Everything You Know About American Food is Wrong. 

I'm surprised there was no mention of American barbecue, which is a whole cuisine in itself, arguably several

As someone from the Midwest this slander will not be tolerated. Consider yourself uninvited from the tatertot hot dish potluck.

"A lot of people associate Tex-Mex as a bad American copy of Mexican food -- but that's Taco Bell" 🤣 Looks like my precious Chipotle was spared this time...

The fact that you said "Fried cheese curds?!" tells me you've never enjoyed a cheese curd in your life

As a Midwesterner, I think that Midwestern cuisine is really underrated. It's not all fast food. The Midwest gave birth to Cincinnati Chili, Coney Island Hot Dogs (Detroit), Upper Peninsula Pasties, Wisconsin Fish Boils and many, many recipes that you will not find in restaurants let alone fast food places but were handed down from immigrant ancestors. Sometimes these make it into cookbooks but many were not. I think the Midwest is overdue to take its place on the culinary stage.

Wow, you've done the Midwest dirty my guy. In Wisconsin we got mixtures of French and German cuisine to die for.

Bro has never had a good Great Lakes fish fry. Also it is apparent you have never had good cheese curds

I was really disappointed that for an otherwise great video on the diversity and excellence of American cuisine, the "Midwest has bad food" was still perpetuated. There are so many unique and delicious dishes and foods you can only get in the Midwest and there is a very strong German/Scandinavian/Irish influence across much of the region in regards to food, as well as more recent Mexican, Hmong, Somali, and various other more recent immigrant cuisines coming in and influencing the food. In some fairness, a lot of the best parts of Midwestern cuisine is very seasonal, very local, and/or primarily homemade but it's still disappointing to see. Bratwursts, pasties, kugels, strawberry rhubarb pie, puppy chow, fish boil, fish fry, burnt ends, frozen custard, sauerkraut-based dishes, casserole (I'm sorry, but on a cold winter night, a properly seasoned and well constructed casserole with ingredients that meld together beautifully is perfect, I don't care that it is seen as low class), funeral potatoes, bannock, champ, soda bread, perch, walleye, cranberries, cherries, pickles, kohlrabi, piroshiki, sausages, local award winning cheeses (Wisconsin is one of the only US states who even has a chance of standing with the big boys across the pond in cheesemaking), artisanal wines and beers, pickled foods, venison, kuchen..... A lot of Midwest cuisine is pretty seasonal. You'll get more casseroles and preserved food during the winter and more fresh and grilled food during the summer. Midwest cuisine has its silly weird options, especially for those who didn't grow up with them, but there's real food here and really good food and it is only getting better the more it diversifies.

Insulting toasted ravioli and fried cheese curds is atrocious

Great video, but I kinda feel like you did the Midwest a little dirty (Midwestern "food"?). A lot of midwestern cities have great culinary stories that go beyond toasted ravioli, not to mention the immigrant populations that have made significant contributions. In my own area, we enjoy a lot of great Eastern European-inspired cuisine, such a pierogi, paczki, and paprikash. I would have appreciated this more if that could have been acknowledged more, rather than focusing on bad stereotypes.

Toasted ravioli isn't even that weird. It was literally invented by an Italian guy in st. Louis. Tastes good.

The Midwest definitely gets a bad wrap. It’s home to a lot of good food, some of the best cheeses you’ll ever taste are made in Wisconsin. I think the issue is there is a lot of good and bad in the Midwest and people just seem to only see the bad.

American food is not a monolith and can hardly be called one cuisine at this point if ever.

Screw this guy. Midwestern food is genuine culinary Americana. It isn't called America's Breadbasket for nothing. We have the best farms producing the best ingredients, which developed into wholesome, filling foods for hardworking people. I don't think you know a darned thing about the Midwest.

Corn is one of the most American foods, the problem is fresh corn becomes sub-par really fast so the world knows us for caned corn... something we never really use. If you want America outside of the state get dried corn, or cornmeal and look up recipes from Texas. There is definitely also Cajun in that influence, and yes it is a strange mix of Native and old-world French food and it is the origin of our obsession with peppers even more so than Tex-Mex. It is what we exported to replace well pepper, as in black pepper. America was largely founded for spices and peppers are one of those.

