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?

Are those boxed salads? they look nice.

But ready meals go in the oven. This kind of thing

www.waitrose.com/ecom/shop/browse/groceries/fresh_and_chilled/ready_meals

I don't know if you detected sarcasm where there wasn't any but I fully understand what mayo is made from and I was excited to try something different that might add to my baking...

@mathanxiety and I ALWAYS use mayo instead of butter on my sandwiches

@calmlakes - tuna salad as opposed to tuna?

Tuna salad usually contains minced celery, red onion, lemon juice, s&p, minced parsley, minced dill pickles or pickle relish, mustard and mayo. The tuna far outweighs all of the other ingredients.

What would you normally do with tuna?

Uncle Giuseppe's is amazing - it was a 35-minute drive to the nearest one from me but so very worth it - but also wouldn't be what I'd consider the average supermarket, as a small chain with only 10 stores. But really good? Absolutely.

While the deli section in that supermarket has a fairly large selection of pre-prepared foods, those would not be what I would refer to as a ready meal in the UK style, which are much more widely available.

Quite shocking really! I eat more than that per meal 😳

But compared to continental Europe our food is beige, bland and stodgy! Our native cuisine anyway. Mainly on account of our climate and what we can grow here.

What's shown in the picture are mostly salads, but they do trays of meatball dinners, eggplant parmigiana, chicken piccata, etc. that you would heat up in the oven or microwave. I stopped making my own meatballs because theirs are better.

American ‘mexican’ be it tex / mex or the Californian mexican food is incredible 🐷

@cherrypiepie
cheese like Roquefort cost a fortune in US as imported luxury goods, I remember Frasier and Niles getting poetic about their French cheeses, they’re a luxury item

Hah, love a US bashing thread. I'm in Manhattan, and we're a bunch of neurotic skinny fuckers so I'm reading this with interest for perspectives/info on the rest of the country.

I also live directly between two branches of Whole Foods. Living the bourgeoise dream 😂.

@cherrypiepie
28 dollars for epoisses to USA, half the price here and we wouldn’t pay shipping as it’s in supermarket

Has anyone mentioned crisco frosting yet? All those cakes at the bakery section in supermarkets made of crisco veg fat. Ewwww!!
Or has this changed?

@allfurcoatnoknickers
are you near a Sbarro…..yum

@allfurcoatnoknickers
I wasnt bashing at all, sorry if that’s how it came over, I just wanted to say why ‘blue cheese’ dressing/salad in a cruise in USA wouldn’t be Roquefort ! (it wouldn’t be here either !)

@TwoMonthsOff There's one in Times Square, but I've never eaten there. Got my own pizza places I prefer.

To my knowledge it has not changed; that's the shelf-stable, will-survive-a-hot-day-or-long-transport option and it's vile.

My local Publix grocery store sells prepared meals.

@allfurcoatnoknickers
I can imagine, but for ‘fast’ Italian style food there is nothing like that here we just have Pizza Hut which is vile and overpriced and doesn’t have the servery counter thing with the pastas etc
I do think there are maybe some Sbarro in UK now.

It's not good. I lived in the USA for a couple of years and lost nearly two stone without trying (luckily I needed to). I found foodstuffs were poor quality, heavily processed and pretty bland. We used to eat at a local Indian restaurant that made our food spicier when they found out we were British. They claimed they had to be "careful" with the locals.

No, it hasn't, and that stuff is nasty. But here's a somewhat little-known tip: you can buy unfrosted cake layers from the bakery and make your own icing.

On Diners Drive Ins and Dives they visit some fantastic food places, really beautifully prepared food with fresh ingredients

foodnetwork.co.uk/search/?q=diners-drive-ins-and-dives&utm_source=foodnetwork.com&utm_medium=domestic

@SenecaFallsRedux well I wish I'd known that!

@GoAround I lived in the US ages ago and I loved those jars of applesauce, sort of premasticated texture.

I like tuna with cucumber and a little mayo.
I was really happy to discover that Canada has plain tuna sandwiches. 😂

There is a lot of cheese on everything. But I can get a nice variety of cheese.

I do agree that the USA has a really poor collection of ready meals to cook at home but it has a lot of pre-cooked self select bars.