island.

Another example of a widely familiar food with multiple regional spins is fried chicken. “Fried chicken can differ greatly from the North to the South in regard to the type of batter and seasonings used to prepare it,” Young explains. “Southern-style fried chicken has appeared with increasing frequency on menus in the past two years, particularly in the form of a chicken sandwich or chicken biscuit.”

Then there’s the granddaddy of American regional foods: barbecue—a regional cuisine that merits its own postgraduate degree. “Large areas have their own cooking methods, meats, rubs and sauces defended by loyal purists,” Julius says, “Carolina, Kansas City, Texas, Memphis—all have terrific, but different, styles.”

And while not quite as intense a pursuit as barbecue, the emerging appreciation for regional pizzas is heating up, as well. “Like barbecue, fierce loyalty is also pervasive among fans of the New York Napolitano, Chicago deep-dish and California thin-crust variants,” notes Julius.

But these are only the most-obvious expressions of how regional tastes shape shared foods. Local influences can act on a narrower scale, as with Philly cheesesteaks, Chesapeake crab cakes, San Diego fish tacos, or Buffalo’s chicken wings. A regional specialty can also be more obscure. After all, spicy chicken isn’t Buffalo’s only claim to fame. According to Julius: “The city responsible for hot wings has kept its best food a secret: beef on weck. Every tavern has a roasted top round on a cutting board under a heat lamp. When someone orders a beef on weck, the bartender slices off some beef and puts it on a kummelweck roll topped with coarse baker’s salt and caraway seeds, introduced by the German bakers who emigrated here.”