Alistair Cooke (1908-2004) was a British journalist who had a popular series about America on public broadcasting stations in the 1970s. He wrote numerous books and columns about America, educating both Britons and Americans.
 
In his book The Americans (1979), Cooke wrote this frequently quoted statement about the Texas regional cuisine: “Texas does not, like any other region, simply have indigenous dishes. It proclaims them. It congratulates you, on your arrival, at having escaped from the slop pails of the other forty-nine states.”
 
   
Wikipedia: Alistair Cooke
Alistair Cooke KBE (November 20, 1908 – March 30, 2004) was a British-American journalist and broadcaster.
 
Born in England, he became a naturalized American citizen, and lived in New York City with his family for most of his adult life.
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Alistair Cooke’s America, a 13-part television series about the United States and its history, was first broadcast in both Britain and the US in 1973, and was followed by a book of the same title. It was a great success in both countries, and resulted in Cooke being invited to address the joint Houses of the United States Congress as part of Congress’s bicentennial celebrations. Following the series’ broadcast in the Republic of Ireland, Cooke won a Jacob’s Award, one of the few occasions when this award was made to the maker of an imported programme.
 
Alistair Cooke said that, of all his work, Alistair Cooke’s America was that of which he was most proud; it is the result and expression of his long love of America. (Cooke was once asked how long it took him to make the series. “I do not want to be coy,” he replied, “but it took 40 years.”)
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“America” books
Talk about America
Letter from America: The Early Years 1946-1968
America Observed: From the 1940s to the 1980s/Ronald A. Wells
Letters from America: The Americans, Letters from America and Talk About America
One Man’s America
The Americans
Alistair Cooke’s America (2002)
Letter from America: (1946-2004) (2004) ISBN 1-4000-4402-2
The Marvellous Mania: Alistair Cooke on Golf (2007) ISBN 978-071399996-9
   
Google Books
The Americans:
Fifty Talks on Our Life and Times
by Alistair Cooke
New York, NY: Alfred A. Knopf
1979
Pg. 183:
Texas does not, like any other region, simply have indigenous dishes. It proclaims them. It congratulates you, on your arrival, at having escaped from the slop pails of the other forty-nine states. Welcome to Texas and the incomparable three dishes of the Lone Star State: venison, chile con carne, and rattlesnake.