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Southern New England Algonquian cuisine comprises the shared foods and preparation methods of the indigenous Algonquian peoples of the southern half of New England, which consists of Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, but also included portions of coastal New Hampshire and Long Island, now part of New York, as a cultural and culinary region. The peoples of the region historically shared related languages in the Southern New England Algonquian division of the Eastern branch of Algonquian languages as well as related cultures and spiritual practices.
Regional variations were slight, mostly based on small differences in times of abundance or availability of certain ingredients due to location and the variations in microclimate. The New England climate, with its marked seasons and long winters meant that seasonality of ingredients and preservation of foods to survive the coldest times of year when little food was available were important aspects of the cuisine. The diet mainly consisted of agricultural staples such as the 'Three Sisters' of maize, beans and squash, augmented with the additions of meat, shellfish, game and various plants that were foraged from the surrounding area.
The adoption of many of the foods and dishes by the English settlers had a pronounced effect on New England cuisine, and many dishes and foods enjoyed in the region today were the result of Native influences from SNEA cuisine. The Native peoples of the region in turn adopted and adapted many of the foods of the Pilgrim and Puritan settlers, and the cuisines of the Indians and the settlers merged. Foods such as clam chowder, baked beans, succotash and corn on the cob are part of the traditional repertoires of contemporary Native and non-Native households in the region.
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