# Surprised by American food **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 20, 2007, 3:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/surprised-by-american-food/396668 "2007-03-20T03:15:29Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 8
**Author:** ![amarone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e0b2c6/32.png) [@amarone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amarone)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2007, 11:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/surprised-by-american-food/396668/141 "2007-03-21T11:24:05Z")
[QUOTE=Promethea] The custom of holding on to cutlery between courses in very posh restaurants. Not a problem (when in Rome and all that) but very puzzling to this visitor. [/QUOTE] You must have eaten at the wrong posh restaurants. While trying to get you to keep your cutlery is pervasive at the low and mid-end, I’ve found the great majority of posh restaurants give you fresh ones each course. And if they don’t, I ask. ---
**Author:** ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2007, 11:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/surprised-by-american-food/396668/142 "2007-03-21T11:57:46Z")
[QUOTE=Zoe] Don’t any of you ever put sugar on your buttered grits? What’s wrong with you? [/QUOTE] You must be a damned Yankee! _spit_ My ex-husband and I always fought over Cream of Wheat. He wanted to make it with milk and put sugar on it; I wanted to make it with water and put butter and salt. ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2007, 12:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/surprised-by-american-food/396668/143 "2007-03-21T12:05:56Z")
[QUOTE=threnodyangelfire] We have both Milky Ways and the denser Mars Bars. Apparently neither is as good as the UK version. [/QUOTE] Bit of confusion here. British Milky Way ~ Three Musketeers in the US. British Mars Bar ~ Milky Way in the US. ---
**Author:** ![tiger\_lily](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/96bed5/32.png) [@tiger\_lily](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tiger_lily)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2007, 12:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/surprised-by-american-food/396668/144 "2007-03-21T12:16:33Z")
[QUOTE=Dung Beetle] You must be a damned Yankee! _spit_ My ex-husband and I always fought over Cream of Wheat. He wanted to make it with milk and put sugar on it; I wanted to make it with water and put butter and salt. [/QUOTE] But, but… the baby Jesus cries when you don’t use milk to make _Cream_ of Wheat (or Rice). 😉 Zoe, you aren’t alone in sweetening grits. When I was working on some jobs down South, and breakfast at Cracker Barrel or some such was the order of the day, my little group had the custom of stirring a little bit of fruit jelly or jam into the grits. Yum! Of course, I’m a damned Yankee, so that could explain a lot. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2007, 12:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/surprised-by-american-food/396668/145 "2007-03-21T12:18:55Z")
[QUOTE=Dung Beetle] My ex-husband and I always fought over Cream of Wheat. He wanted to make it with milk and put sugar on it; I wanted to make it with water and put butter and salt. [/QUOTE] You’re both wrong. You put a spoonful of jam in it, like oatmeal. ---
**Author:** ![BMalion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e274bd/32.png) [@BMalion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BMalion)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2007, 12:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/surprised-by-american-food/396668/146 "2007-03-21T12:24:13Z")
[QUOTE=SanVito] Quite possibly, I remember it having a kind of whipped texture so certainly wasn’t plain old butter. [/QUOTE] Sounds like you had some [Honey Butter](http://www.rustlinrobs.com/rustlinrobs/) , quite the treat on toasted bread when I was a kid, yum! ---
**Author:** ![Bridget\_Burke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7cd45c/32.png) [@Bridget\_Burke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bridget_Burke)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2007, 1:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/surprised-by-american-food/396668/147 "2007-03-21T13:57:30Z")
[QUOTE=Wile E] The terrorists have already won. Despite the nay-sayers, I am now craving biscuits and sausage gravy… [/QUOTE] Drop by the Guenther House next time you’re in San Antonio. The mansion built by the founder of Pioneer Flour Mills has a shop & a restaurant. The “favorite breakfast platter”… > [@](#): > > Two freshly baked Pioneer Brand Buttermilk Biscuits, side of Pioneer’s Country Gravy with crumbled sausage and your choice of one of our preserves: peach, strawberry, blackberry or jalapeño. Served with fresh seasonal fruit and your choice of Applewood smoked bacon or country sausage patties. [www.guentherhouse.com/Menu3.aspx](http://www.guentherhouse.com/Menu3.aspx) Yes, Germans & Mexicans contributed to our cultural mix down here. And you often have a _choice_ between sweet & unsweet ice tea. ---
**Author:** ![Scubaqueen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c0e974/32.png) [@Scubaqueen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scubaqueen)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2007, 2:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/surprised-by-american-food/396668/148 "2007-03-21T14:15:46Z")
[QUOTE=OpalCat] Ok, now are we talking about apple butter or applesauce? I like apple butter. (I realize they’re related, but they aren’t the same! Applesauce is all pulpy and squishy and wet…) [/QUOTE] apple **butter**. applesauce is dime a dozen around here, but good apple butter is a religious experience! 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2007, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/surprised-by-american-food/396668/149 "2007-03-21T14:28:48Z")
[QUOTE=Quiddity Glomfuster] Best is pb and honey and banana! [/QUOTE] Check out this recipe: [banana bread with peanut butter](http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/foodwine/2003604716_bread07.html). Yum. I’m making it this weekend, then toasting the slices and topping them with homemade honey-ginger ice cream. ---
