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| Thread: what is your opinion of the united states? |  This thread is pages long: 1 2 3 4 · «PREV / NEXT» |
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blizzardboy
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posted March 01, 2013 09:37 AM |
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No sir, this, in fact, is garbage:
This is fast food:
Note the various differences.
(I <3 Arby's 4ever ^^)
Seriously, what kind of heartless automaton could ever say such a thing? If you saw a little girl riding a pony I wouldn't be surprised if you punched her in the face to the ground. Fast food is extremely healthy in a Platonic sort of way.
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Minion
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posted March 01, 2013 10:31 AM |
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Another mans garbage is another mans treasure.
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JollyJoker
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posted March 01, 2013 10:37 AM |
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Quote:
Fast food is extremely healthy in a Platonic sort of way.
If with Platonic way you mean just looking at it, but not touching or, god forbid, eating the crap, then, yes, it's probably healthy, especially for tose who sell it.
While Fast Food can taste fine, that's generally due to the amount of spices and flavour enhancers in it, not to mention sauce on it. There's nothing worse than a lukewarm soft mushy, squishy, slushy, slobbery burger.
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artu
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posted March 01, 2013 10:45 AM |
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1- Yes, I've been to U.S. I didn't stay long but it was enough to observe some.
2-
Pros of American Culture: They like getting things done, hard-workers. They are not pretentious and don't care about social class much, especially compared to Europeans, guess that's because of lack of an aristocrat class in history. Almost all of them are democratic by heart, they truly believe in freedom of speech.
Cons of American Culture: A serious amount of them are both arrogant and ignorant and suffer from Dunning–Kruger effect. It is a really annoying combination. If you think Africa is a country you lose your position to debate over certain matters. I am not an elitist but you got to draw the line somewhere. Another con is too many religious nutcases, and not religious with a philosophical background kind of way, in a childish way that takes all kind of mythological crap literally.
3, 4, 5- Turkey. Some problems are similar to a point of course but not specifically. During the last ten years we had problems with a heavily religious government, so problems with religion are in a way alike. The details of its social impact are very different though.
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GunFred
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posted March 01, 2013 01:08 PM |
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Quote:
Pros
They are not pretentious and don't care about social class much, especially compared to Europeans, guess that's because of lack of an aristocrat class in history.
I would say it is the reverse. Europe still has aristocracy but mostly in name only and many countries are affected by socialism or communism for better or worse. In theory, maybe americans are against aristocracy but I would dare say that in practice they just replaced nobility with powerful merchants or at a local level, religious leaders.
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artu
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posted March 01, 2013 02:08 PM |
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Quote:
I would say it is the reverse. Europe still has aristocracy but mostly in name only and many countries are affected by socialism or communism for better or worse. In theory, maybe americans are against aristocracy but I would dare say that in practice they just replaced nobility with powerful merchants or at a local level, religious leaders.
I don't mean to say the rich isn't the rich in the US. But a very rich man from America may be just fine if his daughter goes out with a regular guy or he wouldn't make it a problem if the guy's family has been rich just for one generation. Europeans seem to care about these things more. I'm not saying they have a moral code against it, yet in practice it seems like social mobility is not as flexible as it is in US.
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markkur
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posted March 01, 2013 04:18 PM |
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I think the U.S. has one "casual" claim to food-fame and that's our general term called BBQ. This is a sort of cultural tradition that has many regional recipe's. Of note; a company made a fast-food chain of restaurants based on the many flavours of sauces that are found across the country.
Now I know roasting meat, marinades and fire-cooking (or sun-cooking meat-strips) are much older than the States but I do think we've taken those basics to a new height. So much so, that we've went from grilling in the back-yard or at a nearby park to American football games where the "tailgate-parties" are vast smokestorms caused by the gathering of many dedicated masters of the craft bringing all sorts of BBQ sauces, meats, side-dishes, methods and equipment to the parking lots. "Soak the ribs in beer overnight...before cooking".
Is BBQ a big thing in your country? With various competitions at local and state levels; it's pretty much a national institution in ours. 
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The_Gootch
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posted March 02, 2013 01:04 AM |
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What do I think of the U.S.?
