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.
If calories frighten you, you better not check-out the sodium content of 'restaurant' gravy.
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What do Non-Americans...
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If calories frighten you, you better not check-out the sodium content of 'restaurant' gravy.
Had you done so, it would have been the most appetizing item on the menu.
Grits is/are a porridge-type dish made of ground corn. It's for people who like a hot cereal without any of that nasty nutrition found in oatmeal.
A mistake when eating out in the USA is to go to major chain restaurants. If it exists in every major city it is going to be a sub par double portion of processed junkfood. Eat local! There are many great and varied agricultural regions in the nation and outstanding chefs to make the most of it all.
This weekend I'll be taking a trip northeast of Seattle to visit a few wineries and have dinner. I expect it should be a nice meal.
This weekend I'll be taking a trip northeast of Seattle to visit a few wineries and have dinner. I expect it should be a nice meal.
There you go. United states of America is a big place.
Yes.... Virtually all processed food in the US uses corn syrup. Lots of corn syrup. Which is causing all sorts of health issues since a lot of corn is now genetically modified.... which is why the US won't label food as GMO since it virtually all has GMO corn now.
But back to the topic.... Like most things about the US, it's food is a study in contrasts, I believe. If you go looking for regional specialities from non-chain restaurants - you can get some amazing meals. I think the best meals are the 'fusion' ones. That is - when the chef is combining the food they grew up with and love with the local fresh ingredients (that were not available where they grew up...)
Every region has it's strength. Sushi in California, meat in the mid-west, seafood in Louisiana, etc.
Oh... but they can make some of the worst food ever as well. Especially the chains... but not just there. We had turkey dinner at a small, popular, diner near Mount St Helens. Turkey, Cranberries, Mashed Potatoes, Veggies. And gravy. Lots and lots of gravy. So much gravy we couldn't see the food - we had to scrape the gravy off the top of each gravy covered mound to see what it was. Wasn't even particularly good gravy either... salty and oily... bleech.
Too much reliance on industrial food. Tomatoes that are artificially red, and square, so they travel well. But have no flavour. Bread that is extruded from dough making machines.
And never never ever have have anything with ground chicken in it. You know the stuff, that is like ground beef - but chicken. If you can't identify the part of the chicken you are eating under no circumstances eat the chicken. There is a video about how they make it... it will make you gag... Don't google it until your breakfast has had a chance to settle. Trust me on this on.
Oh... I'm Canadian, so our food is about the same... and we spend a lot of time there. But our portions are not as big. Also... the best eating on the continent is Toronto and Vancouver... that's not just me saying it... The NY Times several years ago called Vancouver the best eating for the money in world. Since then Toronto has upped its game as well.
I haven't had Burgers and Fries in 2 months. It's amazing I'm still alive. Why all the hate for America?
The line is from a song, it's football season. Not sure re weight in stone, but I'm about 1/8th of an American.
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.
Congratulations on your parents being the family's intelligent cousins.
That is a very narrow view. The US is a big country and different regions have different specialties and different influences. I haven't even eaten all the varieties of American food.
In Louisiana, you have cajun cooking. In the various coastal areas, you have sea food specialties like the lobsters of Maine, Maryland crabs, clam bake of the east coast (forgive me if that isn't the proper word, I didn't grow up on the east coast), salmon of Alaska, etc, etc. You have the various varieties of pizzas from New York, Chicago and other regional versions. You have the southern food of the south including grits, collard greens, corn bread, etc. You have the various forms of BBQ encountered throughout the US from the carolinas, midwest, texas and other regions. You have New Mexican cooking (one of my favorite) which includes chiles of the southwest used in a variety of cooking. You have the Mexican influence in Texas to create Tex-Mex (most Mexican restaurants in the US seem to follow Tex-Mex style) but also other regions in the Southwest have their own style of Mexican food(California being my favorite). You have the greasy Chinese food influence that started in California with Chinese immigrants and has spread throughout the US but you also can get some very realistic Chinese food from more recent immigrants/restaurants catering to Chinese immigrants.
Beyond all that, and I'm sure I've forgotten to mention something but every region really has its own style. The food you encounter in California relies heavily on a variety of fresh vegetables while you might encounter different types of food based on the different type of immigrants that were originally in the area as well as what easily grows in the various areas.
And with that, I'm done with my overview of "American" food
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I haven't had burgers and fries in many years. It was an occasional thing for me, but then I went vegetarian and that was that.
Seems to me that there are ignorant people that live outside of the US. Some of them are even posting in this thread!
Who knew?
I mean, only Americans are supposed to be ignorant and paint with broad brushes, right?
