United States tourist information

During the 19th and 20th centuries with the influx of immigrants, the style of cooking expanded from it's Colonial and Native American periods. This influx has created a rich diversity in the country that has also created a unique regional character throughout the country.

Southern Cooking
An example of a traditional Southern meal is deep fried chicken, field peas, turnip or collard greens, cornbread, sweet tea and a dessert that could be a pie (sweet potato, pecan and peach are traditional southern pies), or a cobbler (peach, blackberry or mixed berry are traditional cobblers).

Some other foods commonly associated with the South are mint juleps, pecan pie, country ham, chicken (or country) fried steak, grits, buttermilk biscuits, especially with gravy or sorghum, pimento cheese, sweet tea, pit barbecue, catfish, fried green tomatoes, cornbread, bread pudding, fried chicken, okra, butter beans, pinto beans, "greens", and black eyed peas. A common snack food, in season, is boiled peanuts.

Fried chicken is among the region's best-known exports, though pork is also an integral a part of the cuisine, with Virginia ham being one renowned form. Barbecue is always understood to be pork, unless specified as some other meat, and there are many regional "cookoff" competitions. A traditional holiday get-together featuring whole hog barbecue is known in the Carolinas as a "pig pickin'." Green beans are often flavored with bacon and salt pork, biscuits served with ham often accompany breakfast, and ham with red-eye gravy or country gravy is a common dinner dish. A bit of fatback is added to many vegetable dishes, especially greens, for flavoring.

It is not uncommon for a traditional southern meal to consist of only vegetables with no meat dish at all, although meat or meat products are often used in the cooking process. "Beans and Greens," which consists of either white or brown beans alongside a "mess" of greens has always been popular in most parts of the South. Turnip greens are generally prepared mixed with diced turnips and a piece of fatback. It is often said that Southerners tend to cook down their vegetables a little longer and/or use more seasoning than other Americans, but it often depends on the cook.

Southwestern Cooking
Southwestern cuisine is food styled after the rustic cooking of California, New Mexico, Arizona, Nevada, Utah, as well as parts of Texas, Oklahoma, and Colorado. It comprises a fusion of recipes for things that might have been eaten by cowboys, Native Americans, and Mexicans throughout the post-Columbian era, however, there is a great diversity in this kind of cuisine within the above-mentioned states.

Southwestern cuisine is heavily influenced by Mexican cuisine but often involves larger cuts of meat, and less use of tripe, brain, and other parts not considered as desirable in the United States. Like Mexican cuisine, it is also known for its use of spices (particularly the chile, or Chili pepper) and accompaniment with beans (frijoles), cooked in a variety of manners. Chili con carne, fajitas, certain kinds of chiles rellenos (stuffed chiles), and various steak-chile combinations are particularly well-known Southwestern foods. Note that "chili" generally refers to a thick stew or soup prepared with beans and meat, while "chile" refers to the peppers that grow in this region and have been eaten for thousands of years by the native people. Recently, several chains of casual dining restaurants specializing in Southwestern cuisine have become popular in the United States.

New Mexico is known for its dedication to the chile (the official "state question" is "Red or green?", which refers to the preferred color of chiles), most notably the "hatch" chile. The Coyote Cafe in Santa Fe, New Mexico claims to be the birthplace of the fancier (more expensive) form of this cuisine.

Midwestern Cooking
Midwestern cuisine is a regional cuisine of the American Midwest. It draws its culinary roots most significantly from the cuisines of Central, Northern and Eastern Europe. Midwestern cuisine generally showcases simple and hearty dishes that make use of the abundance of locally grown foodstuffs.

Beef and pork processing always have been important Midwestern industries, with a strong role in regional diets. Chicago and Kansas City were historically stockyard and processing centers of the beef trade, while Iowa remains the center of pork production in the U.S.

Far from the oceans, Midwesterners traditionally ate little seafood, relying on local freshwater fish, such as perch and trout, supplemented by canned tuna and canned or cured salmon and herring, although modern air shipping of ocean seafood has been increasing Midwesterners' taste for fish.

The upper Midwest, a prime fruit-growing region, sees the extensive use of apples, blueberries, cranberries, cherries, peaches and other cold-climate fruit in its cuisine.

