Suzanne Ferraro Second blog September 18-20: Excerpts from Tasting Food, Tasting Freedom (Mintz 2 & Mintz 3) and “National and Cuisine” (Restaurants & Newspaper Ads)

I agree with Mintz that we don’t have American cuisine. After all, it is based on regional and not national factors, and our population is so diverse. In the reading, it mentions in the United States, people rarely talk about “American Cuisine.” I agree that it is easier to imagine how French cuisine, Indian cuisine, Thai cuisine, and Chinese cuisine might exist, but according to Mintz, those are not actually cuisine either. Author Sidney Mintz agrees with Jean Francois Revel, a French writer who wrote on French culture and cuisine, that there is no such thing as genuine national cuisine for any other country. I think the article mentions that there are foods of places, not countries.

Secondly, in the reading, I believe if we had to pick what American cuisine is, the term would be fast food or junk food. The article mentions that cuisine can be associated with a person’s class or social standing. No one talks about American cuisine in general, but there is a greater emphasis on regional cuisine like Creole from New Orleans in the United States. Overall, I enjoyed reading about American cuisine and how we would or would not define it.