A Dictionary of American Cuisines: United States: Overview (In Progress)

United States of America

Many struggle to define an overall American cuisine, including Americans themselves. There is one simple answer for this: there is no American cuisine. To say that there is one overall cuisine is the same as saying there is one European cuisine or one Chinese cuisine. The United States is made up of, at the very least, seven distinct cultural and culinary regions. Think of these regions as different countries (culturally speaking of course). This series of blogs is meant to be a guide to the many American cuisines present in the country. Others may disagree with the way that I have categorized these regions, but this is the way that I see it: New England, Mid Atlantic, South, Midwest, Southwest, West, and Pacific Northwest. In turn, each of these regions can be divided into various sub-regions, some more than others. I have divided the Mid Atlantic into Northern and Southern Mid Atlantic. The South is divided into the Upper and Deep South, Tidewater, Appalachian, Low Country, Gulf, and Florida.

I will start off this blog with the United States as a whole. The foods in this category are at least somewhat common and familiar throughout the United States and, generally-speaking, the only American food that non-Americans are ever exposed to (and very little of this at that). American food that transcends regional differences owes a lot to popular culture as well as to traditional holidays, and in the case of the Western states, to food traditions brought from the Eastern states. Soda fountains, diners, television, cars, fast food, commercialization of food, and traditional holidays have all contributed to a very general American cuisine. The British influence is strong in American food: pot roast, puddings, pies, and mince meat being a few examples. Other strong influences are German: hamburgers, hotdogs, coleslaw, and potato salad, and Dutch: waffles and cookies. There are recent influences as well that have become naturalized to most of the United States, such as Italian: spaghetti and meatballs and lasagna. Generally, these European influences were adapted using native ingredients as well as learnig techniques from the Native Americans. While it has a rather less than flattering reputation throughout the world, in my opinion, it's just represented badly. Who can blame the world when the only American food most of them are ever exposed to is fast food and chain restaurants.

This is a work in progress, I will probably be playing around with it for a while. The U.S. is huge! I whole-heartedly invite comments and critiques. The following posts will start BELOW this one, starting with Native American cuisines (which is a collection of both historical and modern ingredients and dishes). The following blogs are in this order: Native American, New England, Mid Atlantic, South, Midwest, Southwest, West, and Pacific Northwest. I've set it up so one page only holds one blog entry.

Overall Major Influences:

British and Native American helped develop the basis of American cuisine. German and French influences are also evident as well as Dutch to a lesser degree. Different regions of the country will have other influences as well as these.

Traditional Ingredients:

dairy: Dairy has played an important role in the American diet since the early seventeenth century when Europeans from Britain and northern Europe settled the land. Today, fresh milk is considered very nutritious and many Americans drink it every day, as well as using it for meat gravies and baking. Along with milk, cream is used as well as butter. Eggs are eaten in many forms as well as an ingredient in both sweet and savory foods. Soured milk was once much more common than today and was frequently used in baking. Pasteurization of milk has meant that cultured milk is used instead and is called, "buttermilk" though true buttermilk is nothing like this cultured milk.

fruits (Ironically, apples are considered the most American of fruits even though they are not native to the land. Johnny Appleseed is an American folk hero who is said to have spread apple trees across the nation. Other domesticated fruits brought over from Europe include pears and plums. Many wild fruits have been enjoyed by most Americans. Of these blackberries are probably the first to come to mind for many. These grew in thickets in any disturbed soil. Other wild berries include raspberries, black raspberries, blueberries, and strawberries. Wild grapes, called muscadines and scuppernogs, are also eaten, especially in the southern regions. They are eaten fresh as well as made into jams and wines. Cranberries were traditionally consumed only in New England but with the New England Thanksgiving serving as a model for Thanksgivings across the nation, cranberries are now considered a necessity for the holiday. It is mainly used as a sauce to be eaten with the turkey. This sauce is a direct descendant of currant sauce which was brought over from England. Currants were brought over from Europe and enjoyed much popularity until a blight hit them in the twentieth century. They are much rarer these days. Oranges, though only grown in very specific regions of the country such as Florida and California, were very popular as Christmas gifts to put in stockings though today they are eaten throughout the year. Some fruits that are not grown in the country bear mentioning for the reason that they have become important to certain food traditions. Bananas are one of the most popular of fruits in the States. Aside from being eaten out of hand, one of their most popular uses is in banana puddings, as well as banana bread and sliced up on a peanut butter sandwich or sliced over cereal in the morning. Pineapples also are worth a mention here as they have been a symbol of welcome from colonial days in certain regions.

grains:

For most of American history, cornmeal (maize) has been the most used grain by necessity. Wheat, although preferred by the British/European colonists, just wasn't as available or suitable to the land as maize. Right up to the first half of the twentieth century, this was the most used grain for certain regions in the form of flour, hominy (dried maize kernals soaked in water and lye from wood ashes till they swelled and the skins slipped off), and grits (a sort of porridge from ground hominy). Other ways corn was used was eaten fresh from the cob with plenty of butter, and as popcorn. Popcorn is a traditional American Christmas decoration. It is strung on a string to use for the Christmas tree, sometimes they are dipped in color.

Wheat is now used more so than cornmeal for baking breads and pastries and some regions eat a porridge made from wheat called "cream of wheat" for breakfast. Rye is also used in northern regions. Oats have been a popular breakfast porridge all over the country since at least the nineteenth century. According to Lance Gibson and Garren Benson Iowa State University, "oats are chiefly a European and North American crop. These areas have the cool, moist climate to which oats are best adapted. Russia, Canada, the United States, Finland, and Poland are the leading oat producing countries. Oats are adapted to a wide range of soil types, thus temperature and moisture conditions are the usual limiting factors as to where oats are grown....Some winter oats are produced in the United States, but most are spring oats produced mainly in the north central states."

meats:

Traditionally, and still to some extent in certain regions, game has played a large part in the diet of Americans. Popular game animals include white-tailed deer, rabbit/hare, passenger pigeons (now extinct unfortunately), turkey (especially during the Thanksgiving season in November and Christmas), grouse, quail, pheasant, ducks, geese, and even black bear. Domesticated animals account for most of the meat in the American diet, however. Beef is generally the most popular, followed by chicken and pork. Other domesticated animals eaten include ducks, geese, lamb, mutton, goat, and rabbit/hare.