Bottom line: yes there's crappy food here, and yes, there's crappy food outside of the US as well. At the same time, there's excellent cuisine here, and there's excellent cuisine outside of the US.
Surprise surprise.
Let's not even think of differences in tastes between cultures...
Who knew?
I mean, only Americans are supposed to be ignorant and paint with broad brushes, right?
Bottom line: yes there's crappy food here, and yes, there's crappy food outside of the US as well. At the same time, there's excellent cuisine here, and there's excellent cuisine outside of the US.
Surprise surprise.
Let's not even think of differences in tastes between cultures...
Just my opinion, but maybe it's
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Chain food is chain food.
McDonalds, Burger King, Wendy's, Arby's, all make burgers and fries.
They are all different and not close to being an accurate representation.
Pizza Hut , Dominos, Little Caesars, Papa Johns all make pizza.
They are all different, and all, well yuk.
KFC ain't southern fried Chicken.
Taco Bell is no more Mexican then Chi Chi's was.
Getting a slice at Rays in NYC is nothing like getting a slice at Pizza Hut in Tokyo.
As I recall mine had kernels of corn on it.
The picture in a US chain restaurant never looks like what you are served.
There are some exceptions but for the most part they extrude fat, sugar, salt, protein, along with color into different textures, sizes, and shapes.
It's not just America. A client took us to $100 Italian restaurant in Osaka and I was served ramen noodles under a flood of ketchup like sauce. And they baked it.
McDonalds, Burger King, Wendy's, Arby's, all make burgers and fries.
They are all different and not close to being an accurate representation.
Pizza Hut , Dominos, Little Caesars, Papa Johns all make pizza.
They are all different, and all, well yuk.
KFC ain't southern fried Chicken.
Taco Bell is no more Mexican then Chi Chi's was.
Getting a slice at Rays in NYC is nothing like getting a slice at Pizza Hut in Tokyo.
As I recall mine had kernels of corn on it.
The picture in a US chain restaurant never looks like what you are served.
There are some exceptions but for the most part they extrude fat, sugar, salt, protein, along with color into different textures, sizes, and shapes.
It's not just America. A client took us to $100 Italian restaurant in Osaka and I was served ramen noodles under a flood of ketchup like sauce. And they baked it.
I weigh 164 pounds and I'm an American. So you are saying you weigh 20.5 pounds? That would be 9.3 kg.
Congratulations on your parents being the family's intelligent cousins.
Are you TRYING to get yourself put in a timeout? Because you are now crossing from incorrect sweeping generalizations of Americans as a whole to personal insults.
I'm not hating. Just my opinion. I think that there's no such thing as real American food as it all came from immigrants. To elaborate, Soul Food has African influences, hamburgers got introduced in America by a German immigrant who came to America from Hamburg while french fries originated in either Belgium or France and was called pomme frites, it appeared in America and got called french fries. So in my opinion, there is no authentic or pure American food. Maybe barbecue and doughnuts?
It isn't unusual for food to have influences from other areas, that doesn't mean it isn't our own. Corn came from the Native Americans and that have influenced a lot of American cooking. Lots of foods found natively in the Americas have influenced American cooking although styles may have been influenced by other areas but it is still American.
Anyway, if you look at Italian cooking, noodles came from China but do we consider pasta Italian? Many spices came from the East, so do we say anything with non-native spices aren't 'authentic'? I figure after hundreds of years, you make it your own.
Rather tasty, portions are far too large though, I was asking for small everything and still sending roughly half of it back to the kitchen because I was about to burst.
By the end of the 2 weeks it was getting annoying having to explain that I really did enjoy the food, I just couldn't eat it all.
By the end of the 2 weeks it was getting annoying having to explain that I really did enjoy the food, I just couldn't eat it all.
Just about all food came from somewhere else... To expand on the Italian example above .... Noodles from China. Tomatoes came from the new world (America - not necessarily the USA), and half the spices in Italian food come from Asia originally. Half the edible food in the UK cames from one of their former colonies. If you want truly "authentic" food head to the arctic and eat raw seal and whale with the Inuit ....
Wirelessly posted
Our humour is different. I'm sorry you don't get it.
jzuena said:
I weigh 164 pounds and I'm an American. So you are saying you weigh 20.5 pounds? That would be 9.3 kg.
Congratulations on your parents being the family's intelligent cousins.
Are you TRYING to get yourself put in a timeout? Because you are now crossing from incorrect sweeping generalizations of Americans as a whole to personal insults.
Our humour is different. I'm sorry you don't get it.
Non-Americans? (You mean non-US citizens) Lol, anyways, ok, I'll ignore that.
Moving on.... what do we think of US based foods (chained or non-chained)? Well, for starters me, I came to the southern US (still am here working). More specifically, New Orleans.
