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Healthy American Foods
CygnusZ
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
I've been asked by my employer in Japan to talk about "healthy" American foods. I'm sort of coming up with nothing though. Most food that Americans eat is from other cultures, and the food which really is American tends to be extremely unhealthy (Ie. BBQ). The closest thing to a healthy food which I've been able to come up with so far is Clam Chowder.
Can you guys help me? (pretty please?)
Can you guys help me? (pretty please?)
CygnusZ on
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You should look into the huge vegan movement here in America.
things like potato salad, corncobs, coleslaw and so forth are all that spring to mind immediately
i suppose things like grits and collard greens might be considered "typically american" by this point as well
bear in mind i'm thinking of things that could be considered "american" in general by the rest of the world, instead of regional stuff
if you look into regional cooking, i'd wager you'll find heaps of healthy stuff
edit: wikipedia's list of American regional and fusion cuisines might be a good place to look for information
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For breakfast ideas, all I've got is grits (though grits aren't so great plain; butter makes em delicious), eggs, and biscuits or toast (toast + apple butter = awesome). I guess the bacon/sausage to go with it is out though.
Sorry all my ideas came from one region of the US!
Consider things that are baked as well. A lot of food is actually healthier than it looks if it's cooked properly.
Also fish, I love me some home grown pacific northwest fishies.
Cut them into steaks, throw them on the grill with some green onions and rosemary and eat!
A bowl of cereal is great healthy breakfast food, and it's American!
I can't really think of actual recipes.
For a meal, fried fish and shellfish are pretty neutral, as the foods being fried are nothing. Apple cider is good for something or other, and there's the classic 4th of july meal: new potatoes, early peas and fresh Atlantic Salmon. You'll want to switch to the more sustainable Alaskan salmon, though, as it's better for our fish stocks and doesn't taste farmed like atlantic tends to. Anything with bluefish or striper is also a good bet, as both are native fish.
I don't know how American this is, but a staple in my family is to preheat some oil to 350 or somesuch on a baking sheet, dip cuts of tilapia then bread them, and finally bake them in the oven, flipping them halfway through.
Healthy foods? Well, you'd really have to ask some older folks to know what that means...meat is so cheap these days it's the staple at damn near every meal. Such was not always the case, though...you have to look at side dishes that are starchy and cheap because that's probably what was at one point the main 'filler' in a given meal. Failing that, if it's intended to be made with cheap meat (tough cuts of beef or chicken) then you're probably looking at a fairly good candidate for the rare crossover of 'healthy' and 'American'.
Breakfast:
-Pancakes/hoe cakes. Seriously. So long as you don't drown them in butter and syrup or eat a stack of 12 of them then they're not bad for you at all. Hoe cakes are pancakes made with corn flour instead of wheat flour. You're supposed to eat them with molasses instead of maple syrup.
-Grits. Butter and salt to taste, fills in for bread/cereal in the South. One of my personal favorites. Many people don't like the texture but there isn't really a flavor to speak of.
-Coffee. I understand that it's quite popular in Japan, too. I can't think of why not to include this, it's been the breakfast drink of choice for millions of Americans for...well, since there's been an America. Fun fact, first coffee house in what would later be the USA was built in Boston in 1676.
-Fruit. Fruit is great for breakfast. Kind of an international thing, though...I mean, who would think that a sugary food would wake you up when eaten?
Lunch:
-The lowly sandwich. Not what you buy at a fast food shop stacked with 3/4 of a pound of meat on a hoagie roll. 1 slice of meat on wheat bread with lettuce and 1 slice of cheese. Mayo OR mustard, not both.
-Soup/stew. Again, not the crap you buy at the store. Soup is a good way to make use of leftover meat. Chicken soup is a good one and so is beef stew because they're both made out of cheap and lean cuts of meat.
Dinner:
-Baked chicken. My granny used to bake a whole chicken when we'd go visit. Pretty simple stuff, put a chicken in a roasting pan with carrots and potatoes, season to taste, and cook until done. She'd add water to the bottom of the pan to keep the meat moist. The added bonus is home made chicken stock for later meals.
-Game. No one in my family hunts but we used to get venison from time to time. It isn't the kind of thing you can get year round but it's extremely lean meat. Also, it's usually pretty gamy, which I would have to define as a nice way of saying 'sort of nasty'. Squirrel is also pretty tasty though you WILL feel like a hillbilly after you've eaten it.
-Green beans. Depends on how they're prepared, obviously. The typical way I've used is to boil them lightly in weak beef stock over a period of about 2 hours. Sometimes a small bit of bacon is added in with the beef stock. Not the healthiest dish but it isn't dripping in fat either. Also, delicious.
-Potatoes. Cripes, I shouldn't have to explain this one. The USA is a meat and potatoes kind of place. So long as they aren't fried there's nothing to them except starchy goodness.
-Corn on the cob. Again, simple food. Boiled or grilled, salt and butter to taste. Knows no regional boundaries.
-Cornbread. Cornbread is another common food in the South. It's supposed to be made with bacon grease but olive oil works just as well. Again, not the healthiest food but it's cheap and will help fill you up.
Desserts and snacks
-Healthy? Hell no, that would be a stretch no matter what country you were looking at.
-Uhhh, only legitimate example I can think of is watermelon. Georgia (the peach state) produces more watermelons than peaches. Almost a guarantee you will eat watermelon if you visit the USA around July 4th. I don't know why, it's just one of those things. Again, I do believe that watermelons are a favorite in Japan during the summertime, as well.
Again, sorry for the wall of text.
Most food considered to be traditionally American is unhealthy.
Kimchi isn't healthy?
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Actually I have been in Korea for 3 months and I have not had Korean food yet. It is pretty hard to find, all the places Americans go are places made for Americans and it is pretty much the chinese-american food you will find at your local "Chinese Take out" place.
American food also has a lot of hot dishes or casseroles, meat (usually hamburger, sometimes chicken), with rice and usually cream of something soup. Lake fish is pretty popular in Minnesota but that is really not American until you fry it and serve it with fried potatoes.
If you say American food is only things which have been invented since the nation was founded, then it will all be quite unhealthy, I think. Most of the healthy ways to eat food (and plenty of unhealthy) had already been invented somewhere, so that really leaves modern food with tasty but unhealthy combinations to choose from.
So then American food equals modern food. That's going nowhere healthy.
How about American food is what people regularly eat in America? Take it as 'What do people eat in America' rather than 'What has been invented by Americans'.
Then you can talk about anything healthy so long as it's actually fairly common. Italian food, vegetarian cuisine, sushi, good sandwiches, Mexican/Texmex, Jewish food, meat and veg and potatoes...
That's not healthy, silly.
Done right it is, if you are a vegan but still needing to take suppliments then you are doing a bad job. You cant just say "No more animal products for me" and go your merry way, you really have to plan and figure out your meals to make sure you are getting your vitamins, protein etc. The problem is alot of people just dont take the time to research and find out what alternatives there are to get what you need.
Did it for awhile when I was in my early 20's, my GF at the time was vegetarian but did the vegan thing for a while , her love of cheese made it very difficult. My love of everything meaty was mine but I did enjoy it and ate alot of ingredients and dishes that I wouldnt normally ever have.
Yes, I'm talking about people who do it correctly. Not people who live off of french fries.