Organ meats also have a place in the traditional American diet. Examples include brains and eggs (brains scrambed with eggs; usually a breakfast dish), the infamous liver and onions combo still to be found in diners and restaurants, certain loafs made with leftover scraps from hog butchering which go by a number of names depending on the region (scrapple in the mid-atlantic and certain midwestern states, liver pudding and liver mush in the south), lamb's testicles (usually called by the name of lamb's fries), steak and kidney pie, and chicken liver pate.

nuts/legumes

Nuts, seeds, and legumes are popular as snack foods often eaten out of hand. Peanuts are by far the most popular. Native to South America but introduced to North America by African slaves. Peanuts are an important crop for many southern states. Peanuts are a common snack food and are usually roasted and salted or served in their shells. They are also boiled in the south. Americans really enjoy it ground up into a butter to use as a filler for sandwiches, in soups, and stuffed into celery as an hors d'ouevre.

Pecans, black walnuts, white walnuts (from the butternut tree), pinyons (pine nuts), and acorns are all native nuts and have been used for baking particularly for generations.

California grows many nuts that are not native to the country. Nuts such as almonds, pistachios, English walnuts, etc.

Sunflower and pumpkin seeds are also popular as snacks, usually salted and roasted.

Seasonings:

Common seasonings vary from region to region, however, there are some common herbs and spices that have been used for generations to flavor food that all regions share. American food, true to its European and Native American beginnings, have always been rather light on the herbs and spices for the most part. Certain herbs and spices have traditionally been relegated to certain food preparations.

Above all salt and black pepper are the two seasonings one will find on every American table without fail.

In the past, fresh and dried herbs played an important culinary and medicinal role in American lives. As the mid-20th century witncessed a decline in the quality of American food when fast food, frozen dinners, and canned vegetables and soups started replacing home-cooked meals and fresh ingredients, herbs, especially fresh herbs, declined in usage. Thankfully, American food has been enjoying a renaissance for the past 20 years or so and many herbs are being used again.

Herbs common throughout North American cuisine include parsley, thyme, sage (especially popular for poultry), rosemary, various mints (popular for lamb, peas, and sauces), caraway, chervil, chives, dill, and horehound (mostly for candies).

Though for the most part not native to North America, spices are commonly and traditionally used in sweets, chutney's, and some meat dishes. Popular spices include cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice, clove, and ginger.

Vinegars are also used. Apple cider and malt are the traditional ones. Apple cider vinegar is used mostly in salads while malt vinegar is used to sprinkle over fried foods such as french fries.

Peppers have traditionally been confined to the south and southwest. In the south they are usually steeped in vinegar which is used as a condiment for greens and barbecue. The southwest uses them the most extensively having been influenced by the Spanish and Mexicans. There they are used in stews and chilie's.

Vegetables:

(maize, beans (navy, pinto, great northern), squash (pumpkin, butternut, acorn), potatoes, onions, carrots, celery, tomatoes, peas, lettuce (romaine, ice burg, spinach, sorrel, watercress), spring onions, green beans)

Dishes: Beverages: Apple Juice, Beer (ale's, lager's), Chocolate Milk, Coffee, Hot Chocolate, Lemonade, Orange Juice, Tea, Breakfast: Cheese Toast, Eggs Benedict (see Mid Atlantic Section for recipe (look under Northern and Breakfast)), English Muffin, Fried Eggs, Hashed Browns (a shredded fried potato dish usually fried in bacon fat.), Pancakes, Poached Eggs, Scrambled Eggs, Waffles (originated in New York), Cheeses: Cottage cheese (before commercialization there was a wide variety made at home), Cream cheese (Philadelphia is famous for it; of minor importance until WWI, when the Dairy Division of the Department of Agriculture launched a campaign for "rediscovering" it as a thrifty, nutritious use for skim milk), Farmer cheese/Pot cheese (very diverse), Nursery junket (considered somewhat old-fashioned; an almost-cheese of half-set curd still swimming in its whey; in the past it commonly included brandy or rum as well as a final dose of cream), Condiments/Pickles: Bearnaise Sauce, Cranberry Sauce (traditional during Thanksgiving; originated in New England), Cucumber Pickles, Grape Jelly, Gravy, Hollandaise Sauce, Ketchup (first walnut ketchup's were created, then cranberry, elderberry, gooseberry, and grape when sugar became plentiful. The earliest of these sauces, based sometimes on nuts, sometimes on mushrooms, had been made without sugar, resulting in spicy and tart concoctions more similar to worcestershire sauce.), Mayonnaise, Mustard Sauce, Orange Marmalade, Peanut Butter, Strawberry Jam, Entrees: BLT (bacon, lettuce, and tomato sandwich), Casseroles (baked dishes in which a main ingredient is combined with a starch and various vegetables and seasonings, a thrifty, nutritious dish), Chicken Pot Pie (similar to British meat pies and pasties), Chicken Salad (diced chicken with onions, celery, salt, black pepper, mayonnaise, and sometimes almonds and/or grapes; popular for sandwiches), Corn Dog (hotdog on a stick dipped in a cornmeal batter and deep fried), Curried Chicken Salad (chicken salad with spices), Egg Salad (boiled eggs mashed with mayonnaise, salt, and black pepper; popular for sandwiches), Hamburgers/Cheeseburgers, Hotdogs, Grilled Cheese (a cheese sandwich buttered on both sides and grilled), Lasagna, Meatloaf (traditionally good for saving money by stretching out meat with bread), Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwich, Pizza, Pot Roast (usually made from an inexpensive cut of beef oven-roasted with onions and other root-vegetables), Roasted Chicken, Roasted Turkey (commonly served with sage flavored bread stuffing on Thanksgiving), Sloppy Joe (a type of loose meat sandwich; has many variations on the name (wimpies in parts of the Northeast, yip yips around St. Louis, slushburgers in parts of the upper midwest, barbeques in other parts of the upper midwest, hot tamales in parts of Southeastern Wisconsin, taverns in parts of Iowa and Minnesota, steamrs in parts of Virginia and West Virginia)), Spaghetti and Meatballs, Salisbury Steak (around the turn of the century, this became popular on both sides of the Atlantic when broiled chipped beef was prescribed for his British patients by Dr. J.H. Salisbury), Shrimp Cocktail (boiled shrimp served with a cocktail dipping sauce which is usually a mix of ketchup and horseradish), Steak, Tuna Melt, Tuna Salad (usually on a sandwich), Pastries/Cookies/Candies/Breads: American Parfait (a layering of cream and various ingredients such as granola, nuts, or fruit and sometimes topped with whipped cream; similar to the Scottish cranachan), Amish Friendship Bread (Made from a sourdough starter and is often share similar in manner to a chain letter), Banana Split, Brownies (a type of dense chocolate cake), Candied Apple, Chocolate Chip Cookies (originally from New England), Chocolate or Vanilla Malt, Cotton Candy, Fudge, Ice Cream (traditional flavors include vanilla, chocolate, and strawberry), Ice Cream Cone (an edible ice cream carrier shaped like a cone), Milk Shakes, Muffins, Oatmeal Cookies (sometimes with raisins), Pigs in a Blanket, Rice Crispy Treat, Root Beer Float, Sundae (vanilla ice cream with chocolate syrup and whipped cream and sometimes nuts and sprinkles), Pies/Cakes/Puddings: Apple Pie (some regional variations; it used to be dished up in New Hampshire "swimming in maple syrup."), Birthday Cake, Black Forest Cake, Carrot Cake, Charlotte Russe (especially popular in the latter half of the 19th century; a 2-qt. glass bowl is lined with 12 to 18 lady fingers. Sprinkled with about 1/4 cup madeira. 2 envelopes unflavored gelatin is softened in water and another 1/4 madeira. 1 qt. cream is whipped in a metal bowl over ice; when thickened, 3/4 cup confectioners sugar is whipped in, and finally the softened gelatin. 1 teaspoon vanilla extract is added. The cream mixture is piled into the lined bowl and chilled for at least 8 hours. It is unmolded and, if desired, almonds or macaroons are sprinkled over the top before serving.), Chocolate Cake, Creme Brulee/Burnt Cream (there is one truly American version called maple creme brulee), Cup Cake, Depression Cake (includes little or no sugar, milk, butter, or eggs), Devil's Food Cake, Fruit Cake (popular during Christmas; a dense cake with dried and candied fruit and sometimes nuts in it; quite infamous), Fruit Pies (such as cherry, rhubarb, and peach), German Chocolate Cake, Lemon Meringue Pie (Boston's Parker House), Mince Meat Pie, Plum Pudding (AKA Christmas pudding; considered somewhat old fashioned), Pumpkin Pie (traditional during Thanksgiving; originated in New England), Strawberries and Cream (preferably freshly picked and drenched in thick cream), Strawberry Shortcake (Has been around since at least 1850 where it became popular to host strawberry shortcake parties celebrating the coming of summer; a baking powder biscuit dough mixed with butter and cream is baked to flaky perfection, which is then split into two layers, the lower of which is usually slathered with butter before accepting its burden of berries with

