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Cheeseburger or hot dogs with ketchup and/or mustard.
IMO, BBQ is too regional.
I would amend this to read bacon cheeseburger on the same plate with a big old chili dog. And a side of chili cheese fries. That really the all-American MEAL, though. If you strip it all down to a single food it would have to be the chili dog.
Looking at the opinions, it seems to me there can be different litmus tests for the "signature American (US) food". If you frame the question as the following, you can get different answers:
1. What is a food that is only available in America? This I don't know in this age of global connection.
2. What is the American food that is most world-famous? Maybe hamburger because of McDonalds and KFC.
3. What is the food that is most commonly available in America? There can be many candidates: cheeseburger, fries pizza, etc.
4. What is the food that is most traditional in America? This maybe where hotdogs and apple pie comes in.
5. What American food tastes best? Personally I would say a piece of medium USDA prime New York strip; others will have different selections.
6. What is the food that, although originated in other countries, is the best in US? In my view there are some of these too. Hope I am not offending anyone - deepdish pizza maybe one? And personally I think Taco Bell's taco tastes better than the taco I had in Ciudad Jaurez.
So I want to suggest one angle to frame the question: I have a friend coming to US to travel in March. They will be traveling through SF, LA, NYC, and oddly, Alaska ("to see the northern light"). They will definitely have many different foods here, but if you were to recommend, what would be that ONE food that they cannot miss while in US?
The answer is of course, focus on regional specialties. In the regions your friend is traveling I would suggest
LA: Shrimp Taco
If LA is Louisiana: Chicken and Sausage Gumbo; with a Shrimp Po Boy as runner up, Beignet for dessert
NYC: NY style pizza with Nathans Hotdog 2nd
Alaska: King or Snow Crab Legs
Pizza, it is so American. We took a rather bland product that was served overseas in bars to keep men in bars drinking rather than go out to dinner and created a far better product that spawned an industry. Pizza symbolizes the greatness of America.
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