Vegetarian recipes from the United States

Vegetarian cooking in the United States starts with corn and garden vegetables: dried corn ground into meal, beans, squash, sweet potato, summer tomatoes. Butter, vegetable oil and dairy supply the fat, and the seasoning stays short — onion, black pepper, mild chilli, sometimes maple syrup or molasses to offset acidity. Cheese grits show the logic: a slow corn porridge enriched with cheese, eaten in the morning or used as a base under vegetables. Skillet cornbread does the same job, baked in a preheated cast-iron pan so it builds a crust.

A meal is built around one central dish with several shared sides, which leaves plenty of room for meatless cooking. Traditional succotash puts corn and lima beans in one pot, a pairing inherited from Indigenous kitchens that gives a complete protein. Macaroni and cheese often serves as the main course itself. To stand in for long-smoked meat, the barbecue jackfruit sandwich borrows the sauce and the shredded texture, and sweet potato pie closes the meal on a vegetable rather than a fruit.