Mountain States & Great Plains

This region of the US is what may come to mind when you think of the Wild West. Historically, this is the land of Native American tribes, cowboys, outlaws, miners and anyone else who wanted to try to make their fortune out west. The western half of this region is dominated by the Rocky Mountains, while the eastern half is dominated by the vast expanse of the Great Plains. Rocky Mountain cuisine could be described best as hearty and rugged. Game meats such as bison, elk and trout are featured heavily, and traditional cowboy beef dishes, hearty stews and Native American foods are what most characterize this cuisine. The cuisine of the Great Plains has a lot of overlap with the cuisine of the Rockies, with the addition of many hearty “meat and potatoes” type dishes that are reflective of their northern and central European origins.