What do americans eat for dinner

Twinkies are known for their durability and shelf life -- rumour says they could survive a nuclear attack. The Twinkie forsook its original banana cream filling for vanilla when bananas were scarce during World War II. As if they weren't ridiculously good enough already, the Texas State Fair started the fad of deep-frying them. Dumped in hot oil or simply torn from their packaging, Twinkies endear with their name inspired by a billboard advertising Twinkle Toe Shoes , their ladyfinger shape pierced three times to inject the filling , and their evocations of lunchtime recess.

They were temporarily taken off the shelves between November to July -- when Hostess filed for bankruptcy. Now they are back and going strong. Dehydrated meat shriveled almost beyond recognition -- an unlikely source of so much gustatory pleasure, but jerky is a high-protein favorite of backpackers, road trippers, and snackers everywhere.

It's American food the way we like our wilderness grub -- tough and spicy. We like the creation myth that says it's the direct descendant of American Indian pemmican, which mixed fire-cured meat with animal fat. Beef, turkey, chicken, venison, buffalo, even ostrich, alligator, yak, and emu. Peppered, barbecued, hickory-smoked, honey glazed.

Flavored with teriyaki, jalapeno, lemon pepper, chili. Jerky is so versatile and portable and packs such nutritional power that the Army is experimenting with jerky sticks that have the caffeine equivalent of a cup of coffee.

However you take your jerky -- caf or decaf; in strips, chips, or shreds -- prepare to chew long and hard. You've still got your own teeth, right? Take some vaqueros working on the range and the cattle slaughtered to feed them. Throw in the throwaway cuts of meat as part of the hands' take-home pay, and let cowboy ingenuity go to work.

Grill skirt steak faja in Spanish over the campfire, wrap in a tortilla, and you've got the beginning of a Rio Grande region tradition. The fajita is thought to have come off the range and into popular culture when a certain Sonny Falcon began operating fajita taco stands at outdoor events and rodeos in Texas beginning in It wasn't long before the dish was making its way onto menus in the Lone Star State and spreading with its beloved array of condiments -- grilled onions and green pepper, pico de gallo, shredded cheese, and sour cream -- across the country.

Don't forget the Altoids. Banana split. Like the banana makes it good for you. Still, kudos to whoever invented the variation of the sundae known as the banana split. There's the Latrobe, Pennsylvania, story, in which future optometrist David Strickler was experimenting with sundaes at a pharmacy soda fountain, split a banana lengthwise, and put it in a long boat dish. And the Wilmington, Ohio, story, wherein restaurant owner Ernest Hazard came up with it to draw students from a nearby college.

Fame spread after a Walgreens in Chicago made the split its signature dessert in the s. Whatever the history, you'll find plenty food for thought at the annual Banana Split Festival, which takes place on the second weekend in June in Wilmington.

Cornbread is popular across the country, but it's a Southern classic. It's one of the pillars of Southern cooking, but cornbread is the soul food of many a culture -- black, white, and Native American -- and not just south of the Mason-Dixon.

Grind corn coarsely and you've got grits; soak kernels in alkali, and you've got hominy which we encourage you to cook up into posole. Leaven finely ground cornmeal with baking powder, and you've got cornbread.

Southern hushpuppies and corn pone, New England johnnycakes; cooked in a skillet or in muffin tins; flavored with cheese, herbs, or jalapenos -- cornbread in any incarnation remains the quick and easy go-to bread that historically made it a favorite of Native American and pioneer mothers and keeps it on tables across the country today.

Centuries before trail mix came by the bag and the bin, it was eaten in Europe, where hiking is practically a national pastime.

The thing to remember here is that the stuff is American food rocket fuel. Just be sure to store in a bear-proof canister because suspending from a branch in a nylon sack isn't going to do it.

Whether you have it Creole style or Cajun, Jambalaya is a delicious dish. Jambalaya, crawfish pie, file gumbo The sweep-up-the-kitchen cousin of Spanish paella, jambalaya comes in red Creole, with tomatoes and brown Cajun, without. Made with meat, vegetables a trinity of celery, peppers, and onions , and rice, Louisiana's signature dish might be most memorable when made with shrimp and andouille sausage. Whatever the color and secret ingredients, you can be sure of one thing when you sit down with friends to a big bowlful: son of a gun, gonna have big fun on the bayou.

Biscuits 'n' gravy. An irresistible Southern favorite, biscuits and gravy would be a cliche if they weren't so darned delicious. The biscuits are traditionally made with butter or lard and buttermilk; the milk or "sawmill" or country gravy with meat drippings and usually chunks of good fresh pork sausage and black pepper.

Cheap and requiring only widely available ingredients, a meal of biscuits and gravy was a filling way for slaves and sharecroppers to face a hard day in the fields. When folks are poor, they make do. The soul, you might say, of soul food. Smithfield ham. Legend has it that the first sale of Smithfield Ham occured in Notice "ham" comes before history, which really says something considering this hamlet of 8, was first colonized in Epicenter of curing and production of a head-spinning number of hogs, Smithfield comes by the title Ham Capital of the World honestly: lots of ham is called Virginia, but there's only one Smithfield, as defined by a law that says it must be processed within the city limits.

The original country-style American ham was dry cured for preservation; salty and hard, it could keep until soaked in water to remove the salt and reconstitute before cooking. The deliciously authentic cured Virginia country ham happens to have been the favorite of that famous Virginian, Thomas Jefferson. Chicken fried steak. How do you make steak even tastier? Pan fry it in bread crumbs, of course. A guilty pleasure if there ever was one, chicken fried steak was born to go with American food classics like mashed potatoes and black-eyed peas.

