What do Non-Americans...

[TSE]

think of our food in general? Any non-americans spend a prolonged period of time here?

This is a tough question to ask since American cuisine has so much variety depending on where you are, from Soul Food in the south to Casserole Hotdish in Minnesota to Fish and Chips on the east coast. So explain where you were and what you ate.

I have heard some Chinese people say our food is awful. I have heard some European people say our food is awful. But occasionally I'll hear of people saying we have the absolute best food.

 

[twietee]

You mean North-America? Never been there until now but my first thought is XXL.

South American food was very good though, but generally I'm more the Italian food / French wine type.

 

[heehee]

Because American food are burgers and fries.

Seriously, when was the last time you heard someone say lets have American food even in another country?

 

[twietee]

There are actually quite a few excellent small and independent (no franchise) burger/fries etablissments in Berlin, some are run by Turkish people .

Almost everytime I'm back in the city, I ask my friends to share some delicious Kreuzburgers with me.
And because of the Yanks, we have some really old, original american burger-chefs as well deep-down in West-Berlin. Was always a real treat. Hmmm...good ol' Uncle Sams....thank's, now I'm hungry.

 

[0098386]

Had my first trip over there in June.

I did not like the drinks over there. Coca Cola and Powerade had a strange taste to them, not as sweet as they are in the rest of the world.

Meats were good though. Certainly on par with everywhere else I've been but with the benefit of being cheaper. Same with restaurants, we went to some swanky places and we were surprised at how much it didn't cost! A chain restaurant here would set you back £40 ($60?) for two, but over there it was like $40? And portions were bigger
We didn't go to many world restaurants over there, mostly just grills and temporary restaurants bolted onto houses. Stayed in LA.

But yeah the processed foods, the supermarket snacks were not very nice. Couldn't put my finger on why exactly. Global brands should be similar wherever you go, right?

 

[Chundles]

Portions are far too big. Most restaurants could easily halve the sizes of their meals.

Here a restaurant meal is designed to serve you. Not you, your lunch tomorrow and possibly your dog.

 

[willmtaylor]

As I teach dozens of these guys every day, I've got a little helpful info.

Whether they like our food is a toss up, but in general, they say our food is VERY "rich," "heavy," "sweet," "oily," and "big."

Also, the average American meal has far more meat and far less staples (such as rice & beans) than mos other countries.

IMO, food in many parts of the world values quality of product as well as subtlety and balance of favors, whereas much American food is about BIG flavors and, most importantly, big portions.

 

[ComputersaysNo]

I love Taco Bell and some good pizzajoints. Mexican food is also above average i have enjoyed so far. A sausage biscuit is also one of my favorites while visiting the USA.

The rest:

- Meat: tastes excellent, well prepared most of the times and cheap for the size you get.
- Starters: Too big
- Potatoes: more flavor in favor of the USA
- Fries:
- Deserts: Never had something worth remembering.
- Bread: Awefull, really bad. Tasteless and too sweet. artificial. Dare i say it, the bread of Subways is the least bad
- Salades & lettuce: all tastes the same and tastes artificially sweetened
- Vegetables: barely any variety, never had some properly cooked
- Beer: watered down
- Burgers: It's the 'bread' that kills all of them. That's NOT bread, it does not deserve the name 'Bread'. I have no idea what it is, thus i avoid burgers.
- Soda's: always have this chlorine-taste to it.
- chocolate: You Americans are getting hosed with the amount of real cocoa that's not in there.

Overall: To me it looks like some higher power in the American foodchain is trying to make everything taste more or less the same by adding some sort of (animal) fat and sugar. Two ingredients human tastebuds always seems to enjoy.

I had my best food-exeriences in foreign restaurants in the USA

 

[jeremy h]

Like most other places - mixed. As a recent trip to Paris confirmed the days of one culture being uniquely good or bad at anything seem to have gone.

WHen I first went to the States in 1990, I went to California, and drove around a bit and was very impressed. If I remember correctly there seemed to be vast choice, very fresh and quite cheap.

However, my last trip ( a few years ago now, mind, so things might have changed) to New York, Seattle and driving around Washington State left me a lot less impressed. New York was fine, similar to London but wasn't cheap, but I found the North West to be a disappointment. Mexican places seemed good but found the food elsewhere to be not great. Service and friendliness was top notch though.

Couple of surprises in Seattle, poor coffee (everywhere seemed to be a Starbucks) but fantastic bespoke and micro brewery real ale. Loads of IPA and drunk people after 8pm. Great!

 

[oscillatewildly]

The USA's top export is obesity.

 

[jzuena]

Had my first trip over there in June.

I did not like the drinks over there. Coca Cola and Powerade had a strange taste to them, not as sweet as they are in the rest of the world.

Meats were good though. Certainly on par with everywhere else I've been but with the benefit of being cheaper. Same with restaurants, we went to some swanky places and we were surprised at how much it didn't cost! A chain restaurant here would set you back £40 ($60?) for two, but over there it was like $40? And portions were bigger
We didn't go to many world restaurants over there, mostly just grills and temporary restaurants bolted onto houses. Stayed in LA.

But yeah the processed foods, the supermarket snacks were not very nice. Couldn't put my finger on why exactly. Global brands should be similar wherever you go, right?

The Coca Cola problem is that they use high fructose corn syrup rather than regular sugar here in the US. You can get Pepsi Cola made with regular sugar, but it is a secondary offering (called "Pepsi Throwback") and costs more than regular Pepsi. It does taste better, though. Even those of us in the US know Coke tastes better in other countries. There is a nice little business in the US southwest bringing Coke in from Mexico where it is made right. Why Coke won't switch back to regular sugar for us is a mystery. Its not like we don't know the difference in taste.

