Curated playlist
American cuisine
- Cottage cheeseCottage cheese got its name in the United States, where it was made in farm cottages from the milk left over after butter making. The name sounds humble, and the food is plain on purpose. It is a fresh cheese with a mild flavor and a…
- Fish and chipsFish and chips, the battered fried fish with thick potato pieces that many call the national dish of the United Kingdom, still has one kitchen where an 1860s method survives untouched. That kitchen is not in Britain. It is in northern…
- Maple syrupQuebec alone accounts for 72 per cent of the maple syrup produced on Earth. Almost all the rest comes from Canada and the United States, which makes this one of the most geographically lopsided foods in the world. Maple syrup is a sweet…
- Peanut butterIn March 2020, as the COVID-19 pandemic took hold, retail sales of peanut butter in the United States rose by 75% compared with March 2019. The jar in question holds a paste of ground, dry-roasted peanuts, often with salt, sweeteners, or…
- BarbecueBarbecue first shows up as a noun in 1697, and it was a place to sleep. The English buccaneer William Dampier wrote that his party lay down for a night upon their "Borbecu's, or frames of Sticks". Three centuries later, the word names a…
- TamaleA red light burning outside a home in Guatemala at night signals that tamales are for sale inside. The tamale itself is a parcel of corn dough and filling with roots thousands of years deep. Today it appears in Andean valleys, Caribbean…
- Soul foodSoul food is the ethnic cuisine of African Americans, and one of its earliest appearances in print is in The Autobiography of Malcolm X, published in 1965. The phrase itself was young. It took hold in the mid-1960s, when the word soul was…
- SandwichThe sandwich went before a court in Indiana in 2024, and the court ruled that "tacos and burritos are Mexican-style sandwiches." That is a surprising verdict for a food most people feel sure they can recognize. At its simplest, a sandwich…
- Chili con carneIn 1977 the 65th Texas Legislature passed House Concurrent Resolution Number 18, and chili con carne became the official dish of the state of Texas. The dish is a spicy stew built from chili peppers, meat, tomatoes and often beans. Texas…
- Steak tartareSteak tartare, also called tartar steak, arrives at the table as a mound of raw ground beef, very often crowned with a raw egg yolk. This is a French dish. The plate usually comes with onions, capers, parsley or chive, salt, pepper and…
- Pickled cucumberThe pickled cucumber goes by two names, and which one you use depends on where you live. In the United States and Canada, it is simply a pickle. In Britain, Ireland, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand, it is a gherkin. Under either…
- American cuisineAmerican cuisine, the cooking of the United States, stretches across a country more than 3,000 miles wide from east to west, not counting Alaska and Hawaii. It also runs more than 1000 miles from north to south. Along that distance, a…