British Undeservedly Snotty about American Cuisine

[Ed Anger]

pfft the best of spanish cusine is Basque in origin

In other words, Spanish.

[Queequeg]

The worst I have eaten is Lancaster County / Amish country in Pennsylvania. Such fresh produce, and so little taste!

I'd compare this to some British  cuisine; functional, austere, not without its charm for Americans due to history/cultural connection, but I could understand why it might not have that for everyone else.


That said, I think 'traditional' American fare like sweet potatoes, American cider, rabbit, Clam Chowder, etc. are generally underrated.  A lot of the best meals I've ever had have been in Virginia, often on what I would describe as fairly conservative American fare, likely quite similar to the cuisine of the Revolutionary period. 

[DisturbedPervert]

Plus, I've never noticed the bbq on the menu at Outback. Course, I always get the steak anyway, so don't look very hard. 

Outback is American with Australian decorations

[Queequeg]

Oex, what is Quebec's cuisine like?

[Eddie Teach]

Outback is American with Australian decorations

Kinda like pizza, tacos, sweet & sour chicken, etc.

[DisturbedPervert]

Outback is American with Australian decorations

Kinda like pizza, tacos, sweet & sour chicken, etc.

What is like that at Outback?  It's all standard steaks and burgers that you could find at any restaurant but with boomerangs on the wall.  Even the bloomin onion is American and does not exist in Australia

[alfred russel]

Chicago actually is the lowest common denominator of American food. 

Traitor.  Aren't you a Chicagoan yourself? 

Sort of.

What is Chicago known for? Deep dish pizza, chicago dogs, and sausages. Deep dish pizza was probably developed by taking the ordinary pizza concept and making it as unhealthy as possible. Have they done a calorie count on those things? You know they are a disaster. Chicago has a great take on hot dogs and sausages, but then they are still hot dogs and sausages and Chicago was source for The Jungle.

As for the city, Chicago boomed by packing food to send back east--mass market food, not gourmet fare. And Chicago is the capital city of the midwest, which is the land of genetically modified corn designed to produce massive crops but is barely edible (that's okay because the corn is chemically treated to reduce it to basic sugar for consumption, or fed to animals on factory farms--where it would kill them, but the animals are slaughtered before the corn gets them).

[Sheilbh]

Really?  I am astonished.  Is the area where you find this to be true (I assume your own home area) closely associated with Oz, somehow?  That's the only explanation for such an unusual concept that I can think of.  Barbecue has been a style of cooking in the Americas (and known by that name) since long before Australia was even discovered.

I think he's right for the UK in general.  'Throw another shrimp on the barbie...' and so on.

[Strix]

Can the British top Buffalo Wings? 

[merithyn]

Sort of.

What is Chicago known for? Deep dish pizza, chicago dogs, and sausages.

I would argue that Chicago is known for offering a wide diversity of foods from around the world. The little neighborhoods offer amazing food as they've come from their homelands, since the restaurants are geared for the immigrants. If one avoids the kitschy tourist restaurants or the mass-market restaurants, one can find a vast array of amazing international cuisine made by immigrants for immigrants.

All of this being said, I think that with the superfluous amounts of mass-market restaurants around the world, there is quickly coming a homogeneous style of preparing food no matter where you are. Sure, McDonald's in Hong Kong is different from the MickyDs in Chicago in many ways, but the essence is still pretty much the same. If I really wanted to, I could travel the world over twice and never stray from that which I've known my entire life.

And so far as I'm concerned, having the top cuisine from any country will probably be magnificent. It's the day-to-day fare that is what is questioned, I think, and that will be what people are most likely to defend. Who wants to be told that they have no taste?

[Jaron]

Australia may have copied us with great success in the Commonwealth, but that does not change that the science of BBQ is very much an American innovation.

America as in Caribbean, yes.  Texas style smoking is a slightly different process than the original barbecue over coals.

That is what I said, yes. Texans also can't do a damn thing right.

[Scipio]

Chicago invented saganaki, the finest thing ever made out of cheese.

[Oexmelin]

Oex, what is Quebec's cuisine like?

Just like in the US, the traditional fares have been sorely mistreated by the advent of agroindustrial business and fast food. Much of what is considered traditional is of mixed British (perhaps even Scottish) and French origin: meat pies and patés (tourtières), pot-au-feu and stews (ragoûts), baked beans and ham. Fish and seafood used to be important (my granfather used to eat eels, which was traditional fare of his region) but was strongly pushed out of Montreal and inland cuisine. Very few Native influences made it to the Quebec table (apart from the produce themselves)

Quebec cuisine uses molasses (which the French never use), corn (which the French rarely use) and seldom rabbit (while it is a staple of Cajun cuisine), but a lot of pork. Desserts are based on apples, small berries and maple syrup. Cheese used to be mosty variation on the Cheddar, but now there are over 200+ varieties. There are now revivals of older traditions in some restaurants (but most restaurants are of "ethnic labels").

[Oexmelin]

And so far as I'm concerned, having the top cuisine from any country will probably be magnificent. It's the day-to-day fare that is what is questioned, I think, and that will be what people are most likely to defend. Who wants to be told that they have no taste?

Indeed. This is perhaps where the bad reputation of British and American cuisine steer from, as being among those that use the most of already industrially transformed food: ready-made sauces, vinaigrettes, preserves, frozen meals, artificial flavoring. These usually require the food to be toned down in order to appeal to the largest demographics. The adaptation of immigrant food in the US has usually ended up in diluting the stronger tastes (not necessarily the "spicy" strength - the story of Heinz is really telling in that regard), adding lots of sugar and selecting produce more resistant to flash freezing (and therefore usually more bland and fibrous). Things might be changing, with a small backlash in the US, the extension of agrobusiness around the world, and the breakdown of culinary know-how in other countries.

[Iormlund]

pfft the best of spanish cusine is Basque in origin

Not going to argue with that since it happens to be my favourite. My father once took me to a caserío in Guipozcua close to the border. The owners were friends of my uncle and they wouldn't let us go until we had every single dish available. 
I think my dad got half his belly that day.

Spain is very diverse for its size.  On par with California.  However, worth noting that it is on par with California, rather than with the entire US.  Last time I checked, Santiago de Compostella wasn't covered in snow half the year.  St. Paul and Alaska are. 

Yeah, as I said, we don't get your extremes (except heat).

Yes, it is a diverse place.  Cuisine-wise, probably more diverse than huge chunks of the USA.  More than the whole thing?  Not sure about that. 

Well I didn't meant to imply that. Just to point out that the view you can get from the outside is quite flat and distorted. Many foreigners only see sevillanas, flamenco, paella and sangría. Those are actually fairly localized phenomena (from southern coastal areas). Personally I prefer the north, due to lower tourist density, milder climate and mountains. Food is excellent no matter where you go - though Larchie has a point and you should eat where the locals do.