Regional and National Culinary Cultures in the Nineteenth-Century United States

This paper looks at American dining in the 19th century in terms of certain regional habits imposed by the environment as well as the preferences of the inhabitants.  From quite early on, areas such as New England or Louisiana had well-known, even stereotypic culinary identities.  There was also, however, a standard of elegant dining that was spread throughout the US by the mid-19th century that was derived from French gastronomy, mediated by English cookbooks and practices.  Considerable effort was made to produce up-to-date dishes such as vols-auv-vents or elaborate sculpted entremets in the manner of the influential chef Carême.  At the same time, there was the development of an image of American cuisine set against European influences based on such regional, but universally prestigious items such as terrapin, canvasback ducks, Southern ham, or New England lobster.  I hope to show some examples of how these three tendencies--- regional, international and national--- interacted.