sugar to make a filling. The top half is buttered, still hot, and covers the crushed berries, and in its turn is capped with more berries. Often served with whipped cream.), Zabaglione (An Englishman who went to Sicily intent upon devising his own recipe for sherry instead contrived to make the first Marsala. This led someone else to invent zabaglione; the word means eggnog in Italian; has been popular in the U.S.), Soups: Chicken Noodle Soup, Tomato Soup, U.S. Senate Bean Soup (A favorite for more than half a century in the Senate restaurant, this method for preparing soup from dried beans is a variation on a very American them; Senator Henry Cabot Lodge, Sr. urged this Massachusetts specialty on his peers.), Vegetable Dishes: Corn on the Cob, Green Bean Casserole, French Fries, Mashed Potatoes, Onion Rings (onions which have been sliced and deep fried), Popcorn, Potato Chips, Potato Salad (many regional variations), Roasted Peanuts

Quotes:

Mark Twain while in Europe in 1878:

"A modest private affair, all to myself. I have selected a few dishes, and made out a bill of fare, which will go home in the steamer that proceeds me [across the Atlantic], and be hot when I arrive - as follows....Radishes. Baked apples, with cream. Fried oysters; stewed oysters. Frogs. American Coffee, with real cream. American butter. Porter-house steak. Saratoga potatoes. Broiled chicken, American style. Hot biscuits, Southern style. Hot wheat-bread, Southern style. Soft-shell crabs. Connecticut shad. Baltimore perch. Brook trout, from Sierra Nevadas. Lake trout, from Tahoe. Sheep-head and croakers, from New Orleans. Black bass from the Mississippi. American roast beef. Roast turkey, Thanksgiving style. Cranberry sauce. Celery. Hot buckwheat cakes. American toast. Clear maple syrup. Virginia bacon, broiled. Blue points, on the half shell. Cherry-stone clams. San Fracisco mussels, steamed. Oyster soup. Clam soup. Philadelphia Terrapin soup. Bacon and greens, Southern style. Hominy. Boiled onions. Turnips. Pumpkin. Squash. Asparagus. Butter beans. Sweet potatoes. Lettuce. Succotash. String beans. Mashed potatoes. Catsup. Boiled potatoes, in their skins. New potatotes, minus the skins. Early rose potatoes, roasted in the ashes, Southern style, served hot. Sliced tomatoes, with sugar or vinegar. Stewed tomatoes. Green corn, cut from the ear and served with butter and pepper. Oysters roasted in shell - Northern style. Roast Wild turkey. Woodcock. Canvas-back-duck, from Baltimore. Prairie hens, from Illinois. Missouri partridges, broiled. 'Possum. Coon. Boston bacon and beans. Green corn, on the ear. Hot corn-pone, with chitlings, Southern style. Hot hoe-cake, Southern style. Hot egg-bread, Southern style. Hot light-bread, Southern style. Buttermilk. Iced sweet milk. Apple dumplings, with real cream. Apple pie. Apple fritters. Apple puffs, Southern style. Peach cobbler, Southern style. Peach pie. American mince pie. Pumpkin pie. Squash pie. All sorts of American pastry." - American Food: What We've Cooked, How We've Cooked It, And the Ways We've Eaten in America Through the Centuries

Menus:

The REAL First Thanksgiving:

Being a Virginian, I feel I must set the record straight regarding the holiday we know as Thanksgiving. Most Americans believe that it started with the pilgrims at Plymouth Rock in Massachusetts. This is a lie. The first Thanksgiving took place in the year 1619, "two years before the pilgrims arrived in Massachusetts." In 1619, "a band of English settlers landed in Virginia, at what is now known as the Berkeley Plantation," just a few miles from Jamestown. "History says they immediately fell to their knees to thank God for their safe arrival."

"The Virginia Company had directives given to the settlers and the directives were that upon

landing, they were to give thanks and every year thereafter make it an annual celebration in thanks to the Lord for a safe passage," says Barbara Awad, president of the Virginia Thanksgiving Festival. How do you like them apples!

Historians say that their "feast" included bacon, peas, cornmeal cakes, and cinnamon water.

Unfortunately since that's not much of a feast I don't think I'll be able to persuade most Americans to convert (including moi for that matter). So I will also make a list of the foods served at the Plymouth Thanksgiving, as well as a modern typical Thanksgiving feast below that one.

