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American culture is hugely rooted in individualism and, though we don't like to admit it, puritanical predestinationism.
We celebrate the individual over the community repeatedly.  In many ways, that leads to problems, but it also fosters immense creativity and innovation.  That's one of the reasons that most of the biggest innovations in the last 200 years have been created here, and thinkers, innovators, and builders want to come to the U.S.  (Of course there are other reasons, like better pay and better living conditions than in some countries, but you get it.)  
Puritanical predestinationism plays a bigger role in our culture than we admit.  The puritans ("pilgrims") believed that you were predetermined whether you'd go to heaven or hell, but your worldly success demonstrated your favor with God.  So, to show you're going to heaven, you'd try to be successful in the world. Of course, basically none of us believes in predestination now, but I think that that is a underlying basis that helped fuel consumerism.
Plus, we're a nation of immigrants (mostly).  Why did people want to come here? Because there were promises of wealth, land and success for hard work. The people who answered that call were less attached to their homeland, their extended families, etc.
So those things may drive our culture, but that's not all there is to it.  We are a country of inventors, who created things not just to make a buck but because we wanted to do things to help society.  
By the way, you have Thanksgiving wrong.  It's about family and tradition (and gluttony, but lots of societies have feast days).  And football. Yeah, people start spending money, originally on Christmas gifts but now mostly just for themselves, around the Thanksgiving holiday, but the holiday itself isn't about that.
The 4th of July is not commercial either (except that you have to pay for stuff like fireworks and hot dogs)-- it's about picnicking, enjoying fireworks, maybe getting out on a lake, parades, patriotic music, and honoring our military.
Our food history and culture is so diverse and unique, you can't pigeonhole that except with overbroad stereotypes. Yeah, we might be known for fast food but really what we're known for in that sphere is innovating food delivery processes -- making stuff available throughout the country all at the same standard of quality--and making it affordable.  Whether that's the creation of synthetic food additives, premade meals to alleviate housewives of the pains of cooking in the 1950s and 1960s, or fast food franchising after that. (P.S. Cheap beer came about because, after prohibition ended in the 1930s, people didn't have a taste for stronger beers, and American style lagers and pilsners took hold.  Again, innovation -- national brands could make a beer that tasted more or less the same and could sell it fresh across a country of thousands of miles.  And who's leading the microbrew revolution?  It ain't the British or Belgians.)
There's more to say, but I hope these examples show that while our "culture" may result in consumeristic tendencies, it's much more than consumerism.
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Two points
​
1) You're distinguishing culture from economics in a way I don't think is entirely accurate.
Consider the examples you thought of when you discussed South Asian and French culture - mostly culinary, right? But you can't extract the unique cuisine of those cultures from the geographical conditions that made certain ingredients more abundant, the trade networks that allowed many of those non-native spices to flourish in places like India or Sri Lanka, or the unique family/community compositions that made certain dishes more popular. 
As dated a stereotype as it is, the modern hamburger is American culture. It's a by-product of their tastes, their values, and the way they construct their daily lives. It's also a product of their pluralist cultural values, first brought over by German immigrants but quickly adapted to something uniquely American. There's also soul food, the unique foods that are associated with "fairs" in the US, or even the unique midwestern culture surrounding casseroles (which is deeply family-based). That is a reflection of deeper values than just consumerism. It's their culture. 
2) It's easier to overlook US culture because it's so globally ubiquitous
Because American culture is both a) pluralist, and b) hegemonic, it can be tough to see American culture as its own distinct thing. Because when you talk about those unique cultures, you're often comparing them to the global culture. Well, that global culture is probably America's most significant export.
The very concept of the "teenager" is a by-product of modern US culture, and it's derived from their education system, their purchasing decisions, and their family values. People didn't think of "teenagers" as this distinct group of people until the mid-20th century, when the idea of a "youth culture" emerged for the first time in the United States. Before that, there were children and there were young adults. This idea of a unique adolescent stage is largely an American phenomenon, that we've all come to accept because America has exported so much of their culture. 
3) There are massive American cultural achievements by any metric
You said it yourself, modern music and film are basically American culture. Rock-and-roll, hip-hop, R&B, EDM (yes, that's from Chicago and Detroit), are all US exports. Everything about the way we do cinema has been informed mostly by Hollywood. New artistic mediums in the form of video games emerged largely from the US. Most of the greatest theatrical performances of the day are in the US on Broadway. Any list of the greatest literary figures of the 20th century is bound to include Americans like F. Scott Fitzgerald, Ernest Hemingway, or Maya Angelou. 
You mentioned the Superbowl - what about other cultural traditions surrounding sport in the US? Everything that goes into a baseball game, or a basketball game, or the way communities rally around their local high school football team. That's all unique culture that has emerged in the US. 
This is to say nothing of their very unique religious customs in many parts of the US, much as I might find many of them problematic. 
In general, I think the main problem here is that you're conflating US culture with the global culture, because the US is the preeminent cultural exporter. But that doesn't mean it isn't uniquely American culture, with deep ties to American values. >


the modern hamburger is American culture.

