What is American Cuisine?

[Slargos]

at HVC: because more cheese is craft, not commodity.

exceptions to be written in new replies premptively noted.

But i assume euros do mass production too. i'm sure there too quality suffers, but it's still better then ours. I mean you can find good cheese here too, just not at super markets.

Of course. But I've never tasted a supermarket cheese that tasted so much of chemicals from stores here as I consistently did while in the US.

The problem isn't so much mass-production, I suspect, as it is product composition.

[Queequeg]

My guess would be that American cuisine is defined by a somewhat limited vocabulary (there is a heavy dominance of beef and pork,  a kind of generic «gravy» with little variations, a smallish range of usual vegetables), reliance on large portions of meat, few herbs and spices, an insistance on grills and roasts, an openness to integrate sweet and salty tastes (something much rarer in, say, French cuisine) and a domination of sandwiches.

How is American sandwich culture comparable to the French love of baguettes and whatnot?  It seems to be more important, as most Americans probably get a healthy percentage of their calories at lunch/dinner in some sandwich form.   That said, with the advent of the doener in Europe they seem to be moving our way as well.

[Admiral Yi]

I think the blandness of American cheese comes in large part from the requirement that the milk be pasteurized.

[Syt]

Baby back ribs

Just a name, right? Like "Hot Dog"?

[DisturbedPervert]

I'm American and I've never bought processed cheese, outside of Asia where you're sometimes lucky to find even that.  I wasn't particularly impressed with cheese in Europe over America.  I think complaints about American cheeses largely stem from those that have never been to America, or who have but only went to shitty restaurants and never went to a decent restaurant or grocery store.  Tillamook ftw.

And at least in American grocery stores, they won't kick you out of the store for touching a package of cheese, like they did to me in France.  'Zu not touch ze cheese!!11!'

[Brazen]

I think Thanksgiving dinner epitomises American cuisine by featuring all local foods - turkey, yam, potatoes, corn etc. but cooked in a way that owes a lot to the Pilgrim heritage.

Or food on a stick.

[Syt]

If you ask the common person on the street here about what American dishes come to mind they'd probably cite:
- burgers
- hot dogs
- steak
- barbecue

[Slargos]

I'm American and I've never bought processed cheese, outside of Asia where you're sometimes lucky to find even that.  I wasn't particularly impressed with cheese in Europe over America.  I think complaints about American cheeses largely stem from those that have never been to America, or who have but only went to shitty restaurants and never went to a decent restaurant or grocery store.  Tillamook ftw.

And at least in American grocery stores, they won't kick you out of the store for touching a package of cheese, like they did to me in France.  'Zu not touch ze cheese!!11!'

Don't even try.

You don't have to go to a "good" store to get palatable cheese at least in Sweden and Norway.

I don't doubt edible cheese is also available in the US, you just have to go specifically looking for it.

[DisturbedPervert]

Don't even try.

You don't have to go to a "good" store to get palatable cheese at least in Sweden and Norway.

I don't doubt edible cheese is also available in the US, you just have to go specifically looking for it.

You don't have to go looking for it in America either.  Every supermarket I've been to in LA and SF has had a decent selection of good cheese.  Some are better than others of course, but I've never had a problem getting good cheese, you just might have to pay a bit more for it.

[Sheilbh]

I think the blandness of American cheese comes in large part from the requirement that the milk be pasteurized.

I think this is part of it.  The other part is that with the exception of everyday cheese most specialist cheeses are treated by their governments like Bourbon is in the US.  So they have to meet certain conditions to qualify as 'x' cheese, they're not allowed to use artificial flavours, x amount has to come from whatever and so on.

Everytime the EU thinks of requiring pasteurisation everyone goes mad.  Give me Brie or give me death!

[Razgovory]

Sounds like equal parts homesickness and your average 'cano pre-conceptions.

For me, BBQ holds the strongest position when I think of "american" cuisine.

Applebee's.

Applebee's doesn't serve BBQ. Come to the South, go out into the country, and drive around until you find a BBQ shack with an old negro cooking. That, sir, is where you will find BBQ.

Or you can go to KC.

[Savonarola]

In my travels I've found that American food has a great deal more variety than other coutnries.  Beppe Severgnini (in Ciao America) reports being overwhelmed by the sheer number of cookies in the snack food aisle of a typical American grocery store.  Nowhere else will offer you a choice of five different types of salad dressing or have a menu with 20 different types of sandwiches or can you get a dozen differnt toppings of your choice on a pizza. 

Also American portions are huge relative to the rest of the world.  In Italy a cappucino is about 8 fluid ounces at Starbucks the smallest cappuccino is 12 fluid ounces and you can order up to 20 fluid ounces of cappuccino if you so desire.

[Martinus]

Like everywhere in the world I imagine there's a lot of regional difference.  Such as, for example, Germany.

The things that come to my mind are Southern.  Jambalaya, southern fried chicken, corn bread, Tex-Mex.

That's interesting, as I think a lot of Americans would not consider Jambalaya and Tex-Mex as American cuisine- both are American interpretations of other cuisines, and I think a lot of people get those confused.

I'd disagree. After all, most of the stuff considered "national cuisine" of some country is really a modification of another country's cuisine. For example, Polish cuisine is a weird mix of Lithuanian, Ukrainian, German and Jewish. Greek cuisine is pretty much less-spicy Turkish cuisine. Curry is as much a part of modern British cuisine as is fish and chips, etc.

[Syt]

Have to agree with Marty. Austrian cuisine is a mishmash of all kinds of dishes from former Habsburg lands in original or slightly changed form.

[Ed Anger]

Government cheese is the bestest.