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 don't know anyone who buys the plastic wrapped sliced bread.

I follow an American who has moved to live in the uk on sm. she is always saying how she was shocked that we bake and cook from scratch so much in the uk. She often shows us how to cook American dishes and literally everything comes out of a packet.

If you're interested in US food culture, I highly recommend Barbara Kingsolver's book Animal, Vegetable, Miracle. She and her family try to spend a year only eating food that originated within a particular radius of their home (can't remember if it was 20 miles or 50 miles, but you get the idea). There are lots of excursuses into American food culture, including good analysis of the commercial pressures influencing some of the unhealthy and high food-miles aspects of the business, but she also seeks out and celebrates older US traditions of cooking and eating, interspersed with a 'compare and contrast' trip around Europe (mainly Italy iirc).

There is lots of good stuff coming out of the US in blogs and social media content from people seeking wholesome and local alternatives to mass-produced commercial food, although some of it does start to intersect with the 'surrendered wife' niche. Conversely, when I first bought a dehydrator and joined a FB group, I ended up leaving because the US contributors were bizarrely fixated with dehydrating marshmallows. Just... WHY? Baffling.

Then she's not much of a cook, is she?

These were taken this morning at my Italian supermarket. The trays go right in the oven, so I assume they meet the British definition of ready meals.

They look so good! Hope you are trying one.

They are really good. It's a pretty posh supermarket. I especially like their chicken Francaise but we're having burgers on the grill with homemade mac & cheese and steamed corn on the cob tonight.

I just thought I'd share this in case you think my macaroni and cheese came out of a box. 😀

I mean this sincerely - why would you watch that?

@HeadAboveTheParapet I have a friend whose dog is allergic to everything! It’s awful. She started buying imported dog food from Italy and allergies are gone. That’s pretty terrifying.

I also started having a terrible reaction to wine several years ago. Solution: no more California wines, only imports. Problem solved. Whatever weird shit they are allowed to put in wine here is disgraceful.

I think it's highly unlikely that such an American actually exists.

Prove me wrong, bloodyplanes. Post a like to her Facebook, Instagram or whatever social media you follow her on.

Bloody, I was on a flight from New York to Los Angeles with a British hen party a few years ago. They were awful. In addition to the ridiculous t-shirts and hats, they were loud, belligerent with the staff, and drank themselves silly. The hen called a flight attendant a cunt when she was refused further alcohol service. Eventually, the first officer came back into the cabin and warned them that any further disruptive behavior would result in their being arrested for failing to follow instructions from the flight crew when we landed in LA.

Should I conclude from this experience that British women are uniformly drunken, badly-behaved twats?

It's the farming practices in the US that turn me off. Cows that don't habitually graze on grass, chickens doused in chlorine. None too appealing.

My experience of US food is from 40 years ago so basically irrelevant, but I have fond memories of Californian food - amazing fresh salads, tried coriander for the first time (thought it tasted like plastic bags but grew to love it); Mexican food from tiny cantina down a side street in Tijuana (ok not US); amazing Thai food in LA; New York - delis and a superb Indian restaurant; fresh tempura veggies made by a friend. All revelatory for a Scottish teenager in the 80’s (and that’s with coming from a family that routinely ate healthy home cooked food). We were quite shocked by the prevalence of box cake mix and Kraft Mac & cheese though 😁

Even years ago I remember recipes including a packet of this and a packet of that. I also have a cook book given by MiL decades ago (I still have it!) comprised of recipes from parents at a London independent school - ‘a package of pasteurised processed cheese’ was an item in one. At the time I was a bit ‘WTF? Mil knew the woman, she was American.

Having said that, I dare say a lot may depend on area. A Dsis has lived in Massachusetts since the 70s - no shortage of organic, wholefood etc. there, and she’s very fussy. Obviously a massive generalisation, but she always says that E and W coast areas are one thing when it comes to food generally - it’s the vast middle where she can be hard put.

You were “WTF” at Philadelphia cream cheese in a plastic package being used in a recipe? Were you very sheltered? How were you used to seeing it, if not in a package?

It's easy to buy grass-fed beef and organic chicken in the US. There's a huge market for both. You'll just pay a bit more. Less expensive choices are a good thing for people on a tight budget.

I don't bother with organic chicken. The chilled chlorine solution kills pathogens, and after a clean water rinse, residual chlorine is 17 ppb (parts per billion), much lower than tap water's standard. It goes even lower after cooking.

www.nationalchickencouncil.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/U-of-Md-Chlorine-Study.pdf

We just came back from America. Did quite like the orange fanta 😂 we went travelling round a few places and there were some massive shops like Tesco. Riley’s or something they were called and they sold a lot of fresh fruit and veg. There was of course lots of processed food too and generally food was more unhealthy- for example grilled cheese. I was expecting a cheese toastie but the cheese was like burger cheese and the toast was fried. Daughter thought it was incredible though 😂

@MissConductUS

https://linktr.ee/Yorkshirepeach

Here she is

@MissConductUS for some reason MNHQ are blocking the link to her insta. She is called Yorkshire Peach and you can find her on insta, fb and tik tok.

She makes it from scratch in the UK.

Raleys? Its typically in Western US states. They always had a good deli section!

Its true, Americans often make grilled cheese with American cheese slices - the ones in the plastic. Each piece of bread should be lathered in butter and then grilled in a pan. So I guess its almost close to fried bread? I do make it this way sometimes here in the UK, using Waitrose Essential Cheese slices and some decent bread and then a side of ketchup for dunking. Its total comfort food and good with some tomato soup.

Yes Raleys! It was great!

Cinnamon. My abiding memory of coffee shops, bakeries and supermarkets in the mid nineties was the smell of cinnamon. I like cinnamon actually. But to this day DH hates the stuff!

Wegmans is another fabulous regional grocery store chain. They started in upstate New York and are now all over the northeast.

www.wegmans.com/

Oh they're obsessed with cinnamon in America. They stick it on everything!