Skip to main content

Traditional Dish

July 2024
1min read


Most Overrated Traditional Dish:

Meat loaf. In my opinion it’s just a lazy man’s hamburger. It’s got the beef, but it lacks the sizzle. Americans gave the world great beef and then ruined it by grinding it, mixing it with a lot of absurd ingredients, and baking it dry. Real meat eaters want their stuff charred and juicy; this is just so much gray dust.

Most Underrated Traditional Dish:

The peanut butter and jelly sandwich. It’s the perfect American dish: sweet, salty, soft, chewy. It’s also infinitely portable. Relegating this wonderful invention to the school lunch is a terrible waste.

Enjoy our work? Help us keep going.

Now in its 75th year, American Heritage relies on contributions from readers like you to survive. You can support this magazine of trusted historical writing and the volunteers that sustain it by donating today.

Donate