Why are US meal portions so big??
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So you spoke to every single person on the ship and know that every polite, quiet person from North America was Canadian?It's common sense that they would notice the rude, loud tourists and not the nicer, quieter ones. So they think all Americans are like that.
We're not.
I went on a Caribbean Cruise a few years ago... The polite, quiet "Americans" were Canadians.
Also, spend some time in Niagara Falls or Disneyworld sometime and tell me again that Americans have the market on loud and rude.
How much have you travelled outside the US?
People in Atlanta and Washington were VERY loud.. and I mean the US people, not the tourists. You recognise the accent (before you ask me how I know where they are from). Its one of the things I didnt really notice (I am good at opting out of hearing things) but my hubby mentioned when we got back how quiet everything is.. You also imediately spot an american tourist in Iceland and Norway due to their loudness (unless its during the night when everyone is drinking.. then we are louder or at least ruder).. sitting in the tram here in Bergen is very different from sitting in the MARTA carts in Atlanta, the tram here can be packed with people and you hardly hear anyone because most people are quiet or talking in low voices, but on the MARTA it wasnt even half full but still loud from the few people who were talking (most people were also being quiet, public transport I guess). People in the underground in London are much more talkative but dont talk so loudly either, though they are louder than Norwegians.
Different culture.. I guess when everyone else is loud, you need to be loud to be heard.
edited for spelling
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You also imediately spot an american tourist in Iceland and Norway due to their loudness
You spot the LOUD American tourists due to their loudness. So then you don't notice the quiet ones. See my point?
And Atlanta and Washington are poor examples. They're huge, congested, impersonal cities full of frustrated people. I've been to Atlanta and rode MARTA. I'm a pretty quiet person. I can't stand a lot of noise and I've lived in small towns. It wasn't that bad. Even in Boston, people really don't even talk on the T.
Do you have any idea how large and diverse the US is?0 -
I tried to ignore this but yes I've travelled far and wide, at least 8 countries in Africa, including Ethiopia, Namibia, Ghana; Asia including China, India, Sri Lanka, Thailand x 2 and Kazakhstan; South America including Argentina and Ecuador; Costa Rica x 2 and all over Europe of course. Haven't reached Australia and New Zealand yet but they're on my list. On all my travels I've never seen portions as large as the US and it wasn't a criticism, I was more worried about the waste but this has been explained to me, ie doggy bags to take home, not easy for me when I was travelling and staying in hotels!Hooray! Thank you! I 'm the original poster and I have been dismayed by the venom in some of the replies to my post. But perhaps it has made people think!
Just another post by a little traveled xenophobe making generalizations about an entire nation from eating in tourist traps and high-volume troughs.
It's OK, I've seen Americans do the same thing.
We have xenophobes too.
No worries. :flowerforyou:
what were people saying before about nasty name calling...? I'm pretty sure this would fall into that category. 'little traveled xenophobe... eating in high-volume troughs' -- completely uncalled for nasty assumptions. She's probably travelled more than you, pet.
but hey if we put an emoticon in that makes everything a-ok right?
So you're a "reasonably" traveled xenophobe. That's just dandy.
Look, I get it. I've worked with my share of British xenophobes, and in several countries. Trust me. You're not the only one. Of course, we have had our own brilliant travelers write about Europe and Asia too. I can't tell you how many times I've had friends come back from the U.K. to tell me how absolutely inedible the food was. :flowerforyou:
If you can't learn to stop taking limited experiences and writing them large, then there is little anyone else can do to change your attitudes. I have eaten at those type of places a handful of times. The food is usually awful, the portions huge, and they are decidedly aimed at a certain market. If you want to leave the cheap and fake "Italian" places, the TGIF Fridays, and the "Chinese" buffets and go to real restaurants, you will have a different experience. But, meh . . .
if we are going to stereotype...would you rather be a stinky, non deodorant wearing European, or an out of shape, obese American...I choose option two over stinking...
Don't knock stinking. Sometimes it is good to stink.
After a long, brutal, accomplished run.
After a hard day working outdoors.
After a beautiful mountain hike to a waterfall.
After a drive along the Hana Highway, stopping to swim at the black sand beach, hike the overgrown trails, while driving a convertible with the sun tanning your shoulders.
If you are cheese.0 -
Ofcourse its different between crops and seasons. The strawberries were an example, but even prepared food and prepacked and all of that was sooooo sweet. And isnt lemonade supposed to be more sour than sweet? Or maybe I have been drinking the wrong type :laugh: :laugh: :laugh:
The whole two weeks I felt like in "sugar shock".. thankfully I had alot of touristing (read: walking) to do so I got it out of my system.
