Midwestern cuisine reveals the glory of simple dishes such as pot roast, sausage, cornbread, scrapple, pancakes and that icon of midwestern cookery, the jello salad. Dairy is an important ingredient, especially cheese. Meals tend to be served family style or smorgasbord rather than in courses. Seasoning is light, not spicy. The cuisine is heavily influenced by the immigrant groups which settled in particular areas of the Midwest, mainly Northern European: so Swedish and Norwegian lutefisk, Cornish pasties, or Polish pączki may be common in some areas and unheard of in others.

Some midwestern dishes include:

• Beer cheese soup
• Wild rice
• morel mushrooms
• meatloaf
• sweet corn
• whitefish
• hot dish or casserole