Late night thought on a road trip in the US and I can’t stop think what an “All American meal with a great from every state” would consist of. Like something that a state is know for being exceptional in from beef to white tail to peaches to oastets to sunflowers to almonds to coffee. Even better it’s something an average American could actually eat in one meal.
Extra bonus points include the greater US (American Samoa, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands)!
If others want to through other wide geographic/culture dishes like an EU, North African, all of China please do so too, it would be interesting to see too!
You could have a month (or quarter year) featuring food from the different states. Louisiana is known for boiled crabs and crawfish, as well as Cajun and creole cooking. Maryland is known for crab cakes. Utah is known for gelatin salads. Nebraska (Omaha) is known for its steaks. North Carolina is known for two distinct types of barbecue sauce.
I know, I was thinking just ingredients from each state, but all the different forms people have recommended makes me think you could take these ingredients and make a bunch of different styles of meals like you were saying.
To add to your list from others on here and some I thought of. Burritos, tacos, pasties, hotpots, stir fries, burgers, pho, sushi rolls, etc, because we have such a diversity of people here!
Oh man, bbq, there was a restaurant that did that well in Virginia that let you taste different styles of bbq sauce and seasonings from across the country. It was awesome! For NC are you talking about their sauce that doesn’t have tomato is much stronger viniger flavor for it? Another interesting bbq is Alabama white bbq sauce which also forgoes tomato base and instead has a mayo and horseradish base!
I was speaking from personal experience in the states I mentioned, as well as everyone else responding to your post.
You can separate native recipes from recipes brought later by other cultures, but the only difference is native recipes were brought by the original settlers.
Burritos are an interesting example. In Mexican rural areas, burritos were plain, as the people didn’t historically have access to spices. When the burrito was originally brought to Texas, the cooks added spices. Now, you can find burritos almost anywhere in the world, each city making them with their own flavor. Just like hot dogs and pizza.