Ok, so American fruit isn't pumped with sugar because Murica. Good, same page. You absolutely can get lemonade that's more sour than sweet, or you can get lemonade that is mostly sugar with a hint of lemon. That's why people ask questions when labels aren't available if they are sensitive to a product. I make my own lemonade and would only get it in a restaurant if it was the type that has a lot of texture from the actual lemons used. Or, I actually just don't get any drinks in restaurants besides diet pop, black coffee, or water with lemon. Drinking the water with lemon with no sugar helps me avoid feeling like I am in sugar shock. Maybe you could try that next time so you aren't in sugar shock? When you buy prepackaged, the sugar content is right there on the label. Best of luck next time!
Well next time I will be the pain in the butt person who asks for springwater.. or brings my own. I cant drink the water if it isnt pure because I start swelling up from too much chlorine in it (at least in Atlanta, smokey mountains, washington areas).
Next time I will also be doing the same as I did allot of the later half of the trip - share with hubby Except the steak.. he doesnt want to share the steak!
If I really did think the berries were laced with suger I would have said so.. but they were definately waaay sweeter than the "fresh sweet strawberries" I get here in norway (what you get in Iceland is not comparable, not fresh enough). They are sweeter.. but perhaps all the sweetness in other food has made people so used to it so they prefer them that way.. hmm.. kinda like not everyone can eat real Skyr cause its too sour - the norwegian skyr is sweeter than the icelandic one (no its not sweetened but during the process you can choose how sweet the product ends up).
Sweetness of strawberries is determined by the timing of a temperature change right before picking, the sandiness of the soil and the amount of sunshine in a day versus rain. If the temperature stays cooler a little longer, the sun shines in the afternoons, but there is early morning rain showers, and the soil is sufficiently sandy, then the berries will be sweeter. If it is hotter and wetter, the berries will not have as good of a flavor. Norwegian berries aren't as sweet because they lose a whole lot of flavor traveling from Florida and California and Mexico to market. Unless they're grown in a green house in Norway or something, in which case the artificial atmosphere makes for a right drab and disappointing berry. Except in Japan. Somehow, the Japanese have managed to produce a very sweet strawberry even though they mostly rely on artificial conditions.
America (The US, Mexico, South America) produces the world's best produce, and most of the world's produce. You can find better of everything here because it is grown here. Kind of like how you find better cheeses in France and Austria and better deep fried Mars Bars and blood pudding in the UK.
Not necessarily disagreeing with this but from my experience the sweetest strawberries I have ever tasted are non-commercial wild Fragaria vesca or/and alpina found in the French Alps (and other regions too), on walks. It could be that the location creates a bias but these are deliciously sweet.
The "queen of the valley" strawberries only lasts about 24hrs and doesn't do well outside of a local market trade.
The "godess of the valley" are a little larger, less tasty, IMHO.
Not fair. I have a fond memory of picking wild strawberries like that as a child in Germany with my dad on a hike near the French border (shhhh, don't tell anyone I was born in Europe to expat Americans). Now, my mother and I trail walk and pick wild blackberries in Florida. There's a patch almost an acre wide that she and I discovered a few years back. We've come home with a bushel of them at one time, fingers stained purple.
The point of my post was that the sweetness of berries is determined by growing conditions, not magical fertilizers. And the poster was saying that berries in her country are not sweet. Her remark that I don't know anything about growing berries in Scandinavia is partially true. I know Scandinavia produces lots of berries because the jams and jellies are exported to the US and throughout the world (those are chock full of added sugar, though). I happen to enjoy sour berries from time to time.
Lol. My mouth is mum.
The French look at those Northern berries and aren't a big fan. I like to mix them in a compote (and I add sugar).
It's different, it's good. I'd love to spend more time picking berries.0 -
You also imediately spot an american tourist in Iceland and Norway due to their loudness
You spot the LOUD American tourists due to their loudness. So then you don't notice the quiet ones. See my point?
And Atlanta and Washington are poor examples. They're huge, congested, impersonal cities full of frustrated people. I've been to Atlanta and rode MARTA. I'm a pretty quiet person. I can't stand a lot of noise and I've lived in small towns. It wasn't that bad. Even in Boston, people really don't even talk on the T.
Do you have any idea how large and diverse the US is?
Yes I know how large and diverse it is, which is why I am saying the cities, and not "the USA". I would appreciate if you realised there is a difference between countries within Europe.. you know.. actual different countries with their own culture.. but alas..
