Defining American Culture

When people serve with me in Mexico, we try and introduce them to a little of the Mexican culture. It is my belief that until you know a little about what makes people tick; you can’t really understand and effectively serve them. Now many people can readily identify certain aspects of the Mexican culture. Things like mariachi music, charros and the Jarabe Tapatío [the Mexican Hat Dance] from Guadalajara readily come to mind. Foods like tacos, salsa, carnitas, and pozole are some of the traditional foods many in America have experienced either here in the US, or across our southern border. But there is another culture in Mexico as well and that is the indigenous culture. Found primarily in the south, instead of tacos and tortillas, we see more breads, tlayudas, and of course the heavy molés found in the state of Oaxaca. And we have the Guelaguetza, an annual celebration of the Oaxacan culture shared every July in almost every city and town across the state. I bring this up because one of the concerns I have seen expressed a lot recently in the wake of the new Arizona legislation is that we are losing our American culture. I have been wondering a lot about what exactly that is. Maybe Chevrolet had it right a few years back with their “Baseball, hot dogs, apple pie, and Chevrolet.” But I would like to believe who we are can be expressed better than an advertising slogan. So help me out. If someone came to you and asked for those quintessential examples of American culture, what would they be?