A new term, a new world

Today marked the beginning of my second term at Johnson & Wales. It promises to be interesting, to say the least.

My first lab is New World Cuisine, which focuses on deep frying, broiling, roasting, and grilling. Regionally, the class looks at the Americas and the (relatively) nearby island areas. Speaking of regions, the first assignment (a small paper on the South American country of our choice - and accompanying cuisine) is due Thursday. And yes, I really should be working on that rather than writing this. But like I said, it's been a while, and I do hate to deprive the gathered masses.

I have to admit, whenever I think of - or rather try to think of - "American cuisine" I come up short. South America, sure. Mexico... while my experience is largely that of the US's commercialized version (and by "largely", I mean completely... maybe minus the salsa I've made a time or two which I like to think is a fairly accurate representation, and either way goes great with blue corn chips), I at least get the general idea.

That's the problem, I think. So much of what we eat is supposed ethnic cuisines from around the world. We take bits and pieces and americanize them to our tastes. Pizza here is nothing like what you'd find in Italy. Tacos are street food in Mexico. I really don't even want to think about what a true Chinese connoisseur would say about the buffets that, I've heard, outnumber McDonald's in quantity. I know that they at least do in my hometown.

Is it wrong to borrow things and combine and meld them into our own culture, our own cuisine? Of course not. I'm not saying that I don't like american pizza. I've never even been to Italy to try the original (a sad fact in my eyes) so I can't offer some longwinded explanation as to the varying differences. But it does give me pause whenever I think of what "our food" really is.

Then again, at the same time there are a few things that strike me as classically American. This list also seems to fall under the category of comfort foods. Not mine, so much... oddly enough I don't feel that there are any particular foods that inspire in me thoughts of home and a happy childhood... a bit odd considering that overall I spend way too much of my time thinking about food. But there are certain items that are pretty common on the Everyman's list of comfort foods. You know, the Family Feud Top 5. Meatloaf, mashed potatoes, macaroni and cheese, chicken and noodle soup. Of course, this could be because I'm from Indiana. The US is, as you may have been aware, a rather large landmass. This often leads to varying cuisines in different areas.

Just as the foods of Peru will differ from those of Brazil, Californian dishes are going to look a lot different than those from the South. That's another problem of mine. I'm looking at too large an area, expecting the tastes of 50 states to accumulate into a few simple dishes. Down here in Charlotte comfort food is just as likely to be fried chicken, biscuits, and bar-b-que. Let me tell you, I have no complaints about that idea. I do love me some good biscuits.

I suppose that I feel that, as a country, we should be more united in our culinary endeavors. I've come to expect it. Afterall, Classical French Cuisine is its own class - why not Classical American?

Is it really a bad thing to be this diverse, though?

You know what, I think I'll manage to suffer through it. There is, as it turns out, something to be said for variety.