Food for thought

10 popular dishes that America transformed

The food scene in the U.S. is extremely varied, taking inspiration from different cuisines around the world. Several staple dishes that Americans know and love, such as pizza or orange chicken, were not created here; they were brought from many corners of the world by immigrants, but tastes, ingredients, and techniques have changed, and many of these dishes have also changed to adapt to the new country. Other dishes were developed in America, but they were intended to emulate or replace something left behind. Let’s look into 10 dishes that can be found everywhere in the U.S., but only because of immigration.

There’s nothing more quintessentially American than a good pizza, but everybody knows pizza is Italian, right? But not all pizza. Back home in Italy, pizza follows a ‘less-is-more’ approach: a light crust, few fresh ingredients, and minimal toppings, all aiming to achieve simple, well-balanced flavors.

On the other hand, American pizza is bolder: stronger flavors, abundant cheese and toppings, several dough styles, and an array of influences from different cultures make it a staple for all tastes and occasions. In this case, more is more.

If you know Panda Express, you know Orange chicken. After all, it is one of their signature dishes; they even have a food truck that tours the U.S., giving away samples of the dish. But did you know that it’s an Americanized version of a Chinese classic that has no orange at all?

The guys at Panda Express claim that orange chicken is their version of General Tso’s chicken, but this dish is not common in China. Instead, there are several versions of a similar dish that uses tangerine, a flavor common in Chinese cuisine but not as suited for American taste as orange.

Chicken Alfredo seems to be a point of contention between Italian servers and American tourists, the latter insisting it’s an Italian dish while the former claim they do not know about it. They are both technically right, but only because they are thinking about different things.

Fettuccine Alfredo is a Roman dish consisting of fettuccine with parmesan cheese and butter, emulsified to form a creamy sauce. This ingredient combination is not uncommon in Italy, and the dish is mainly known as fettuccine al burro (literally, ‘with butter’). American Alfredo, however, has evolved to include cream, and it is typically served with chicken, which makes it a totally different dish. It is not surprising, then, that Italians are confused.

We could spend the whole day talking about the wonders and intricacies of Tex-Mex cuisine and its importance for Americans, but let’s focus on one of its star dishes: the hard-shell taco. While the shared culinary history and cultural exchange between the U.S. and its southern neighbor is extensive, this crispy dish was invented on this side of the border in Mexican-American communities.

There’s no consensus on who invented or sold the first hard-shell taco, but there are records of its existence from the very early 20th Century. The dish gained national popularity in the 1960s when Taco Bell added it to its menu, and it’s now a go-to classic all around the country.

Some could argue that no one really eats fortune cookies, but we can agree that they are an integral part of Chinese takeout, so we’ll count them as ‘food’. However, they are not Chinese, nor were they associated with Chinese food in the beginning.

Fortune cookies were invented in San Francisco in the early 20th Century by Suyeichi Okamura, a Japanese restaurant owner, who allegedly got the idea from a Japanese snack. Years later, a Chinese cook claimed the idea to be his, and the courts had to intervene, ruling in favor of Okamura. No matter their origin, fortune cookies are non-negotiable if you are in the mood for Chinese takeout.

A staple in Floridian cuisine, one can only assume that the Cuban sandwich came from Cuba. But not the Cuban sandwich you are thinking of. What did come from there was the sandwich mixto (mixed sandwich), which, in many Hispanic countries, is just a ham and cheese sandwich, toasted, with possible add-ons such as lettuce, tomato, pickles, and some sauce.

The American Cuban sandwich, as we know it, is believed to have been invented by Cuban immigrants, and it follows a set recipe: Cuban bread, mustard, pork, ham, cheese, and pickles. Tampa and Miami fight for the honor of being the birthplace of the Cuban sandwich, with one main disagreement about its construction: in Tampa, salami is a non-negotiable, most likely influenced by the Italian community.

Apple pie is considered to be the U.S.’s unofficial pie, but it’s actually from England, which puts a new spin on the phrase "as American as apple pie". But some could think the English and American versions to be quite similar. Is there a real difference? Pie, apples, and everything in between were brought to America by the English, but the modern versions of this pie are different enough to justify a distinction.

English apple pie usually has a crumblier pastry, can include several spices and fruits such as raisins, pears, or figs, and has less sugar, relying upon the natural sweetness of apples. The American version, highly influenced by the Dutch appeltaart, has a flakier pastry, tart apples (and more sugar to balance the flavor), usually includes cinnamon, and might have a crumble. The verdict? Not quite twins, more like cousins.

If there’s a common trait for sushi in the Western world, it is that it’s nothing like Japanese sushi, and America is not the exception. The first sushi restaurant in the U.S. opened in the 1960s and initially served authentic Japanese sushi, but quickly evolved to adapt to local tastes.

While Japanese sushi is all about simplicity, American-style sushi tends to mix varied ingredients and flavors, to use different varieties of rice, and to include fusion influences. So, avocado and cream cheese? 0% traditional, 100% delicious.

The English first came across the English muffin in the 1990s, that’s because English muffins are American, even if they were created by an Englishman. Samuel Bath Thomas developed this breakfast staple in New York in the late 19th Century, and he was most likely influenced by an English classic, the crumpet.

