To be more than a Lidl appalled?

[SurelyTheyCanDoALidlBetter]

I'm a regular Lidl shopper, and particularly enjoy sampling the delicacies on offer during their various world food weeks. Interestingly shaped pasta? Of course. Sushi with all the accompanying sauces? Yes please. Wines from around the world? Into the trolley they go.

But this week is American food week, and I just can't.

Caveat: I myself am American. But surely Lidl could have come up with better offerings than marshmallows, peanut butter, pickles, Duff beer, and frozen hot dog pockets? Where is the cobb salad? Pot roast? Jambalaya? Grits? Clam chowder? Apple pie?!

The lack of proper food on offer during their America week is just embarrassing.

Am I wrong in thinking this is only a problem for American food, or are all of Lidl's food weeks filled with the junkiest options from every country and I just don't realise?

This

I love Greek week!! Must try and squeeze in a Lidl visit asap, before the antipasti sells out 😋

Are you from Aldi @SurelyTheyCanDoALidlBetter ??? Or one of the big main stores? Tesco, Asda, Sainburys, Morrisons, Waitrose??? To start a bizarre Lidl-bashing thread like this, with the hilariously ridiculous username you have created, makes it obvious you're on a Lidl bashing mission for a REASON. Your bashing of them is laughable to be honest!!! So ludicrous that it's funny. 😆

That's odd because I'm almost certain lidl in Scotland sells things like tattie scones and other Scottish delicacies.
For certain Scottish aldi does. I was there last week, I bought the very lovely tattie scones, clootie dumplings and more.

As an American I too would love something other than hot dogs and marshmallows.
I'd stock up on Progresso clam chowder and Packets of Ranch dressing mix and Country gravy mix.
Although Dh does love it when the frenches Yellow mustard is cheap enough to buy a load.

To be fair, it is difficult to represent a high-school massacre or racially motivated police brutality incident with foodstuffs...

Frozen hot dog pockets, you say? sidles quietly into Lidl

I was most impressed with a corn dog near Area 51, I would love some of those! After trips to New Orleans (my DH is a Saints fan), he regularly makes gumbo and jambalaya.

Nope. I shop there almost exclusively.

No one here is going to want to buy grits, or clam chowder or canned pumpkin.

No not beef. It has crumbled bacon or breakfast sausage. In white gravy, not bread sauce
Someone mentioned Apple pie? Dh is craving American apple pie (Costco or Marie Callendars are best) It's cinnamon apples tastes very different, it has cheese on if you are in Wisconsin or Ice cream in other places. I had a go at making some, but it didn't go down well.

If you're trying grits, may I also recommend cheese grits, and shrimp (prawns) and grits, and also the Sheryl Crow cookbook had a great recipe for grits with shiitake mushrooms. Bits of crumbled crispy bacon is also amazing, or a bit of marmite.

How often do British people eat apple pie? I'm not doubting its British origins, but I've never seen it actually consumed here.

If you think all American food is crap, you've been eating in the wrong locations!

Totally missing the point of the this thread but that Greek food looks amazing - baklava, feta, gyros, moussaka, stuffed vine leaves, olives, ouzo and mythos beer. I might be late home tomorrow night...

I am British. I have had grits. They are ABSOLUTELY DISGUSTING. Sort of slimy and yet with a nasty texture at the same time. They can get in the bin (or stay in the USA!)

You haven't lived. Clam Chowder is heaven.
I buy canned solid pack pumpkin from Sainsbury's and I make pumpkin pie which gets requested by my Brit friends and Dd's teachers every thanks giving.

American food at its best is inspired combinations borrowed from different cultures. I am from Louisiana, which has a distinct food tradition that combines French cooking techniques with African and Caribbean ingredients. It is not recognisably French or African, and is distinct from other Afro-French cuisines. You can get the occasional jambalaya or Cajun ready meal in the UK, but it is very much a British interpretation, and to my mind not very nice.

california cuisine combines ultra fresh produce with elements of Asian and southern European cuisine. Much mocked midwestern cooking is often a comforting combination of Scandinavian and German cuisine adapted to accommodate locally available ingredients- the baked goods are incredible. Hawaii gives us poke, there are many varied bbq traditions, New England does great seafood (crab cakes, lobster rolls, bisque / chowder)

America does take food very seriously, and has some incredible, flavourful, healthy food traditions. Unfortunately what gets imported is hot dogs and McDonald’s

You obviously didn't know my Nanna. We had it every single week growing up in the 70s/80s as she made one for us and one for her and Grandad. It was very nice to be fair but sometimes it might have been nice to have a crumble, or sticky toffee pudding.

Can they buy things like Jambalaya and grits in easily enough though? And be able to make a profit on it while still keeping prices competitively low compared to other supermarkets? Buying bulk amounts of pasta and sushi is probably easier to come by, whereas some of the American dishes that you have named are probably harder to buy supplies of and more expensive.

WHY? If LIDL is so awful that you need to start a thread about how awful it, why shop there? And don't say it's the only food shop within 10-15 miles or something, because I know it isn't.

@CousinKrispy

You are joking, right? Apple pie is huge in the UK. People eat it here all the time, whether its homemade, shop bought or in a restaurant.

LOL I did not buy anything from their Spanish week last time.
Now you made me hungry for jumbalaya.

Grits are a bit like polenta? Just like I wouldn’t eat a whole bowl of unseasoned polenta, grits on their own are not nice. Bit like eating a bowl of potatoes mashed without butter or other accompaniment. Grits can be a breakfast food with butter, cheese and eggs/ bacon. Or they can be a bit like mash with a well seasoned protein on top. I do dinner bowls with grits as a base and then top with avocado, black beans, veg and cheese. Shrimp and grits is a classic pairing as well.

That sounds quite nice actually. What's white gravy though?

Jambalaya is the same ingredients as paella, more or less, with different spices and cooking technique. Grits are just cornmeal 🤷‍♀️

Flavour of the Alps week is amazing.

Why do you think this is an okay thing to say?