Use the map to search for sources by region, or zoom in to search by state. Use left click to zoom in,
and right click to zoom out.
During the original America Eats project in the 1930s, administrators set out to
chronicle America’s regional food habits, and they did so by dividing the country into five regions: the
Northeast, the South, the Middle West, the Far West, and the Southwest. We have retained their regional
definitions in this map, including using a few states in multiple regions. Thinking about how food
habits differed by region is one interesting way to get at food history, but keep in mind that
generalizations about regional eating are almost always simplistic and incomplete. From the earliest
days of American history, recipes, ingredients, and people themselves have moved across borders, and
eating habits have always changed over time. A description of a regional cuisine is always as much a
description of when someone was eating as where.
