The Top 10 Foods Only America Could Have Invented
Photo: Emdot
When it comes to food, America gets a bad rap. It’s a common refrain that America has no cuisine to call our own. We’ve got apple pie and hot dogs, but that’s about it. (And when you really get down to it, the Germans invented hot dogs, and the British were eating apple pie like 1,000 years ago.)
But the truth is, America does have a cuisine to call it’s own. Over the past 232 years we’ve invented some of the most creative, daring, and yes, downright craziest dishes the world has ever seen. Sure, they can be overly greasy, a little too cheesy, and sometimes fried a few times too many. But they’re ours. So to celebrate Independence Day, we’ve put together this list of the best foods that only a country with just the right combination of greed, grit, and gluttony could have possibly dreamed up.
The Top Ten Foods Only America Could Have Invented:
10. Corn Dog
Photo: Intangible Arts
In 1942, at a beautiful place called the Texas State Fair, an industrious young man named Neil Fletcher came up with a way to make his hot dogs sell quicker: dip them in corn meal, deep fry ‘em, and pop ‘em on a stick. And so an American tradition was born. Every year, as the weather turns warmer and state fair season comes around, Americans say to themselves: what can we deep fry next? We’ve deep fried twinkies, oreos, hamburgers, even coca-cola. But all of these wondrous achievements owe a debt to the original food that really didn’t need to be battered and fried but just had to be: the corn dog.
9. Philly Cheesesteak
Photo: x-eyedblonde
Only Philadelphia, the most American of all cities, could invent an iconic sandwich and then vehemently insist that there shall be no attempts to make it good. Crappiest ingredients only, please. Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell explained problems non PA-ers have when trying to make cheesesteaks: “First, they use good meat. You need the fattiest, stringiest meat to get a proper taste.” The second mistake, of course, is that you’ve got to use Cheese Whiz; no real cheese allowed. Rendell insists this is became “real cheese doesn’t melt,” which is of course a lie. But never matter. The Philly Cheesesteak is delicious. Would it be more delicious if it were made with thinly slice Kobe steak and melted Gruyere? Of course it would be. But it wouldn’t be as amazing.
8. “Chinese Food”
Photo: VirtualEm
One of the great things about American cuisine is that when we come up with something so outrageous that even we can’t stand behind it, we figure out a way to pin it on someone else. Case in point: “Chinese Food.” All across America, Chinese buffets offer endless arrays of beautiful, deep-fried, grease-soaked food. General Tso’s chicken, chop suey, egg rolls, chow mein, fortune cookies. What do all these dishes have in common? They were all invented in America. Seriously people, do you really think Chinese people eat this crap? No. They eat rice. With vegetables and maybe a little meat. And it’s not battered or fried, or double fried, or double battered, and it’s certainly not filled with cheese. I mean, crab rangoon? Come on, that stuff has imitation crab meat and cream cheese. It could only have been invented in one place, and I think you know where that is.
7. S’mores
Photo: Phil Hawksworth
It’s difficult to say exactly how s’mores became so popular throughout America. Graham crackers are not particularly well-liked, and neither are marshmallows. We generally do not enjoy eating things that were cooked on a stick our little brother just found in the dirt, nor do we usually like to burn our food to a crisp before dinnertime. Yet somehow, s’mores just work. Despite their cutesy contraction of a name, and the fact that we have to actually cook and assemble them ourselves, rather than order them from a fast food window, I’ve yet to meet a person who does not love s’mores. Except for foreigners, who will look at you like you are the craziest person ever if you try to explain what a s’more is.
6. Reuben Sandwich
Photo: kimberlykv
This fully-loaded sandwich may seem like an international delicacy, but the reuben is as American as it gets. Start with pastrami–a meat so infused with spices that it has more flavor in a single bite than most full meals. Pile this sky-high, preferably using at least a pound of meat per sandwich. Add on some “swiss” cheese–a bland, hole-y cheese that no actual Swiss person would ever touch. Top it off with “Russian dressing,” a beautiful orange mayonnaise concoction that–you guessed it–hasn’t a thing to do with Russia.
Next: Top 5 Foods Only America Could Have Invented
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The Reuben sandwich is a grilled or toasted sandwich made with either pastrami or corned beef, sauerkraut, Swiss cheese, and either Russian dressing or Thousand Island dressing.[1] It is typically made with rye bread.
Not enough here about cabbage. By no means.
Turducken, up until this very blog post I had never ever heard of that. Now I can not wipe the site from my mind. G R O S S !!!!!
Ketchup Baby! Ketchup-like sauces originated in Asia – and everybody in Europe (and probably everybody in the world) thinks this is an invention made in USA. LOL
Hey Ya’ll,
Come Down South, find 3v3ryth1ng is homemade!! Most born only in the USA.
Why does your title say “…only America Could Have Invented”? Why “only” America? Other countries have their own hideous foods. Gee whiz.
What a piece of shit this guy is. Let’s celebrate America’s independence by showing foods. Then bash the fuck out of them, and only show pictures that make them look like disgusting piles of shit. Fuck you writer, you anti-America piece of shit.
This is not an American invention, A form of this has been around since the Romans… History Channel wtf.
