Back in the early '90s we had distant family from Germany come and visit us in Vancouver, Washington. They had five things they wanted to see while in the United States:
Disneyland
The Statue of Liberty
The Grand Canyon
Willie Nelson
Cowboys and/or Indians
They truly had no sense of how large this country is. It was my first exposure to the fact that Europeans aren’t inherently more worldly than Americans (it was their first time leaving Germany).
So we took them to Disneyland (though they were aghast that it took two days of driving to get there) and a local Indian cultural site (which they weren’t entirely pleased with since PNW Indian cultures were not what they were thinking of).
In the UK, along with the ubiquitous McDonald’s, Burger King, KFC - which all seemed much the same as in the States, there has been a recent rash of “American style” BBQ/smoke-house places, at least around London. The one I’ve been to is Bodean’s where the pulled pork, ribs etc. all seemed good to me but how authentic they are I couldn’t say. Allegedly the owner is actually from Kanas City and wanted to recreate the “real” experience.
Incidentally, corn on the cob is certainly not viewed as pig food in the UK. Admittedly Jolly Green Giant sweetcorn kernels in tins is the most common form but most supermarkets will have the fresh cobs on sale during the summer.
Russia (St. Petersburg) has McD’s, Burger King, KFC, TGI Friday’s, Sbarros. Up Till recently had Carl’s Jr.
Sometimes I recall McD’s would introduce something like a “Rus-Burger” that would have a different kind of bun and toppings, but the menu’s of all the others are exactly the same as in New York.
I’ve only experienced it in Japan, and it was fucking awful. I didn’t even want to go there, but the guy “babysitting” us was an ex-pat German who was sick and tired of Japanese food, so we grudgingly went along. The “American-style” diner’s idea of a steak dinner was little more than taking a Swanson’s Salisbury Steak TV dinner and plating it somewhat nicely.
Corn on the cob was (I think, with Khruschev’s initiative) successfully introduced into Russians’ diet and became a beach-snack favorite. So - not everywhere in Europe it’s considered pig food
In my experience in Japan, pancakes are only found on the dessert menu.
I ate at quite a few Denny’s and Coco’s because those were the only placed open for breakfast at the time we were up and moving around.
I spent a few months in Germany about ten years ago, and I have two “American food” memories that stand out.
One was a place that claimed to have American-style hamburgers. Mine had slices of cucumber on it. I’ve always suspected that the word “pickle” got mistranslated somewhere in the process.
I was going to be in Germany on Thanksgiving, and I got it into my head to have some form of turkey on the actual day. I was taking a German class in the evenings, so I asked the teacher what the word for turkey was, and where I might find some. She said it wasn’t eaten much there. I did finally find some at an American-themed restaurant. It was chunks of turkey in a tomato sauce, served over rice. I have never seen anything like it in the U.S., but I did make good on my quest.
Similarly, I’ve never had German food in the U.S. that was anywhere near as good as what I had in Germany. If anyone from there came to visit me here, I’ve occasionally wondered where I’d take them for great, classic American food.
I spent a summer in Malta many years ago and occasionally stopped in the beachfront McDonals in Bugibba. The menu seemed exactly like the American standard fare but with the additional of a beer tap at the end of the counter.
And after enjoying many variations of pizza, late that same summer I sought out the only Pizza Hut on the island to satisfy a craving for pepperoni pizza. Most of the variations of so called pepperoni or sausage pizza at other restaurants included what looked and tasted like Swanson’s Brown-N-Serve breakfast sausages. Alas, Pizza Hut wasn’t any different as their pepperoni was some random mystery meat.
The California-based chain Weinerschnitzel was originally called "der Weinerschnitzel The name is incorrect on so many levels, it isn’t funny.
It’s a hot dog chain, and the name is clearly meant to suggest “weiners” = “hot dogs”
But Weiner Schnitzel is an actual German dish. It’s breaded veal cutlets, not hot dogs.
The correct article should be “das”, not “der”
The words should be separated – “Weiner Schnitzel”, not “Weinderschnitzel”. The latter suggests Schnitzel made up of meat from the inhabitants of Vienna.
The chain Weinerschnitzel does not, in fact, sell Weiner Schnitzel.
My grad school advisor, the quintessential German Professor, was always bothered that Weinerschnitzel didn’t actually sell Weiner Schnitzel. It seemed extremely ignorant, if not deceptive advertising.
Five or so years ago went to Japan for work for a week. The city had a lot of manufacturing and the hotel I stayed in catered to foreign visitors to these plants, especially Americans. My Japanese coworkers wanted me to try the American-style Italian restaurant in the hotel. The “marinara” in my spaghetti was basically red colored water and had chunks of octopus tentacle, suckers and all.
I tried to put on a good face, but I think they could tell I wasn’t impressed. So they told me they would take to me to a “Hamburg” restaurant for an American style meal. After we arrived, I realized he meant hamburger; they served ground beef in various forms. I ended up with a meal with 4 large meatballs and a side of seaweed soup. It was tasty, but was a traditional Japanese dining experience - warm moist towel before the meal, but no napkins, and my requested Coke was served after the meal (as a dessert, I was later told). And the cool hand written (painted?) receipt done with ink and a brush is still in a scrapbook somewhere.
[QUOTE=Fenris;18646656They were aghast–apparently to the, corn on the cob is “pig food” in Florence. And when everyone began eating it they were stunned. They really, really thought we were pulling their legs.[/QUOTE]
Here in China corn on the cob is somewhat popular, but it’s always sliced into approximately 3 cm slices, so you always get a wheel of corn instead of a whole cob. It’s eaten as is, or often used in soupy-type dishes. And it’s usually American-style sweet corn.
In Mexico there’s no sweet corn. At risk of offending CBEscapee, it’s what we would call field corn in the USA. I know, I know, it’s not field corn, but it’s the stuff we make corn products from. On the other hand elote with crema y chile y limón is quite excellent in its own right.
In Germany, the word “pepperoni” means jalapenos. Learned that one the hard way (or someone was playing a horrible, horrible joke). The closest to American pepperoni I could get was salami, which I wound up liking better anyway.
We needed a quick bite to eat in London (near the Tower) and wound up at a local Subway. They had a chicken tikka masala sub that I would love to find on an American menu. Not the greatest thing in the world, but a nice change from the standard fare. Cheap, too. Something like a three or four pound combo deal.
We stopped in at a Chipotle because they had a public bathroom and found that all the company did was replace the dollar sign with a pound sign when it came to pricing. Needless to say, I did not eat at Chipotle while in London.
Again needing a quick bite of something fast, I stopped into a pizza place somewhere in Vienna. I mistranslated something (not sure what I was thinking I was getting) and wound up with a tuna fish topped pizza. This might have been okay if I liked canned tuna, but I can barely stand the stuff. But hey, I did eat it.
Nobody has discussed the Donald Trump of American cuisine – bacon. Apart from the religiously pork-adverse countries of the world, can I get bacon for breakfast? What about lunch, dinner, and fourthmeal? Will the sandwich maker know what I mean by a BLT? Are there bacon cheeseburgers? What if I want bacon in my pasta, or a spinach salad with warm bacon dressing? Can I get a bacon-wrapped hot dog at the convenience store? A deep-fried bacon-wrapped turkey leg at the carnival?
And would I recognize it as bacon, rather than some loony local variant (I’m looking at you, Canadians)?
but how authentic they are I couldn’t say. Allegedly the owner is actually from Kanas City and wanted to recreate the “real” experience.