You also spot any tourist in Iceland cause.. well.. they are not Icelander.. we are so few you always spot anyone who isnt from here.. so dont give me the crap about "the loud and not loud".
You still havent answered if you have actually been outside of the states and then where to. I think untill you do, you are not really a good judge to say what is different between your culture and others. The fact I notice the sweetness, loudness, protein in milk products, oil bathed restaurant food and so on speaks of me noticing differences in culture, not in me judging which is better.. untill you have actually been to mine I dont think you are in a position to say wether I am right or not because you dont have the knowledge to compare it.
I also notice that water in Reykjavik stinks, and that Icelanders are ruder than Norwegians (not going into how and definately not everyone but on the whole).. if I had never been to norway I would not be able to make the later comment, and if I hadnt bathed in Reykjavik I wouldnt be able to say the first.0 -
why is this thread still in my life? Go home thread, you're drunk.0
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Do you have any idea how large and diverse the US is?
^^^ This.
I've lived in the States for nearly ten years now, 2 years in SF and Silicon Valley, and 7 years in the STL, MO area. In addition, I've spent time in Iowa, New York, Florida, Nevada, Minnesota, Tennessee, Texas and Maine, and briefly visited Utah, Wyoming, Arizona, Alabama, and Nebraska. Besides massive cultural differences across the country, many States are huge and you can find a wide array of cultures just crossing the state.
So if you've been to New York City, don't think you've visited 'The USA', or that you know anything about the country or it's peoples. You've been to NYC, and that's it. Go to San Francisco next time, if you want to see what I mean. Then Houston. Then Minneapolis. Then spend some time in the rural south. And on, and on...
A note to American's though - the same holds true for the rest of the world. If you went to London, you didn't visit 'England' or 'The UK' - you just saw London. Next time go to the Lake District, or Redruth, Cornwall. Or Manchester. Or York. Very varied experiences. And for the love of everything holy stop saying you 'visited Europe' - the rest of the world laughs at you when you say that.0 -
It's common sense that they would notice the rude, loud tourists and not the nicer, quieter ones. So they think all Americans are like that.
We're not.
I went on a Caribbean Cruise a few years ago... The polite, quiet "Americans" were Canadians.
There are 300 million Americans. I'm guessing they weren't all on your cruise.
I'm a Brit living in the exurbs of Saint Louis. My neighbors are all quiet, reserved, church going folks. Very pleasant, and would give you the shirt off their backs if you needed it.0 -
It's common sense that they would notice the rude, loud tourists and not the nicer, quieter ones. So they think all Americans are like that.
We're not.
I went on a Caribbean Cruise a few years ago... The polite, quiet "Americans" were Canadians.
Trips I will never take . . .0 -
It's common sense that they would notice the rude, loud tourists and not the nicer, quieter ones. So they think all Americans are like that.
We're not.
I went on a Caribbean Cruise a few years ago... The polite, quiet "Americans" were Canadians.
There are 300 million Americans. I'm guessing they weren't all on your cruise.
No the ship wasn't THAT big....0 -
So you spoke to every single person on the ship and know that every polite, quiet person from North America was Canadian?It's common sense that they would notice the rude, loud tourists and not the nicer, quieter ones. So they think all Americans are like that.
We're not.
I went on a Caribbean Cruise a few years ago... The polite, quiet "Americans" were Canadians.
Also, spend some time in Niagara Falls or Disneyworld sometime and tell me again that Americans have the market on loud and rude.
How much have you travelled outside the US?
People in Atlanta and Washington were VERY loud.. and I mean the US people, not the tourists. You recognise the accent (before you ask me how I know where they are from). Its one of the things I didnt really notice (I am good at opting out of hearing things) but my hubby mentioned when we got back how quiet everything is.. You also imediately spot an american tourist in Iceland and Norway due to their loudness (unless its during the night when everyone is drinking.. then we are louder or at least ruder).. sitting in the tram here in Bergen is very different from sitting in the MARTA carts in Atlanta, the tram here can be packed with people and you hardly hear anyone because most people are quiet or talking in low voices, but on the MARTA it wasnt even half full but still loud from the few people who were talking (most people were also being quiet, public transport I guess). People in the underground in London are much more talkative but dont talk so loudly either, though they are louder than Norwegians.
