Re: Non-American Foodies

Bubba wrote:
Developing ethnic foodways and national specialties takes time...lots of it. Something the United States, still in it's infancy as a culture, has not had much of.
I would, however, like to hear some opinions, by non-Americans, on United States cuisine as an ethnic food.
Such as:

Do you consider food American food to be ethnic?

Yes, in that it has a unique character

What characteristics distinguish cooking in the U.S. from other ethnic foods?


The ingredients of course! Just like any other.

What do you see as the most typical trait of American cooking?

Too many ingredients, and too many ready-made ingredients, like pre-processed food. Boxed cake mixes, ready-made sauces, cheese whiz (whatever that is) spring to mind. A lack of simplicity, and a reluctance to let good ingredients speak for themselves. 

What do you see as the most distinctive American dishes?


Things unknown in the rest of the world:-
Chicken 'buffalo' wings. Took me a while to figure out Buffalo meat was not an ingredient.
A 'salad' that includes savory and sweet ingredients in some kind of gelatine/mayonnaise matrix, like chicken, marshmallows, lettuce, and grapes, for example.
Pizza, always of a kind unlike anything I have eaten in Italy.
Brownies.
Cornbread.
Doughnuts. Sorry, make that donuts; Krispy Kreme donuts in particular.
Real slow BBQ and vinegar coleslaw.
Chile con carne.
Collards greens cooked with ham.
Burgers, though technically german. Ditto Frankfurters, when served as Hot Dogs with over-sweet tomato ketchup and strangely flavour-free mustard, in a dry cotton-wool bun. In fact, there seems to be an obsession with wrapping or encasing food in bread throughout the states.
Hot Chillis with everything.
Chilled milky drinks.
San Francisco Sourdough bread
Iced tea. Not remotely like English tea; cold, over-sweet, and barely tasting of tea at all.
Last, but not at all least, the habit of serving enough food to feed a person for a week, as a single meal.


Any other observations you'd like to make.

The strange custom, not shared with the rest of the world, of measuring ingredients by volume instead of weight, and of using degrees fahrenheit instead of centigrade.

If you would, please tell me what country you are from. 

UK/Italy/Holland/France.

Also, to avoid the embarrassment of having a McDonaldsBurger becoming our national specialty, I'd like to restrict this to foods that are prepared at home.

Americans do seem to prepare food at home that is similar to that which can bought as ready-made fast food. I find that very strange indeed.


To be fair, I do know Americans that are great cooks, that prepare their great national produce simply and well, and understand good food in the way it should be understood, and many of them haunt this newsgroup. Unfortunately they are overwhelmed by the majority that have little discernment; not a difficult thing to do in such a populous nation. I'm sure the same case could be made for many other countries, mine own included.

Hope I did not make a mistake in de-lurking for this thread.


Thanks in advance for any responses.

Bubba 

Hmmmm. I don't think you will be thanking me.

Snail
.

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