So here, I got to try several things. First off, I've never really had a burger experience until I came to New Orleans. Down here we got Port of Call to mention the least. Great place for a burger that is non-chained. Rule of thumb I learned, If you want to enjoy the real taste of burgers, chips, fries, hot dogs, etc. well then, you better avoid fast food chains like the plague and go to those local places that server them. Taste and quality is increased 4x.
Soul food? Oh man, no need to mention how close Soul Food is to Latin American cosine.
I have to admit, down here food is spiced up and really has the rich latin flavors due to the Spanish and French history of Louisiana. Someone in the thread asked what Grits were. They are ok, and you eventually learn to like them. Trust me, I hated them the first try. After 4th spoon, I got the taste of it. Grows on you I tell ya.
As per bread, someone mentioned bread tastes like 2 day old or that not enough variety. Well, down here not an issue due to the Latin American bakeries and the French bakers as well.
I could go on and on, but quite honestly, I have to agree with the Popeye's ad line, Louisiana is the land of thegood great cooking. I have yet to be disappointed in the overall culinary aspects of this place.
That said, although I have traveled to other places in the US, I have yet to encounter the kind of hearty meals down south offers. Maybe New York may change that on an upcoming trip.
Moving on.... what do we think of US based foods (chained or non-chained)? Well, for starters me, I came to the southern US (still am here working). More specifically, New Orleans.
So here, I got to try several things. First off, I've never really had a burger experience until I came to New Orleans. Down here we got Port of Call to mention the least. Great place for a burger that is non-chained. Rule of thumb I learned, If you want to enjoy the real taste of burgers, chips, fries, hot dogs, etc. well then, you better avoid fast food chains like the plague and go to those local places that server them. Taste and quality is increased 4x.
Soul food? Oh man, no need to mention how close Soul Food is to Latin American cosine.
I have to admit, down here food is spiced up and really has the rich latin flavors due to the Spanish and French history of Louisiana. Someone in the thread asked what Grits were. They are ok, and you eventually learn to like them. Trust me, I hated them the first try. After 4th spoon, I got the taste of it. Grows on you I tell ya.
As per bread, someone mentioned bread tastes like 2 day old or that not enough variety. Well, down here not an issue due to the Latin American bakeries and the French bakers as well.
I could go on and on, but quite honestly, I have to agree with the Popeye's ad line, Louisiana is the land of the
That said, although I have traveled to other places in the US, I have yet to encounter the kind of hearty meals down south offers. Maybe New York may change that on an upcoming trip.
Is there anything truly 'authentic and pure' in this world? Wouldn't wild game, and gathered forest fruits and vegetables be the most 'authentic and pure'? That's what humans were eating thousands of years before anyone had a cuisine...
What's a "non-American"? You mean there are other people?
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Don't let facts stand in the way of the anti-American ignorance that Europeans love to spout without realizing how stupid they sound.
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And with that, I'm done with my overview of "American" food
Don't let facts stand in the way of the anti-American ignorance that Europeans love to spout without realizing how stupid they sound.
From your fist sentence I take it that you're German? You won't hear that complaint about "America" being an unclear or misleading term really anywhere else. This has become an obsession in some German circles I understand to label everything "US-this" and "US-that" - even to an extent where it becomes ridiculous or flat out wrong. It always kills me when magazines like "Der Spiegel" have headlines about "US-University XYZ" or "US-police" when they are talking about some private college or even state college and some local police officer somewhere in Ohio (and not the FBI as the term would indicate otherwise).
No self-respecting Canadian or Mexican would have any trouble understanding who the "American president" is. Or what American food is. It's not Mexican - though you can really get very excellent Mexican food in America as well. And really any kind of food you want.
When I moved here from Europe I found excellent high level restaurant food and also outstanding produce in pretty much every supermarket and beyond. That is not to say that everyone here takes advantage of that but you can find here the finest quality food and drink for all sorts of tastes.
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And therefore? Really, which food in that sense is authentic? Potatoes came from America and then Europeans did something with them. Some even made it the main staple of their diets like in Ireland. Until the potato famine that is that made many Irish come to America.
Or you can go back further. Most food staples that are now considered "European" came originally from the Middle East and Mesopotamia. So now what?
As longs as it's good food made from good produce I really don't care. And surely there are very American dishes. Maybe if you're nice somebody will invite you for Thanksgiving in their home. There you can have some very American homemade food experiences that you won't find anywhere else.
But ignorance can be bliss also. Good luck with that.
Where am I complaining or saying one can't get great food over there? I've never been there and no fool either. But that is quite a story you have to tell.
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