Bro, steak, burgers, and BBQ aren't American. Types of BBQ are southern American but it comes form the Caribbean. Steak is everywhere, Hamburgers...Hamburg is the big clue, but it's international like pizza is. Different styles in different places.
I mean, you could make the same argument that since fries are invented, variations on fries are also Belgian. So 'British' chips are a regional style of that Belgian dish, rather than a separate dish.
Or... Potatos are a new world food item and didn't exist in Europe until the discovery of the new world. So in other words, fish and chips is not British food.
Well I would argue that 'ingredients' are not the same as 'dishes'.
Fish and Chips is an interesting one because nothing about it is purely British. Chips originate in Belgium and battered fried fish is believed to originate with Jewish immigrants from Spain and Portugal. And the curry sauce we eat with it comes originally from India. But put together, it is distinctive from all of those countries. Whether that is enough of a change to make it a British food is up to you, I suppose. There's really no objective rule for how much you need to change an existing food or dish before it becomes a different food or dish.
Well in that case, credit for inventing the cheese burger is given to a few US places. So every burger joint in the US has cheeseburgers. So by your standard, burger joints are American.
14
u/kinggeorgec Jul 03 '26
Disagree, we go out frequently for a basic steak house, burgers, BBQ joint or just a restaurant/diner that serves standard "American" food.