Why is American food so bad?

[Captain Caveman]

Aren't those called chips?

Yes. Once I saw a sign in the US, "A portion of chips". Normally just says chips so I bought some and they were still bloody crisps. Do you get chips in the US, or just the skinny fries?

 

[Admiral Rockwell Tory]

Yes. Once I saw a sign in the US, "A portion of chips". Normally just says chips so I bought some and they were still bloody crisps. Do you get chips in the US, or just the skinny fries?

Chips are British crisps.

 

[gtopa1]

How popular is dauphinoise potatoes in the US? We have them at least once a fortnight.

We call them au Gratin........quite common.

Greg

 

[Picaro]

Well we can agree to disagree. I know there's a lot of junk out there and people buy it. But I also am able to get an excellent healthy meal right here in Albuquerque. And I haven't found any place in Mexico that serves food as tasty as our New Mexican cuisine that is patterned after traditional Mexican cuisine but is less bland, has more flavor. Our Mexican immigrant family and friends concur with that.

NM grows the best chiles on the planet. The Mexican cuisine there is indeed pretty good. I still prefer Tejano over chicken dishes, though.

 

[Picaro]

You just proved my point by saying that it's fashioned after Mexican food and is not traditional American food! I wouldn't be surprised if it has some native American influence too. I wonder how similar it is to Peruvian food. I've had a lot of that over the years as my wife is from there. I'm surprised people aren't sharing more photos of food in this thread. Can you share a few pics of the food you described, or maybe some links to menus of local restaurants?

Some of it is; Spaniards and Mexicans settled in Santa Fe and San Antonio pretty early, and California was settled centuries ago, though the population was very small. Tex Mex is a real subcategory, because of the beef over goat and lamb, mostly., and seasonings, and then there is the mesquite wood smoke flavoring.

 

[Lisa558]

I never take food critiques by Euros seriously; they eat snails and blood sausage and kidney pies, after all, and the worst fish on the planet are treated like delicacies there. Yuck. Don't even get me started on Asian food. And anybody who has ever seen that Indiana Jones movie with that scene from an Indian feast knows not to ever visit India and expect good food.





oh yeah, they think eels are edible, too.

I'll stick to the ribeyes and stuffed baked potatoes, please.

I’m partial to brisket and noodle kugel.

 

[rightwinger]

I think American home cooking ain’t what it used to be.
Too many families rely on takeout and processed food. Your main dish should not come out of a microwave.

But for those who actually know how to cook, todays Supermarkets have a wide range of foods and spices that never used to be available.

 

[Unkotare]

I think American home cooking ain’t what it used to be.
Too many families rely on takeout and processed food. Your main dish should not come out of a microwave.

But for those who actually know how to cook, todays Supermarkets have a wide range of foods and spices that never used to be available.

The home cooking in my home is amazing.

 

[rightwinger]

My mistake was wanting to get the full British “feel” by going to a pub and having Shepard’s Pie. It was so gristly and tasteless I wouldn’t have given it to a dog.

Authentic Shepards Pie uses lamb or mutton. What a Shepard would cook with.

In the US, we use ground beef

 

[gipper]

I often chuckle at the myths yanks have about British food. Probably because they've never been abroad. The number of Americans on the likes of YouTube etc.. that now live in the UK and Europe, couldn't believe how dreadful their American food was.

So I typed in, "Why is American food so dreadful" -

View attachment 1132924

Go onto YouTube and check it out, American food is literally dreadful.

Our food is mostly crap, but you can get good food in the US.

Sadly most Americans eat a diet of processed crap they buy at the grocery store. Which explains why we suddenly have an obesity problem even among the young. Along with all sorts of health problems, even in the young. All for the benefit of big food, big pharma, and big hospital…and big government.

It’s the American Way. Profits for a tiny group over the welfare of the people and government supports it.

 

[Unkotare]

Authentic Shepards [sic] Pie uses lamb or mutton. What a Shepard would cook with.

In the US, we use ground beef

Which is technically cottage pie.