Kinda, but in Sri Lanka you can find a lot of ingredients that are specific to that part of the world and are usually healthy.
The American hamburger makes you fat, creates health problems and it name comes from a city in Germany. If their values are to be bush pigs then fine, and im not trying to bash anybody, everything is fine if not used frequently. But that is what consumerism is, using more then you need.
As you say there are a lot of specific subcultures but the big one that connects the US isn't somerthing OP wants to indulge in >

So your metric for whether a culture is “consumerist” is whether their food is fattening? 
If “using more than what you need” is consumerist than pretty much every European culture is just as guilty as the US, alongside much of Asia, most of Latin America, and chunks of Africa and the Middle East. We all use far more than we could every possibly need. That’s the beauty of agricultural surpluses and modern, specialized economies. 
Consumerism is a specific preoccupation with vapid material goods. Are you going to suggest that European football is not highly commercialized? That people in India aren’t motivated by the desire for nice cars or expensive clothes? 
I’m not American, but I have lived there and I don’t see it as being any more fixated on consumption than any other country I’ve visited. They have a unique cultural identity beyond the desire to purchase things, but they -like the rest of us- live in an economy that also encourages the production and consumption of material goods. That’s no different from pretty much every other modern culture. The only real discernible difference is that the US is still by far the richest country in the world, so they happen to be able to buy more of those things.
Suggesting that means there is no unique American culture beyond the desire to purchase material goods just betrays a shallow, one-dimensional idea of the US. >


When you picture the culture of France for example, the images that come to mind are a culture of artists, authors, chefs, and local artisans, bakers, cheesemongers, etc

Are you arguing that the dominant American culture is consumerism? Because every moderately sized American city also has all those things…
To me it sounds like the lack of homogeneity is part of the problem. Is Texas bbq included in the “food that America is known for”? Or New York Style pizza? Or New England lobster *rolls? Or does America only get to claim the foods you can find across the entire country?
Edit: forgot a word and now I’m hungry and thinking of more foods. Like poboys in New Orleans, Nashville hot chicken, Buffalo wings, Maryland crab cakes, soul food… (Also anyone in the midwest or west coast, feel free to chime in) >

TexMex, California Pizza Kitchen, Low Country Boil, Chicago Pizza, Detroit Pizza, Georgia Pecan Pie, Alabama White BBQ, Memphis BBQ, Cincinnati Chili ...
Great, now I'm hungry, too! >

I’m about to doordash all of the above, wish me luck in my bankruptcy hearings >

From your name I’m guessing your around San Jose area. If you really want to see American culture travel to the Northeast, travel to the South, and if you bored enough to the Midwest. You’ll be punched in the face with just how different these places are culturally, and when you return home you’ll realize San Francisco/ San Jose had a strong culture all along, you were just so used to it you called it normal. >

Oh no! I'm absolutely not from or around San Jose area. I grew up in Washington, and lived in San Francisco for a couple of years.
I currently live in the South, and have visited Michigan (Ann Arbor) and Illinois (Urbana Champagne, and Chicago) for conferences as a grad student. My name refers to my industry more than anything.
While I admit there are cultural differences between states in the US, it's not even in the same order of magnitude of difference you would find in other countries.
E.g. in India, if you travel 500 miles, you won't even understand the language that others are speaking. Every state has its own language, culture, and food. Most of them are mutually unintelligible. In Africa, even within the same country there are tribes that don't speak the same language. In America you could travel 2000 miles and still talk the same language, follow similar sports, and eat similar-ish foods for the most part.
I already gave a delta to someone who pointed out the existence of unique subcultures. But the difference between San Jose and Atlanta ain't it. >

Yes absolutely America is not as culturally diverse as India however I think it’s only fair to compare the culture of nations with similar infrastructure. The better the infrastructure of a country the less segregated populations are. >

