"American" food

RobynMWilson

Just curious...

So, being the US we always hear phrases like "As American as apple pie" and I just saw a Ballpark Frank commercial where dude said "you don't get more American than Ball Park franks!" So, I wanna ask my non-US friends...do y'all have apple pie and hot dogs where you live? Please tell us where you're from when you respond.

I really did grow up thinking we were the only ones who had apple pie lol

cristynfaye

The Brits have apple crumble with custard, which is wayyy better than apple pie in my opinion.

kae_blah

When I think of "American" food it is products with lots of corn sugar, frozen prepared foods, and hot dogs that are frankfurters in a bun.

When I was growing up a 'proper' hot dog was a battered sausage on a stick or luncheon meat battered and deep fried.

"American as apple pie" is a familiar saying, but we have apple pie and apple crumble over here. In NZ we like pies whether they are filled with fruit, or savoury with meat and/or vegetables.

hdlb

I live in Canada, Northern British Columbia.....we have both apple pie and hotdogs lol. But apple pie (or pie in general) isn't a big thing, at least in our town. You can buy it at the grocery store, and you can buy it as dessert at 1 or 2 restuarants. I never hear anyone talk about pie though....its not in high demand.

And hot-dogs are pretty common. Especially in the summer for bbq'ing and camping.

mz_grim

I live in Australia and we have Hot Dogs and Apple pie

summerfly413

I'm from the US, but I have some friends overseas who didn't know what s'mores were. I think those are a good example of an American treat

yarwell

US food has to have a brand name and is generally yellow or beige - that's an impression from the UK.

Apple (and other) fruit pies probably went to America from the UK or Europe back in the day. I doubt it was a Native American thing. I have no more idea what a s'more is than a sophomore. Sounds like a genetic mutation or a body shape.

Hershey's candy can't be sold here as chocolate as it has too little cocoa in it. It also tastes and smells like sick to us.

We now have Subway, but nobody knows WTF a "sub" is - to us it's an underwater warship. While Subway may be about the healthiest thing you can find in Florida it's about the opposite here.

McDonalds is the most obvious manifestation of "American Food", I went to the first (and then only) McD nr Leicester Sq in London in about 1978, but now they're everywhere.

Hot dogs are here, but aren't especially popular. We have whole streets of fried chicken joints waiting to serve greasy yellow food to people falling out of vertical drinking establishments in the town centres, but we can't really blame them on the US even if some of them put "Southern" in their name and have Stars & Stripes emblems.

Finally, I always laugh to myself when I hear McDonalds or KFC described as a "restaurant" LOL. Here a restaurant is a place that serves propoer food, what US might call "fine dining". McDonalds is a burger joint. Cheap food is sold in a cafe or "greasy spoon".

corneredbycorn

Hershey's candy can't be sold here as chocolate as it has too little cocoa in it. It also tastes and smells like sick to us.

This pretty much made my day. Calling Hershey's chocolate is just absurd. If only the US would get on that.

VBnotbitter

I tend to think of a hot dog as something bright pink and sausage shaped in a crappy bread roll and very American style. Here in Australia a more meaty sausage in a similar roll would be a snag in a bun. Put then same sausage between two slices of bread and my English side would call it a sausage butty. Same food different names. Having lived in all three countries I'd say apple pie was universal.

chickenz

Didn't realize this thread was a american food bashing thread, are the Brits in any position to criticize, really now!

emseedubya

As an American living in Australia, I actually think cherry pie and especially pumpkin pie are much more American than apple pie. There is apple pie everywhere here. Also, meat pies. Gross. But apple pie is one of the only fruit pies I ever see. You see a lot more "tarts" here.

iggyboo93

Looked up what truly American food could be:
1. corn dogs
2. reubens
3. philly cheesesteaks
4. smores
5. buffalo wings
6. cobb salad
7. chocolate chip ice cream

Not sure if these are "American" but I sure love them:
1. Grilled cheese sandwiches and tomato soup
2. A really juicy hamburger hot off the grill
3. BBQ
4. A stack of hot cakes with eggs and bacon.

I'm really hungry right now and I've eaten all my allotted calories...

SrJoben

As an American living in America...

Hot dogs are fairly common. I'm not entirely sure why. Maybe because children like them for some reason then nostalgia takes over occasionally and adults eat them at cookouts and while watching spectator sports. About the best most adults say about them is that with the right condiments they're inoffensive. Oh and they're cheap. So if you want to pad out the menu at a party there you go.