Needs work.
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Corribus
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posted March 02, 2013 02:18 AM |
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Quote:
By definition AMERICAN cuisine would have to be the same in every part of the States and be characteristic for the States only.
By that definition there's no italian cuisine, or chinese cuisine, or indian cuisine, because each of those countries have very different types of food in different parts of those countries as well. And besides, cuisine is always changing. We identify tomatoes with the cuisine of Italy, when in fact it isn't native to Europe at all and didn't exist there prior to a few hundred years ago. If anything, then, spaghetti with pasta sauce might be considered more American than Italian!
The US is such a big country - it's hard to expect that some types of cuisine would be ubiquitous all around it. There are very specific regional types of cuisine that are unique (in the world) and might be considered "American", although in the US we don't think of it this way. We think of things like "Tex Mex" and "Southern Cuisine" and "California Cuisine". Where I grew up, Pennsylvania Dutch cooking was everywhere, and there's really not much like it anywhere else in the world. And even things we in America consider "Italian" or "Chinese" are very little like anything you'd really find in those countries. Chinese food here uses a lot of broccoli and other vegetables that aren't in Asia at all, so is it really "Chinese food" at all, or just an American take on it?
All in all it's a rather stupid discussion. Food is food and everything is so global now that no "national cuisine" is really insulated from the rest of the world's influence. Different areas have their sort of specialities that you identify with that region, but that's about the extent of it.
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Ghost
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posted March 02, 2013 03:23 AM |
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and steaks are familiar food
Paella etc are unbeatable and we know how make pancake etc 
Ok in America you can try Italian food etc
Example of Grosseria Italiana
Ordinary book tell USA. Never tell about food than Italy and drive-in etc
So go to Spain ok but I know how make Paella
Mean trip haven't value
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friendofgunnar
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posted March 02, 2013 06:01 AM |
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good responses, all
Here's my take on "American Cuisine"
Barbeque:
As Markkur pointed out, if there's anything that can truly be considered American it would probably be Barbeque. And by BBQ I mean slathering something with a spicy tomato concoction and letting it cook at slow temperatures for a long time (although there's tons of exceptions and varations on that basic idea). If I remember right it was invented by the Caribbean natives and as far as I can tell I've never really seen it spread extensively to anywhere outside the US. There's tons of regional differences too but pretty much every part of the country has some type of BBQ culture. In my particular neighborhood EVERY DAMENED APARTMENT AND HOUSE has a barbeque grill outside of it and you can't go a day in the summer without smelling it from somewhere. HUZZAH for BBQ.
The Fast Food Prototype:
I'm not sure if McDonald's invented this combination but they definitely popularized it. Pretty much every fast food place just has variations on the same formula.
White bun with meat and condiments
Fried potatoes
Cola drink + other soda options
Milkshake or some type of milk dessert.
Chocolate in some form or another.
It's kind of embarrassing that such a simple and unexeptional formula would come to be recognized as American 
What Suburban and Rural White Folk eat:
This is actually pretty consistant across the country and it's the first thing I think of when I think of American cuisine. It's all pretty dull which is why I was so surprised when somebody expressed admiration for it.
breakfast:
Hyper-sugary toasted grains. I'm pretty sure Americans invented this candy-disguised-as-food
Eggs is some form or another. Omelets are pretty consistantly popular in every corner of the country. I have no idea if that's different in other countries.
Cured meats of some type: bacon, ham, sausage.
Orange juice or grapefruit juice, milk
lunch:
Sandwich of some type with meat
corn chips or potato chips
a salad if you're a chick
something sugary to drink
dinner:
and here's where things get really dull...
boiled vegetables like peas and carrots, broccoli, etc... sometimes with cheese on top.
Some kind of baked meat (yawn), like chicken, pot roast, casserole, meat loaf, fish
Some type of starch like rice, mashed potatoes, or pasta
Tomatoes frequently appear combined with one of the above components.
Pie, cookies, or ice cream for dessert.
