Why are US meal portions so big??

Asheriee

Going on the OT ... like I said, yes, meal portions are very big here, but no one said you had to eat all of it, or any of it for that matter...

RGv2

What they also don't understand is that even though we are "unified states" a lot of them are like foreign countries. New England, the South... hell, we even have our own version of the Azores. (HI)

Yep....as well as Puerto Rico and the VI's, and the last time I went on a Caribbean Cruise...*shhhh*....I didn't need a passport.

rml_16

What they also don't understand is that even though we are "unified states" a lot of them are like foreign countries. New England, the South... hell, we even have our own version of the Azores. (HI)

I moved from New York state to rural (sort of) Georgia.

Culture.Shock.

I was writing an article about the local women's group that formed in the 1950s giving its building to the city for a visitors' center. One of the women ran her hand up my bare leg (I was in a skirt) and then told me I was a nice girl and the only thing wrong with me was I was a "dam Yankee."

Asheriee

I'm from the Boston area and there alone you can get a taste of several different countries within 15 minutes depending on which direction you go.

BeachIron

What they also don't understand is that even though we are "unified states" a lot of them are like foreign countries. New England, the South... hell, we even have our own version of the Azores. (HI)

I moved from New York state to rural (sort of) Georgia.

Culture.Shock.

I was writing an article about the local women's group that formed in the 1950s giving its building to the city for a visitors' center. One of the women ran her hand up my bare leg (I was in a skirt) and then told me I was a nice girl and the only thing wrong with me was I was a "dam Yankee."

Just be patient. Give it another 10 years or so and you'll be "their" yankee, and stay there long enough and your grandchildren may actually be considered locals. I'm from the South, and I love living here again, but it has its moments.

dbmata

What they also don't understand is that even though we are "unified states" a lot of them are like foreign countries. New England, the South... hell, we even have our own version of the Azores. (HI)

I moved from New York state to rural (sort of) Georgia.

Culture.Shock.

I was writing an article about the local women's group that formed in the 1950s giving its building to the city for a visitors' center. One of the women ran her hand up my bare leg (I was in a skirt) and then told me I was a nice girl and the only thing wrong with me was I was a "dam Yankee."

I can only imagine. She sounded a little frisky... bet she's fun at the local bar mixers.

I moved from SF to Boston. Talk about shock. I grew up very redneck, and boston out SF'ed SF when it came to illogical fears and dirty politicians.

I could only imagine that at least the south has good food... Boston did not.

rml_16

What they also don't understand is that even though we are "unified states" a lot of them are like foreign countries. New England, the South... hell, we even have our own version of the Azores. (HI)

I moved from New York state to rural (sort of) Georgia.

Culture.Shock.

I was writing an article about the local women's group that formed in the 1950s giving its building to the city for a visitors' center. One of the women ran her hand up my bare leg (I was in a skirt) and then told me I was a nice girl and the only thing wrong with me was I was a "dam Yankee."

Just be patient. Give it another 10 years or so and you'll be "their" yankee, and stay there long enough and your grandchildren may actually be considered locals. I'm from the South, and I love living here again, but it has its moments.

That was eight-plus years ago. I have laughed about it ever since. She was very sweet otherwise. :-)

I really haven't had an issue. Tallahassee is full of transplants because of the universities and state government. But St. Marys was a world unto itself, even so close to Savannah and Jax. I really loved it there, honestly. I'd move back if the right job came along.

rml_16

What they also don't understand is that even though we are "unified states" a lot of them are like foreign countries. New England, the South... hell, we even have our own version of the Azores. (HI)

I moved from New York state to rural (sort of) Georgia.

Culture.Shock.

I was writing an article about the local women's group that formed in the 1950s giving its building to the city for a visitors' center. One of the women ran her hand up my bare leg (I was in a skirt) and then told me I was a nice girl and the only thing wrong with me was I was a "dam Yankee."

I can only imagine. She sounded a little frisky... bet she's fun at the local bar mixers.

I moved from SF to Boston. Talk about shock. I grew up very redneck, and boston out SF'ed SF when it came to illogical fears and dirty politicians.

I could only imagine that at least the south has good food... Boston did not.

