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Do Americans not cut their sliced bread sandwiches?

420 replies

BurntBroccoli · 15/07/2024 20:13

I've often noticed that Americans on TV never seem to cut their sandwiches in half ) or quarters like British people.
Is this a thing? Does it depend on the filling?
Do some of you not cut your sandwiches?

Thinking sliced bread type of sarnies here, not baguettes or paninis etc.

OP posts:
Thread gallery
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allfurcoatnoknickers · 16/07/2024 16:13

@mathanxiety Same. I'm in NYC and my "small" washing machine would never go under my worktop.

Incidentally, NY washing machines tend to be in the bathroom or next to the bathroom. I've never seen one in the kitchen. It's such a Brit thing!

CarolinaInTheMorning · 16/07/2024 16:15

back to “grilled cheese”, why aren’t they “fried cheese” if you fry them? They don’t go anywhere near any kind of grill?

As alluded to in the article above "grill" in the US has a different meaning than in the UK. Grilling in the US generally refers to cooking something on a flat surface with the heat source coming from the bottom. When the heat source comes from above the food, we call that "broiling." A grilled cheese sandwich is technically fried, I suppose, but where I live, frying usually connotes deep frying. When I was growing up, we called grilled cheese "toasted cheese" sandwiches, which I think more accurately describes the cooking process as you are essentially toasting the sandwich on a flat surface.

As to electric kettles, I don't know anyone in the US who has one. For me, it's a question of counter space. I don't need anything else taking up space when I have a coffee maker, an air fryer, a toaster, canisters, etc. when I can boil water just as fast in my stovetop kettle.

MissConductUS · 16/07/2024 16:15

allfurcoatnoknickers · 16/07/2024 16:13

@mathanxiety Same. I'm in NYC and my "small" washing machine would never go under my worktop.

Incidentally, NY washing machines tend to be in the bathroom or next to the bathroom. I've never seen one in the kitchen. It's such a Brit thing!

We have a small laundry room just off the kitchen. I think that's a pretty common arrangement for suburban houses.

ErrolTheDragon · 16/07/2024 16:17

We have a small laundry room just off the kitchen. I think that's a pretty common arrangement for suburban houses.

As do suburban British houses, the 'utility room'.

mathanxiety · 16/07/2024 16:22

Bjorkdidit · 16/07/2024 07:15

Thanks to the overnight input from the US contingent Smile

Previous MN discussions on 'hot drinks in the USA' caused me to pay attention when I watched The Big Bang Theory where I then noted that they used stove top kettles to heat water for their many cups of tea.

On Chinese takeaway containers, the one we go to is about 50/50 on plastic tubs (which we reuse for freezing leftovers and batch cooking) and foil with cardboard lid.

But something we don't really pay attention to in the UK is square footage of housing? Do any Brits on the thread actually know the surface area of their house?

We just say it's X bedrooms and might add a subjective description such as small or refer to the era, eg Victorian or Post War, to cite particular building booms.

Square footage gives a fairly accurate impression of the size of a house, and is used in real estate listings as well as general conversation. Iirc, the square footage in a listing doesn't normally include the bathroom/s or basement.

You would also see the style of a house on a listing - Queen Anne, Victorian, Mid century, Cape Cod, Bungalow, are terms used where I live. There are regions where houses are three hundred years old or older, and various terms are used to describe them.

Cities tend to have their own vocabulary to describe different styles of houses and apartments found in them - brownstones, railroad apartments, classic sixes, two flats, three flats, walk-ups, and more.

WagnersFourthSymphony · 16/07/2024 16:26

ErrolTheDragon · 16/07/2024 16:17

We have a small laundry room just off the kitchen. I think that's a pretty common arrangement for suburban houses.

As do suburban British houses, the 'utility room'.

Yes, same here - but lots of houses and apartments are too small for a utility room; lots of bathrooms are too small for a washing machine as well. But here in UK it's unusual afaik to have a domestic washing machine that is more than about 85 cm (c. 34") high.

CarolinaInTheMorning · 16/07/2024 16:26

Back to tea drinking, in my neck of the woods, we drink a lot of tea---iced tea, that is. As Truvy says in Steel Magnolias, "it's the house wine of the South." We drink it all year round, too.

In restaurants in the South, when ordering iced tea, you have to specify "sweet" or "unsweet." Sweet tea has the sugar added while the tea is hot so that it dissolves well. You can also specify "half and half," if you don't want it quite so sweet. And then there is my favorite, the Arnold Palmer (named for the late golfer), which is half tea and half lemonade (made from fresh lemons, not the soft drink lemonade as in the UK). When ordering an Arnold, you also have to specify if you want the tea part to be sweet or unsweet.

Lunde · 16/07/2024 16:42

My friend from the US used to always go on about making "sun tea" when we were attending Swedish language school - and she didn't mean the teabag brand.

You put tea/teabags in a jar or lidded jug of cold water and leave it out on your patio/balcony all day. It might have worked well in the places she had lived (Phoenix Arizona, Albuquerque, New Mexico) but in central/northern Sweden - not so much.