“Americans say to themselves: what can we deep fry next? We’ve deep fried twinkies, oreos, hamburgers, even coca-cola.”
Actually, the Scottish are the ones known for frying just about anything. Who wrote this crap? Other countries have done the same and/or worse than this.
I second what Joe says. Let’s throw turducken and fried twinkies at the arsehole!
Here here.
Great collection. I have tried several times to cook a Turducken – and failed dismally. I even made my own once. The kitchen looked like a slaughter house after i had de-boned the birds. What a mess.
Turducken isn’t uniquely American.
You left something out of this list. While unfamiliar to those not from western or central New York, the Garbage Plate deserves to be close to the top. Originated at Nick Tahou’s in Rochester, the plate is traditionally two cheeseburgers atop a mountain of mac salad and home fries, topped with mustard, onions, and meatsauce.
Now THAT is an American dish. You really should revamp the list to include it.
I’m a proud US citizen… but most of these foods look kinda gross to me. (S’mores, Cookie Dough Ice Cream and the Corn Dog are the only exclusions) The turducken looks disgusting. Glad I went vegetarian. -.- Yay for the newer generations of USA that are eating healthier food! Like real salad with lettuce, radishes, tomatoes, and a bit of bleu cheese on top. Mmm. ^_^
(Tomorrows my 16th birthday! Tons of cookie dough ice cream.
Nom nom nom.)
Turducken is not American at all. For one the original recipe comes from somewhere in the Middle East and is traditionally served at weddings. Plus, turducken is just a light snack (not very American) compared to the original, which consist of a camel stuffed with a goat/lamb stuffed with a turkey stuffed with a chicken stuffed with eggs. Plus all the other stuffing.
So, not very American at all.
Loved reading these crazy recepies…. Ireland has a few strange ones too- like Potato crisp sandwiches- ( we love them and always call them Tayto sanwiches) but the people of Glasgow in Scotland have it sorted- they have battered Mars Bars!!- like ur corn dogs- they take a good old Mars bar- batter it and deep fry it. It’s a gastromic experience. Don’t knock it till u try it
( Valerie – Dublin- Ireland)
Ok just want to know????? Egg rolls are not asian and asian people dont eat them??? Egg rolls have been around China and other asian countrys for centuries. Different types such as lumpia in the Philippines, spring rolls in Vietnam and Thailand. Second, most of the chinese foods that we do eat in America is still chinese just modified. They were created by Chinese immigrants to make more appealing to the American consumers, all based off of traditional chinese dishes.
Good post! Especially on chinese food. I was chuckling cos I am chinese living in America and yeah I don’t eat the American chinese food!
How did cheese fries not make the list?
Sandwich purists will tell you that a true Reuben is made with corned beef. Some places do serve it with pastrami, sometimes called a ‘Rachel,’ but it’s orgin is always traced back to corned beef. I hardly think it’s an example of American excess…if you want that, you should have listed a Monte Cristo.
And yes, why didn’t fried cheese make the list?
Al
good post!!
thank god i wasn’t born in the US
buffalo wings wit a side order of world famous newky broon,
a truley us of a invention i am sure!!!!!!!!!!!
Brownies are an american invention too.
I not sure, I would put cookie dough ice cream as number one. My first would be wings and corn dogs!!! UMMMM
A reuben isn’t a reuben unless it has sauerkraut on it. And a corn dog is the perfect, perfect food. What’s not to like about a hotdog inside fried cornmeal and it’s on a stick? Perfection. But of course you have to have HEINZ ketchup for it, no other kind. And I live near Pittsburgh, home of the Primanti brothers sandwich. Two pieces of homemade Italian bread, french fries, cole slaw, and your choice of meat and cheese, all put together in a 8 inch tall sandwich! It doesn’t get any better than that!
My mom is from the Philippines she makes lumpia (basically a filipino eggroll) and A delicious pasta thing called Panset
What about fried Coke? It’s an American institution.
I guess that is what makes American food (and America, of course) so great- it is an amalgamation of the best (and the worst) of the many countries our people come from!
I have never seen a sadder more hateful group of comments. Some good comments, yes, but many are outright offensive. Okay, so there are spelling/grammar mistakes and some foods listed are a VARIATION on foods not actually invented in America, but the writing is cute, clever and made me laugh and if you’re such a hardass know-it-all who can’t let anything go and just have a good time, then you shouldn’t bother adding yet another hateful comment because others on the hate-wagon have already crashed this party. Gain some manners, a sense of humour, or some tolerance and learn to enjoy things rather than analyze them to death.
Great article BS, keep at it!
To end confusion about the Turducken fiasco. Thanks Wikipedia : )
The largest recorded nested bird roast is 17 birds, attributed to a royal feast in France in the early 19th century (originally called a Rôti Sans Pareil, or “Roast without equal”) – a bustard stuffed with a turkey, a goose, a pheasant, a chicken, a duck, a guinea fowl, a teal, a woodcock, a partridge, a plover, a lapwing, a quail, a thrush, a lark, an Ortolan Bunting and a Garden Warbler. The final bird is small enough that it can be stuffed with a single olive; it also suggests that, unlike modern multi-bird roasts, there was no stuffing or other packing placed in between the birds. This dish probably could not be legally recreated in the modern era as many of the listed birds are now protected species. [1] [2].
