Here's my dad sitting at the Brocah Irish restaurant on Main Street across from the Wisconsin state capitol building. Dad lunched on a salmon sandwich and fries, and I on a chicken breast sandwich and side salad, - our all-American food in an all-American city.
Down the block, men and women on their noon-hour breaks similarly dined at tables of restaurants that spilled outside on to the capitol-square sidewalks. Other folks bought their lunch from one of the numerous food carts . Their choices of cuisine were diverse, - Asian, African, Indian, Mexican, Latin American, and of course, Chicago red hots. Food in hand, some returned to work, while others sat on benches to eat in the blue-sky air and sunshine.
Several times I watched passerbys pause to chat with seated diners. Old friends and acquaintances exchanged smiles and handshakes, tidbits of news, and then waves of good-bye as the passerbys continued on. The diners' smiles lingered as they returned their attention to their food. Friendliness lingered in the air.
The mellow-scene took Dad by surprise. For the past 45 years, Dad's been practicing law in the downtown Chicago loop. The loop's outdoor-lunch scene is frenetic. Throngs of people dressed for air-conditioning not summer heat pour on to the handful of cement plazas. They stake out a 2-foot-square spot on a bench, stone wall or step and eat their lunch. On odd corners, street musicians entertain, but their personal music is drowned out by the cacophony of car horns, traffic-cop whistles, and bus engines. The dull rumble of stop-n-go traffic reverberates off densely-packed buildings.
But here Dad was in Mad-Town, - the seat of Wisconsin's government, home of one of the world's best universities. 
Yet the sidewalks and streets were congestion-free. People walked, cars and buses drove, but space permeated. Sunlight and breezes swept through the capitol square, connecting sky to lakes. Dad laughed in glee that just one street off the square no traffic light or police officer's hand directed our crossing. We were free to walk not just where we wanted, but when we wanted.
But I told Dad that in reverse of the Chicago loop which empties on weekends, Madison's Capitol Square fills on weekends. On Saturdays, people throughout Madison and its suburbs convene for the Farmers' Market on the Square. The square is so congested, everyone must not only walk slowly but also in the same direction. State Street sidewalks are packed with shoppers checking out sidewalk-sale racks. Dozens of vendors offering food, jewelry, art, clothes, toys, -you-name-it, compete for the crowd's attention. On some weekends, the square fills with spectators for sports races - bicycles and runners course through the streets. Police direct traffic to separate the racers from the fans from the cars. It can be dizzying mayhem. And it's a lot of fun!
As Dad and I walked around the square, - me snapping pictures, Dad checking his blackberry, - we stopped at the small Madison Ambassadors booth. 
Ambassador Tim presided. He gave us handfuls of brochures describing fun events, sights, and places to eat in Madison. He confirmed that the weekends were the square's busiest times. On an art festival Saturday, he may give away over 600 maps. A lot of people ask him to recommend restaurants. He finds out what they have in mind, - kid-friendly or gourmet, brats or pizza, etc. Then he checks his list, and points them in the right direction.
I asked Tim if people ever requested a food type that Madison didn't have. He thought a moment, then answered, "Sometimes a foreigner will ask for 'an American diner'. Then he has to direct them away from the capitol to someplace like The Blue Plate Diner. "Foreign visitors want to eat what Americans eat," said Tim looking around at the Madisonians on the square eating food from all different cultures, "But hey, pizza's American."
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Here are some more pictures of our weekday walk. 
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If you want to see really good pictures however, here are collections of Madison photos taken by some of Wisconsin's best photographers.
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Or if you're curious about "American food", here's a cookbook that will help you figure out what it is and how to make it.
Bluephies New American Cooking
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