Could tell he was an east coast elitists as soon as he glossed over and dismissed the entire Midwest. New York cities food is overrated especially their pizza. Give me KC BBQ or Chicago deep dish over anything New York style everyday of the week.

Came here to say he didn’t have one nice thing to say about Midwest food but it seems I’m not alone.

Lovely video! One precision...I would have added a reference to Caribbean around the <a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="705">11:45</a> section. I can't think of NYC without thinking of Jamaican restaurants, West Indian food in Flatbush, Dominican eateries and more!

I didn't realize how good American food was until I moved to Europe. I miss it so much.

Man just insulted cheese curds...and this will not stand. THe midwest makes comfort food, nothing more too it. Large populations of German, Scandinavian, and Polish immigrants shaped the midwest cuisine to enjoy hearty stews, savory chillies, and food items utterly drenched in cheese. Midwest also has some of the best soil in the world. Not as great as ukraine, but the topsoil leads to amazing dishes around one of the most unique tastes in the world. Midwest sweet corn, which does taste utterly different than anywhere else in the world and reflects in our dishes. Our food is likely to kill someone with the amount of calories and cholesterol it has. But, none the less it is good...albiet uninspired at times. But midwesterners are a simple people and like simple delicious foods. Wether it be our legendary beer battered fried food, or bratwursts, the amount of gravy drenched country fried food. Or well, just anything you can fry. Especially the cheesecurds of Wisconsin.

One thing not mentioned about the West Coast is that Uramaki(inside out) sushi rolls like california, spicy tuna, spider, etc was popularized in America & Canada there in multiple cities from LA to Vancouver/Victoria BC. Or that Chicken Teriyaki is a staple of Seattle fast food and takeaway culture, which while started by Toshi Kasahara with Toshi's Teriyaki also had influence from Korean Americans who opened up strip mall teriyaki joints all around the Seattle area.

You did the Midwest so dirty. We have so much fantastic food stretching from a good ol fish fry, cheese curds, and tatertot casserole (or hotdish, depends on how you were raised) to giant breaded pork tenderloins, Beer Brats, Shepard's Pie, Sloppy Joe's (or loose meat sandwich, again depending on how you were raised) and so very much more. And dont even get me started on the desserts. This is not to mention the thousands of local and family dishes with even deeper roots to the immigrant and religious groups of the Midwest, both new and old. We have entire festivals dedicated to our immigrant roots all across the Midwest. Just because you have never tried them, does not mean you need to dismiss them. Open your mind and try and experience what we have to offer.

Don't underestimate the cheeseburger, the greatest food ever invented by man.

I honestly think so many people talk shit about American food because even at its worst, its more globally relevant than most countries' cuisines. Imagine being French and realizing the crepe galete will never have the global presence of the cheeseburger or hot dog lol

Skipped Floridian food with its latin, native, black, asian and swamp influences. Gator Bites, Cuban Sandwich and Key Lime Pie is a 3 course meal...

The Midwest slander 🙄 our food has deep history too 😂

One more regional cuisine to add to the list: Vietnamese Cajun. A lot of Vietnamese-Americans live in Louisiana and Texas, and as a community they really took to Cajun cuisine. There was a lot of overlap to begin with, but they really made it their own too. While we're at it, the experiences of the diaspora are just as valid as the experiences of those who stayed in the homeland (whatever the homeland). This is how I see the cuisine of the Chinese diaspora, the Italian diaspora, etc, also. There might be differences between the cuisine in the diaspora and in the ancestral homeland, but it's still worthy of appreciation for what it is and what it says about the community and their history. I don't know how many times I've heard people looking down on Chinese-American food or Italian-American food for not being something else, but maybe it doesn't have to be.