My ex went to the New England School of Law while we were dating and my aunt lives in Winchester, so I've spent a lot of time there. You CAN find some good food, but for some reason, as big a city as it is, the food isn't great. You're definitely right about that. Probably all the Irish settlers.

I love that city, though.

And, yes, the South has its share of yummies. But around here the pickings are kind of lousy. My favorite places to eat out are the local Indian restaurants. SO GOOD.

Asheriee

That's what I mean though, you have the Italians, the Asian, the Irish. Shout, Bostonians think of themselves as their own culture anyway.

BeachIron

What they also don't understand is that even though we are "unified states" a lot of them are like foreign countries. New England, the South... hell, we even have our own version of the Azores. (HI)

I moved from New York state to rural (sort of) Georgia.

Culture.Shock.

I was writing an article about the local women's group that formed in the 1950s giving its building to the city for a visitors' center. One of the women ran her hand up my bare leg (I was in a skirt) and then told me I was a nice girl and the only thing wrong with me was I was a "dam Yankee."

Just be patient. Give it another 10 years or so and you'll be "their" yankee, and stay there long enough and your grandchildren may actually be considered locals. I'm from the South, and I love living here again, but it has its moments.

That was eight-plus years ago. I have laughed about it ever since. She was very sweet otherwise. :-)

I really haven't had an issue. Tallahassee is full of transplants because of the universities and state government. But St. Marys was a world unto itself, even so close to Savannah and Jax. I really loved it there, honestly. I'd move back if the right job came along.

I felt the same way when I moved to New York out of grad school. It was like I was from another planet for some colleagues. I couldn't believe the number of people I met that had never been out of New York, except to fly to L.A., London or some vacation destination. The regional bias is still alive and well, even there.

dbmata

What they also don't understand is that even though we are "unified states" a lot of them are like foreign countries. New England, the South... hell, we even have our own version of the Azores. (HI)

I moved from New York state to rural (sort of) Georgia.

Culture.Shock.

I was writing an article about the local women's group that formed in the 1950s giving its building to the city for a visitors' center. One of the women ran her hand up my bare leg (I was in a skirt) and then told me I was a nice girl and the only thing wrong with me was I was a "dam Yankee."

I can only imagine. She sounded a little frisky... bet she's fun at the local bar mixers.

I moved from SF to Boston. Talk about shock. I grew up very redneck, and boston out SF'ed SF when it came to illogical fears and dirty politicians.

I could only imagine that at least the south has good food... Boston did not.

My ex went to the New England School of Law while we were dating and my aunt lives in Winchester, so I've spent a lot of time there. You CAN find some good food, but for some reason, as big a city as it is, the food isn't great. You're definitely right about that. Probably all the Irish settlers.

I love that city, though.

And, yes, the South has its share of yummies. But around here the pickings are kind of lousy. My favorite places to eat out are the local Indian restaurants. SO GOOD.

I would quite literally trade my glock for a pile of chicken tikka. We have NONE of that worth eating in Eastern WA.

Funny enough, most illegals I knew were Irish, and they all felt salt was an exotic spice. hah. Which I think explains the food... You can have amazing shellfish there though. Oh, and a good burger at this one place in Davis Square...

PeteWhoLikesToRunAlot

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rml_16

What they also don't understand is that even though we are "unified states" a lot of them are like foreign countries. New England, the South... hell, we even have our own version of the Azores. (HI)

I moved from New York state to rural (sort of) Georgia.

Culture.Shock.

I was writing an article about the local women's group that formed in the 1950s giving its building to the city for a visitors' center. One of the women ran her hand up my bare leg (I was in a skirt) and then told me I was a nice girl and the only thing wrong with me was I was a "dam Yankee."

Just be patient. Give it another 10 years or so and you'll be "their" yankee, and stay there long enough and your grandchildren may actually be considered locals. I'm from the South, and I love living here again, but it has its moments.

That was eight-plus years ago. I have laughed about it ever since. She was very sweet otherwise. :-)

I really haven't had an issue. Tallahassee is full of transplants because of the universities and state government. But St. Marys was a world unto itself, even so close to Savannah and Jax. I really loved it there, honestly. I'd move back if the right job came along.