Words · 16/07/2024 17:22

This is fascinating!
Thought of another pronunciation one
We say kebab you say ke BOB
Whyyyyy. Easter Grin

Words · 16/07/2024 17:30

I need to try this over easy thing. ( eyes reluctantly laying hen expectantly.)

I really don't want a film over my yolk though. Or brown / frilly bits. Will experiment.

My favourite is a poached egg actually. Are those called something different in the US?

Mumtobabyhavoc · 16/07/2024 17:35

Lunde · 16/07/2024 16:42

My friend from the US used to always go on about making "sun tea" when we were attending Swedish language school - and she didn't mean the teabag brand.

You put tea/teabags in a jar or lidded jug of cold water and leave it out on your patio/balcony all day. It might have worked well in the places she had lived (Phoenix Arizona, Albuquerque, New Mexico) but in central/northern Sweden - not so much.

I think it was just marketing and not a cultural thing:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=YY4lZ08yGNo

Lipton Tea Commercial with Don Meredith 1982

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=YY4lZ08yGNo

CarolinaInTheMorning · 16/07/2024 17:38

My favourite is a poached egg actually. Are those called something different in the US?

We call them poached eggs here in the US as well.

Mumtobabyhavoc · 16/07/2024 17:39

Words · 16/07/2024 17:22

This is fascinating!
Thought of another pronunciation one
We say kebab you say ke BOB
Whyyyyy. Easter Grin

can't find the "why" but did find this:

theolivetwist.com/blogs/news/19194679-cabob-kabab-kabob-whats-your-preference#:~:text=The%20British%20call%20small%20pieces,pronounced%20(kuh%2Dbob).

HoppityBun · 16/07/2024 17:41

Words · 16/07/2024 17:22

This is fascinating!
Thought of another pronunciation one
We say kebab you say ke BOB
Whyyyyy. Easter Grin

You’re asking why different people do things differently in different places?

Simonjt · 16/07/2024 17:50

When I lived in the states I didn’t know anyone wealthy enough to have a house, so no laundry shoot. Top loaders can fit far more, I only needed to do washing once a fortnight and it would all easily fit in the machine.

With sandwiches, yes sliced, however american sliced bread is much smaller than British sliced bread, so when slices the two halves are quite small. The photo I’ve attached shows typical sliced bread in America and a slice of what I think is wharbutons toast bread, the wharbutons is much bigger.

Supermarkets with a deli will make sandwiches to order much like the pizza bars in british supermarkets, usually rolls etc rather than pre-sliced bread and mayo rather than butter or margarine.

Due to the wattage kettles take longer to boil, and they aren’t needed for coffee or cooking. I do drink tea, but I don’t drink tea from tea bags, so despite growing up in britain I’ve never been a kettle user.

What I found handy in the flats I lived in was communal trollies in the underground carpark to get lots of things back to your flat in one go, very large bike parks, secure stores etc for communal use.

Simonjt · 16/07/2024 18:34

Sorry heres the photo small bread american, big bread british

Do Americans not cut their sliced bread sandwiches?
BurntBroccoli · 16/07/2024 21:26

Simonjt · 16/07/2024 18:34

Sorry heres the photo small bread american, big bread british

Thank you!
That looks like one of our small loaves (which I still slice in 2!).

OP posts:
elp30 · 16/07/2024 22:34

@Mumtobabyhavoc

I'm from far west Texas (and 50+) and we made sun tea all the time. Stores used to sell a very specific pitcher/jug for it when I was a kid. I still see people make it today.

Damnloginpopup · 16/07/2024 23:07

Totoe · 15/07/2024 21:52

I like threads like this. It was on here that I learned that most Americans don’t use kettles.

You fucking what now?

Explains so much. Including why they chucked all the tea in the sea. Heathens.

MotherofPearl · 16/07/2024 23:15

samarrange · 15/07/2024 23:27

Edited

Grin I love how she thinks her viewers are going to think butter on bread is "crazy"!

FOJN · 17/07/2024 00:10

MotherofPearl · 16/07/2024 23:15

Grin I love how she thinks her viewers are going to think butter on bread is "crazy"!

And she's only buttering one side of the baguette, all that bread crying out for butter.

Firefly1987 · 17/07/2024 01:23

I always hear Americans in TV shows talk about "twinkie" bars, I have to try one of those one day they must be good!

What do they put on bagels? Can't imagine not having butter on them! Oh god, I love talking about food 😆

PossumintheHouse · 17/07/2024 01:25

Firefly1987 · 17/07/2024 01:23

I always hear Americans in TV shows talk about "twinkie" bars, I have to try one of those one day they must be good!

What do they put on bagels? Can't imagine not having butter on them! Oh god, I love talking about food 😆

Cream cheese seems to come up a lot during bagel chat in films and on TV...

Cangar · 17/07/2024 01:35

I ‘don’t drink tea from tea bags, so despite growing up in britain I’ve never been a kettle user

I don’t follow you here. Why do tea bags need a kettle more than tea leaves?

Sleepydoor · 17/07/2024 02:13

Firefly1987 · 17/07/2024 01:23

I always hear Americans in TV shows talk about "twinkie" bars, I have to try one of those one day they must be good!

What do they put on bagels? Can't imagine not having butter on them! Oh god, I love talking about food 😆

twinkies are gross

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