Pretty informative video but I was wondering about your gratuitous need for dumping on the Midwest until I saw you were from New York. I mean, you may not necessarily like it, but the Midwest has an array of foods that were introduced by Germanic and Slavic migrants- such as the tenderloin sandwich, chislic or runza- plus traditions like the Friday night fish fry. You also overlooked Florida's contributions such as the Cubano sandwich and key lime pie. And maybe it's just because I had banh mi for lunch, but the Vietnamese contributions to food in America seems overlooked. The food that I associate the most with New York are Buffalo Wings...Connecticut seems to have a pretty outsized influence on American cuisine for being such a small state- the first cafes that sold hamburgers and pizza to the public are in the New Haven area- although that's broaching on some of the foods that have negative stereotypes when ine mentions 'American Cuisine'

Bro, you did the Midwest wrong. Pot roast with potatoes, chicken and dumplings, cornbeef and cabbage, stuffed peppers…Those are just some American dishes I can think of but you have tons of people there from Germany and Italy and places like that so you’re also getting lasagna, German sausages and potatoes, meatloaf, etc Midwest has good Hardy food. Nothing fancy, but it will keep you warm and full.

If you had bad food in Ohio; you were in the wrong part of Ohio, or, went to the wrong restaurant...

You're wrong about the Midwest. We have amazing food here. It was super uncalled for talking bad about us and rude.

Bro how could you forgot Amish homestyle? Shits a damn comfort food and you just lumped us Pennsylvanians in with the Midwest!? Food wise we’ve got so much on offer, I swear go to Pittsburgh and Philly and see all the unique sandwiches, polish food, and Amish meals.

Salmon is a staple in the Pacific Northwest. It's common to serve a salmon when people come to visit. On the Seattle waterfront at Ivar's Acres of Clams, you can get a sammich, a fish burger made from salmon.

Bruh you forgot About us Floridian's. We got fried fish sandwiches, stone crab, pink shrimp, mahi tacos, ceviche, gator bites, and tarpon salads. For desert we got rum cake, Amos cookies, orange cream pies, and the world famous key lime pie.

Ya know the rest of the world likes to dig into the midwests cuisine yet they've never tried most of it. However I think we can all collectively agree though, at least we didn't put beans on toast.

Like Teriyaki, American Chinese, California rolls and Hawaiian Japanese American food.

American food is just a mix of all the food in the world…idk what some people gain by undermining americas culture of being a melting pot. My fam is from Italy, Levant, and Baltics…I don’t know where else I can get all of those foods but in America, Mexico, and Brazil…which have an insanely similar history all of em.

So food in Midwest food is in quotes. Is that implying it isn’t real food? Guess Midwest is the stereotyped of the stereotyped. Also the south fries everything. Good but not exactly healthy.

We Pennsylvania Dutch were left out, despite being one of the most influential cuisines in what has become American culture and maintaining a distinct identity since the very beginning of the colonization of what became the USA. But then again, we are always forgotten about, so it isn’t too surprising to me.

yesss!! i moved abroad and I LOVE the food in the country i live in now, but sometimes i miss the diversity of american and other cultural foods that was so easy to access in america.

Corn versus flour is also a regional Mexican thing.

Hes obviously not been to midwest

Hold on dude, I being a native Texan am extremely offended by your statement "America basically took Texas from Mexico." You're very poorly educated on the subject. Texas was a former colony of Mexico, Mexicans did not want to be in Texas, so Mexico invited Gringos to immigrate to Texas to settle the great state, Mexico abused the Texicans and thus the Texicans revolted against a tyrannical Mexico City government and a few thousand Texicans & Tejanos and volunteers from other US states like Tennessee defeated the Mexican Army of 20,000 soldiers. Texas won it's independence by spilling blood and overcoming immense numerical and technological inferiority of military grade. For ten years the Republic of Texas, a new nation, would defend themselves against the Mexican government violating the treaty signed by the Mexican leader Santa Ana and would eventually join the USA, the ONLY US state to ever be it's own country before joining the USA by a special treaty. The USA did not 'take' Texas from Mexico. Texans fought for and won their own freedom. Get your facts straight if your are going to talk about Texas.

This dude is so far off on the Midwest.

The actual first thanksgiving in the USA happened in New Mexico April 3rd 1598. New Mexico at the time was not part of the USA. Although we are now. This moment in history isn't common knowledge. We ate things like our own versions of Tamales, Sopapillas and our unique green and red chiles here. You mentioned TexMex but left out New Mexican cuisine. Our state is the only state were our 22 native tribes still reside on their ancestral land. Plus the Spanish influence on our food here. Nothing like Mexican cuisine. New Mexicans consider Navajo(Diné) an entirely separate cuisine. Great video btw

(Some) Europeans watching this video: “rahhh all American food is just fast food and cheap fatty stuff, this video is false!”