Crumpets and English muffins serve similar culinary purposes (they are round vessels for yummy toppings), but the similarities don’t go much beyond that. Crumpets are made with baking soda, which results in a chewy, tangy dough, with bubble-like holes that make them perfect for butter, jam, or cream, and, unlike English muffins, are not intended to be split in half. On the other hand, English muffins use yeast and are more bread-like and crumblier. They can be paired with either sweet or savory toppings, and are a go-to for breakfast sandwiches. English only in name, American in spirit.

This staple dish follows an idea common to a lot of Italian American dishes: the addition of meat to a dish that was originally meatless. When Italian immigrants arrived in America, they found out that many of the ingredients they were used to were not available here. On the other hand, meat was much more accessible in comparison to the Italy they had left.

The original recipe for this dish is called melanzane alla Parmigiana (or just parmigiana), and uses breaded eggplant slices instead of chicken cutlets. No one knows who was the first to substitute the eggplant with a chicken cutlet, but we do know why it became popular.

What’s in a name?

The origin of 10 of New York City’s (many) nicknames

Image: Yucel Moran

New York City has so many monikers that one of them could very well be The City of Nicknames. Throughout its history, the most populous city in the United States has received different names, some of which refer to its political and cultural significance, while others were coined in an ironic or satirical way. Because there is a life beyond The Big Apple, in this article, we will uncover the history behind 10 New York nicknames you probably didn't know about. Are you ready?

Image: Pixabay

This is probably the most widespread nickname for New York. Although it became popular in the 1970s as an advertising campaign to attract tourists, it actually emerged as early as the 1920s. It was coined by a sportswriter named John Joseph Fitz Gerald, who at the time worked for the New York Morning Telegraph.

The expression The Big Apple in relation to New York City was used for the first time in an article on horse racing. As it was later revealed, Fitz Gerald picked it up from the way New Orleans stable hands referred to the city. "Big Apple" was what the jockeys called turf money prizes, and the biggest prize they could aspire to was, of course, in NYC.

Image: Hen Kaznelson

The nickname The Empire City refers to New York State's moniker. But in turn, it is said to derive from a statement by one of our Founding Fathers. Supposedly, George Washington once said about the city: "Surely this is the seat of the empire!".

The first written reference appeared in 1836 in an Illinois newspaper, which stated: New York City is "the Rome of America, the Empire City of the New World."

Image: Marc Kargel

In 1898, New York City was consolidated into five counties or boroughs: Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, Staten Island, and later the Bronx. So, it is not surprising that at some point in history, the nickname The Five Boroughs began to be used to refer to the city, especially when alluding to the entire metropolitan area and not just Manhattan, the city center.

Image: Jon Tyson

Today, no one would doubt that New York is a city that never sleeps: it has a lively cultural life, you'll always find a place open for a bite to eat, and you can even take the subway 24 hours a day, seven days a week. But what you may not know is that this has always been the essence of the city.

At least since the 1880s, people referred to New York City as The City That Never Sleeps for its evening mail delivery, electric lighting, and its mythical nightlife. Yet, it was Frank Sinatra who canonized the moniker in the lyrics of the song "New York, New York".

Image: Liliana Drew

What do ancient Rome and the most populous city in the United States have in common? At some point in their history, the two cities were dubbed The Capital of the World. In a 1948 essay, author E. B. White, best known for his children's books, borrowed the expression Caput Mundi from the Roman poet Lucan to refer to New York City.

Here is New York is an ode to one of the most iconic places in the world and, according to The New Yorker, is one of the best pieces ever written about the ever-changing city.

Image: NASA

In the same grandiloquent vein as The Capital of the World, The Center of the Universe is a nickname coined by Robert F. Wagner Jr., mayor of New York City between 1954 and 1965.

Perhaps the moniker is a bit of an exaggeration, but we must admit that NYC is a cosmopolitan and influential city where culture flourishes, finance thrives, and where some of the most important events in history have taken place.

Image: Alex Vegas

Yes, as you can imagine, this nickname is inspired by the many songs about the city with the title "New York, New York", one of which was popularized by Frank Sinatra.

The City So Nice They Named It Twice was first used in the late 1950s by musician Jon Hendricks. However, it was late-night talk show host David Letterman who made a version of this nickname famous in 1984.

Image: Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

New York City is like a modern-day Tower of Babel. It is one of the most linguistically diverse places in the world, where all kinds of ethnicities and languages coexist —an estimated 700! Therefore, it is no coincidence that the city has been blessed with the nickname The Melting Pot, reflecting its great cultural diversity.

The term was used by several authors throughout history, including Henry James, but was ultimately popularized in 1908 by the play The Melting Pot by Israel Zangwill, which tells the story of a Jewish immigrant who escapes a Russian pogrom to rebuild his life in New York.

Image: Naitian（Tony） Wang

You may think New York City got the nickname Gotham from the DC comic Batman. But in reality, it was the other way around. The first person to link Gotham to the city was the American short story writer Washington Irving in 1807. In turn, the author was inspired by a medieval English proverb about a village called Gotham, meaning "Goat's Town".

This tale tells the story of the town’s residents, who, to avoid the king's reprisals, pretended to be fools. Of course, Irving used this negative connotation of the term to satirize NYC. When Gotham began to be associated with the Dark Knight in the 1940s, the nickname came to invoke not New York's foolish aspects but its darker side.

Image: Jon Tyson

In stark contrast to Batman's dark Gotham, Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster, authors of Superman, created their Metropolis in reference to the city's cheerier face, that is, New York in the daytime. The main location of the comic book was first called Metropolis in 1939. The rest is history!