In the United Kingdom, a turducken is a type of ballotine called a “multi-bird roast.”
I think the chow mein and egg roll were around in China for a while (there is debate it went to South China from somewhere else), but never in cook with the taste and style like the ones in suburban Chinese restaurants.
The Chinese folks in those Chinese restaurants would cook their chow mein or food in a less greasy and less sweet and sour loaded way, and eat very different chinese food than they sell (customers first, sell what they want and are used to). That crazy cream cheese rangoon thing is definitely US. And how do you know that you are in a authentic chinese restaurant where chinese ppl will go frequently? No fortune cookies and a lot chinese customers obviously.
i was thinking about what america has made when i wondered why hamburgers were called hamburgers when they do not have ham in them… the answer? they were made in hamburg germany. those germans sure do like naming their foods after places. anyway.. for all that have never eaten a corn dog.. you must. it is awesome. and so are wings. go obesity!!!
Cobb salad is listed, yet America is also the originator of the caesar salad, which is more widely enjoyed.
Another American food that many know of is the runza. Spiced beef, cabbage, wrapped in dough and cooked. Sometimes with cheese, it is very good to eat.
Anyone heard of a Chinese donut? Friends with a bunch of asians and they laughed when they told me that all it was is grands biscuits rolled in a different shape, fried then coated in sugar. Still good.
OH! And Jessica, There is this place is Wisconsin, The town of SEYMORE, it’s tag line HOME OF THE HAMBURGER! Yeah, it’s named for the German town cuz there were a bunch of Germen settlers there but it’s not German one bit!
The author refers to #8 as “Chinese food” notice the quotes. That means he doesn’t mean any food made in China is American. More specifically he mentions eggrolls that Americans have put a twist on and made into their own. What the article refers to aren’t called “Lampia” or “spring rolls”. If they are called Lampia or spring rolls and they have even one thing different then they are not the aforementioned “EGGROLL”. A lot of Chinese born Chinese would laugh out loud if Americans took what you’d find in a “Chinese buffet” in America, as their traditional Chinese cuisine.
Turducken is most definitely American. Look, there is no humming bird, ostrich, oyster, songbird, manatee, parakeet, velociraptor, or whatever else in this American dish. It is simply 3 birds… that’s it! It isn’t a monstrous product of some mid-evil meat stuffing marathon. If some country put 14 or 10 birds together and smoked it, then it’s different then America putting 3 (very specific) birds together and frying it, or baking it, or boiling it. Just because something is inspired by another country does not mean that country invented it. The corn dog wasn’t invented by Germany simply because the hot dog was “inspired” by the Frankfurter Wurst which was invented in Frankfurt, Germany. If I were to follow the “Turducken logic” used by many people on this blog I could throw every ingredient known to man in a huge cauldron, boil it, then any food ever created thereafter would have been invented by me.
Exclusivelty American foods not listed on his page…
Breakfast cereal
Gumbo
Jambalaya
Potato chips
Tex Mex
Southwestern
Soul Food
Beef Briscuit
Barbeque
Blooming Onion
Popcorn (Native American origin)
hash browns
bubble gum
icy pole, popsicles
kool aid
Why do we need 80 people saying Turduken and “Chinese Food” aren’t American? I think one is enough.
Marshmallows are not “particularly well-liked?” Where did you get that from?? This is blasphemy!
Where’s fried chicken? Nothing wrong with whats up there, but fried chicken is very American, as well as grits.
naaaastyyyy!!
that’s the faces of death!!
look at that… all pure fatness…
(no offense…)
What about meat loaf? Sure it’s two words that shouldn’t really be in the same sentence, but it’s got to be American.
“Mexican food”. Combine the Chinese food entry and the salad entry = TACO SALAD.
This article is a bit mean-spirited. America has produced some delicious cuisine. Even some of the items listed here, though obviously unhealthy, are quite delightful. Who doesn’t like buffalo wings? Seriously?
HAHAHA…looking at those pics of American food, uuhhmmm greasy. Now, Obama has to really push harder on making sure that every Americans has to have a health insurance.
God no wonder why so many of you are fat, I heard you people deep fry mars bars and butter!!! I am not surprised now. SHIT!
If you deep fry it you can call it your own hey? Is that what Americans are going for? hahahahaha I hate to think what Americans arteries look like.
Do you guys just put cheese on everything then wonder why you have health issues?
Nice try, Eloka…but deep-fried Mars Bars were invented by the Scots and perfected by the Irish long before they made their way here.
Good luck even finding a basic Mars Bar in the US these days…
As for all of these other “aren’t the Americans foolish” comments – I notice none of you bothered to brag about the health food options where you’re from.
Could it be because EVERY cuisine has food items that the rest of the world can laugh at for their unhealthiness?
I agree with Gerald – the ‘Garbage Plate’ (although from what I remember, it involved much more greasy meat) from Rochester definitely needs to be on this list. And, there’s no question that it was invented in America =)