Food Culture Research Paper

1.Name three foods from each of the following areas that you think help define each region or are very characteristic. New England: the lobster roll, clams and chowder.
MidAtlantic: Crab cake, cheesesteak and half-smoke.South: alpaca meat, cornbread and savory tarts. 
Midwest: turkey with cranberry sauce, apple pie and goetta (sausage of pork and oats) West: cactus juice, chuck wagon brisket and cranberry salsa. 
Great Plains: smoked beef sausage, fajitas and fritos corn chip. 

Southwest: tostadas, king ranch chicken and cactus fries. California and the Northwest: smoked Pacific salmon, bulgogi burritos and fried sushi.
Alaska: Alaskan Malamute dog breed, fried halibut or fresh king crab. 
Hawaii: inamona (roasted and mashed Kukui nuts and seaweed), kimchi (marinated meats with sweet garlic sauce) and casseroles.2. Which region do you think has the most distinctive foods and food culture? Why? Which region was the most difficult for you to answer in question 1 and why? Which region was the easiest for you to answer in question 1 and why?
In my opinion, the most distinctive foods and food culture are in the Hawaii and Alaska. All regions had been influenced by different civilizations, but these territories have always been the most isolated from the mainland. That is why they have its original and unique cuisine caused by climate and local nature. For example, Hawaii was under the influence of Chinese and Korean traditions, because there were many immigrants from these countries. They integrated into society and brought their traditions to it. Culinary culture in a society always is inextricably linked to the way of life of the people. National kitchen necessarily reflects the traditions and customs of the people, the culinary preferences evolve and mutate, along with the development of society.
The most difficult was to give the answer on the cuisine in the Great Plains and Southwest, because food characteristics of the two regions are very integrated in each other due to their history. The easiest region was Hawaii. I know plenty about its cuisine, because I have been dreaming for a long time to visit it and read about the region. 3. What is the role of festivals, fairs and social events (like community events or large family gatherings) in your life? What do they mean to you and how do you participate? Give at least 1 example.

Festivals, fairs and social events like community events and large family gatherings play an important role in my life. They opened me new facts about our local cuisine in the past and about the food in the nearest region. On Thanksgiving Day we always have turkey under the cranberry sauce and apple pie cooked by my granny. She told me the history of the holiday of the Indians times.
There are always traditional plates on Christmas and New Year Eve on the table. All these holidays give us information about our past, as the country of immigrants, who brought their traditional foods to the New World and formed the United States. The cuisine of the United States of America, as its population is a mix of various cultural and national traditions. The American cuisine is a traditional food of the British who arrived on the continent to conquer new lands. North America was open to Europeans at various times. Today's American cuisine is a mixture of various culinary dishes with native American traditions for those who set foot on this land in as the conquerors as the British, Spanish, Portuguese, French and Italians. It is reflected in our traditional holidays.
4. How can a compiled cookbook be an autobiography? Have you ever seen one or know someone who has one? Why do you think people create and/or collect these cookbooks?
I do not think that a cookbook can be called an autobiography. Of course, there are people that collect different recipes. Their collections could contain information about plates from the countries that they visited, but it is not enough to make the autobiography. Sure, that we are what we eat, but there is so much other information that fills the lives that it is not enough to describe someone’s life. People create cookbook, because they like cooking. For example, I know that my granny collects different recipes and make notes in her writing pad. Then she likes to cook some special dishes for us.