British Undeservedly Snotty about American Cuisine

[Strix]

Ah, culinary cripple fight.

We are a really diverse place, and I'd say that our Cajun tradition has some of the greatest dishes native to the Americas.   

That is the whole issue. America is a tremendously diverse country. It would be easier to compare American Cuisine against European Cuisine as a whole. British Cuisine, for example, cannot compare to the variety and diversity of American Cuisine.

[Barrister]

Ah, culinary cripple fight.

  Fair.  Still it's not as bad as (from my experience) Eastern European food.

That's madness.  I had great food in eastern europe.

[garbon]

Californian cuisine

[Iormlund]

Californian cuisine

Is that similar to Mediterranean cuisine?

[clandestino]

That's madness.  I had great food in eastern europe.

This is true. Although they could cook a little bit more fish.

Oh, and Spanish cuisine is overrated, at least by their nationals in this forum.

[Iormlund]

Oh, and Spanish cuisine is overrated, at least by their nationals in this forum.

Deep down you want to be one of us. We all know it.

[Oexmelin]

That is the whole issue. America is a tremendously diverse country. It would be easier to compare American Cuisine against European Cuisine as a whole.

Err, no.

This whole "America is so diverse that it compares to the whole of Europe in cultural/culinary/political diversity" is silly. It both tremendously overstates American regional differences and understates European differences. For that matter, Provençal cuisine in France is different from Lyonnais cuisine, and Scottish cuisine different from Cornish cuisine. The point is that the French in Lyon and in Provence recognize this as strong regional variation, but will know a magret de canard or a cassoulet, or any other staple of the cuisine whether they are in Rouen or Nice. They will likewise not know or recognize the main staples of British or Eastern European cuisine. Likewise, Americans will recognize their own variations, but I doubt any American will feel at loss in front of an "all-american" menu whether it is in Boston or L.A. The staples will be there, and the variation will be within the "known".

[merithyn]

I'm not so sure about that. Having traveled throughout most of the US, there have been any number of "American" restaurants in other states - not meant for tourist traps - where I was lost on how the things on the menu could be considered "American". Californian, sure. Southern, absolutely. But "American"? No. Definitely regional.

To me, American foods are the kinds of things that are recognizable to most of the population. Growing up in Iowa, I'd never heard of or had Cajun food of any type, so it's hard for me to call Jumbalya American. It's southern. Avocado salad is Californian, not American. We'd have never had that growing up, and the first time I'd seen it was on the first 90210. I'd had plenty of New England food because my mom is from Connecticut, but a lot of my friends had never heard of Corned Beef sandwiches.

Sure, there are things that are known across the nation, but there are an awful lot of things that are so regional as to be alien to other areas.

[Queequeg]

I'm not totally convinced that your average inhabitant of Seattle will know the difference between Creole and Cajun Jambalaya, or know much about Tex-Mex other than what is offered at Chili's. 

I would say that American cuisine is probably more diverse than that of any single European country, though this has far more to do with environmental factors; no country in Europe  has the kind of environmental diversity we have here, and I'm not even totally sure Europe as a continent does (Grenada and Iceland, compare to El Paso and Northern Alaska) thus the ingredients will be different due to environmental reasons, rather than simple local variations between how how much/what kind of seafood is in paella. 

Now, China is comparable in environmental terms, and probably has way more diversity, but that is another story. 

[The Larch]

The worst cuisine anywhere is the stuff dished up to tourists, especially in major cities. Iormlund and the Larch are having a good laugh; but I ate some memorably awful food in Madrid back in 1980..........comparable to Athens at it's worst 

Don't tell me about it, we serve most of our tourists really crappy stuff, and they still think it's great. I guess they're so thoroughfully schlossed out of their minds with cheap beer and sangría that they don't really care (or are able to notice anymore).

Don't know about that. I can walk into a random place at La Malvarrosa, which is both touristry and unknown to me, and eat a very good paella. Meanwhile every single place I went to in London was absolute crap.

I doubt that any foreign tourist would go there, they wouldn't leave their strongholds of Benidorm or Magalluf for that. 

[grumbler]

Likewise, Americans will recognize their own variations, but I doubt any American will feel at loss in front of an "all-american" menu whether it is in Boston or L.A. The staples will be there, and the variation will be within the "known".

  If you think the "All American menu" is a cuisine, I'd say you missed the point of it entirely.  It is the opposite of a cuisine:  by definition it is the lowest common denominator menu, the "menu without surprises."

I am not surprised that you missed the whole point of local cuisine in the US; tourists seldom experience it.  It is often hard to get locals to cough up the names of the places where they go.

[Cecil]

The worst cuisine anywhere is the stuff dished up to tourists, especially in major cities. Iormlund and the Larch are having a good laugh; but I ate some memorably awful food in Madrid back in 1980..........comparable to Athens at it's worst 

Don't tell me about it, we serve most of our tourists really crappy stuff, and they still think it's great. I guess they're so thoroughfully schlossed out of their minds with cheap beer and sangría that they don't really care (or are able to notice anymore).

Don't know about that. I can walk into a random place at La Malvarrosa, which is both touristry and unknown to me, and eat a very good paella. Meanwhile every single place I went to in London was absolute crap.

I doubt that any foreign tourist would go there, they wouldn't leave their strongholds of Benidorm or Magalluf for that. 

Hmm paella.....the one thing I miss from my visit to Barcelona.....

[clandestino]

Deep down you want to be one of us. We all know it.

Why not? 

We could be like the Brits in the EU and try to mine it from the inside.

[The Larch]

That's madness.  I had great food in eastern europe.

This is true. Although they could cook a little bit more fish.

Oh, and Spanish cuisine is overrated, at least by their nationals in this forum.

Cooking cod in 50 different ways is not a cuisine either, irmao. 

[Josquius]

On account of size and as Queequeg says the range of environments this covers I'd guess the US could well be more varied than a typical European country (though maybe not the foody ones. In Greece for instance I found huge variation between Corfu and Athens) but its definitely not up there with the entire continent.