"American" food

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.

Livingdeadgirl44

Oh I love pie, it''s the most wonderful thing. I've had pies from all corners of the globe from meat and potato in manchester, steak and cheese in Brisbane, and pumpkin pie in San Francisco. It's probably why I needed to sign up to this site lol.

Back on topic, I think blueberry or pumpkin or key lime pie is more american but then I think that's because apple pie really is very common in most countries.

If I had one complaint about American food its that it's got far too much salt in, tis a good job you do free refills!

pinkraynedropjacki

Ummmmm yes the rest of the world has the same food you all have in the USA. It's not like US is the only place on earth that you can buy food.


I wonder over in the US......do you have water?

beattie1

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!

Seconded

I'm British & live here too. I can cook apple (and other fruit) pie, but usually make crumble as it's quicker and easier (and more popular with my family). You take the "rubbed in" mixture of flour, marg (and sugar if it's to be a sweet pie) but don't add water, make it into a ball, roll it out or cut it. You just spread the dry mixture on the fruit and bake it - simple!

What strikes me, looking at people from other nationalities' diaries, is how much they eat that I can't identify, with lots of branded foods and very little home made.

jenilla1

I'm an American and I don't eat any of the crap found in fast food places. The smell of those places turns my stomach. Most of my meals are home cooked from scratch based on old family recipes and recipes from all around the world. I like fresh, healthy food with interesting flavors. You don't find that in the pre-packaged garbage aisles in the grocery stores. It certainly takes more effort, but isn't really any more expensive. When I think of American food, I don't think of McDonald's - that's factory food. I think of homecooked things like barbequed chicken and grilled corn on the cob. :flowerforyou:

nikilis

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.

yah in NZ the american "corndog" is what we call a hot dog. your hot dog is an american hot dog. apple pie is apple pie, although my mom aka mum in nz would be much more likely to make a crumble.

I hadn't had a pie in years till my last surf trip to tairua here, its a really small place and the bakery is old school. mean good vege pie! now I want to eat apple pie. in london id say pasties are easier to find than pies. they totally exist tho.


i dont really think of apple pies and hot dogs when I think of american food. I think of giant nachos, giant burgers, giant unhealthy everything and yeh, processed food.

nikilis

When I think of American food, I don't think of McDonald's - that's factory food. I think of homecooked things like barbequed chicken and grilled corn on the cob. :flowerforyou:

so you think more of KFC then? :bigsmile:

Oriole15

When I first read the OP , especially the part about the advertiser claiming nothing was more American I thought it was quite amusing that what was declared American was a food which literally translated means "from Frankfurt" ie Germany.

Then I though about it a little more and though it was fitting as a reminder that American as a nationality is not a homogeneous entity since the native population is a minority.

Putting aside fast food, my understanding of home cooked American food is that its regional variations are less to do with what grows in the area than with the origin of the people who settled in the area in the first place. So some areas will have a cuisine which resembles that of Eastern Europe, others have a more Mediterranean feel, others have a distinctively Northern Europe style, some have some French or African influences (gumbo anybody?).

My question to the American posters would be, are there any native dishes which are considered "as American as apple pie" since it's not a cuisine I am familiar with at all?

debrag12

Ummmmm yes the rest of the world has the same food you all have in the USA. It's not like US is the only place on earth that you can buy food.


I wonder over in the US......do you have water?

lol

It's like saying the world revolves around the USA or nothing exists outside it.

Isn't there a myth about Americans aren't told in schools about other countries etc?

talk2elles

We definitely have pies and hot dogs and other 'American' food. We also don't have a 'full English breakfast' every morning either. Well at least I don't know anyone that does. It's just a generalisation x

froschkoenigin

What we Germans think about American food:
Burgers. Pizza. Burgers. Pizza. Pumpkin pie.

And I actually do know what S'mores are, but that might be 'cause I spent 6 months in Texas...But since I've lived in both countries...German apple pies are way better. Hot dogs? Don't like them. But love frankfurters! Gotta admit that German sausages are the best