Different culture.. I guess when everyone else is loud, you need to be loud to be heard.
edited for spelling
I was in Sydney a few years back in a nice restaurant, and an Atlantan came in and ordered a Foster's, which they didn't serve. He was loud and obnoxious, and therefore memorable. He would have been loud and out of place anywhere he went. I was in Brisbane airport when an Aboriginal came into a little restaurant and made a scene. He was also quite memorable. I've also had the pleasure of accompanying a very tall Canadian man to a trendy Manhattan club where he proceeded to tell Christian Bale that he was a gay porn producer and wanted him to star in his next film. He did that quite loudly. That guy's parents are tulip farmers in Nova Scotia. I wish this story wasn't true, but it is. I've been out to dinner with with a very loud Pakistani. I've also sat in a bar in Tokyo and watched a futball game with people from Japan, the UK, Australia, the US, Canada, and Germany. The Aussies were by far the loudest and had the most fun (I miss those friends). Come to think of it, everyone was really, really loud and had a lot of fun.
There are loud people everywhere. They're the ones enjoying life.0 -
It's common sense that they would notice the rude, loud tourists and not the nicer, quieter ones. So they think all Americans are like that.
We're not.
I went on a Caribbean Cruise a few years ago... The polite, quiet "Americans" were Canadians.
There are 300 million Americans. I'm guessing they weren't all on your cruise.
PS and even IF the ship had coped with 300 million Americans for aguments sake.... only 30% actually have passports....
http://edition.cnn.com/2011/TRAVEL/02/04/americans.travel.domestically/index.html0 -
why is this thread still in my life? Go home thread, you're drunk.
:laugh: :laugh: :laugh:
:drinker:0 -
HA!why is this thread still in my life? Go home thread, you're drunk.
Back to portion sizes... I was too lazy to read 20 pages, so i don't know if this has been said, but it seems like the restaurants that give you huge portions can do so because they load you up on the cheap stuff... rice, pasta, potatoes, chicken... if your dish is centered around beef or seafood, up goes the price and down goes the % of actual beef or seafood, and up goes the rice/potato/pasta content.
Same thing happens with chinese takeout... Chicken with Vegetable? TONS of chicken. Beef with Vegetable? TONS of vegetables. Where's the beef?
Just an observation. I have no data.
You may now return to World War III.
TG0 -
Yes I know how large and diverse it is, which is why I am saying the cities, and not "the USA". I would appreciate if you realised there is a difference between countries within Europe.. you know.. actual different countries with their own culture..
Where did I day I don't realize that?I'm a Brit living in the exurbs of Saint Louis. My neighbors are all quiet, reserved, church going folks. Very pleasant, and would give you the shirt off their backs if you needed it.
Exactly. I have met a lot of ex-pats from England and they all tell me this. Before living here, they thought all Americans were obnoxious, rude and loud. Then they actually moved here, really lived in the US, and realized that wasn't true.
Certainly there are rude, loud, obnoxious Americans. One of them sits behind me at work and I want to trachea punch her sometimes. But in my entire office of more than 100 Americans (and a few immigrants who are now Americans but didn't grow up here), I can think of two people like that.
And, again, go to Niagara Falls or Disneyworld and pay attention to the accents of some of the rudest, loudest, most obnoxious people. Most of them are not Americans.0 -
[/quote]
How much have you travelled outside the US?
People in Atlanta and Washington were VERY loud.. and I mean the US people, not the tourists. You recognise the accent (before you ask me how I know where they are from). Its one of the things I didnt really notice (I am good at opting out of hearing things) but my hubby mentioned when we got back how quiet everything is.. You also imediately spot an american tourist in Iceland and Norway due to their loudness (unless its during the night when everyone is drinking.. then we are louder or at least ruder).. sitting in the tram here in Bergen is very different from sitting in the MARTA carts in Atlanta, the tram here can be packed with people and you hardly hear anyone because most people are quiet or talking in low voices, but on the MARTA it wasnt even half full but still loud from the few people who were talking (most people were also being quiet, public transport I guess). People in the underground in London are much more talkative but dont talk so loudly either, though they are louder than Norwegians.
Different culture.. I guess when everyone else is loud, you need to be loud to be heard.
edited for spelling
[/quote]
I was in Sydney a few years back in a nice restaurant, and an Atlantan came in and ordered a Foster's, which they didn't serve. He was loud and obnoxious, and therefore memorable. He would have been loud and out of place anywhere he went. I was in Brisbane airport when an Aboriginal came into a little restaurant and made a scene. He was also quite memorable. I've also had the pleasure of accompanying a very tall Canadian man to a trendy Manhattan club where he proceeded to tell Christian Bale that he was a gay porn producer and wanted him to star in his next film. He did that quite loudly. That guy's parents are tulip farmers in Nova Scotia. I wish this story wasn't true, but it is. I've been out to dinner with with a very loud Pakistani. I've also sat in a bar in Tokyo and watched a futball game with people from Japan, the UK, Australia, the US, Canada, and Germany. The Aussies were by far the loudest and had the most fun (I miss those friends). Come to think of it, everyone was really, really loud and had a lot of fun.