A slab of tenderized steak breaded in seasoned flour and pan fried, it's kin to the Weiner Schnitzel brought to Texas by Austrian and German immigrants, who adapted their veal recipe to use the bountiful beef found in Texas. Lamesa, on the cattle-ranching South Texas plains, claims to be the birthplace of the dish, but John "White Gravy" Neutzling of Lone Star State cowboy town of Bandera insisted he invented it.

Do you care, or do you just want to ladle on that peppery white gravy and dig in? Wild Alaska salmon. Salmon is delicious and nutritious -- what more could you want?

Guys risk life and limb fishing for this delish superfood. Unlike Atlantic salmon, which is Alaska salmon season coincides with their return to spawning streams guided by an amazing sense of smell to the exact spot where they were born.

Worry not: before fishing season, state biologists ensure that plenty of salmon have already passed upstream to lay eggs.

But let's get to that cedar plank, the preferred method of cooking for the many Pacific Northwest Indian tribes whose mythologies and diets include salmon. Use red cedar it has no preservatives , and cook slow, for that rich, smoky flavor. Barring that, there's always lox and bagels. California roll. A section of the world's largest California Roll. Whatever the size, this is America's favorite sushi. The avocado-crab-cucumber roll became a hit, and from that SoCal beachhead, sushi conquered the country.

After leading the charge for the sushi invasion of the s, the California roll now occupies grocery stores everywhere. Wasabi anyone? The most humble of comfort food. Who would have imagined when the recipe for "Cannelon of Beef" showed up in Fannie Farmer's "Boston Cooking School Cook Book" that every mom in America would someday have her own version?

Fannie made hers with slices of salt pork laid over the top and served it with brown mushroom sauce. In her day, you had to cut the meat finely by hand; the advent of commercial grinders changed all that. However your mom made it -- we're guessing ketchup on top? And you were probably made to sit there, all night if need be, if you didn't eat all your beans.

A better threat might have been no meatloaf sandwich in your lunch tomorrow. People who didn't grow up eating them wonder what the heck they are. People who did grow up eating them and that would be just about everyone in the South wonder how anyone could live without them. Grits, beloved and misunderstood -- and American down to their Native roots.

They're the favored hot breakfast in the so-called Grits Belt, which girdles everything from Virginia to Texas and where the dish is a standard offering on diner menus. Grits are nothing if not versatile: They can go plain, savory, or sweet; pan-fried or porridge-like. Simple and cheap, grits are also profoundly satisfying. Which might be why Charleston's The Post and Courier opined in that "Given enough [grits], the inhabitants of planet Earth would have nothing to fight about.

A man full of [grits] is a man of peace. Macaroni and cheese. We have the third president of the U. Thomas Jefferson to thank for this cheesy treat. The ultimate comfort food, macaroni and cheese is also the salvation of many a mom placating a finicky toddler. Nothing particularly American about pasta and cheese -- except for the fact that on a European trip, Thomas Jefferson liked a certain noodle dish so much he took notes and had it served back home at a state dinner as "macaroni pie.

Jefferson's cousin Mary Randolph included a recipe for "macaroni and cheese" in her cookbook "The Virginia Housewife. So whether you're eating a gourmet version by one of the countless chefs who've put their own spin on it, or just digging like a desperado in the pantry for that box of Kraft, give mac and cheese its patriotic props.

Maryland crabcakes. An American classic, best served with a view across the Atlantic. The Chesapeake Bay yields more than just the regatta-loving suntanned class in their sock-free topsiders.

It's the home habitat of the blue crab, which both Maryland and Virginia claim as their own. When Baltimore magazine rounded up the best places to get the city's signature food, editors declared simplicity the key, while lamenting the fact that most crabmeat doesn't even come from home turf these days. Kind of makes you crabby, doesn't it? Potato chips. We have a high-maintenance resort guest to thank for America's hands-down favorite snack.

A persnickety customer sends back his French fries then highfalutin fare eaten with a fork for being too thick. Crum makes a second, thinner, order. It has a luscious light flavor and low salt content.

They say breakfast is the most important meal of the day, and this combo certainly delivers from a balanced diet perspective — as long as you keep the bread to whole wheat and sprouted grains. Ezekiel bread rules this perspective, as it has no added sugar. As for eggs, boil them, scramble them, do them sunny-side up. In the South, fried eggs are king, while fluffy egg sandwiches are popular on the East Coast. Add it: Sliced avocado, which is full of healthy fats and vitamins, for that full Sunday brunch vibe.

Vary it: Use a variety of colored peppers. The more colorful the better: Each color packs a variety of antioxidants and health benefits. A Midwestern classic, the quality of this meal depends on the cut of beef. And that tomato?

When cooked, radishes lose their spicy flavor and taste remarkably like potatoes. Texture-wise, baked turnips and parsnip fries come pretty close to the original deal. Try it: A recipe for a Peruvian beef and potato stir fry by Whats4Eats. Quinoa is fast becoming the grain of choice for diners looking for healthy variety. Likewise, turkey, being lower in calories and higher in protein than chicken, is now a go-to lean meat. Together, these three ingredients make for a delicious high-fiber meal and will look amazing in a bowl presentation.

Try it: Pre-chop your broccoli over the weekend to save time once you get cooking. Vary it: Get more veggies in there by using cauliflower rice a great source of fiber and vitamin C instead of quinoa. Try it: A recipe for a turkey and vegetable quinoa skillet by A Dash of Megnut.

From braised to roasted to barbecued, there are many ways to prepare pork. The main question remains: To sauce or not to sauce? On the coasts, pork tends to be prepared more minimally, letting the meat speak for itself. Do it: Buy only lean cuts of pork. Vary it: Swap spinach for frozen veggies. Try it: A recipe for spinach couscous by Chatelaine.

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