Come to think of it, any processed food probably uses high fructose corn syrup instead of sugar. Yet another reason to stay away from processed food. As the price of corn goes up maybe there will be a switch back to regular sugar again in the US. Then they can use the corn to raise the ethanol % in our gasoline and destroy our car's fuel injectors even faster.

 

[olup]

I spent seven years in the DC area, and the most noteable thing I remember is to never ever order a softdrink with ice in it because the tab water in the DC area seems to be have taken out of a swimming pool and overpowers the actual taste of whatever softdrink you ordered. Vegetables were extremely expensive at the supermarkets compared to microwave dinners and such. There were some things that I liked at the time, especially candy like Reeses' peanutbutter cups.
People were eating out a lot, instead of cooking their meals at home. Therefore there were a lot of obese people walking around. It is becoming the same way here in Germany as well, even though you still don't see as many obese people as in the States.

 

[Chundles]

The bread is terrible. It's too sweet and always so dry. I've never had bread in the US that didn't taste two days old.

 

[MonkeySee....]

When I was in vegas there was a Denny's I think it was and I almost threw up on the menu.

Oh and what the **** are "grits"?

 

[jzuena]

The USA's top export is obesity.

Says the poster whose signature is: "Drink lots of beer and wait for half-time results". How many stone do you weigh, again?

Would it shock all of you to find out that there actually are thin people here in the US, too? And that some of us can even find tiny geographical locations like Europe, Asia, and the Pacific Ocean on a map and have actually visited the locations we are pointing to? I've even heard of some Americans who can successfully point out the Earth on a globe.

 

[iJohnHenry]

There is a nice little business in the US southwest bringing Coke in from Mexico where it is made right. Why Coke won't switch back to regular sugar for us is a mystery. Its not like we don't know the difference in taste.

Easily answered.

Ongoing embargo on Cuban sugar-cane, perhaps sponsored by the very rich corn lobby in Washington.

 

[jzuena]

When I was in vegas there was a Denny's I think it was and I almost threw up on the menu.

Understandable, since that is the same reaction locals have at Denny's. If it is not past midnight and you are not drunk, you really have no business being in a Denny's.

Oh and what the **** are "grits"?

You do not want to know! Actually they are a corn meal porridge that Southerners swear by, and I can't get up the nerve to even try. I'm sure I'll be called a Yankee carpetbagger communist by any grits enthusiast, but I don't care. That stuff looks nasty. But its probably good for you... at least until you slather it with butter and bacon fat which I hear is the only way to eat grits.

 

[roadbloc]

I have no problem with the food, the majority of it is very nice. However, serving portions are far too big for my appetite.

 

[Mr. McMac]

I have no problem with the food, the majority of it is very nice. However, serving portions are far too big for my appetite.

What's wrong with taking home leftovers?

 

[leenak]

- Bread: Awefull, really bad. Tasteless and too sweet. artificial. Dare i say it, the bread of Subways is the least bad

As an American, I think Taco Bell is disgusting and Subway was the 'least bad'!? I dislike Subway because of the bread

Oh and since you mentioned mostly fast food restaurants, did you eat there and mostly large chain restaurants? That could explain it. Fast food is generally disgusting and places like Applebees, Fridays, Dennys, IHOP, etc are just not good.

 

[roadbloc]

What's wrong with taking home leftovers?

Nothing. But that slice of pizza I had was about the size of one entire pizza over here. I dunno how people eat so much.

 

[Mr. McMac]

As an American, I think Taco Bell is disgusting and Subway was the 'least bad'!? I dislike Subway because of the bread

Oh and since you mentioned mostly fast food restaurants, did you eat there and mostly large chain restaurants? That could explain it. Fast food is generally disgusting and places like Applebees, Fridays, Dennys, IHOP, etc are just not good.

I don't get why people are hating American food. Maybe you're right, they're going to fast food places. I personally never go. I mostly cook at home, but occasionally go to fine restaurants which are plentiful here in New York

 

[Happybunny]

I always found the food to be of good quality, except for the bread, and soft drinks. The size of portions was for my second wife far too much, so she always ordered from the kids menu. Street food in NYC is just fantastic for choice and price, please note to always take a lot of paper napkins.

What is with the gravy in the last few years. I've seen gravy poured over french fries, which was way to many calories for me.

 

[rei101]

The problem with the food in the US is that is not natural anymore.

For example, I am from Venezuela, farmers do not have so much money to add additives to their cows and chicken and everything else. Nor preservatives for transportation.

The result is that the actual food is organic, natural. The bananas are not 100% yellow, they are organic and they will last a few days, not a few weeks. The same with meat and everything else.

So, when you eat something in Venezuela your body feels better, you are happier, less anxiety, you loose weight too unless you eat fried things.

The same in Germany, food is more organic.

That is what I have noticed here in the US and I have been around this country for 20 years now.

I believe that because grocery stores are trying to have all the vegetables green, all the meat with the perfect red and all that to make it look "tempting", has caused loosing a lot of the original nutrients and added many artificial ones.

 

[Gold89]

Momofuku
Alinea
Thomas Keller
Danny Meyer

Dogfish Head
Brooklyn Brewery
Allagash
Stone
Russian River
Sierra Nevada

McDonalds
Tacobell
KFC
Natty Ice

Organic Movement
Farmers Markets
Alice Waters
Wholefoods



I.e. - A complete range, from the sublime to the awful. At its best the most incredible food culture at worst the worst. Simply a reflection of the USA. (And not only as a whole but geographically as well)