Trying to Define American Cuisine

While teaching at a large culinary academy, I remember a new course to teach American cooking being introduced, and the school trying to come up with a class title that was appropriate. There were some chefs that believed it should be called "American Cuisine," while others thought "American Foods" would be more fitting since they didn't believe America had it's own cuisine. By the way, "Foods of the Americas" was the final decision.

The debate really centers around what exactly is a "cuisine?" Using the traditional definition of cuisine, there really is no way to precisely describe what Americans eat. It's like asking someone, "what does American music sound like?" or "what does American art look like?" Of course, there are no answers for these questions since our nation is such a complex cultural, well, melting pot. There's a reason that description of our country is so perfect.

So is it a bad thing to have such an incredibly diverse culinary tradition that it defies description? Doesn't that make "American Food" the world's greatest "cuisine" yet. Or is this all just culinary semantics. I don't think anyone biting into a slice of New York pizza, or licking barbecue sauce from their fingers, or dipping a perfectly fresh California roll into a small bowl of soy sauce, really cares all that much.