Chicago suburb Schiller Park is hosting their “Taste of Suburbia” festival this coming weekend. This got me thinking: what do the suburbs taste like? We have more thoughts about what the suburbs look like or sound like but less on what they taste like. Here are a few of the leading options that come to mind:

1. Fast food. The suburbs involve a lot of driving and people in the suburbs have a lot of food available through the window of their vehicle. Dozens of chains offering different options and different price points. It is hard to avoid seeing these facilities throughout suburbia.
2. Grilled food. The smells may give them away before such food is spotted and many suburban residences feature grills on decks, patios, and lawns. Grilling often involves meats but could also include vegetables and other food groups. The single-family home with a pleasant backyard where a nuclear family eats a grilled meal is an image of the American Dream.
3. A wide array of food options outside the home, ranging from fine dining establishments to well-known chains on a busy street corner to small family owned restaurants in strip malls. The suburbs are more diverse than they were decades ago and the food reflects this. In major metropolitan areas, draw a five or ten mile radius around a location and food from numerous different backgrounds is likely available.
4. The food of the single-family home and the nuclear family. Perhaps it is the holiday meals – turkey on Thanksgiving – or the kid’s food – nuggets, Uncrustables, Pop-Tarts, etc. – or the meals prepared on a daily basis. The suburbs privilege single-family homes and family life so the family meal, whatever food that includes, could represent the true taste of the suburbs.

None of these four options are exclusive to suburbia: fast food is found across the United States, grilling is possible in both public and private spaces across American settings, and Americans can choose many different kinds of food both outside and inside their homes. But these options – these tastes – may just remind some of the suburbs or may be what suburbanites experience regularly or what people remember in the suburbs. Eating is a critical part of social life and the suburbs are not tasteless, even if critics might suggest they are bland, mass produced and consumed, and uninspiring (with implications for eating as well).