American food

[cherrypiepie]

I've a few questions about America food or cuisine. What is they day to day reality of food for those in the US?

I've just been on a cruise on an American orientated ship.

I read Michelle Obama's autobiography.

I've seen a few things in the internet.

What I noticed is that compared to the uk the food seemed ultra processed, even the same foods eg American Fanta, McDonald's fries (uk is potatoes salt and oil US is much more and lots of chemical additives), sliced bread. Fresh whole foods are not as prevalent in supermarkets so a whole shoe called Whole Foods has this market. I watched a person (wholesome family type) do a few recipes in you tube and they were "cooking from scratch" but they used cake mix for a cake recipe and jarred sauces for everything. Michelle Obama's description of the lack of ability to change the unhealthy school lunches as they are controlled by big business is a contrast to the uk where attempts have been made to address this issue. School lunches are hot dogs and pizza and fruit cup things.

The food on the cruise was nice but lacked the finesse of uk or continental food. And it wasn't as adventurous as a UK based cruise line. So the key lime pie would be similar to what I'd expect from a Pizza Hut type place not a £75 a head restaurant. (Appreciate this might just be this cruise line) The blue cheese salad was just called blue cheese not Roquefort or Stilton etc as it would I the uk. DH Fanta was bright orange (and he loved it!) I've read about people going nuts for American sprite too.

I wonder if any one can add any understanding to this?

I do love American food and we cook many seriously good American BBQ recipes and appreciate that there are some amazing food cultures in the US but wondered what the day to day reality is?

I had to smile at the chippiness of some replies! 😂

The only other 'national comparison' threads that invoke the same chippy responses are those that paint Australia in less than glowing terms...

So, it seems you can eat healthily and well in the US if you're wealthy. Which is a bit the same in the UK but considerably less so.

And I'm alarmed by the implications of a US trade deal that will force EU banned additives on the UK but you can be sure our government will only see the cheapness 'benefit' as it mitigates (slightly) against the soaring cost of living crisis, to quell the populace.

It probably varies but I where I lived it was similar to here, you can cook from scratch or buy ready made things. Back when I lived there refrigerated ready meals weren't that common instead there was frozen on a plate type meals (tv dinners!) or long life kits - where you just add fresh chicken for instance, the rest is in the kit including instant mash, sauce etc. of course there's other players now like HelloFresh. Fresh food is more expensive than the U.K.

Surely it depends on area. A Dsis has lived in Massachusetts for decades, very particular about healthy and organic, etc., and has easy access to the sort of food shops that cater for her. Until fairly recently she was a fairly frequent visitor to California, where her dd was studying at Berkeley. No problem finding suitable food there, either,

But when she’s happened to be briefly anywhere in the vast middle areas, she’s complained of the proliferation of ‘greasy fried fast food crap!’ - as she once put it to me over the phone. And once added, ‘And everyone’s fat and covered in bling!’ (IIRC that was at Houston Airport though - must admit I laughed.)

There is a huge variety of foods, etc. Just adding my own experience: we lived in the US (just outside DC) for four years. Shopping for fresh produce really wasn't a problem, but it cost more than it did in the UK, and eating out (not just fast food) was relatively cheaper. We did eat out more as a result!

when visiting the US (NY, MA, RI) we've always found great restaurants serving amazing fresh food.

the big difference I noticed was in the cost of fresh produce at the supermarket, particularly fruit and veg. We were last there in 2017, and I remember being shocked that a pack of 6 (non-fancy variety) apples was $4. I checked the origin assuming they must have been imported from overseas, but they were US grown. I swapped them for cake bars at a fraction of the price.

After staying in America, staying with American friends etc I found their fresh produce not as good quality as ours. Fruit and veg stay 'fresh' for weeks, but taste like nothing and sometimes chemicals.

Bread was sweet, even their wholemeal/granary bread. High sugar in most processed foods. One family I stayed with did a selection of foods for me to try, processed, bakery style food etc all very sweet and not flavourful.

Their main meals are chillis (not proper con carne), casseroles, watery soups etc. Very rarely served with fresh veg or salad, usually tinned or frozen veg with butter.

I agree OP, I find it fascinating. I'm on loads of American FB groups for allergy parents as my son has multiple food allergies. Parents share recipes and "food finds", basically discussing what we feed our kids every day.

The vast majority of posts are about fast food, safe candy and ultra processed food. And most parents have toddlers and young children. I find it so strange.

Similar UK pages have a lot more "make from scratch" and healthy suggestions.

Fascinating thread. I too am baffled by the use of cake mix...it appears to be seen as an actual ingredient in baking rather than a shortcut.

I watched a documentary about American food and obesity. They said eating out was much cheaper than cooking at home. In the UK, cooking at home works out cheaper than even fast food. A McDonald's for a family of four costs at least £20 in the UK. Whereas cooking a fresh meal to feed a family of four can be done for a fiver.

I lived in the Us for most of 4 years
We were never invited round for home cooked food - always ate out - mostly steaks. And most of the wives were sahm.

We've just come back from a holiday seeing some of the southern US states.
We did it as a road trip so did a few supermarket trips for snacks / drinks and had a look around. A lot of the fruit and veg were £££ so I can see it would be more expensive to eat healthily there, especially when there are huge service stops every few miles offering McDs, Wendy's, Burger King with very reasonably priced meals.
We did a Burger King stop one day and I had to have a 2 cheeseburger meal and a single burger and fries wasn't a set meal and would have cost more

We ate out each day and have to say, the food was really tasty, more so than when we've been to other areas.

