Foods of America

"Tell me what you eat, and I will tell you what you are." ~ Anthelme Brillat-Savarin

I am from Maryland, not originally, but I have lived here for most of my life- 14 years.

I don’t know if you got the message in my last post- but it’s almost summer. And summer in Maryland brings out one of the greatest and proudest features of this area: the Maryland Blue Crab. It might be early in the season now, but in a month or two, orders of bushels of crabs will pour into seafood suppliers and crab houses, and hardware stores might run out of long plywood sheets that will serve as the massive crab-picking table.

Yes, crab feast season is just around the corner. For those of you outside of the state, you might wonder, “What is this madness? Why are Marylanders obsessed with crabs?” I have been asked this question many times by some of my out-of state friends. And I have one answer.

It is a way of life. We in Maryland are proud of our state, proud of our state shellfish, proud of the Chesapeake Bay (even though it is horribly polluted) from whence the crabs come, proud of our expertise at preparing and eating crabs. In my opinion, there is nothing that can better bring a community together than sitting around a giant table with dozens of your closest friends, picking and feasting on crabs, the warm summer light bouncing off your face with the scent of Old Bay wafting through the air. It’s almost poetic!

And then there is the fact that these tasty treats are just so GOOD! Well, I guess that was more than one reason.


Doesn’t every area have a dish, a food that typifies the region, that everyone gets excited about, and outsiders just can’t seem to understand? These foods bring people together, around the table and at community picnics. The shared love of regional food bonds people together in ways that those outsiders cannot understand unless they look at their own food loves. Now, I am not an expert, so I’m probably about to make some assumptions based on stereotypes. But hey— if Marylanders are apparently obsessed with crabs, then aren’t other people obsessed with their own foods?

What about Mexican food in California and Tex-Mex in the southwest, particularly Texas? Don’t all Texans eat red meat like they drink water, and Seattle-ans have coffee for blood? Probably not, actually. But these assumptions could also be based in fact, observed fact. I think many Texans would vow a love of red meat. And if I lived in Texas, I probably would, too. (But I don’t, so I won’t). Starbucks originated in Seattle. So yes, maybe coffee is a big deal there. There is Creole food on the bayou, French infusion into New Orleans food (does anybody else slobber over the thoughts of hot beignets sprinkled with powdered sugar?).

(Check out the pictures of my family's home-made Thanksgiving beignets)

New England has its clam chowder; the Northwest has its salmon; Maine has it’s lobster; the Midwest and the Carolina’s both have their barbecue; Chicago has its pizza; St. Louis has its toasted ravioli; Wisconsin has its cheese; and Key West has Key Lime Pie. These all make sense, right?

America might have its own cuisine, its stereotype of Americana. So does each American region, each state, and each city. We love these flavors, and I know that I personally look forward to tasting a little of each specific cuisine whenever I go to its respective region.

Food once again serves as a way to identify oneself, to create a community. Peoples are joined together by a connection to their region, and a love (sometimes bordering on an obsession) of a community food.