What is the National Dish of The USA?

If you had to classify one dish as the National Dish of the USA, what would it be?
Some say it's impossible to name one dish as the National Dish.
We could probably come up with a Top 10 List, but is there one that stands Head & Shoulders above the rest?
Apple Pie?
Hot Dogs?
Hamburgers?
Thanksgiving Turkey?
Meatloaf?
Sushi?------SUSHI??????????????
What's your National Dish Candidate?

For sheer volume, I would guess there are more hamburgers/cheeseburgers eaten each day in the US than any other single food, with chicken in all its forms probably in second place.

Pizza

Bacon

Apizza!

Hands down, it would be the hamburger. It's ubiquitous and most folks eat them regularly. They run the gamut from being cuisine to being fast food. Shoot, just read the regular reports here on RF. Don't think there can be any doubt.

Turkey or grilled cheese

Deep-fried bald eagle on a stick.

I'd like to add fried chicken to my plate.

ScreamingChicken

Deep-fried bald eagle on a stick.

Now THAT will get you a visit from the FBI!

BBQ   ... maybe Fish Fry

One way to go about this is to think of foods you can get fairly easily in other countries. and eliminate it. This includes turkey, meatloaf, fried chicken, grilled cheese, hot dogs, pizza and sushi!

Peanut Butter??????
Breakfast Flake Cereal?????

Please no Peanut Butter or Buffalo Wings...or I am off to Canada for Poutine.

The All American Hamburger........no one does it better...........ask anyone thats been away from the United States for a period of time. What's the first thing your going to eat when you get back home, the answer will be a Burger at a local burger joint...................pnwc

The Big Mac ???
 

You asked national dish, not national food.
 
I think unquestionably the national dish is a porterhouse steak, with baked potato and spinach casserole.
 
You can substitute a rib eye or a strip steak, no big deal. That is a minor quibble. MAYBE a slab of prime rib, I'd consider that.
 

Is Ronald McDonald really what we want standing next to the Bald Eagle?  The hamburger is everywhere, but so are mac & cheese, hot dogs, tacos, pizza, fried chicken and noodle casserole. 
 
There is no national dish.  Different regions of the U.S. have there special foods, but none of them cross all boundaries to become a unanimous choice.

I don't think what we might want has anything to do with it.  If that were the case, filet mignon might very well be considered.  The national dish should be something ubiquitous everywhere in the country in one form or another, which makes the hamburger qualify, with chicken coming along in second place.

The hamburger plain and simple. No one else does it other than to emulate the United States. It is ubiquitous in almost every restaurant from top end to the local bar dive and usually gets top billing and generally a different listing on the menu from the other sandwiches. Fast food lives by the hamburger and reputations have been built - White Castle, McDonalds, Burger King, 5 Guys, In and Out, Culver's...you name it.

Chicken? I trust it in the Midwest and South fried but it is a specialty not generally available everywhere. Besides, other countries might do chicken better and in more ways other than fried in restaurants. Go to Bolivia, one of the poorest countries in the Western Hemisphere, for an eye opener on that.

Pizza? We do a damn good job with a rich variety but it is a specialty.

The hot dog? American, but again limited.

The deep-fried breaded pork tenderloin sandwich? God's gift to mankind and cardiologist but only appreciated in the Midwest.

In general, the sandwich, despite the Earl's name on it is pretty much an American institution.

Yikes! After the pink slime debacle...the hamburger.

 
Hot dogs/weiners/frankfurters are German in origin.
 
Hamburger is also German.  Yes, the "hamburger sandwich"  (the hamburger served on bread) is American, but at its core.... the ground beef .... is originally a German concept. 
 
Pizza is originally from Naples, Italy.
 
How about potato chips?  Not a "dish" per se, but a national food.   Maybe it would be the national snack.  It is a 100% American creation from Saratoga Springs, NY.   Potato chips are everywhere in the USA, eaten by almost every American, and not super common in other countries. 
 
 
Glenn
 
 

Foodbme


Peanut Butter??????
Breakfast Flake Cereal?????

CCinNJ


Please no Peanut Butter or Buffalo Wings...or I am off to Canada for Poutine.

 
Yay for Canada..Poutine.

Glenn1234


 
Hot dogs/weiners/frankfurters are German in origin.

Hamburger is also German.  Yes, the "hamburger sandwich"  (the hamburger served on bread) is American, but at its core.... the ground beef .... is originally a German concept. 

