There is nothing better to represent a true taste of New Orleans than gumbo, a filling soup that is usually prepared in large, black, iron pots. A cultural and gastronomical symbol of Louisiana, it can be based on seafood and okra with tomatoes, or on turkey and chicken with added ham, sausage, and poached oysters.

Perhaps rabbit or a wild duck will be the main stars, accentuated in flavor by tasso ham. Regardless of its base, gumbo is always intensely fragrant and aromatic with onions, garlic, bay leaf, and thyme, its thick and rich liquids ladled into bowls with an accompaniment of steamed white rice. 

Green and red chilis are synonymous with New Mexican cuisine, so much that even the road signs welcoming you to the state are marked with a pair of chilis. It is no wonder that green chili stew has some sort of a legendary status in New Mexico.

Although pork is the locals' favorite ingredient in the stew, it can also be made with lamb, beef, chicken, or turkey, traditionally accompanied by thick and fresh corn tortillas on the side. Some cooks like to add potatoes, beans, and tomatoes to the already flavorful stew.

Green chili has a cult-like following throughout New Mexico due to its strong vegetal taste and its heat, making the dishes prepared with it deep, complex, and rich, so it is not strange that the green chili stew has a status of the ultimate Southwestern comfort food.

Although some may think that chili con carne is an authentic Mexican dish, it is actually an original American dish, made only in a few places in Mexico in order to cater to the tourists. If the dish were Mexican, it would still be a staple on the Mexican menus throughout the country, since traditional dishes do not go away that easily in Mexico.

Chili con carne is a meat-based stew consisting of finely chopped beef, hot chiles, seasonings, and water, although the ingredients that go in a chili are a subject of endless debates. Purists insist that there are no tomatoes or beans in a real chili, although many others beg to differ. 

Often described as a nourishing, hearty stew, and one of San Francisco's greatest contributions to culinary history, cioppino is a fish stew that is traditionally made from the catch of the day, combined with tomatoes and wine sauce. Cioppino is often made with crabs, clams, shrimp, scallops, squid, and mussels, while the typical accompaniment might include a local favorite - toasted sourdough bread.

According to a food historian named Jean Anderson, this Italian-sounding dish was invented by the fishermen from Genoa who immigrated to the US and settled in California's Bay Area. It is most likely that cioppino originated on the fishing boats, when the fishermen made use of what was readily available to make their dinner, similar to the French bouillabaisse. 

Even though its origins are the subject of a heated debate, with Virginia, North Carolina, and Georgia all claiming the dish to be their invention, everyone agrees that squirrel meat was the original ingredient of this Southern smoked meat stew.

Today, rabbit or chicken are used instead of squirrel, along with chunks of tomatoes, potatoes, beans, corn, okra, and salt pork or bacon. The stew has a distinctively smoky flavor due to smoking the meats before adding them to the pot, accompanied by a hefty dose of barbecue sauce.

Virginians originally called the dish Virginia ambrosia, invented in 1828 by Jimmy Matthews, an African American chef who was hired to cook for a squirrel-hunting party in Brunswick. 

This American comfort food dish consists of various types of pasta such as egg noodles or macaroni, along with ground beef or hamburger, tomatoes, onions, paprika, and garlic. Typically served as a main meal, the popularity of American goulash lies in the fact that it is easy to prepare and inexpensive.

The first written mention of the dish was found in a cookbook from 1914, but the only connection to the traditional Hungarian goulash is the addition of paprika. Today, the dish is often garnished with grated or melted cheese, and it is often prepared with leftovers.

Pork and beans is a classic American dish made with pork and beans as the main ingredients. There are many variations on the dish, and although the origin is murky, the 1832 cookbook The American Frugal Housewife lists only three main ingredients – beans, salt pork, and pepper.

Over time, the dish was commercially available in canned versions, generally consisting of navy beans, tomato sauce, and chunks of salt pork or pork fat. Nowadays, the dish is often enriched with the addition of carrots, onions, garlic, and fresh herbs such as thyme and bay leaves, while versions prepared in the American South sometimes include ingredients such as barbecue sauce, white vinegar, paprika, mustard, and brown sugar. 

Rat stew is a traditional dish originating from West Virginia, where people use various traps, never poison, to catch the key ingredient for the stew – a rat. Once they've been cleaned, skinned, and chopped, pieces of rat meat are dropped into a broth with garlic, wild onions, and similar local vegetables.

The stew is usually served at gatherings or as a dinner at home. In Marlinton, West Virginia, there's even an annual roadkill cookoff showcasing this stew and similar dishes.

Green gumbo or gumbo z'herbes is a traditional dish hailing from Louisiana. This type of gumbo is meatless and it's prepared with various greens instead. The dish is made with a combination of onions, flour, oil, Tabasco sauce, cayenne, filé powder, celery, bell peppers, garlic, mustard, turnip greens, collards, spinach, parsley, kale, and/or swiss chard.

The filé powder is added when the pot is taken off the heat, and the dish is then seasoned and served over long-grain white rice. It can be garnished with lemon juice and hot sauce. Green gumbo is a Lenten staple in Louisiana's Catholic communities.