Plymouth Thanksgiving:

Although viewed as a symbol for cooperation and interaction between colonists and Native Americans, Thanksgiving is actually just in keeping with a long tradition of celebrating and giving thanks for the harvest. A tradition brought over from England. Anywho, like I promised, here is what historians believe the pilgrims ate at this celebration:

Foods that were definately on the table:

Venison, wild fowl

Foods that may have been on the table:

Seafood: cod, eel, clams, lobster, seal

Wild Fowl: wild turkey, goose, duck, crane, swan, partridge, eagles

Grain: wheat flour, Indian corn

Vegetables: pumpkin, beans, peas, onions, lettuce, radishes, carrots

Fruit: plums, grapes

Nuts: walnuts, chestnuts, acorns

Herbs and Seasonings: olive oil, liverwort, leeks, dried currants, parsnips

What was definately NOT on the table:

ham, sweet potatoes, potatoes, corn on the cob, cranberry sauce, pumpkin pie, chickens, eggs

A menu might look something like this, or at least might include some of these items (see below for some recipes):

Meats: roasted whole turkey, roasted duck, roasted goose , roasted venison, fish covered in leaves and baked in coals

Vegetables: whole pumpkin baked in coals, two or three other kinds of winter squash stewed, beans boiled with venison, garlic and onions

Breads/Puddings/Pies: Corn bread, English cheese pie, pumpkin pudding, Indian pudding

Recipes:

Corn Bread:

4 cups water, 1 cup cornmeal, 1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour, 1 tsp. salt

Put the water into a saucepan and add in the cornmeal, Bring to a boil, then simmer for about 1/2 hour until it thickens. Now mix together the flour and salt, and stir it into the cornmeal mix. When well mixed, take 1/2 cup portions and place on a cookie sheet to form little domes, flattened on top. Put into a 350F oven for 15 minutes. Take the cookie sheet out, turn the bread-domes over and cook for another 10 minutes.

Roast Venison: five deer were brought by the Native Americans to the first Thanksgiving. Onions and butter were both very common ingredients known to the Puritans.

4 Venison Steaks, 2 Medium onions, 1 Tbsp butter , Garlic Powder, salt and pepper to taste

Heat frying pan over medium heat. Season one side of steaks with garlic, salt and pepper. When pan is hot, place butter in pan and melt. Put sliced onions in pan and cook onion sections seperate. Place venison on top of onions, season side down. Season top of steaks with more garlic, salt & pepper. Cook on each side for 5-10 minutes.

Stewed Onions: Onions were one of the things easy to grow in New England, and the English ate quite a number of them.

1 stick butter, 3 cloves garlic, minced, 16 small onions, halved and peeled, 2 tablespoons dill, chopped

Melt the butter, add the garlic and cook gently 1 to 2 minutes. Arrange the onions in a baking dish and pour 3/4 of the garlic butter over the onions. Bake at 350 degrees F for 45 minutes or until tender. Before serving, reheat the remaining garlic butter, add the dill and pour over the onions.

Modern Traditional Thanksgiving:

This is a list of dishes that would be on most tables in the United States. There are definately regional additions but those have been left out for this. Keep in mind that Thanksgiving, in most cases, is meant to feed a crowd so there is lots of food. Plus many people say that the best part about Thanksgiving is the leftovers eaten over the course of the next week or so.

Roast Turkey with Dressing:

"For the dressing, use bread, picked up fine, a table spoonful of butter, some sage, thyme, chopped onion, pepper, salt, and the yolks of two eggs, and pour in a little boiling water to make it stick together; before putting it in the turkey pour boiling water inside and outside, to cleanse and plump it; then roast it in a tin kitchen [portable oven put on top of stove], basting all the time. It will be splendid, served with a nice piece of ham and cranberry sauce."

- Los Angeles Cookery: 1881

Cranberry Sauce:

Basically a type of compote/relish. Cranberries are boiled in water and sugar to taste until the cranberries become mushy and it thickens. Sometimes other ingredients might be added like orange zest, ginger, maple syrup, or cinnamon.

Corn Bread: This is a Southern style cornbread, please don't let the lack of wheat flour and sugar scare you off, it really is the most delicious cornbread you will ever taste. And if that doesn't persuade you, just think of it as being closer to the original Thanksgiving cornbread.

Combine 2 cups white or yellow cornmeal (the South generally prefers white where basically everywhere else it's yellow; being a Southern girl myself I use white.), 1 tablespoon sugar, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and 1/4 teaspoon baking soda in a mixing bowl. Place 1/3 cup leaf lard or shortening in a large black iron skillet (the iron skillet is not optional) and set on the middle rack of a 425 degree F oven for 2 to 3 minutes till melted. Meanwhile, make a well in the center of the cornmeal mixture and add 2 lightly beaten eggs, and 2 cups of buttermilk and stir only enough to mix. Pour in the hot lard to the mixture and stir briskly to incorporate. Immediately pour the batter into the black iron skillet used to melt the lard in and bake for 25 minutes at the same temperature till nicely browned. Cut into wedges.

Note: If no buttermilk is on hand, mix a little vinegar or lemon juice into whole milk until it thickens.

Pumpkin Pie (often replaced by sweet potato pie in the South): To be continued...

Mashed Potatoes with Gravy: To be continued...

Peas:

boiled and flavored with butter, salt, black pepper, and sometimes spearmint.

Green Bean Casserole: A more recent addition and not particularly my favorite, it literally hurts my soul to include this.

Follow the Campbell's Company recipe....that's all I have to say

Mrs. Rorer's cookbook (19th century):

Breakfast #1: oatmeal mush with whipped cream, broiled steak, stewed potatoes, quick muffins, coffee, fruit; Breakfast #2: fried indian mush, maple syrup, cecils of cold meat, saratoga potatoes, flannel cakes, cocoa, fruit in season; Breakfast #3 (spring): small hominy boiled in milk, broiled lamb chops, lyonnaise potatoes, gems, coffee, orange salad; Breakfast #4 (spring): flannel cakes, coffee, fried chicken, cream sauce, scalloped potatoes, salad with french dressing; Breakfast #5 (summer): strawberries without stemming, broiled tomatoes, cream gravy, boiled new potatoes, cheese ramekins, rolls, coffee; Luncheon #1: bouillon, orange sherbet served in orange skins, fish a la reine in paper cases, chicken croquettes, french peas, terrapin with saratoga potatoes, boned chicken, wafers, montrose pudding, cheese, black coffee; Luncheon #2: roman punch served in ice tumblers, sweetbreads a la creme served in paper cases, partridges on toast, salmon croquettes, sauce hollandaise, cheese ramekins, charlotte russe, black coffee; Dinner (winter): oysters on the half shell, consomme, cream macaroni, boiled leg of mutton, caper sauce, currant jelly, lettuce with french dressing, water crackers, neufchatel, lemon sponge, black coffee"

- American Food: What We've Cooked, How We've Cooked It, and the Ways We've Eaten in America Through the Centuries