Apple pie is pretty ingrained in the culture, or at least the eastern states, both as a symbol of home life of sorts, and a desert people actually like. Made properly it's basically magic. And I have great memories of my mom making it when I was little, and sometime of helping her. Definitely an iconic food. And one that's actually good.

louloulou

I am in New Zealand.

We have apple pie. We don't really have pumpkin pie though.

What you call a hotdog we would probably call an 'American hotdog', here a hotdog usually refers to a battered sausage on a stick.

My perception is that America has alot more processed / packaged type foods than we do. Although that could just be my perception as a foreigner.

nomena

I'm from Germany and we invented apple pie! But you see brats more often than hotdogs here.

MySlimGoals

I live in New Zealand too, and we have everything you have, just sometimes with different brand names. We also have nearly all of your chain fast food places. We're pretty multicultural here - we seem to have all sorts of foods from all around the world both in supermarkets and in resturants and fast food outlets.

Delicate

UK we have apple pie/tart (depends who's selling it) and apple crumble recipes passed down from generations, i love them with rhubarb in them

Hot dogs arent popular until bbq season, then its still mostly a normal sausage in a bun rather than a brined thing. or bratwurst in a bap (tastey)

I tried herseys and almost threw up, i used to love green and blacks until kraft took over then they started to change tastewise.

Elleinnz

LOL - I was born in South Africa, and now live in New Zealand - and yes - both places have apple pie and hot dogs.....

Here in NZ they have a hotdog on a stick - sausage on a stick, dipped in batter and then deep fried.....you then dip it in tomato sauce (ketchup)

iggyboo93

I'm from Germany and we invented apple pie! But you see brats more often than hotdogs here.

That and the authentic frankfurter. The pop that comes from biting down on a natural casing frankfurter is heaven. I love hot dogs but crave the frank. I believe there is a difference but others may beg to differ.

Vailara

I'm in the UK, and yes, we have apple pies, including delicious home made ones, tarte tatin, apple turnovers and Mr Kipling individual ones (which I wouldn't recommend). Pies are usually savoury. I don't know if it's because I'm in the north of England, but there are an awful lot of bakers shops, sometimes almost next door to each other, selling mostly individual baked goods. There's a reality TV series about one of the big bakers here on TV at the moment, called "Greggs: More Than Meats The Pie" I believe. Whereas I've heard people in the US talking about McDonalds when they talk about obesity, here they'll sometimes talk about Greggs!

We do have hotdogs, particularly at the cinema and at fairgrounds!

MySlimGoals

OMG I love those! (battered deepfried hotdogs on a stick) I used to get those at the fish and chip shop growing up, but I haven't had one in years. We also have all the other varieties of hot dogs too.

In countries that are made up from people from all around the world you get all types of food - everyone wanting their favourite food ensures that.

tekwriter

Southern American here from land of the fried chicken. I don't think our fast food chains define our food. We have the availability for quick and easy choices, but most of the items taste nothing like the home cooked kind.

DawnieB1977

I'm English and we do have apple pie, but we're more likely to have apple crumble with custard. It's often something you'll find for a pub dessert on a Sunday. I suppose I have it once or twice a year.

Hot dogs are something you might find at a fair, or at the cinema. I can 't remember the last time I ate one. They have little carts in bigger towns that sell burgers and things for drunk people in the evening! We do barbecue sausages but real sausages, if you know what I mean.

When i went to a German Xmas market in Essen either had loads of hotdogs, but made with proper German sausages.

I lived in the south of France for a year, and they had a little stand that sold hot dogs near the night club, but they were proper sausages in a piece of French bread.

I've been to the US once and I managed 2 weeks without burgers, fries and hotdogs, and ate plenty of fruit and salads, so it is possible to eat healthily there. Portions sizes were pretty huge though!

Nicolee_2014

OMG I love those! (battered deepfried hotdogs on a stick) I used to get those at the fish and chip shop growing up, but I haven't had one in years. We also have all the other varieties of hot dogs too.

We call these dippy dogs or dagwood dogs but yes in Australia we do have hot dogs & apple pies.

amandanzgirl

I live in New Zealand too. Yes we have hotdogs and apple pie, except 'hotdogs' here are what you call corn dogs and the hot dogs in a bun are known as 'American hotdogs'. Although I am told by my American husband that the hot dog we put in the bun is nothing like the ones in the states LOL.

notworthstalking

As an American living in Australia, I actually think cherry pie and especially pumpkin pie are much more American than apple pie. There is apple pie everywhere here. Also, meat pies. Gross. But apple pie is one of the only fruit pies I ever see. You see a lot more "tarts" here.