What Urban/Affluent White people eat:
This is what Corribus was talking about, in that this category is not really american at all - it's very cosmopolitan in that it borrows extensively from other cultures. Asian, Mexican, and European cuisines are all borrowed from and adapted (usually by adding some type of cheese to it). Plus you have other factors in the mix like Vegetarianism and the organic foods movement. One good thing about the US is the number and sheer diversity of ethnic groceries. In most of the medium to large cities you can find the ingredients to make just about anything in the world. None of that is really distinctly American though.
and finally...
Steak
Steak?
Should something with no ingredients be called cuisine?
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artu
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posted March 02, 2013 06:19 AM |
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Edited by artu at 06:22, 02 Mar 2013.
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Quote:
Chinese food here uses a lot of broccoli and other vegetables that aren't in Asia at all, so is it really "Chinese food" at all, or just an American take on it?
"National cuisine" evolves just like anything else, so I think it's a question of time really, if enough time has passed the origin starts to fade away. (Isn't it the same with people, today there are people who are against immigrants while their grand-grandfathers were themselves immigrants, and come to think of it, if you really go back we all come from Africa).In my language an orange is called portakal because it was first introduced by sea merchants from Portugal while the fruit itself originates in India. Potato and tomato are part of almost all cuisine now (tomato is usually addressed to Italians, yes)while in fact they originate in South America and nobody knew about them before the discovery of the New World. So seeking for authenticity is kind of pointless.
And if you're looking for something to be called "a national cuisine" only if it's homogeneous over the whole country that would be pointless too because it depends on how close you look, there will almost always be regional flavors. To Germans Doner Kebap is Turkish cuisine, yet here in Istanbul, I never buy Doner because I'm used to the Doner of Ankara from my childhood, in Istanbul it is different and it's tastes like snow, even the way they cut the meat is different. To us kangaroos are Australian, plain and simple, but I'm pretty sure there are many regional subspecies if you talk to a guy from Australia. Here I go and check, bingo, taxonomy and description.
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blizzardboy
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posted March 02, 2013 06:24 AM |
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I love traditional Southern cooking. Collard greens (absolutely amazing); you can eat healthier versions or more hardcore versions often cooked with bacon fat or with actual bacon in it. Either option is delicious and strangely enough I almost prefer the healthier option (though I think a small amount of bacon fat is ideal). Potato salad with mustard. Yummers. Chickpea dishes & soup. Corn bread. Fried chicken. More collard greens. Also lots of seafood from the Gulf.
I got to eat Southern cooked food in a hotel for free all week once and it was just gorging myself night after night Minus their understandable love of frying & covering their meat it's really not that bad of a diet either, though I'm not sure how much home cooking the south does these days. Apparently not nearly enough.
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gnomes2169
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posted March 02, 2013 06:49 AM |
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Quote:
While Fast Food can taste fine, that's generally due to the amount of spices and flavour enhancers in it, not to mention sauce on it.
In other words, it's the crack.
But more on topic, there seems to be "State Cuisines" for almost every state in the US. Sort of the "Local flavor," if you will. The only real consistent things that pop up as a dish that isn't made for breakfast (candy-bread in a bowl, omelets, sausage/ bacon, some kind of fruit, etc) are BBQ and Steak... but I don't think these local cuisines should be discounted either. Most of them are parts of the local US culture (I think Wisconsin's deals with allot of cheese... not sure about that though. I do know that Minnesnowda's has a busload of blueberries. ), and as parts of the US culture they do represent what flavors we enjoy as a country. Sure each region is different, but every "State" or "Town" cuisine is just a different take on the idea of an American cuisine. And they are delicious.
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JollyJoker
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posted March 02, 2013 07:39 AM |
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Just to give you an impression:
Italian Cuisine
For the US we find this only:
US Cuisine
Now, I did say in my first longer post about this, that it makes sense to see this regionally (I mentioned "Cajun" as an example. Cuisine is based on people/regions, not nations, as you will see when you come into a smaller country like Germany with a lot of different cuisines, depending on in what region you are.
Corribus, your mentioning of "Spaghetti with Pasta Sauce being more American than Italian" is not supported by facts.  You should check your facts there.
