New England, The Birthplace of American Cuisine.

New England consists of a group of 6 northeastern states, Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island and Vermont. New England is the original birthplace of the America we know today. When the pilgrims first fled Europe because of religious persecution they landed on the shores of what they would later call “New” England. It was a vast new world full of plants, animals and even people that these trailblazers had never seen before. Within a few decades, the New England territories became permanent settlements for many families. With the amount of fresh seafood in New England, as well as its fertile soil, the settlers slowly began to learn to live off the land and become self-sufficient.

The real birthplace of American food began when the pilgrims began to trade and learn from the Native Americans. The new style of food, influenced by both Native American ingredients and English cooking methods can only be described as the first real “American” food. The same kind of fusion would happen again and again throughout history to form the vast melting pot that is modern American Cuisine.

Seafood played a vital role in the settler’s diets, as well as wild game such as Elk and Deer, poultry, wheat and corn. Today, New England lobster, called Maine Lobster, makes up more than half of the American market, with the remaining minority being imported.
New England is also the home of several notable food companies like Ben and Jerry’s Ice Cream and Pepperidge farms. It’s also the birthplace of the Subway franchise. Vermont is famous for its specific type of cheddar cheese, while some of the best Mussels in the world can be found in Rhode Island.

Thanks to the first American settlers, the New England area has been able to influence and expand from what was a virtually uninhabited and strange land to bringing new foods to not only to every part of our country, but eventually all across the world.