 

[BothWings]

Some of it is; Spaniards and Mexicans settled in Santa Fe and San Antonio pretty early, and California was settled centuries ago, though the population was very small. Tex Mex is a real subcategory, because of the beef over goat and lamb, mostly., and seasonings, and then there is the mesquite wood smoke flavoring.

I've always been attracted to the American Southwest and the Great Lakes areas more than any other areas of the U.S.. And also...MAINE! I often find that climate, geography and food preferences are mysteriously intertwined for me. My wife, although from Peru, also visited Spain, has some cousins there.... And was absolutely enamored with the food as well as the geography. So that really seems to be a thing. That makes me think that she would probably also appreciate the food that you described from your area. As a Peruvian she is really a mix of Native American and Spanish herself. As for myself, I prefer food that is kind of blend of meat, vegetable and grain bits. Kind like this simple stuff we had at a Turkish restaurant recently. (And the meat was even a little too much. We had leftovers. The nice salad right next to it made the meat even more enjoyable)

I'd still love to see a few photos of dishes or links to the local menus you mentioned.

 

[Dekster]

Greece is the only country I have visited where I thought the food was all generally blah. I didn't particularly love italian cuisine either but it was a little better. Anyway, American chain restaurant food tends to be too salty IMO, but otherwise our food is comparatively okay.

 

[Picaro]

I've always been attracted to the American Southwest and the Great Lakes areas more than any other areas of the U.S.. And also...MAINE! I often find that climate, geography and food preferences are mysteriously intertwined for me. My wife, although from Peru, also visited Spain, has some cousins there.... And was absolutely enamored with the food as well as the geography. So that really seems to be a thing. That makes me think that she would probably also appreciate the food that you described from your area. As a Peruvian she is really a mix of Native American in Spanish herself. As for myself, I prefer food that is kind of blend of meat, vegetable and grain bits. Kind like this simple stuff we had at a Turkish restaurant recently. (And the meat was even a little too much. We had leftovers. The nice salad right next to it made the meat even more enjoyable)

View attachment 1133335
View attachment 1133337

I'd still love to see a few photos of dishes or links to the local menus you mentioned.

Those pics made me hungry, lol.

 

[Picaro]

Those pics made me hungry, lol.

I'll dig some up after the markets close. I've got a few thousand I need to park somewhere, and the prices are all up and too high for me now so it will take a while to root around.

 

[BothWings]

Greece is the only country I have visited where I thought the food was all generally blah. I didn't particularly love italian cuisine either but it was a little better. Anyway, American chain restaurant food tends to be too salty IMO, but otherwise our food is comparatively okay.

Excess fat, salt and sugar are the highlights of most but not all American food.

 

[Foxfyre]

For some bizarre reason, Americans usually berate UK baked beans, yet it was an American that introduced them to the UK. The difference being, ours are predominantly cooked in a tomato sauce like how they were introduced because they didn't take off in America, the US version are predominantly full of sugar and smoked flavour.

I do put molasses in my baked beans and I use Van Camps beans that are in tomato sauce. With a few bacon bits and other seasonings they are a wonderful dish. 100% healthy? Probably not. But sufficiently so that I do not mind making and serving them. So far I haven't found a soul who hasn't wanted seconds.

 

[Foxfyre]

NM grows the best chiles on the planet. The Mexican cuisine there is indeed pretty good. I still prefer Tejano over chicken dishes, though.

If by Tejano you mean the ever popular Texmex, popular in states other than New Mexico that is, I personally do not care for it. I can eat it if that's all there is but it would never be my first choice.

But yes our green chilis are legendary though the ripe (red) chilis have their own ambiance as well. But our food much more approximates Mexican cuisine than does Texmex except that we have much more robust flavor and usually more heat in our food than what you can get in most of Mexico.

 

[Dekster]

Excess fat, salt and sugar are the highlights of most but not all American food.

Depends on where you eat, what you order, and what you consider acceptable levels I suppose. I felt like the Czech Republic food tended to be too salty for my preference but I understand that is pretty normal for central/eastern european fare. I do agree that America has a sugar problem though.

 

[Zincwarrior]

As for the American french fries, ours knock socks off theirs -

Wait are you British? Is a BRIT trying to start a food fight?