The only time that I tried eating “American Food” while overseas was in Jabel Ali at a KFC. I’m not sure what they did with the Col. original recipe but it tasted unlike anything I have ever eaten before or since and it uh, incapacitated me for a couple of days. Actually it put me off most meat period.
Lizard:
I posted that excerpt because it’s a well-known American riposte to a European chef who turns up his nose at American food, even though it appeared in a detective novel. I’m disappointed none of the dozens of Nero Wolfe fans here seem to have noticed it. AND, it was published in 1938, making it a fairly EARLY riposte to Eurofood snobbery.
A quick glance at my cookbook shelves yields a number of titles celebrating uniquely American dishes:
Richard Hooker; FOOD AND DRINK IN AMERICA
John Mariani; A DICTIONARY OF AMERICAN FOOD AND DRINK
James Villas; AMERICAN TASTE
John and Karen Hess; A TASTE OF AMERICA
Nelson Algren; AMERICA EATS
James Beard; AMERICAN COOKERY
Jeff Smith; THE FRUGAL GOURMET COOKS AMERICAN
Evan James; AMERICAN FOOD
Plus nearly anything by M.F.K. Fisher and John Thorne, two writers with whom no food lover should be unacquainted.
In addition, there are hundreds of excellent regional American cookbooks and food histories, including SOUTHERN FOOD, GOOD MAINE FOOD, THE BORDER COOKBOOK, TEXAS HOME COOKING, THE NEW ORLEANS PICAYUNE CREOLE COOKBOOK, etc.
In short: Yeah, we DO have an indiginous American cuisine. Which includes some clever variants on ethnic foods, as astorian says in his intelligent post.
Ahhh, the O. I think they just so many fries, they have to put them on everything.
This is a place that takes one of those huge deep-fry baskets, packed full of fresh-cut fries, and empties the contents onto a tray. For some reason, they sell different “sizes” of fry orders, but you always end up getting the same amount. Whatever doesn’t fit into that little cardboard basket they just dump onto your lunch tray.
Great stuff. We always pronounce it, “The Ohhhhhhhh…”
pant pant Sorry I didn’t get here in time to applaude, Ike. That book was the first thing I thought of when I stumbled into this thread. I was only slightly disappointed to find someone else had gotten there ahead of me. 
Didn’t Wolfe, at a later time, give a three-page lecture on the subject?
Yeah, Wolfe makes a lengthy after-dinner speech to Les Quinze Maitres on the subject of American cookery. Unfortunately it happens offstage.
We do get to see him rehearsing it at the beginning of chapter 13. There’s about a page and a half on why pigs should be fed on peanuts, and chickens on blueberries.
All this talk of American food is getting me hungry. I travel a lot, and I confess I usually prefer to sample the local cuisine. On occasion, I like to have something American. Depending on what city you are in, you can get a variety of different “American” foods. Tex-Mex tends to be quite common, although having lived in New Mexico; I have always been disappointed. Although this is not necessarily only abroad. I have yet to discover a decent Tex-Mex or Santa Fe restaurant in New York. I remember going to a Cajun restaurant in Hong Kong, but for the life of me I can’t remember the name of the place.
It was not bad, but that is judgement from someone who has not had the pleasure of visiting New Orleans.
You can get some awesome steak if you know where to look. Although it is very pricey, The New York Grill in Tokyo is excellent. I happen to know the chef there, (an American), which helps.
Ruth Chris steak house in Taipei, (is a chain), but they serve the best Grade AAAA steak. I think they must have strict standards if they want a franchise. You can tell. It is great.
In Seoul, you can go to the Nashville club in Itaewan. You can get great burgers there, with real Jalapeno, and they always show American movies on a giant screen. I like going there, if and when I get some time for myself just to relax.
This is hijacking it a bit, but there is also a very good German restaurant in Beijing at the Kempinski hotel. The food is flown in from Germany. Man that is good stuff. The restaurant looks like it could be in Munich. The only thing that gives it away are the Chinese waiters and waitresses in Liederhosen.
Anyway, I seem to have gone off on a tangent here. Point is, you can find it if you look.
Jack