CNN – From starters to desserts, here are CNN Travel’s 20 selections for the greatest American food dishes:
Barbecue
People enjoy barbecue around the world, but Americans have taken a collective passion for low ’n’ slow cooked meat to the next level. Spanish conquistadors brought the cooking style practiced by indigenous Caribbean tribes north. It’s arguably one of the most-argued about foods in the United States – and we’re well-aware of the grand pizza rivalry.
Four classic, regional BBQ rivalries and styles reign:
- Carolinas (where they’ve gone whole hog for pork);
- Texas (where beef is king);
- Memphis (where it’s all about ribs and rubs);
- and Kansas City (where a sweet, tomato-based sauce is a must). But that’s just the beginning.
Regional types have their own subsets of disputes.
For instance, head to the South and you’ll discover a South Carolina / North Carolina split on sauces. Then in just North Carolina, there’s the epic division of Eastern (whole hog, vinegar sauce) and Western (pork shoulder, tomato-and-vinegar sauce).
In parts of South Carolina, a mustard-based sauce from German immigrants is preferred, and in even more select spots, a relatively secret “barbecue hash” is beloved. Meanwhile, “Texas big city barbecue” is sweeping the whole nation.
Peanut butter and jelly sandwich
A satisfying and often humble economic mainstay of the masses, the peanut butter and jelly sandwich was once a decidedly fancy treat for elites in the early 20th century.
According to the National Peanut Board, peanut butter was first introduced at the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago and became popular in upscale tea rooms. Peanut butter and watercress, anyone?
The first known PB&J sandwich recipe was published in 1901 in the Boston Cooking School Magazine of Culinary Science and used currant or crab-apple jelly.
Eventually, mass production techniques in the early 1900s and the introduction of the sandwich as a ration for US military personnel in World War II helped spread the appeal. Parents did the rest, packing the easy-to-assemble, irresistible combo into their kids’ lunch boxes – or sneaking it into their own brown bags.
Red beans and rice
Rice has been a vital US crop going back to colonial America, namely in the Carolinas and Georgia where tidal flows and weather made for ideal growing conditions.
It was grueling work, conducted by slaves. In the 1800s, Louisiana joined the rice-growing game as mechanization allowed for profitable production there.
Meanwhile, red beans were a staple in Haiti. After its revolution against France, refugees fleeing to New Orleans brought the red bean tradition with them. The two foods made for a natural pairing and became an integral part of the New Orleans and Louisiana culinary identity.
Hamburger
With the possible exception of apple pie, nothing says “American food” quite like a hamburger.
Its super-compressed origin story could be fancifully called “From the Golden Horde to the Golden Arches.” Burger expert George Motz traces the modern burger’s ancestry back to 13th-century Mongolia …
