American Cuisine

Fourth of July née Independence Day is my favorite holiday of the year, no contest. Some reasons:

 ▪ Hot weather
 ▪ The dress code or lack thereof
 ▪ No required tchotchke exchange
 ▪ Explosions
 ▪ The food

This year was a literal cornucopia of the latter. Follow me on a journey through a traditional American Fourth of July feast:

Hotdogs & Burgers¹
That "frankfurters" and "hamburgers" by their very monikers have expat roots somehow makes them even more American as they represent the complex intermingling of cultures that our country squirts ketchup all over and says "This is ours now."

Proprietary Recipes

This is, after all, a free country and you can use your generic "Crisp Rice Cereal" or "Instant Gelatin" but don't expect anyone to thank you for bringing the "Checkerboard Square Cereal Mix". You got that recipe from your Grandma and Grandma got it off a box of Bisquick.

Adult Beverages

Drank out of cans, preferably, because they are easier to incorporate into friendly competition.

Anything with Strawberries & Blueberries²

Do you think the signers of the Declaration of Independence realized it was strawberry and blueberry season? I like to think they did. It's as though the land itself erupts every summer with a resounding "America!"

¹Or barbeque with a caveat. Like bagels outside the northeast, I am wary of pulled pork outside the deep south as it tends to become a twisted parody of it's true self. For the curious, I prefer a ketchup base.
²Raspberries, OK too.