| Though the United States expresses its culinary culture in many types of regional and ethnic cuisines, there are certain foods that can be found on family dinner tables and restaurants in every region of the country; these dishes make up what may be called standard or classic American cuisine.
Traditional American cuisine uses ingredients such as turkey, white-tailed deer venison, potatoes, sweet potatoes, corn, squash, and maple syrup, indigenous foods employed by American Indians and early European settlers. Slow-cooked pork and beef barbecue, crab cakes, potato chips, cotton candy and chocolate chip cookies are distinctively American styles
| Among American classic desserts, apple pie has a deep connotation in American culture: mom, grandma, home, warmth and family love. We say that some thing is, “as American as apple pie.” Other fruit pies (cherry, peach) are also popular. Pumpkin pies may be served for occasions and holidays. A simple chocolate cake and ice cream will round out the meal.
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| The types offood served at home vary greatly and depend upon the region of the country and the family's own cultural heritage. Recent immigrants tend to eat food similar to that of their country of origin.
“Here in the States we like foods from all over the world: pizza, spaghetti, burritos, French fries, fried chicken, corn, green bean casserole, candied sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes, fried rice, hummus, sausage”.
| Americans generally prefer coffee to tea, with more than half the adult population drinking at least one cup a day.
The classic heavy American breakfast: eggs (fried, scrambled, poached), bacon, sausage or ham, corned beef hash, fried potatoes, pancakes or waffles (in maple syrup).
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| Some of the strongest influences on US cuisine came from African slavesAmerican food is impossible without barbecue in its many variations and a mess of greens. Indeed Africans brought with them important techniques including smoking meats, frying grains, boiling leafy green vegetables, and making up hot, spicy sauces.
| Sweets? People of the US love sweets! They will pile sugar on just about anything! They like sweet barbecue sauces on meats, fruit pies topped with ice cream, pancakes topped with fruit in a sugar based syrup, sweet rice pudding, candied yams, cookies with icing in the middle dipped in sweet chocolate milk, sugared fruit wrapped in dough then deep fried, and much more! We will even take plain old white bread, spread it with butter and sprinkle sugar on the butter.
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| But perhaps no ethnic group has exercised as much influence on American eating as the Italians who began arriving in earnest in the late nineteenth century. By the beginning of World War II, selected Italian dishes had become as American as apple pie. The first to enter the US lexicon was spaghetti with tomato sauce followed soon after by all manner of pastas. Pizza took off after World War II.
Chinese food arrived with the first workers brought over to build the railroads. The seventies and eighties brought Southeast Asians in the wake of the Vietnam war. Thai food with its balance of sweet, sour, salt and spice buffered by the richness of coconut milk suddenly became the hottest item on the culinary landscape.
| Ukrainian cuisine is varied and rich in taste and nutritional value. Ukrainian cooking has been influenced by Turkish, Tatar, Russian, Polish, Hungarian and Moldavian cooking.
Bread has a special position in Ukrainian cuisine. Bread is used with soup and the main course. Also bread plays an important role in Ukrainian folk customs. For example, guests of honor are greeted with a ceremonial offering of bread and salt. Besides ordinary breads, Ukrainians bake various ritual breads, for example: Easter bread (paska), wedding bread (karavai), and different breads with filling. For example varenyki (filled dumplings with potato, cabbage, cottage cheese, cherry and meat filling) is a popular Ukrainian national dish.
 
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Potato is the most widely used vegetable in Ukrainian cooking. It is a necessary ingredient in soups, especially borsch or cabbage soup (kapustnyak). Boiled, fried, mashed or baked potatoes are served alone or with meat, fish, cabbage, mushrooms or so on. Other vegetables such as onions, garlic, cucumbers, and tomatoes are often eaten raw or used for salads.
| In Ukrainian tradition a soup or borsch must be served with the main meal of the day. Various soups are popular but borsch is the favorite. It is made of vegetables and sometimes can consist of almost 20 ingredients is usually served with sour cream. There are a few varieties of borsch, they are the following: sorrel or green borsch, cold borsch and clear borsch.
Tea is the most popular hot beverage followed by coffee or cocoa. Alcoholic beverages, such as mead, wine, alcohol with paper (horilka) have been popular for centuries.
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