Kansas City barbecue-and more specifically: the sauce-is one of the most influential foods in history…it has one of the most copied sauces in the world; it influenced multiple other regional cuisines that were already well-established; foreigners from countries with ancient meat grilling traditions are enamored with it; and it has been so ingrained into North American society that it’s the central cuisine of choice for at least three major holidays. This is where Texans will claim they created bbq…but any historian worth their salt will remind them that standard “barbecue sauce” didn’t exist before the widespread adoption and marketing success of KC Masterpiece brand (the third in the line of chefs after Arthur Bryant’s and Gates). Sure, people smoked meats before them, but that pre-dated the very existence of Texas. Kansas City perfected barbecue as a cuisine.

something people don't really talk about Cincinnati chill is it made form a Greek immigrants I remember reading that the founder of Skyline was born in Greece in the 1920's but can't remember more than that.

Ain't no way he just did the Midwest like that 😂😂

<a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="449">7:29</a> - Crab cakes are not really a big New England thing. That is more of a Chesapeake Bay thing.

You forgot about Appalachian food 😢

You had me until you decided to put cheese curds on your list of bad midwestern food. Cheese curds are what mozzarella sticks dream about. And while your comment of Chicago deep-dish *is* heresy, the real food to try in the city is the Italian beef sandwiches and bratwursts. Both foods from immigrants that influenced and were influenced by the culture of the great lakes.

You missed Floridian food, a delicious blend of various Caribbean flavors, and fresh Floridian ingredients.

Great video! Texan here - the flour tortillas actually come to us from the norteños in the neighboring parts of Mexico. The explanation I always heard is that those parts of Mexico aren’t great for growing corn, so they grew more wheat, and as a result used flour tortillas.

Cincinnati chili originated from greek immigrants and the sauce is actually quite complex and delicious. I’m not from the Midwest and I’ve never heard of anyone saying it’s the laughing stock of American cuisine. Sounds kinda snobby to be honest.

What’s wrong with fried cheese curds 😭?

erhm, actually, they didn't have turkey at "the first thanksgiving." that tradition wasn't started until several centuries later

You can’t hate a pulled pork sandwich 🤤

Thank you for this video Matt! I actually find it funny but unsurprising when I tell people that 1 of my favorite cuisines in the world is American food and people usually respond with "gross" or "so unhealthy" because they think I'm thinking of fast or extremely processed food but I have to explain that I'm referring to Soul food and Cajun food and sometimes they don't even know what that is!

Chicago & Detroit style pizza is better than NY. Sorry not sorry

America is an immigrant country, the world comes to America, bringing their food with them. This is why you'll find Gujarati indian dishes in the middle of Wyoming, the best Pho in the Western Hemisphere in Minneapolis, and why KimchiTacos and Tikka Masala Pizza now exist. America might not have the best cuisine in the world, but it does have BY FAR the most diverse.

Gotta say toasted ravioli and fried cheese curds sound delicious but Lutheran sushi should be a class A war crime

For some people whom suffered under cosmism rule, 100 % of Romania, Poland, Czechoslovakia, Hungary & Yugoslavia corn bread was a lifesaver, that being said, I don't recommend experimentation unless you know what you are doing and pls don't use a beadmaker for it, it wont taste good,

Great video and fantastic production. Love the Johnny Harris vibe.

Some Germans came to Albany to trade succotash for wampum.

hey! Love the video, but buster, you better take those quotes off of midwest "food" , The Bloody Mary is russian service in a pint glass, and i will not tolerate disrespect for brats and fried cheese curds thank you very much! nah but for real though, thank you so much for making this video! IT's important that we -as americans- should also resist the idea that our culinary culture has and always will be defined by corporations. Even if we acknowledge the logistical triumph of what mass marketed food did at the outset!