Sources: my head, American Food: What We've Cooked, How We've Cooked It, and the Ways We've Eaten in America Through the Centuries, America the Beautiful Cookbook: Authentic Recipes from the United States of America, Appalachian Home Cooking: History, Culture, & Recipes, Mrs. Kitching's Smith Island Cookbook, Renewing America's Food Traditions: Saving and Savoring the Continent's Most Endangered Foods, Milk: The Surprising Story of Milk through the Ages with 120 Recipes that Explore the riches of our First Food, www.wikipedia.org, www.lifeintheusa.com, www.mtnlaurel.com,http://berksweb.com/pam/, www.marylanddelivered.com,

http://www.kitchenproject.com/history/Strawberries/StrawberryShortcake/index.htm,

www.foodtimeline.org,www.native-languages.org/states.htm, http://www.visit-maine.com/current_category.2617/current_advcategory.2423/companies_list.html,

http://www.suite101.com/article.cfm/bean_lovers/77100,http://www.steakperfection.com/delmonico/History.html,

http://www.kurtsaxon.com/foods011.htm, http://www.history.com/content/thanksgiving/the-first-thanksgiving/first-thanksgiving

A Dictionary of American Cuisines: Native American (In Progress)

New England

Native Ingredients: fruit (beachplum, blueberry, cranberry, elderberry, hawthorn, juniper berry, mulberry, raspberry, strawberry), grains (cornmeal/hominy (maize; replaced other grains mentioned), little barley, knotweed, pigweed, sumpweed), lake/stream food (gar), meats (beaver, black bear, bobwhite quail, cackling goose (winter), canadian goose, chipmunk, duck, eastern elk (extinct), eastern wild turkey (turkey the puritans encountered), ground hog, grouse, moose, north american porcupine, northern flying squirrel, northern river otter, opossum, pale-bellied brent goose, passenger pigeon (extinct), rabbit/hare, white-tailed deer), nuts/seeds/legumes (american chestnut (now nearly extinct due to an Asian blight), american groundnut, bitternut hickory, pignut hickory, pigweed, shagbark hickory), seafood (american eel, blue crab, bluefish, cod, hard clam (quahog), lobster, mussels, ocean quahog, oyster, soft-shell clam, western atlantic surf clam), seasonings (maple sugar, maple syrup, rockweed (a type of seaweed), wild onion), vegetables (beans (yellow-eye), cattails (roots, shoots), fiddleheads, locust pods and blossoms, maize (gaspe flint (miniature maize of the micmacs), longfellow flint, narragansett white cap), pigweed greens, squash (acorn, butternut, pumpkin), sun root (jerusalem artichoke))

Dishes: Breads: Nokake/Nookik/Pinole/Rockahominy/Psindamooan/Tassmanane/Gofio/Coal Flour (parched ground cornmeal made into a hoecake or cold porridge; used as emergency travel food by Native Americans, early pioneers, and contemporary backwoodsmen alike), Condiments: Attitaash (blueberry conserve; blueberries, water, sugar, lemon, black walnuts, freshly ground cinnamon or sassafras bark; Abenaki), Cranberry Sauce, Trail Food: Pemmican (travel food consisting of dried meat, dried berries, and rendered fat), 

smoked american eel, Seafood: Planked Fish (cooked on a wooden plank), Steamed Quahog, Lobsters, Mussels, and Blue Fish on smoldering beds of Rockweed (Wampanoag), Stews/Soups/Chowders: Quahog Chowder, Three Sisters Soup (the main ingredients are beans, corn, and squash; may also contain onions, leeks, garlic, tomatoes, peppers, carrots,

potatoes, and seasonings; Six Nations), Vegetable Dishes: Boiled Cider in Baked Beans (baked beans with sweet apple cider; Abenaki), Jerusalem Artichoke (boiled or roasted), Maple-Baked Yellow-Eye Beans (yellow-eye or molasses face beans, butter,

 onions, maple syrup, dried mustard, powdered ginger, salt, and water), Msickquatash (succotash: beans, tomatoes, maize)

Misc. Facts:

1. By the middle of the fourteenth century, many farmers in the Iroquois Confederacy were intercropping flint corns, beans, and squash together in mounds, referring to them as dioheka, or "three sisters." - Renewing America's Food Traditions

Mid Atlantic:

Native Ingredients: 

fruit (beach plum, blackberry, blueberry, elderberry, hawthorn, juniper berry, mayapple, maypop passion fruit, mulberry, muscadine grapes, persimmon, raspberry, strawberry), grains (cornmeal/hominy (maize; replaced other grains mentioned), knotweed, little barley, pigweed, sumpweed), lake/stream food (gar), meats (beaver, black bear, bobwhite quail, cackling goose (winter), canadian goose, chipmunk, eastern elk (extinct), eastern wild turkey, duck, ground hog, grouse, northern flying squirrel, northern river otter, opossum, pale-bellied brent goose, passenger pigeon (extinct), rabbit/hare, raccoon, white tailed deer), nuts/seeds/legumes (american chestnut (now nearly extinct due to an Asian blight), american groundnut, bitternut hickory, black walnut, pignut hickory, pigweed, shagbark hickory), seafood (american eel, blue crab, bluefish, hard clam (quahog), lobster, mussels, oyster, soft-shell clam, western atlantic surf clam), seasonings (maple sugar, maple syrup, rockweed (a type of seaweed), wild onion), vegetables (beans, cattails (roots, shoots), fiddleheads, locust pods and blossoms, maize (seneca blue bear dance, seneca hominy flint corn (ha-go-wa), mohawk round nose), pigweed greens, squash (acorn, butternut, pumpkin), sun root (jerusalem artichoke))

Dishes: 

Breads: Nokake/Nookik/Pinole/Rockahominy/Psindamooan/Tassmanane/Gofio/Coal Flour (parched ground cornmeal made into a hoecake or cold porridge; used as emergency travel food by Native Americans, early pioneers, and contemporary backwoodsmen alike), Seafood: Planked Fish (cooked on a plank), Stews/Soups/Chowders: Seneca-Mohawk Hulled Hominy Corn Soup (hominy and potato beans are added to a pot while chopped venison, sausage, carrots, rutabaga, turnips, and cabbage are browned in a skillet, added to the pot, seasoned with salt and pepper, and gently boiled till tender), Trail Food/Snacks: Pemmican (travel food consisting of dried meat, dried berries, and rendered fat), Psindamoakan (Lenape hunters food consisting of cornmeal and maple sugar), smoked american eel

South:

Native Ingredients: 

fruit (blackberry, crabapple, devils claw (AKA unicorn plant), elderberry, hawthorn (mayhew), juniper berry, mayapple, maypop passion fruit, mulberry, muscadine grapes, paw paw, persimmon, plum (chickasaw, ogeechee), raspberry, strawberry), grains (cornmeal/hominy (maize; replaced other grains mentioned), knotweed, little barley, pigweed, sumpweed), lake/stream food (gar), meats (beaver, bison (historically), black bear, bobwhite quail, cackling goose (winter), canadian goose (winter), chipmunk, duck, eastern elk (mountains of the upper south), eastern wild turkey, ground hog, northern flying squirrel (appalachians of Virginia and North Carolina), northern river otter, opossum, osceola turkey (only in florida), pale-bellied brent goose, passenger pigeon (extinct), rabbit/hare, raccoon, white tailed deer), nuts/seeds/legumes (american chestnut (now nearly extinct due to an Asian blight), american groundnut, bitternut hickory, black walnut, devils claw seeds, mockernut hickory, nutmeg hickory, pecan, pignut hickory, pigweed, red hickory, scrub hickory (endemic in florida), shagbark hickory, shellbark hickory, water hickory), seafood (american eel, blue crab, bluefish, hard clam (quahog), mussels, oyster, soft-shell clam), seasonings (rockweed (a type of seaweed), sassafras, sumac (dried, crushed berries), wild onion), vegetables (beans, cattails (roots, shoots), fiddleheads, locust pods and blossoms, maize (tuscacora white flour), maypop passionfruit (ocoee in cherokee) shoots and leaves (mixed with other greens and fried in grease as a potherb), pigweed greens, ramps, squash (acorn, butternut, cushaw, pumpkin), sun root (jerusalem artichoke), sweet potato)

Dishes: Beverages: Asi (or black drink; southeastern ceremonial drink made from the yaupon holly; after the leaves and branches are picked they are prepared much like coffee, lightly parched, boiled in water and strained), Maypop Juice (juice from the maypop passionfruit drunk by the Cherokee), Breads: Bean Bread (mixture of cornmeal and beans popular among the Cherokee), Nokake/Nookik/Pinole/Rockahominy/Psindamooan/Tassmanane/Gofio/Coal Flour (parched ground cornmeal made into a hoecake or cold porridge; used as emergency travel food by Native Americans, early pioneers, and contemporary backwoodsmen alike), Seminole Pumpkin Bread (much like a fritter and made from the seminole pumpkin; seminole pumpkin, wheat flour, peanut oil, cinnamon or sassafras bark, salt, baking powder, baking soda, water, sugar or tupelo honey or blackstrap molasses, and corn or sunflower oil for frying), Seafood: Planked Fish (cooked on a plank), Trail Food: parched and dried devils claw seeds (southern U.S.), Pemmican (travel food consisting of dried meat, dried berries, and rendered fat), smoked american eel, Vegetable Dishes: Hazelnut-Stuffed Sweet Potatoes (sweet potatoes are baked, split, and filled with flakes of roasted hazelnuts)

Midwest:

Native Ingredients: fruit (blackberry, black currant, blueberries (northern parts), devils claw (also used to make baskets), elderberry, hackberry, huckleberry, juniper berry, muscadine grapes, mulberry, paw paw, persimmon (eastern parts), plum (potowatomi), raspberry, strawberry), grains (knotweed, little barley, maygrass, pig

weed, sumpweed (especially near Illinois), sunflower, wild rice (great lakes region)), lake/stream food (american eel (great lakes), gar), meats (badger, beaver, black bear, bobwhite quail, cackling goose (winter), canadian goose, chipmunk, duck, eastern wild turkey, ground hog, grouse, manitoban elk, moose, north american porcupine, northern flying squirrel, pigeon, prairie dog, northern river otter, passenger pigeon (extinct), plains bison, prairie chicken, rabbit/hare, white tailed deer), nuts/seeds/legumes (american groundnut, acorns, bitternut hickory, pecan, pignut hickory, pigweed, shagbark hickory, shellbark hickory, sunflower), seasonings (bear fat, wild onion), vegetables (beans (arikara yellow bean), pumpkins, cattails (roots, shoots), locust pods and blossoms, pigweed greens, tipsinna (prairie turnip/Dakota turnip), sun root (jerusalem artichoke))

Dishes: Breads/Cakes: Fry Bread (first developed by the Navajo ~1860), Jerusalem Artichoke-Acorn Cake, Nokake/Nookik/Pinole/Rockahominy/Psindamooan/Tassmanane/Gofio/Coal Flour (parched ground cornmeal made into a hoecake or cold porridge; used as emergency travel food by Native Americans, early pioneers, and contemporary backwoodsmen alike), Lake/Stream Food: Planked Fish (cooked on a wooden plank), Porridge/Puddings: Wojape (plains Indian pudding made from mashed, cooked berries), Trail Food/Snacks: Jerky (smoked, dried meat strips such as bison), smoked American eel, Soups/Stews: Butternut Squash and Maize Chowder (this recipe is a contemporary Ojibway woman's adaptation of a traditional method used by her ancestors; onion is lightly sauteed in butter, squash, maize, and water is added.  It is brought to a boil and simmered for about an hour, till the squash is very soft.  It is whisked well to blend, cream is added and it is seasoned with salt and black pepper.  It is served with a dash of cayenne and a sprinkling of bacon.), Snacks/Travel Food: Devils Claw Seeds, Pemmican (travel food consisting of dried meat, dried berries, and rendered fat)

Quotes:

"Among this nation (Sioux) the French found beans, pumpkins, acorns, and sunflowers, fresh and dried wild roots and bear fat and bulbs and oil of the wild sunflower's seeds.  Bread was baked by fire or sun and flattened on warm stones.  In season, berries were plentiful; papayas and persimmons and, with the first frost, hickory nuts and walnuts.  But mostly the Sioux lived by the fish of the streams, the wild geese and the wild pigeon and all the game of the prairie groves."

~ Nelson Angren (A Short Story of the American Diet) found in The Food of a Younger Land

Southwest:

Native Ingredients: 

fruit (devils claw (also used to make baskets), hackberry, hawthorn, juniper berry, muscadine grapes), grains (acorns, amaranth (komo or red dye variety), cornmeal/hominy (maize; flint corn being preferred by many (tanchi hlimimpa is the Choctaw word for it)), ny'pa (palmer's saltgrass seeds), pigweed, white sage seeds), meats (badger, bighorn sheep, black bear, bobwhite quail, cackling goose (winter), canadian goose (winter), chipmunk, hare, merriam's elk (extinct), prairie chicken, prairie dog, pronghorn antelope, rio grande turkey, white tailed deer), nuts/seeds/legumes (devils claw seeds, pigweed), seafood (totoaba), seasonings (chile peppers (El Guique New Mexican, Chimayo), mint, white sage leaf, Yerba Buena), vegetables (beans (anasazi bean, speckled tepary beans (mohave)), maize (chapalote popcorn being the most ancient still grown being over 4,100 years old), miltomate (Nahuatl word for ground cherry tomatoes), pigweed greens, squash, tomatillo's, tomatl (ancient Nahuatl word for tomato))