As with many American regional cuisines, Midwestern cooking has been heavily influenced by immigrant groups. Throughout the northern Midwest, northern European immigrant groups predominated, so Swedish pancakes and Polish pierogi are common. Wisconsin, Missouri, Kansas, Ohio and Illinois were destinations for many ethnic German immigrants, so pork sausages and potatoes are prevalent. In the Rust Belt, many Greeks and Greek Macedonians became restaurateurs, imparting a Mediterranean influence. Native American influences show up in the uses of corn and wild rice.

Traditionally, Midwestern cooks used a light hand with seasonings, preferring sage, dill, caraway, mustard and parsley to hot, bold and spicy flavors. However, with new waves of immigrants from Latin America and Asia moving into the region, these tastes are changing.

The culture of the United States is rooted in its origin as British colonies, but has been strongly influenced by subsequent waves of immigration, first from Europe and Africa and later from all over the world. Overall, the most significant culural influences came from northern Europe, especially from the German, English and Irish cultures.

Melting Pot
One model of American culture has been that of being a melting pot in which immigrants eventually assimilate into American culture bringing contributions from their culture but ultimately adopting a unified American culture. A more recently proposed model is that of the salad bowl in which immigrant cultures retain at least some of the unique characteristics of their culture without merging into the overall American culture. Modern sociologists tend to view pluralism, rather than assimilation, as a goal for American society, largely disregarding the idea of the melting pot.

American Dream
A key component of American culture is the American Dream: the idea that, through hard work, courage, and self-determination, regardless of social class, a person can gain a better life. This belief is rooted in the belief that the country is a "city upon a hill, a light unto the nations," which were values held by many early European settlers and maintained by subsequent generations.

American cuisine, embraces native American ingredients like turkey, potatoes, corn, and squash which have become integral parts of American culture. Such popular icons as apple pies, pizza, and hamburgers are all derived from European dishes. Burritos and tacos have their origins in Mexico. However, many of the food items now enjoyed worldwide either originated in the United States or were substantially altered by American chefs.

Music
Music in the United States also traces to the country's melting-pot population through a diverse array of styles. Rock and roll, hip hop, country, blues, and jazz are among the country's most internationally renowned genres. Since the late 19th century, popular recorded music from the United States has become increasingly known across the world, such that some forms of American popular music are heard almost everywhere.

Birth of Cinema
However, not all American culture is derived from some other form found elsewhere in the world. For example, the birth of cinema, as well as its radical development, can largely be traced back to the United States. In 1878, the first recorded instance of sequential photographs capturing and reproducing motion was Eadweard Muybridge's series of a running horse, which the British-born photographer produced in Palo Alto, California, using a row of still cameras.

Since then, the American film industry, centered in Hollywood, California, has had a profound effect on cinema across the world. Other areas of development include the comic book and Disney's animated films, which saw widespread popularity and influence, especially in Japanese anime and manga (the popularity of which has transformed them from an obscure art into a global phenomenon), as well as Chinese animation and manhua.

Sports
Sports are a national pastime, and playing sports, especially American football, baseball, and basketball, is very popular at the high-school level. Professional sports in the U.S. is big business, with most of the world's most highly paid athletes. The "Big Four" sports are baseball, football, ice hockey, and basketball. Baseball is popularly termed "the national pastime"; but, since the early 1990s, football has largely been considered the most popular sport in America.

Another popular sport is auto racing, especially NASCAR. Lacrosse, originally played by some of the indigenous tribes, is a visible sport and growing. Soccer (called football in many other parts of the world) is a popular participatory sport, especially among children; but it does not have a large following as a spectator sport, in contrast to its much greater popularity in other countries. In recent years, however, the national league, Major League Soccer, has seen a rise in popularity and internationally famous players within the league.

Board Sports
The United States is among the most influential regions in shaping three popular board-based recreational sports—surfboarding, skateboarding, and snowboarding—which have many competitions and a large, dedicated subculture. Eight Olympiads have taken place in the United States. The country generally fares very well in them, especially the Summer Olympics: for instance, in the 2004 Olympics, the U.S. topped the medals table, with a record 103 medals (35 gold, 39 silver, and 29 bronze).