Food traditions are often taken for granted, but like music, housing styles, and language, they often characterize regions, representing the confluence of history and environment into a distinctive culture. The state of Tennnessee, part of a region often called the Upland South, has been influenced by the Midwest, Deep South, Appalachian mountain, and vigorous river and lake cultures. While few food traditions are exclusive to the state, its daily foods blend these influences and the resources of the local southern environment with the foodways of West European, African and Native American peoples in ways characteristic of this region.