I've come across a series of articles on helium.com, written by members to answer a question "What is your favorite American food?". I've read through several of these and each one sheds some light on what distinctly American food really is.

The most intriguing part of this article is how the question was answered. The choices weren't remarkably inventive, in fact, many of the choices were the same (fried chicken, hamburgers, potato chips). Each writer has a different take on American food and a different story to tell through it.        

"American food has evolved just like the nation itself. It takes a bit of this tradition and a bit of that sensibility and comes up with flavors that can only be called All-American." -Article 3, written by Rena Sherwood.

"Our food is as diverse as the countries that our people came from." -Article 5, Martha Rhodes

A particularly moving article written by Lady Lorianna about McDonalds of all places shows not only what American food is, but what it means to BE American.

I could continue on, writing about each article individually, mentioning perhaps the recipe in Article 11 for an approximation of the Maid-Rite loose meat sandwich

or the obsession with funnel cakes

in Article 15 that made me laugh with each new proof that, at least when it comes to those beautiful, powdered sugar covered pieces of fair food, proves just how nuts this author is. I could write about each article as a piece of art in it's own right, but why tell you about the treasures I've found when you could be out, finding your own, but first, find your map.

An article I read recently, written by Alan Richman, contains a list of what he believes to be Distinctly American Food, or more precisely, what it means for food to be distinctly American. Our take on food is a very unique one, mainly because "before we were able to pay attention to food, Americans had to perfect democracy, settle the West, free the slaves, crush the Nazis, and fight the commies." However, "Once we discovered how much fun it was to eat, there was no stopping us. We freed chickens from their pens-and ate them! We let pasta get cold-on purpose! We shunned preservatives that prevented spoilage-and called it health food!"

Alan Richman lists 20 dishes he considers to have "made America- culinarily, at least." In other words, these are his treasures. Want to find yours? Find your map.

There are many foods that are brought over with immigrants as they travel from their homeland to the United States searching for a new life and what they bring with them often has the potential to become distinctly American food. An article I found recently at AmericanHeritage.com tells the story of the most famous of these travelers, the dish more than the people who brought it over. Written by Hanna Miller, this article talks about pizza, it's history from start to modern day.

But pizza is Italian food, you might say. "A staggering 93 percent of Americans eat pizza at least once a month." If that isn't an endorsement for pizza being an American food, I don't know what is. She talks of the origin of pizza, noting critics of the day and their reactions, a foretelling of what would come. "The pizza could be as popular a snack as the hamburger if Americans only knew about it," The New York Times lamented in 1947, illustrating its plaint with a photograph of a pie subdivided into dozens of canape-sized slices.

"Unlike other ethnically derived foods that enjoyed faddish popularity in modern America, pizza never masqueraded as exotic."

The number one quality of any great food is that it can be enjoyed by young and old, rich or poor. Pizza is definitely one of those. It's a food made by the people, for the people.

"With very little nudging from pizza marketers, Americans have made pizza the traditional food of the emerging national holiday Super Bowl Sunday; almost 70 percent of viewers eat pizza while watching the game. "

Pizza went from a little known, almost shunned item offered by Italians for Italians to a major food of the American landscape. It took on a life of it's own and I would dare say it has grown to be a national treasure of a dish. Who knows what other treasures might you be missing out on. Don't know where to start looking? Find your map.

Distinctly American Food is a difficult subject to wrap your head around. Whether it be the origin of a cheesesteak or what soul food really is. I recently came across an article in the New York Times, written by Molly O'Neill that illustrates this point. The article is about a woman named Jan Longone who made an interesting find of an old cookbook. This find was interesting mostly because of the author, Malinda Russell.

Malinda Russell was a business owner, a single mother, lived in the 19^th century and was black. However, the important part of her story, culinarily speaking, is what she cooked. "Her savory recipes included dishes like an elegant catfish fricassee and sweet onion custard -not a mention of lard-fried chicken legs, beaten biscuits or slow-cooked greens."

Her life wasn't filled with luxury. Her husband was in fact dead four years after marriage and she was left to raise her son with her earnings. "She said she had joined a party that intended to resettle in Liberia, but after one of its members robbed her she had been forced, instead, to remain in Lynchburg, Va. "

Malinda Russell was a fighter, earning her way, building her life on her own. What she got, she earned and often, had it taken away. "After eight years of running the boarding house and pastry shop in Tennessee, Mrs. Russell wrote, she had "by hard labor and economy, saved a considerable sum of money for the support of myself and my son.""

Her life, as well as her food, was unique. It was as distinct to her as any one of us. The treasure of her life was written out in notes, in recipes, on pages spelling out who she was. Find your own treasure. Find your map.

What does it mean when we talk about distinctly American food? I mean, what IS American food after all? I've recently read an article by Carrie Smith-EzineArticles.com Expert Author titled "What is American food?" that really attempts to grasp the concept. She talks about the diversity of American food, how, in one region, American food can be a completely separate entity from another and yet, they're both American foods.

"American food, like America is as diverse and varied as the streets of New York City."

However, this isn't such a bad thing. I look at our diversity in the culinary world as our strength. Why eat the same thing from the same place at the same time every single day when out there is this great big country, there's an amazing array or new treats, hidden gems, that all we have to do is open our eyes to see. As with any culture worth it's own weight, we have a rich history of food to draw from.

"Right there with free speech we Americans are blessed with a free press and the freedom to choose by region, state or individual person what kind of food we call our own. "

I'd take this even farther. As Americans, we are blessed not only with the right to choose which kind of food we call our own, we're even blessed to discover new types of foods and blend them into the mix, create something uniquely our own.

So, what does it mean when we talk about distinctly American food? Being the mixing bowl of the world means just that. Our food is something unique, something individual, something apart from the rest of the world. We mix and we match and we create something entirely new. American food, like America itself, is ever changing, ever growing. It's an adventure you have to discover for yourself, go find your map.