There are loud people everywhere. They're the ones enjoying life.
[/quote]
We Atlantans are very memorable 0 -
How much have you travelled outside the US?
People in Atlanta and Washington were VERY loud.. and I mean the US people, not the tourists. You recognise the accent (before you ask me how I know where they are from). Its one of the things I didnt really notice (I am good at opting out of hearing things) but my hubby mentioned when we got back how quiet everything is.. You also imediately spot an american tourist in Iceland and Norway due to their loudness (unless its during the night when everyone is drinking.. then we are louder or at least ruder).. sitting in the tram here in Bergen is very different from sitting in the MARTA carts in Atlanta, the tram here can be packed with people and you hardly hear anyone because most people are quiet or talking in low voices, but on the MARTA it wasnt even half full but still loud from the few people who were talking (most people were also being quiet, public transport I guess). People in the underground in London are much more talkative but dont talk so loudly either, though they are louder than Norwegians.
Different culture.. I guess when everyone else is loud, you need to be loud to be heard.
edited for spellingI was in Sydney a few years back in a nice restaurant, and an Atlantan came in and ordered a Foster's, which they didn't serve. He was loud and obnoxious, and therefore memorable. He would have been loud and out of place anywhere he went. I was in Brisbane airport when an Aboriginal came into a little restaurant and made a scene. He was also quite memorable. I've also had the pleasure of accompanying a very tall Canadian man to a trendy Manhattan club where he proceeded to tell Christian Bale that he was a gay porn producer and wanted him to star in his next film. He did that quite loudly. That guy's parents are tulip farmers in Nova Scotia. I wish this story wasn't true, but it is. I've been out to dinner with with a very loud Pakistani. I've also sat in a bar in Tokyo and watched a futball game with people from Japan, the UK, Australia, the US, Canada, and Germany. The Aussies were by far the loudest and had the most fun (I miss those friends). Come to think of it, everyone was really, really loud and had a lot of fun.
There are loud people everywhere. They're the ones enjoying life.
We Atlantans are very memorable
God, yes. I spent 12 years there for a reason! Other than college.0 -
It's common sense that they would notice the rude, loud tourists and not the nicer, quieter ones. So they think all Americans are like that.
We're not.
I went on a Caribbean Cruise a few years ago... The polite, quiet "Americans" were Canadians.
There are 300 million Americans. I'm guessing they weren't all on your cruise.
PS and even IF the ship had coped with 300 million Americans for aguments sake.... only 30% actually have passports....
http://edition.cnn.com/2011/TRAVEL/02/04/americans.travel.domestically/index.html
This is another frankly ridiculous thing I hear used as a criticism of Americans. We Europeans truly do not know how lucky we are to be able to travel across so many countries in such a relatively short distance. Lisbon to Warsaw is a 2,000 mile drive. San Francisco to New York is a 2,900 mile drive. And as previously mentioned, there is almost as much cultural diversity across the states as there is across Europe.
Up until recently, Americans could also travel to and from Canada and Mexico without passports.
Not to mention Hawaii, 2,000 miles off the coast.
So, in terms of distance, an American can still have traveled further than a European who has never left Europe.
In terms of cost - it's prohibitively expensive for the average American to be a prodigious international traveler. It's not like they can just jump on a train and cross 5 international borders in the space of day. It takes me longer than that just to drive to the coast.
If you haven't lived another culture, it's best to not make any judgements about it.0 -
It's common sense that they would notice the rude, loud tourists and not the nicer, quieter ones. So they think all Americans are like that.
We're not.
I went on a Caribbean Cruise a few years ago... The polite, quiet "Americans" were Canadians.
There are 300 million Americans. I'm guessing they weren't all on your cruise.
PS and even IF the ship had coped with 300 million Americans for aguments sake.... only 30% actually have passports....
http://edition.cnn.com/2011/TRAVEL/02/04/americans.travel.domestically/index.html
If I lived that far north, I too would be desperate enough to leave and take Caribbean cruises packed full of fellow tourists hell bent on experiencing swimming pools, sunshine, and as little exposure to other cultures as possible . . . but please do tell me more0 -
Aussies are the funnest people in the world.0
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