Our Favorite Stories from Across America

Before you fire up the grill this weekend, read up on the U S of A—and its food

Published Jul 1, 2015 6:22 PM

Culture

The story of the rise and fall and rise again of Italian-American food is a fascinating one; it's an American story, its plot interwoven with the entrepreneurial drive, embrace of pop culture, proliferation of convenience foods, and creativity of home cooks that has informed our country's culinary spirit. Bettmann / Corbiss

This weekend we will haul out the beers, barbecue, and berry pies, and consider what it means to be American. We will also tell stories: stories of our forefathers, of Independence Days past, of patriotism. To add to that arsenal, we have collected our favorite USA-centric stories, about Italian immigrants and summers in Alaska and the cultural identity of a tuna fish sandwich. So before you light up the grill, do some light reading from SAVEUR issues past.

Italian America

The story of the rise and fall and rise again of Italian-American food is a fascinating one; it’s an American story, its plot interwoven with the entrepreneurial drive, embrace of pop culture, proliferation of convenience foods, and creativity of home cooks that has informed our country’s culinary spirit.

Glory Road

Route 66 is America’s most iconic thoroughfare—and its most delicious.

BBQ Nation: The Preservation of a Culinary Art Form

All across America, the men and women of barbecue are preserving a culinary art form

At eleven o’clock in the morning on the Fourth of July, about 200 people gather along a sandy road near the Salmon River Bridge in Gustavus, Alaska, beneath a big, blue summer sky filled with white clouds.