The same is true for tomatoes: true, they come from MIDDLE and SOUTH America, but they were brought to ITALY FIRST, middle of the 16. century for sure (if not already by Columbus), while in the US tomatoes aren't mentioned before the beginning of the 18. century. (And if you consider that we know that Pasta as we know them today have been served in Italy before America was even discovered...)
Anyway - cuisine is a regional thing, obviously, because 1) it should have a HISTORY (McGarbage has no history) or TRADITION which means 2) it will make use of the LOCAL products because in earlier times people wouldn't import all kinds of fancy stuff from all over the world. (This means, the global availability of everything means, that nowadays you can get everything everywhere, which makes "local cuisine" more and more something of a tourist thing.)
Now, a big part of the US - the West - is still rather young. Is there really something like a "traditional" food in the West, yet? I wouldn't say so. Tex-Mex? Please.
So when we are looking for a US cuisine This is a much more intersting thing to consider (as is the "Southern" cuisine).
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blizzardboy
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posted March 02, 2013 07:52 AM |
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Yeah I lived outside of Boston for over a year with a boss that pampered me because she loved to cook and garden and I <3 their homestyle foods too. It's too bad my country is so apathetic/undisciplined with our eating habits. It's kind of ironic given how we have such gargantuan agricultural production. We could theoretically eat nonstop fresh and high quality food and ultimately take only a minor chunk out of budget and yet we just don't give a ****. Too much salt & corn syrup addiction.
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Drakon-Deus
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posted March 02, 2013 07:59 AM |
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It's a good country I guess, especially for all the things they've contributed to the world in the 20th century especially but before and after that too. I've never been there and I also don't know that much about it to say I dislike anything.
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Corribus
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posted March 02, 2013 08:15 AM |
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Quote:
Corribus, your mentioning of "Spaghetti with Pasta Sauce being more American than Italian" is not supported by facts. You should check your facts there.
Well it was a tongue-in-cheek example, of course, but the point stands. What we in America think of today as "Italian" - that is, pasta with tomato-based sauce - has not always been Italian because tomatoes have not always been a part of the Italian cuisine. For that matter, what northern Italians eat is quite a bit different from what they eat in the South. And what they eat in Tuscany or Umbria is very different from what they eat in Friuli. The differences are as stark as any difference between what people in New England eat and what Texans eat. Even something like BBQ is not a monolith. North Carolina BBQ is as different from Kansas City BBQ or Texas BBQ as night and day. There's as much sense to rigorously defining "Italian Food" as there is to rigorously defining "American Food". The US is a far larger country than Italy, of course, and has a far more diverse assortment of people with different ethnic backgrounds, but even so, to someone who is quite familiar with the different regional cuisines of Italy, "Italian cuisine" doesn't mean a whole lot... or it can mean quite different things to different people. And my mother in law, who was born in Italy, would probably have a stroke if I told her I thought spaghetti and meatballs was Italian food. 
So what's the point of all that? Well, nothing much - and I'm not sure why it's become a focal point of the thread - other than to say that while there's no unified "American cuisine", there's no real unified cuisine of any country we typically think of. There are regional dishes and cuisine styles everywhere, in the US, Italy, China, whereever. And I happen to like many of the regional cuisines of the US. It's pretty damn awesome to live in a country that has thousands of local cuisines that can't really be found anywhere else in the world, to say nothing of finding food styles from just about every country on the planet. It think you'd be hard pressed to find another country that can boast as many different types of cuisines as you can find in a single large American city, or as many different regional dishes unique to certain communities. To wit: the only place you can find a proper Philly cheesesteak in the WORLD is Philadelphia. That's pretty damn special if you ask me, and reason enough to spend a weekend there.
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Ghost
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posted March 02, 2013 05:12 PM |
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Edited by Ghost at 17:25, 02 Mar 2013.
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But Italy invent a recipe
Maybe tomato was Spain, no one knows closely
than Italian own word along
They use much spaghetti
you can order spaghetti in restaurant
same than you order paella in Spain
Italian spaghetti have much better than all the world
because everyday food
You buy Italian tomato can with Italian recipe etc
those are cheap food also one example of national/ethnic food
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artu
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posted March 02, 2013 05:15 PM |
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Oh Ghost, you are like the textual Gizmo.
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