Dishes: 

Beverages: Atolli (Nahuatl for Atole; cornmeal, pinole, or ny'pa, water, sugar, spices, and possibly chocolate or fruit; sometimes eaten for breakfast as a porridge), Breads/Cakes: Banaha (Choctaw; cornmeal is made into dough, rolled out into lengths of hot tamales but about four or five times bigger around, and each one covered with corn shucks and tied in the middle with a string.  It is then boiled in water until done and the shucks taken off.), Fry Bread (first developed by the Navajo ~1860), Nokake/Nookik/Pinole/Rokahominy/

Psindamooan/Tassmanane/Gofio/Coal Flour (parched ground cornmeal made into a hoecake or cold Porridge; used as 

emergency travel food by Native Americans, early pioneers, and contemporary backwoodsmen alike), Ny'pa Cake, Piki (thin, brittle Hopi blue cornmeal bread), Tortilla (made of maize, wheat, or ny'pa), Pueblo Bread, Desserts: Walaskshi (Choctaw; traditionally made on special occasions; wild grapes are gathered in the fall and put away on a stem to dry to be used when wanted.  To cook, the grapes are boiled and then strained through a sack, only the juice being used.  Then dumplings are made of the cornmeal and dropped in the juice and cooked until done.  More of less grape juice is absorbed by the dumpling and the remainder of the juice is thickened.  This dish was always furnished by the bride's relatives at weddings, while the bridegroom's relatives furnished the venison.), Entrees: Acorn Burrito (flour tortillas are brushed with melted butter and sprinkled with brown sugar and several teaspoons of ground acorns, and finally deep-fried in olive oil), Puddings/Porridge: Batarete de los Yaquis (Yoemem or Yaqui tribe; a porridge of pinole (parched ground corn) and brown sugar with grated asadero cheese on top), Ta-fulla (Choctaw; made the same way as tash-labona except the grains of corn are broken into three or four pieces, then taken out of the basket and the hulls separated from the grains.  It can then be cooked with beans, wood ashes, or any other way.  Meat is not cooked with ta- fulla.  Hickory ta-fulla is made by using hickory water (water that has been strained through crushed hickory nuts)), Tash-labona (Choctaw; corn is soaked till the hull is loosened and slipped off.  It is then fanned in an "ufko," or basket to separate the hulls from the grain of corn.  The basket is made of stripped cane and about 3' long and 18" wide.  To make the porridge, corn is put in a kettle with lots of water, salt, and pieces of fresh pork and then boiled down until it is thick; recorded during the Great Depression.), White Sage Mush (white sage seeds ground up and made into a porridge), Seafood: Totoaba Frita (Serie; fried totoaba), Stews/Soups: Green Chili Stew, Mutton Stew (Navajo), Trail food/Snacks: Bota-Kapvasa (Choctaw; cornmeal mixed with water and drunk), Devils Claw Seeds, Dried Pumpkin Strips, Pemmican (travel food consisting of dried meat, dried berries, and rendered fat)

Ceremonial: 

1. white sage is used as a smudge stick and is believed to rid a place of evil spirits

2. Mixing human blood and amaranth seeds

3. Huatle en chile verde (pueblo red dye amaranth with green chiles) is served in a summer ritual in the Sierra Madre in honor of the planet Venus, the morning star believed to promote the growth of amaranth and other native crops. 

4. The Seri Indians, who call the totoaba fish, zixcam cacola, "the Big Fish," had songs, stories, feasts, and dances dedicated to it.  The Seri believe that black brants - one of migratory waterfowl that winter on the Colorado River delta - are magically transformed in totoaba when they dive into the water there.  In their festivals, the totoaba rests on a bed of sticks, roasting slowly over an open fire to seal in the juices.

5. Feast of the Christening: a ceremony of the Hopi Indians of Arizona.  On the 20th day of the baby's life, up to which time the sun is not supposed to have shone upon it, the infant is washed in yucca-root water by its paternal grandmother and rubbed all over with cornmeal and the pollen of flowers.  Wrapped firmly on its cradle-board, it is then carried to the edge of a mesa, with the mother in her bridal clothing and carrying an ear of corn in her hand.  There, with the sun shining full upon it, the baby is touched with the ear of corn in christening, and the officiating high-priest gives it its chosen names.

The principal dish at the feast - and all foods are cooked out-of-doors - is mutton, roasted or stewed with corn and beans.  Rich cornmeal pudding, filled with peach-seed kernels and bits of mutton-fat, baked in wrappers of cornhusks, is always a part of the feast.  In season, green corn, beans, tomatoes, fruit and melons are served.  Piki bread surrounds the feasters.

~ recorded during the Great Depression by a team of writers employed by the government

Superstitions about food:

Navajo:

1. During the Eagle chant, a religious ceremony, the participants must not eat eggs of any kind, turkey, chicken, or the flesh of any fowl whatsoever.

2. Duck or bear meat is never tasted by the Navajos.

3. If a knife-point is thrust first into a melon or other food, the food must not be eaten, as it carries with it the curse of lightening stroke.

4. During the month of July, beef cooked with corn may not be eaten, as the two foods are thought to quarrel with each other in digestion.

West:

Native Ingredients: 

fruit (black currant, devils claw (also used to make baskets), hackberry, juniper berry, salal berry), grains (little barley, pigweed), lake/stream food (colorado pike minnow, cui-ui sucker (lives in pyramid lake, the lower truckee river, and was a staple of the Paiute diet; eaten fresh, smoked, or dried; endangered), lahontan cutthroat trout (Paiute; became extinct when water was diverted to nearby farms)), meats (badger, beaver, bighorn sheep, black bear, cackling goose (winter), canadian goose, chipmunk, duck, grouse, merriam's turkey, north american porcupine, northern flying squirrel, plains bison, prairie chicken, pronghorn antelope, rio grande turkey (colorado), rocky mountain elk, rabbit/hare, white tailed deer), nuts/seeds/legumes (devils claw seeds, pigweed, pine nuts (nevada single-leaf pinyon)), vegetables (beans (arikara yellow bean, speckled tepary beans (Paiute)), cattails (shoots and roots), locust pods and blossoms, maize, pigweed greens, prairie turnip, squash (sibley))

Dishes: Breads/Cakes: Fry Bread (first developed by the Navajo ~1860), Sunflower Cake 

