Talking with @diaryofaneditor about this and it’s interesting that so many staple American foods are German and Italian in origin, and how few are British.

The US began as a British colony. My ancestors came from Britain. I speak English. Yet British food always feels more different and strange to me than a lot of continental fare.

Me in an Italian/Mexican/German restaurant: Ah lots of the classics my grandmother Mrs. MacScottishLondonham used to make.
Me in a British pub: What the fuck is this?

Not saying this is good or bad, just interesting to note that as an English-speaking former British colony we don’t traditionally eat much British-derived foods except maybe sandwiches and roasts.

My understanding is there are a few reasons for this:
1. Settler adaptation to Native crops, livestock (like turkey, pumpkin, maize)
2. German/Italian immigration coinciding with rapid food processing industrialization. Like the German immigrant Oscar Meyer in Chicago.

3. Britain itself undergoing enormous cultural and economic shifts since colonization, esp. due to WW2. 20C British food varies greatly from 18C British food.

4. WASPs seeing French cuisine as the epitome of taste, so British-derived dishes never achieved an "elite" cache among the Powers That Be, even in old British colonies like Boston or Virginia.

5. White middle class American tastes narrowed significantly in the 1950s with the postwar boom and increased industrialization of food distribution, so things like black pudding and haggis frighten many Americans even to this day.