I felt the same way when I moved to New York out of grad school. It was like I was from another planet for some colleagues. I couldn't believe the number of people I met that had never been out of New York, except to fly to L.A., London or some vacation destination. The regional bias is still alive and well, even there.

Definitely! Especially in NYC. But then upstate has a lot of serious hicks. I won't lie. I grew up surrounded by dairy farms. Looking back, I don't have one single close childhood friend whose parents were from that area. My parents weren't, either. And we all left as soon as we could. It's pretty there, but yikes on everything else.

I liked Buffalo, though. It's almost a mini-NYC. Lots of diversity because so many immigrants went there. Fantastic food, great (small) theater district and some beautiful architecture. Not to mention the music scene. I would love to move back.

rml_16

What they also don't understand is that even though we are "unified states" a lot of them are like foreign countries. New England, the South... hell, we even have our own version of the Azores. (HI)

I moved from New York state to rural (sort of) Georgia.

Culture.Shock.

I was writing an article about the local women's group that formed in the 1950s giving its building to the city for a visitors' center. One of the women ran her hand up my bare leg (I was in a skirt) and then told me I was a nice girl and the only thing wrong with me was I was a "dam Yankee."

I can only imagine. She sounded a little frisky... bet she's fun at the local bar mixers.

I moved from SF to Boston. Talk about shock. I grew up very redneck, and boston out SF'ed SF when it came to illogical fears and dirty politicians.

I could only imagine that at least the south has good food... Boston did not.

My ex went to the New England School of Law while we were dating and my aunt lives in Winchester, so I've spent a lot of time there. You CAN find some good food, but for some reason, as big a city as it is, the food isn't great. You're definitely right about that. Probably all the Irish settlers.

I love that city, though.

And, yes, the South has its share of yummies. But around here the pickings are kind of lousy. My favorite places to eat out are the local Indian restaurants. SO GOOD.

I would quite literally trade my glock for a pile of chicken tikka. We have NONE of that worth eating in Eastern WA.

Funny enough, most illegals I knew were Irish, and they all felt salt was an exotic spice. hah. Which I think explains the food... You can have amazing shellfish there though. Oh, and a good burger at this one place in Davis Square...

I never liked seafood, but I know Boston is known for it. Which makes sense, especially lobster.

I don't think I can ever again live without good Indian. I never tried it before I lived here. We have three local places (actually owned and run by Indian immigrants) and they are amazing. We have The Curry Pot, but I have no desire to go to a chain when the local places are so fabulous.

dbmata

That's what I mean though, you have the Italians, the Asian, the Irish. Shout, Bostonians think of themselves as their own culture anyway.

I don't want to start a mob war... but I went to a few good places in North End for pasta... last night I went to the Spaghetti Factory here in Chain Restaurant purgatory... it was as good a meatball as what I had a Giacomo's...
I still haven't had pizza as good as Benevento's... or sweets like Bova's. So, I guess I can still come visit...

... and now I'm sad. I need to get someone to send me a sfogliatelle.

dbmata

What they also don't understand is that even though we are "unified states" a lot of them are like foreign countries. New England, the South... hell, we even have our own version of the Azores. (HI)

I moved from New York state to rural (sort of) Georgia.

Culture.Shock.

I was writing an article about the local women's group that formed in the 1950s giving its building to the city for a visitors' center. One of the women ran her hand up my bare leg (I was in a skirt) and then told me I was a nice girl and the only thing wrong with me was I was a "dam Yankee."

I can only imagine. She sounded a little frisky... bet she's fun at the local bar mixers.

I moved from SF to Boston. Talk about shock. I grew up very redneck, and boston out SF'ed SF when it came to illogical fears and dirty politicians.

I could only imagine that at least the south has good food... Boston did not.

My ex went to the New England School of Law while we were dating and my aunt lives in Winchester, so I've spent a lot of time there. You CAN find some good food, but for some reason, as big a city as it is, the food isn't great. You're definitely right about that. Probably all the Irish settlers.

I love that city, though.

And, yes, the South has its share of yummies. But around here the pickings are kind of lousy. My favorite places to eat out are the local Indian restaurants. SO GOOD.