Pizza is originally from Naples, Italy.

How about potato chips?  Not a "dish" per se, but a national food.   Maybe it would be the national snack.  It is a 100% American creation from Saratoga Springs, NY.   Potato chips are everywhere in the USA, eaten by almost every American, and not super common in other countries. 


Glenn

i think you are quite right.. i would vote for potato chips to be one of the most American dishes..were invented in the USA as you said.
 
 

Stop the train...I would vote for potato chips!!

Chips & dip!! Hmmm...French Onion is out.

Glenn1234


 
Hot dogs/weiners/frankfurters are German in origin.

Hamburger is also German.  Yes, the "hamburger sandwich"  (the hamburger served on bread) is American, but at its core.... the ground beef .... is originally a German concept. 

Pizza is originally from Naples, Italy.

How about potato chips?  Not a "dish" per se, but a national food.   Maybe it would be the national snack.  It is a 100% American creation from Saratoga Springs, NY.   Potato chips are everywhere in the USA, eaten by almost every American, and not super common in other countries. 


Glenn

Points well taken. 
So, it looks like Eastern Carolina whole hog barbecue is IT!
 
(And I couldn't agree more.  Thank me very much.  Pass the spicy vinegar sauce, please.).

Glenn1234,
You make a valid case for Potato Chips.
Hot Dogs as we know them today, A tubed sausage in a bun, actually originated at Coney Island in 1870. Around 1870, on Coney Island, German immigrant Charles Feltman began selling sausages in rolls. This was before the guy in St. Louis sold them at the worlds fair.
So the Hot Dog did actually originate in the USA.

MetroplexJim

  
So, it looks like Eastern Carolina whole hog barbecue is IT!

Au Contraire my fine fellow!
Cooking whole hogs has its roots in Europe as well as the Caribbean. And if followed back far enough, the Cavemen!
Smoked meat has been around as long as Humans!

I can't vote because my roots are in Europe.

I'm going with roast turkey. An American bird which is not all that well-liked outside the USA.
 
Not unlike some political figures.
 
Bart

bartl

I'm going with roast turkey. An American bird which is not all that well-liked outside the USA.
Not unlike some political figures.
Bart

Ben Franklin and I also agree on Turkey. Ben wanted the Turkey to be the National Bird instead of the Bald Eagle!
It fits the bill as an "Ugly American".

BLT?

Foodbme

bartl

I'm going with roast turkey. An American bird which is not all that well-liked outside the USA.
Not unlike some political figures.
Bart

Ben Franklin and I also agree on Turkey. Ben wanted the Turkey to be the National Bird instead of the Bald Eagle!
It fits the bill as an "Ugly American".

A more accurate account of Ben Franklin and the advocacy of the turkey:
 
http://www.americanherald...index.php?n=MMM.Turkey
 
 

bartl

Foodbme

bartl

I'm going with roast turkey. An American bird which is not all that well-liked outside the USA.
Not unlike some political figures.
Bart

Ben Franklin and I also agree on Turkey. Ben wanted the Turkey to be the National Bird instead of the Bald Eagle!
It fits the bill as an "Ugly American".

A more accurate account of Ben Franklin and the advocacy of the turkey:
http://www.americanherald...index.php?n=MMM.Turkey

As a current politician would say, " Let us not be influenced by the facts!"

It has to be the dressed up and tricked out Hot Dog / Chili Dog.

My vote would have to be for the hot dog as well.

These are the things that most impressed (or surprised) our houseguests from different European counties
!.  The qualilty  of our steaks
2.  How good  that corn on the cob is
3. Our  Thanksgiving dinners, and especially the turkey
4.  Jello  (of all things)
 

Hi Greymo-good to see you!!
I think I have to agree about roasted turkey as the national dish. Most other true cultures I have encountered dont have anything like it.

Maybe corn on the cob should be considered.
 
When my parents got married my mother prepared a dinner with corn on the cob and my father was insulted that she'd feed him pig food.
 
He was from Poland and that's what they did with their corn.

O.K., let's agree on this:  all of us Americans have roots from elsewhere ... except for "Native Americans". 
 
There is a Native American cookbook written by true Native Americans that should contain the final word as to what is truly Native American cuisine:  Pow Wow Chow.  "Google" it.  

As it was taught to the Europeans by the indigenous people of the Americas I persist in my belief that pit smoked whole hog 'cue ought to "it".