Barbecue seemed relatively ok calorie wise but healthy sides weren't an option. At one restaurant I ordered broccoli salad and green beans and both arrived covered in sauce or butter.

We also quickly noticed the difference in drinks too - DHs Fanta was almost luminous orange and was so sweet he couldn't drink it.

I will say though, we saw a lot more healthy weight people than obese throughout the trip overall and it was nice to have so many eating out options that weren't just a pub with steak, pie, scampi etc on it like we have where we live!

Tbh the biggest issue for me when I’ve been there is the proliferation of corn fructose, rather than syrups it’s every where.

It’s entirely dependent on the restaurant you pick. Fast food or somewhere like Applebees or Olive Garden - sure, it probably is just as cheap to eat there than to buy good quality ingredients and cook at home. Just as it would probably be just as cheap in the UK to eat at Wetherspoons or KFC than to recreate the same meal yourself at home. But they aren’t representative of restaurants.

I’ve wondered this too. I like watching The Home Edit on Netflix, and am fascinated with the pantries that they make over. There seems to be so much processed food in all of them, and they’re largely households with a decent income. Obviously there isn’t a UK version to compare pantry contents to!

I had to smile at the chippiness of some replies! 😂

Because if you are from the US or know and love people who are, and read rubbish like American supermarkets don’t sell fruit and vegetables or that Americans think that using jarred and boxed pre-made ingredients is cooking from scratch, you’re going to get a bit chippy. The first time DP visited friends in the UK, they served him a lasagne made with Dolmio jar sauces and they took him to a Toby Carvery for Sunday lunch. But he isn’t stupid and so he didn’t assume it was representative of all British home cooking or restaurant food and tell people that all British people eat like that every day.

There’s an undertone to several posts that American people eat rubbish because they’re stupid or don’t know what good food is. The reality, as many posters have pointed out, it that rubbish food cheap. Most people know what good food is, they just can’t always afford it.

What Vera said surely can't be true. Loads of Americans are interested in food and cooking. Loads of tv cooking shows: ina garten, Julia child, etc.

Very true, and of course there are upmarket ("upscale") restaurants and fine dining. My experience (only my experience, not trying to generalise!) was that the 'break even' point was higher in the US. Fast food/"pub food" was much cheaper than home cooking, but a good local bistro-type place was also a bit cheaper than home cooking. That second bit is not true in the UK!

Thanks for reporting @ChickPeaChic

Incidentally if anyone is interested in African-American culinary traditions, how they've preserved their African roots and influenced American culture, I highly recommend Michael Twitty's work (e.g. The Cooking Gene). Really fascinating. I dare anyone to read it and then say American food is horrible and boring : )

Lived in the US for 8 years. Midwest. What we ate on a daily basis and what all my friends and neighbours seemed to eat was not vastly different to what people seem to eat in the Uk.

Ok, yes some cultural differences and you get people everywhere who cook everything from scratch with lots of fresh vegetables, and conversely people who live on processed food.

I would say that eating out was definitely cheaper than the UK, and also the portions are generally huge so you have leftovers for another meal back at home. Also general grocery shopping was more expensive than UK and fast food definitely cheaper. Our supermarkets had plenty of fruit and veg and fresh products and people definitely bought them. I did personally find the regular bread pretty sweet and horrible, but there were lots of other choices apart from sliced pre packaged bread.

School meals weren’t particularly great, but they don’t seem hugely different to what my kids get here in the UK to be honest. They do vary by school district a lot apparently. Ours gave every kid a free packed lunch and breakfast during covid and the actual main meal part was usually pretty gross (think a hot dog that was packed up that morning) but they also got milk, fruit, veg, cereal bars etc

Its not really possible to compare what people eat at home v what they serve on a cruise, or a weeks holiday eating in restaurants. I know I would indulge on holiday, but it doesn’t mean I don’t cook a proper meal at home. We did find the food in chain restaurants pretty bland (and cheap), but lots of small/local restaurants had amazing food.

Just as it would probably be just as cheap in the UK to eat at Wetherspoons or KFC than to recreate the same meal yourself at home

no I don't think this is correct. The cheapest fast food places near me are those fried chicken shops...not kfc, the smaller, independent ones. Feeding a family of four from one of those places would be £10-£15. I could buy a whole chicken, potatoes and some veg to make coleslaw for much much less in the supermarket. I can't think of any restaurants/takeaways in the UK that are cheaper to eat at than making yourself good at home.

Thank you! It's not chippy to object to people saying stupid things about your home country.

And it's not true that only wealthy people can eat healthily. No one in my family back home is wealthy, they still manage to eat fairly well with very little processed food or junk etc. It's true that poor people find it much more difficult to eat healthily but that is true in virtually every country, including the UK.

Sure. You could buy the same ingredients in a US grocery store for $15. I’ve never found eating out particularly cheap in many US states, to be honest, so don’t really recognise the claim that it’s cheaper to eat in restaurants than at home.

I find it weird but interesting that an adult in either country would drink Fanta.

@Liorae

I think the biggest difference from friends and relatives in the states is that they eat out so much more.

Also an American in law who thinks baking from a box is real baking.

My Dh's ex in laws would serve Jello as a salad. Just jello.