SoCal mexican food is its own beast worthy of (and arguably better than) its Texas Mex counterpart. Blending disparate traditions of carne asada and french fries to create one of the best dishes in the USA: Carne Asada Fries. Also worth mentioning are the style of burritos in SoCal, which are often quite large and consist of protein, guacamole, and pico de gallo with an optional sour cream. Also, I imagine you didn’t mention burgers and their many variants because you’re going to do a video all about America’s favorite sandwich

Indonesian cuisine is extremely diverse but massively underrated because the popular ones are handful - Rendang, Gado-gado, Bakso, Nasi Goreng etc

When it comes to the Midwest, you have shown how you do research, with is none at all. I’m so sick of the coastal U.S. thinking they are better then the rest of the country.

Japanese hot dogs come from Vancouver BC

Come on at least give Detroit a shoutout for being the birthplace of the Ice Cream Float.

Meat, potatoes, and one or two vegetables was our normal dinner food.

America offers a broad variety of food, ranging from garbage to fresh meats. The fresh, unprocessed stuff is the good stuff. I don't waste my money on the stuff that is just junk One of the weaknesses of American cuisine is candy. Most American candy just tries to be as sweet as possible, and it becomes a boring one note flavor that just leaves an icky aftertaste that I have to wash down with water or something salty. There are exceptions but finding candy with a complex flavor profile in America is like finding a needle in a haystack. Now I have tried English candy and it was like night and day. The candy from England is not made with as much artificial crap, and the flavor is MUCH more complex, the gummies have sour notes and the chocolate is salty and savory on top of just sweet. None of the candy was boring to the palate. The only one I did not care for was a turkish delight bar, it just tasted like a chocolate covered cherry without the cherry and a hint of a floral aftertaste. Oh and the Smarties were stale as shit

You completely glossed over the west. Not surprising for someone based in New York. But no worries, we'll keep our food culture to ourselves if you don't want to cover it.

So why does the Rocky Mountain region doesn’t get meintioned outside of the Navajo region?

Midwest food > anything Matthew eats

is there any frame where the food map is just shown off entirely? I require it to show to my Argentinian friend the next time they say the USA should have a unified cuisine. (they would refuse to watch the entire video because it's not 30 seconds long.)

Fried cheese curds are incredible.

You forgot Puerto Rican cuisine 🇵🇷🇺🇸

Nah but for real you need to revisit the Midwest instead of glossing over it like you did. We have fish frys from the great lakes region with walleye and perch, Chicago style hot dogs, deep dish pizza, pub style pizza, tenderloin sandwiches the size of your face. Also have you tried a tatertot hot dish or fried ravioli, judging by your review I'm guessing no. Not to mention all the handmade baked goods from Amish country. Honestly this video did a disservice to the Midwest. I will admit though Cincinnati Chili is an abomination and should be thrown in the trash.

yet again New Mexico get's left out.-

Nacho were invented in a border town on the mexican side. Not that hard to google the right information

Tex-mex is like soul food but with Mexico instead of Africa. It was the vaqueros working getting the bad cuts and trying to do something with them. Barbacoa takes a day to cook in a dug out pit and fajitas (flank steak) has to marinated and trimmed right or it's not edible. Rice and beans kept you full on a long cattle drive from Northern Mexico or Southern Texas.

Big ups for you for picking the topic, thank you for bringing awareness to it. I don't think Europeans esp realize the scope of America--but man you did Alaska so dirty. We have such a rich history. The native culture absolutely influences the local culture--near everyone hunts or fishes their own food. Most everyone gathers and forages in the late summer. The things the natives have been through have absolutely affected their food history and it's trickled down to Alaska's food culture. There's so much to say there. The least you could do is say akutaq right "uh-goo-tuk" the last part of the word is said very short like a clicking sound. Appreciate you for making this video though, this has inspired me. Can't wait to see what else you make.

Another sick video! 🤘

Creole and Cajun my guy lol.. Creole food is older and most of what Louisiana is known for as far as food is Creole. A combination of local French, Spanish, African, Native american and Carribean. U totally missed that! Cajuns and Creoles are similar, but not exactly the same. The biggest difference is Creoles are ethically more mixed than Cajuns (Acadians from Canada). Just wanted to correct that mistake my friend.