Sounds like you need to get out more. 
The 4th of July, thanksgiving, and Halloween are all devoid of any consumerism influence. The 4th of July is probably our most exciting holiday second only to Christmas. All our holidays are excuses to spend time with family and friends and have fun.
We have a "holiday season" between roughly after Halloween to new years. People decorate with lights, there are winter events and winter themed festivals all over. We have entire sets of foods and drinks which are specific to every season. Hot apple cider, apple cider doughnuts in the fall. Eggnog and Christmas cookies in the winter. A whole cooked turkey specifically for Thanksgiving. 
Your problem is you see what we do from the outside, while we see it for what is really is. The superbowl is mostly commercials, true. But the whole point for us for the superbowl is not the commercials but the fun of yelling at the teams on the TV together and rooting for whichever team we want to win. Hanging out with friends and eating wings and drinking beer.
Black Friday is not thanksgiving, it just happens to be the day after thanksgiving. Don't combine them. Also no one gives a shit about celebrating the pilgrims. Its a holiday with the purpose of spending time with family and showing that you can host a large dinner and not fuck it up.
Christmas is VASTLY more than shopping. Food friends, family, traveling, lights, Christmas trees, the beautiful scenery in the colder climates at that time of year, sledding, snowball fights, snowmen, etc.
All the things we do are only as good as you make them. >


Sounds like you need to get out more.

This is like the third time someone has said this. I don't know what from my post gives off the vibe that I'm socially isolated or not well travelled.

The 4th of July is probably our most exciting holiday second only to Christmas

I already gave a delta to the celebrations and traditions of 4th of july.

The superbowl is mostly commercials, true. But the whole point for us for the superbowl is not the commercials but the fun of yelling at the teams on the TV together and rooting for whichever team we want to win. Hanging out with friends and eating wings and drinking beer.

How is this different from any other game day? This is literally what we do on every single Sunday if you're an NFL fan (which I am). In my 20s, my friends and I used to go to the same sports bar week after week to watch the Seahawks. Every single Sunday. On Superbowl day, the bar just gets filled by 5x more people.

Black Friday is not thanksgiving, it just happens to be the day after thanksgiving. Don't combine them. 

Why should I not combine them? They've become so enmeshed that plenty of retailers start their Black Friday deals the evening of Thanksgiving, expecting their employees to show up to work to support the hundreds of people who show up there expecting deals. If it was such a sacred tradition of celebrating with family, retailers should shutter their doors and open only on the Friday after, which they explicitly do not do.

Christmas is VASTLY more than shopping. Food friends, family, traveling, lights, Christmas trees, the beautiful scenery in the colder climates at that time of year, sledding, snowball fights, snowmen, etc.

All very valid points, but the amount of stress families go through to participate in the gift exchange is ridiculous. Instead of focusing on spending time together as a family and enjoying a home cooked meal, the entire focus becomes about what gifts to give each other, regardless of whether they are able to afford it. >

As someone who is personally well traveled, I think I understand what you're trying to say, but might be unable to really see what "American" culture is. I'm currently living in SE Asia, from Philadelphia, lived in NYC & London previously.
Something I noticed about being white in America with no ties to ancestory was I felt there was no "culture". But I think in America, what we consider "normal" is our "culture" so anything different becomes exotic/cultural. It's hard to explain but sadly I think America sets a precedent that people assimilate to, which you can probably understand moving there as a teen. When you travel and start to have conversations with locals in other countries, you'll uncover differences you thought were "normal" which are actually American culture. Sometimes these things will spread to other western nations. Culture is about collective behavior and attitudes as well as traditions. 
Living in NYC is nothing like living in Philadelphia and they are only 2 hours apart. The art, the night life, the architecture, the fashion, the politics. On the west coast, I was I had culture shock at how infrequent j-walking was, and how slow everyone walked around. Each state has its own culture, not as unique as an entire country but thats because we're way more spread out but still under a large web of governance. >

I have traveled across the US, through 49/50 states. I can tell you the US is geographically huge, has many identities and cultures, and its renown as a "Cultural Melting Pot" is a culture in itself. 
Black American culture is distinct from that of black African immigrants, including music, food, dance, and language. African American Vernacular has grammatical rules distinct from American English and African languages.
Asian American culture is distinct from their respective Asian countries of origin.
Chicano (Americans of Mexican descent) culture in California is distinct from Mexican culture.
New Orleans, LA culture is distinct from African, French, and Spanish culture, though synthesized from a mix of those influences. Their holidays, music, dance, and attire is distinct from other countries and other US states.
Hawaii culture is a mix of Polynesian aboriginals of Taiwanese descent and Portuguese immigrants, and modern Japanese influence. Its culture is distinct from the Mainland (aka contiguous 48 states). Their food, music, dance, traditions, and folklore are distinct from other countries and US states.
The West has a distinct cultural identity from The East owing to the frontier and homesteader days and agricultural industry.
This is not an exhaustive list by any stretch, just the handful that are top of mind. >

Yes! I already gave a delta to a user who pointed out the existence of various subcultures that are unique to America (E.g. Cajun / Creole culture). You're extending that by pointing out other subcultures that are uniquely American, like Polynesian, Chicano, etc.
In the spirit of maintaining consistency, I'm offering you a Δ as well. >

Confirmed: 1 delta awarded to /u/femmestem (3∆).
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