I would quite literally trade my glock for a pile of chicken tikka. We have NONE of that worth eating in Eastern WA.

Funny enough, most illegals I knew were Irish, and they all felt salt was an exotic spice. hah. Which I think explains the food... You can have amazing shellfish there though. Oh, and a good burger at this one place in Davis Square...

I never liked seafood, but I know Boston is known for it. Which makes sense, especially lobster.

I don't think I can ever again live without good Indian. I never tried it before I lived here. We have three local places (actually owned and run by Indian immigrants) and they are amazing. We have The Curry Pot, but I have no desire to go to a chain when the local places are so fabulous.

If you ever go to SF, try a local chain run by some indian guys called Naan and Curry... it's delicious even though it's a chain of three. (They're starting small before calling a Kroc.) Indian food is just amazing stuff, my mom lives in a punjabi heavily area in CA... so when I visit, it's naan for days.

If you feel froggy, try Neptune's for a hot lobster roll in Boston's North End if you're ever up there. A better lobster intro, I have not found for anyone.

Asheriee

I love the North End. I can't remember the name of the place, but there's this little bakery that just always smells amazing.

iceqieen

Well for what it's worth the OP of the original thread never "bashed" anyone, merely pondered about her impression of enormous portion sizes when she travelled the US, and the subsequent food waste that this results in. A view which was echoed by plenty of others on the thread.

She was subsequently called a xenophobe and racist by people who were seemingly taking this observation terribly personal and seeing it as an onslaught of all things American.

Thank you size 10! For goodness sake what on earth are you all getting so worked up about. I love the USA, I love your beautiful countryside, I love your diversity, I love your wildlife, I love your people. Everyone I met whilst travelling was courteous, kind and nice, not like some of the people that have beaten me up about one remark that wasn't directed at anyone, only directed at a plate of food. Now for goodness sake, give it a rest!

Mmm yes.. somehow pointing out differences = bashing in some peoples eyes. I guess they dont get it.

The difference is one of approach, but I like the use of the "they" as if this is "us" vs. "them." Nice touch.

Hmmm reading fail there? They = the people I was referring to in the previous sentence = The people who think that pointing out differences/asking questions is the same as bashing.

*shrugs*

You know at some point, you have to realize that I may have been poking you with a stick. I don't personally like people insulting my country, but it doesn't bother me all that much so long as the person is at least honestly good natured about it, and prepared for a good amount of give and take, but trying to have that conversation on a public message board is all but impossible. I save the real trash talk for poker games.

Anyway, what might have been an interesting discussion in another forum at another time, seems to have pretty much no chance here. You don't know me, and I don't know you, so we can't exactly know what the other's true intent was.

True, and I have pretty much been doing the same here.. poking with a stick.

I find making fun of national stereotypes amusing (I always maintain that there is a reason the stereotypes exist and its not "cause everone hates us") and I like considering differences and why there are differences (why there are bigger portion sizes in the USA, why some cultures have a drinking culture where you have beer/wine with food, even lunch, while others only drink (and drink heavy) over weekends, why some people think horse/whale/dolphin/rabbit meat is a NONO to eat, etc).. not because I am bashing that given culture for it, I am just pointing at a difference and wondering "why".

:flowerforyou:

dbmata

I love the North End. I can't remember the name of the place, but there's this little bakery that just always smells amazing.

Bova's, don't fall for the fake rivalry between Mike's and Modern. They're nothing compared to the real ultimate power that is Bova's...

and Bova's is 24 hours, and won't get all angry on you for a little stumbling or slurring of words as long as your cash is green.

WakkoW

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

You do understand this is mostly because we can travel freely from state to state without a passport, correct? You do understand that the square mileage of Europe is approx. the same as the US. So a person who drives across Europe needs a passport as they can easily drive across many countries. A person could leave one coast of the US driving to the other and arrive approx. the same time as someone who would drive across Europe. The difference would be, you'll need your passport a handful of times in Europe to travel the same distance.

Surely if distance was the only issue at play here, then you would expect Canada to have a similar population percentage with passports, yet their population proportion of people with a passport is double at 60%!

While Canada is huge, doesn't most of the population live closer to the US border?