Love the video, I feel as if American history, culture and cuisine is overshadowed by stereotypes that are either an outright lie or sometimes true. American history is actually decently interesting and unique, at least in my opinion seeing as we started and grew as a country like no other before us. All I'm saying is we representing NC BBQ here 🔥

A lot of foods we enjoy are minimally-processed. Steak, slow-cooked ribs, baked potatoes, corn on the cob, green beans with onion and bacon, collard greens. While many of the countries I've visited pride themselves, and rightly so, on their own cuisine, but lean just as heavily (or more so) on highly-processed foods. Which are not necessarily any less healthy, or more healthy. Or lower or better quality. See the nixtimalization of corn, the boiling of vegetables to make soup, the soaking and cooking of dry beans. In each case, moving these foods further toward the processed end of the spectrum AND greatly increasing their nutritional value.

Umm, Detroit style pizza originated in the Midwest

@Matthew li for being rude to the midwest you are banned from the midwest table.

Burgers are not flavorful? I dunno what kind of burgers your eating.

Thanks for this video. I often feel like American cuisine is unfairly hated on and overlooked

Thanks for the history!

Matthew, after posting below recently, I decided to return to make a point. First, the positive side--this was a very well done video, and I appreciate what you said--except for the Midwest bash. To start, do you know that for my entire 76 years and before that, casserole dishes have been selling across the country. They wouldn't be selling if people didn't make them--and the one you used as an example of "yuck!" food was the tater tot casserole, which I've eaten many times, and it's fantastic. Also, cheese curds from WI are very good. Yes, McDonald's started in Chicago's suburbs, and maybe some of the others as well. But, that doesn't mean that every food from here is junk. Also, 1 cuisine that I stumbled across a few years ago on vacation is the limited, but nevertheless very good South Dakota foods, which came over with the Czech and Slovak immigrants who settled there, and they can only be found in that state.

Hot Dogs are not simply "fast food" in New York. They can be a culinary experience. A Nathan's premium beef Coney Island Frank -- grilled crisp in natural casing -- on a bun with sauerkraut, deli mustard, and perhaps grilled onions or relish (never ketchup) is delicous. Sabrett's "dirty water" franks (ie. frankfurtuers) - named for the spicey water they are cooked in -- are a delicous New York City street food.

Fun fact. The chocolate chip cookie was invented in Boston.

Yeah. I feel like sentencing you to 2 years hard labor in my mother's kitchen learning about Midwestern casseroles. You'd think that would be hard labor, but really it isn't. O.K. I get it. The midwest had the wrong kind of European immigrants, from northern and central Europe. Not a lot of use for garlic (messes up dairy cows), hot peppers, and butter and lard instead of olive oil. BUT there is a cuisine there that is just dated. Hams, sausages, baloneys, SPAM (do they no longer cook with that in Japan?), and hot dishes that are "created" by mixing various packaged foods together in a style that is no longer trendy (why go through the trouble of making a roux when you got cream of chicken soup?). Its about cooking at home rather than in a restaurant. Stuff that anyone can cook. And home baked goods that follow central European traditions rather than Italian or French traditions that you get in New York city (If you enjoy a cinnamon roll, thank the Midwest for keeping it alive. And brownies came from Chicago). I know its easy to mock because it didn't keep up with the trend of trying to be a "home pro-chef" and doesn't look good on the Food Network, but Japan does have a similar tradition. Like I don't find a lot of Japanese restaurants in the States offering nikujaga, or sobameshi or Golden Curry, but all of those are very much part of Japanese cuisine because they are so easy to make at home and because they are easy to make, everyone in Japan has eaten them quite a bit.

Midwest "food" ... why the f- is food in quotes!? Not gonna mention how Scandinavia influenced the region? I feel un represented.

I am watching a reaction video to this video and at some point he said that Europeans came to the Americas and they went back to Africa to get slaves that is completely wrong slaves were brought over from Europe in the very beginning they didn't just go get slaves so they can grow corn slavery was an idea instituted long before the United States was a country

I've had Navajo fry bread, and it's really good. This was a well done, and informative video, Matthew. Thanks for posting it. I learned a number of things here.