I am so not picking, but as an Aussie I love a good meat pie I am not as keen on fruit pies, but my husband loves apple pies. I have only tried what passes for an American hotdog here. I don't love them, but I don't not like them. I would definitely try the real thing if I was over there. My favourite cheap meal is a $2 sausage on bread, that charities sell sometimes at shopping centres. So simple, but done right oh wow lol. A lot of American food can seem boring and unhealthy. Hopefully there will be continued coverage of the great food culture you guys have. I know you have some awesome food

SteelLadybird

US food has to have a brand name and is generally yellow or beige - that's an impression from the UK.

Apple (and other) fruit pies probably went to America from the UK or Europe back in the day. I doubt it was a Native American thing. I have no more idea what a s'more is than a sophomore. Sounds like a genetic mutation or a body shape.

Hershey's candy can't be sold here as chocolate as it has too little cocoa in it. It also tastes and smells like sick to us.

We now have Subway, but nobody knows WTF a "sub" is - to us it's an underwater warship. While Subway may be about the healthiest thing you can find in Florida it's about the opposite here.

McDonalds is the most obvious manifestation of "American Food", I went to the first (and then only) McD nr Leicester Sq in London in about 1978, but now they're everywhere.

Hot dogs are here, but aren't especially popular. We have whole streets of fried chicken joints waiting to serve greasy yellow food to people falling out of vertical drinking establishments in the town centres, but we can't really blame them on the US even if some of them put "Southern" in their name and have Stars & Stripes emblems.

Finally, I always laugh to myself when I hear McDonalds or KFC described as a "restaurant" LOL. Here a restaurant is a place that serves propoer food, what US might call "fine dining". McDonalds is a burger joint. Cheap food is sold in a cafe or "greasy spoon".

I truly couldn't have put it better myself!

ron2e

Didn't realize this thread was a american food bashing thread, are the Brits in any position to criticize, really now!

Yes actually. We have the widest variety of food available anywhere thanks in part to our former Empire, so don't judge British food only by the traditional boiled beef and carrots, steak and kidney pudding, fish and chips, etc. Most Brits are quite cosmopolitan in their food tastes nowadays. We also tend to travel outside our own country more and therefore are exposed to different tastes and flavours.

But it's wrong to bash american food just because the US fast food industry has taken over the world in a not so healthy way. America actually has a great cuisine thanks to local ingredients and the influences of over 200 years of immigration, continuing today with influences from Mexico and South America.

yarwell

Blueberry pie - that comes to mind as American, more so than apple pie really as I've had apples from childhood but blueberries are a more recent import and popular over recent years in the UK. Cranberries for similar reasons, definitely American.

"Mac and cheese" is another one, I hadn't seen that until Ramsay started shouting at restaurateurs Stateside on the TV. I still can't believe you would want that on the menu in a decent restaurant - the joys of cultural differences :-)

I wasn't intending to "bash" anything, I just wrote down what sprung to mind as American foods and which of them we have here. Our fast food joints that emulate KFC etc are truly awful.

LinFlemmer331

English apple pie recipes go back to the 14th century. The first printed apple pie recipe was by Geoffrey Chaucer in 1381. The ingredients for the pie were good apples, good spices, figs, raisins and pears. He also mentioned a cofyn, which is simply a casing of pastry. The last ingredient, saffron, is used to color the pie filling.

KarenJanine

I think of apple pie and British. Apparently the Romans first brought apples to the Uk and there are around 1200 known varieties of apple. Apple pie is something our grandmothers, and grandmother's grandmother used to make. I've never really like it though as I don't like cooked fruit. It's too mushy, I'd rather have a fresh apple.

We have what we'd call American hotdogs, which are frankfurters in a white bread bun with ketchup and fluorescent yellow tasteless mustard. A proper hotdog would be a quality sausage, usually barbequed, in bread with fried onions and hot English or French mustard.

I would think of pumpkin pie as American, we only really get pumpkins here at Halloween and most people don't eat them, just make carvings out of them.

I also think of processed cheese as very American. Here in UK and Europe we have so many wonderful varieties of cheese, half of which you wouldn't be able to sell in the US.