Eaterland

Eaterland is popular website Eater’s mouthwatering deep dive into over 85 quirky regional dishes that truly define American cuisine, with recipes, essays, and stories from local celebrities and chefs.

Divided into eight regions, this cookbook is filled with recipes, introductions from notable local chefs or celebrities, and recommendations for restaurants that serve the eclectic, multicultural cuisines that make up American food. It reads like a cross-country road trip through the nation’s kitchens, inviting readers to experience each region either in person or from their own kitchen.

When casual food lovers attempt to define stereotypical “American cuisine,” they often lean into foods like hamburgers, hot dogs, and pizza. Perhaps some understand that everything from Cajun cuisines to soul food is as American as apple pie.

But it takes a certain kind of obsessiveness―one Eater is known for―to really investigate what American food means. In Eaterland, the national publication and go-to site for restaurant recommendations, recipes, and food stories, Eater, maps out where to eat, what to eat, and how to eat food that is quintessentially, unequivocally American.

From more recognized dishes like Detroit-Style Pepperoni Pizza and New York’s Chopped Cheese to the french fry–topped Pittsburgh Salad and the Midwest’s Funeral Potatoes, this almanac is an ode to American food. Essays call attention to local ingredients unique to their region, like New Mexican green chiles, the glossaries have every region’s essential dishes, and deeply personal stories about American culture will encourage readers to learn more.

This book also celebrates the history of food in the United States, centering Indigenous recipes and cooking techniques, highlighting immigrant influences on local favorites, and illustrating how renowned chefs like Kwame Onwuachi and Tiffany Derry are recontextualizing and modernizing food in America.

For anyone who’s wanted to experience Maryland crab soup, toasted ravioli from St. Louis, and Kentucky’s renowned Hot Brown sandwich all without leaving their kitchen, this book is a perfect guide from Eater, the authority on where to eat and why it matters.