(popular among the Hidatsa Tribe; made from seeds that were toasted and ground and formed into cakes), Porridge/Puddings: Bean Gruel (tepary beans were toasted, ground, and re-hydrated to make this gruel), Wojape (plains Indian pudding made from mashed, cooked berries), Stews/Soups: Bird Brain Stew (Cree Tribe), Bison and Cattail Stew (a Crow recipe; bison, bay leaf, cattail stalk bases, prairie turnips, cornmeal, crushed cedar or juniper berries, salt and pepper), Pine Nut Soup, Tanka-me-a-lo (bison stew from the Lakota tribe), Trail Food/Snacks: Devils Claw Seeds, Jerky (smoked, dried meat strips such as bison), Mah-Pi (Hidatsa travel food made from sunflower seed meal, cornmeal, juneberries, kidney tallow, and sugar), Pemmican (travel food consisting of dried meat, dried berries, and rendered fat), Vegetable Dishes: Baked Coogooehsa (Crow Indian style; sibley squash and onion sprinkled with water and brown sugar and baked), Boiled and Baked Tepary Beans (Paiute), Parched Paiute Speckled Tepary Beans (sand is placed in a cast-iron pot and is heated till it becomes brown.  The beans are poured on top of the sand, browned, then poured into a sieve where all the sand is shaken out.  The beans are then sprinkled with a cup of water mixed with salt and crushed bushmint or oregano leaves.  They are let to dry and are eaten as a snack or ground to form pinole.)

Quotes:

John Muir: On natives gathering pine nuts in the west

"When the crop is ripe, the Indians make ready their long beating-poles; bags, baskets, mats, and sacks are collected; the women...assemble at the family huts; the men leave the ranch work; old and young, all are mounted on ponies and start in great glee to the nut-lands forming curiously picturesque cavalcades; flaming scarfs and calico skirts stream loosely over the knotted ponies; two squaws usually astride of each, with baby midgets bandaged in baskets slung on their backs or balanced on the saddle-bow; while nut-baskets and water jars project from either side, and the long beating-poles make angles in every direction...Then the beating begins right merrily, the burrs fly in every direction, rolling down the slopes, lodging here and there against rocks and sage-brushes, cached and gathered by the women and children in the fine natural gladness."

Pacific Northwest:

Native Ingredients: 

fruit (blackberry, huckleberry, juniper berry, oregon grape, raspberry, salal berry), grains (acorns (engelmann's oak), pigweed), meats (badger, beaver, bighorn sheep, black bear, black brant goose, cackling goose (winter), canadian goose, caribou, chipmunk, duck, grouse, north american porcupine, northern flying squirrel, northern river otter, pronghorn antelope (northern california), rabbit/hare, rio grande turkey (oregon), roosevelt elk, sea otter, tule elk, white tailed deer, wood bison), nuts/seeds/legumes (pigweed), seafood (dungeness crab, eulachon smelt, herring, leatherback sea turtle (the Seri

Tribe ate them ceremonially), mussels, olympia oysters, salmon (chinook), walrus, whale, white abalone, white sturgeon), seasonings (ooligan grease (eulachon smelt oil), pigweed greens, salal leaves and berries), vegetables (miners' lettuce, potatoes (makah ozette))

Dishes: Breads/Cakes: Acorn Cake, Condiments: Potted Chinook Salmon (In a mortar, ooligan grease or butter is creamed with hazelnut oil and whipped with a wooden spoon.  Next, salmon flakes are added and worked with the pestle till smooth and creamy.  Finally, salt, pepper, lime juice, and crushed juniper berries are stirred in.), Entrees: Akutaq (Inuit dish of caribou or moose tallow and meat, berries, seal oil, and sometimes fish and whipped together with snow or water), Porridges/Puddings: Acorn Mush (Miwok Tribe), Seafood: Herring Roe (dried, salted, and bundled; frozen for later use; or eaten fresh), Salted Salmon (Inuit), Stink Fish (Inuit dish of dried fish stored underground), Tlingit Herring Egg Salad (herring roe is rinsed.  peas, cabbage, onion, and pepper are placed in a bowl.  Kelp is diced and blanched along with the roe.  The roe, kelp, sour cream, mayonnaise, vinegar, dill, and salt is added to the vegetables and is mixed together.), Trail Food: Jerky (smoked, dried meat strips such as salmon), Pemmican (travel food consisting of dried meat, dried berries, and rendered fat), Stews/Soups: Acorn Stew, Walrus-Flipper Soup (Inuit)

Ceremonial:

1. The eulachon catch is brought to shore for a centuries-old community event - fermenting and rendering the oil from the prized smelt.  Tsimshian, Tlingit, Haida, Nisga'a, and Bella Coola tribes once gathered in oil camps near the river mouths of the Northwest coast each spring.  It took anywhere from ten days to three weeks to ripen or ferment the harvested fish in cedar chests or in canoes before extracting the oil.  The resulting oil was so highly prized for it's flavor and healing qualities that it was traded in ceremonial cedar boxes hundreds of miles inland, forming the great "grease trails" of the Northwest.

2. The herring spawn harvest is a time of great celebration in the early spring.  Following the spring equinox, herring come into the fjords and bays to spawn.  Coastal tribes, such as the Tlingit and Haida, have used the arrival of golden eagles, harbor seals, sea lions, and glaucous-winged gulls as indicators that the herring are soon to spawn.  They have traditionally hidden branches or whole trunks of hemlocks (haaw in Tlingit, k'aang in Haida, siihmu at Barkley Sound) in the tidal waters, anchoring them down with stones to depths of twenty to thirty feet.  Some coastal peoples also submerge Sitka spruce and fir branches, or giant kelp (daaw or k'aaw) and hair seaweed (ne in Tlingit, Xuya sgyuuga or "Raven's mustache" in Haida) as other substrates on which to catch the roe.

Introduced Ingredients: Fruits (apples, pears, peaches, watermelon, plums), Grains (wheat, barley, oats, rye, rice), Meats (hogs, wild boars, sheep, goats, cattle, chickens, mute swan, ring-necked pheasant), Seasonings (black pepper, nutmeg, cinnamon, allspice), Sweeteners (honey), Vegetables (cabbage, beets, turnips, collards, okra, parsnips, rutabaga, dandelion, peas) 

Sources: my head, American Food: What We've Cooked, How We've Cooked It, and the Ways We've Eaten in America Through the Centuries, The Food of a Younger Land, America the Beautiful Cookbook: Authentic Recipes from the United States of America, Appalachian Home Cooking: History, Culture, & Recipes, Renewing America's Food Traditions: Saving and Savoring the Continent's Most Endangered Foods, www.wikipedia.org, www.lifeintheusa.com, www.mtnlaurel.com, http://whatscookingamerica.net/History/NavajoFryBread.htm,http://berksweb.com/pam/, www.foodtimeline.org, www.native-languages.org/states.htm,http://www.visit-maine.com/current_category.2617/current_advcategory.2423/companies_list.html, 

http://www.suite101.com/article.cfm/bean_lovers/77100,http://www.kurtsaxon.com/foods011.ht