**Author:** ![tim314](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tim314/32/3468_2.png) [@tim314](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tim314)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2007, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/surprised-by-american-food/396668/150 "2007-03-21T14:58:59Z")
[QUOTE=devilsknew] What, you mean you’ve never had a peanut butter and syrup sandwich? [/quote] My inlaws all put peanut butter and maple syrup on their pancakes. I’d never seen that growing up on the East coast (syrup of course, but never peanut butter, and certainly not both together). I assumed it was a midwestern thing. A friend of mine studied abroad in England and reported that his roommates were all pleasantly surprised when he introduced them to buttered popcorn. Apparently, they’d all been eating it with just salt. ---
**Author:** ![Quiddity\_Glomfuster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/c4cdca/32.png) [@Quiddity\_Glomfuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quiddity_Glomfuster)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2007, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/surprised-by-american-food/396668/151 "2007-03-21T15:08:29Z")
[QUOTE=threnodyangelfire] We have both Milky Ways and the denser Mars Bars. Apparently neither is as good as the UK version. [/QUOTE] Or the Canadian. Astonishes the heck out of me how awful American chocolate is. [QUOTE=Dung Beetle] My ex-husband and I always fought over Cream of Wheat. He wanted to make it with milk and put sugar on it; I wanted to make it with water and put butter and salt. [/QUOTE] Nah. Make it with water and put butter and brown sugar on it. 😃 [QUOTE=Cervaise] Check out this recipe: banana bread with peanut butter. Yum. I’m making it this weekend, then toasting the slices and topping them with homemade honey-ginger ice cream. [/QUOTE] Looks delicious, however I think I overdosed on pb in my youth because things peanut give me wicked indigestion now. I have to get by on cashew butter (which ain’t all that much in the line of hardship, I must admit). ---
**Author:** ![Avarie537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/48db29/32.png) [@Avarie537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Avarie537)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2007, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/surprised-by-american-food/396668/152 "2007-03-21T16:16:58Z")
[QUOTE=Cervaise] Check out this recipe: [banana bread with peanut butter](http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/foodwine/2003604716_bread07.html). Yum. I’m making it this weekend, then toasting the slices and topping them with homemade honey-ginger ice cream. [/QUOTE] Oh my God I am _so_ making this! I love banana bread, and will often put peanut butter on it with a drizzle of honey for breakfast. Grocery store, here I come! ---
**Author:** ![Ogre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ecb155/32.png) [@Ogre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ogre)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2007, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/surprised-by-american-food/396668/153 "2007-03-21T16:41:19Z")
> [@](#): > > Or the Canadian. Astonishes the heck out of me how awful American chocolate is. See, to me, this is like the old “American beer is awful” bromide. True, in a limited number of cases, but really, excellent American chocolate is widely available in just about any grocery or convenience store. The last time I bought a pack of smokes, I also picked up a bite-sized Ghirardelli dark chocolate/mint treat for a quarter. It was very good. Seriously, if you can’t find good American chocolate, you aren’t looking. ---
**Author:** ![Cheez\_Whia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/d26b3c/32.png) [@Cheez\_Whia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cheez_Whia)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2007, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/surprised-by-american-food/396668/154 "2007-03-21T17:13:14Z")
[QUOTE=Layla01] Something that amazed me… when I was in LA in 1994, I could have sworn I saw people walking around Disneyland eating **a whole dill pickle** as a snack. Was I seeing things? Who would eat a whole pickle? [/QUOTE] Why yes! Yes you did! You were not seeing things! Purchased either from [The Market House](http://disneyland.disney.go.com/disneyland/en_US/parks/shopping/detail?name=MarketHouseShoppingPage) on Main Street, or the Mile Long Bar (now renamed the Brer Bar) in Critter Country. I used to bring home tubs of them when I lived in California. Yummy! ---
**Author:** ![Sofaspud](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8491ac/32.png) [@Sofaspud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sofaspud)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2007, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/surprised-by-american-food/396668/155 "2007-03-21T17:45:35Z")
[QUOTE=Johnny L.A.] _gack_ OK, I’ll be fair. Taco Bell food isn’t _bad_. It’s just not very good, nor very Mexican. Its main attributes are that it’s cheap, filling, and… not untasty. But for ‘Mexican’ fast food, I prefer Del Taco. Too bad they don’t have any up this way. If one were exported, American tourists would flock to it. Only all you’d hear is ‘You call _this_ barbecue? They ain’t doin’ it right! Barbecue should be blahblahblah…’ [/QUOTE] \ Psst… **Johnny L.A.** … we’ve got 2 Del Tacos in Spokane, and I hear they’re planning to expand westward. You may get them soon. 🙂 \ I’m American, so I’ll eat anything. 😃 One thing which I haven’t seen mentioned yet, which I _think_ is a uniquely American food, is fried catfish. Mmm. Now THAT’s some good eatin’. ---
**Author:** ![An\_Gadai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@An\_Gadai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Gadai)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2007, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/surprised-by-american-food/396668/156 "2007-03-21T17:48:11Z")
Things I noticed while dining out in America (I live in Dublin, Ireland). 1. General lack of vegetarian options in restaurants. 2. Huge portions compared to at home. 3. Free refills on soft drinks! 4. Salad Bar. Here the likes of McBurgerdonaldking will have a veggie burger on the menu and it’s rare to find a restaurant that doesn’t have at least some vegetarian options. Vegetarianism doesn’t seem to be as common in the US. The amount of food you’re served in alot of American restaurants is amazing, could easily feed two people with the single serving in alot of places. The free refills is great. I had two friends from Michigan over who didn’t know that that isn’t commonplace here and ended up paying more for their colas than their meal in a restaurant here. Salad bar does exist in certain restaurants here (Pizza Hut i think has it) but generally you get served a salad you ask for. Things my girlfriend (from Ohio) has commented on about food here. 1. Corn on salads, corn on pizza 2. Irish pizza tastes better than American pizza 3. coleslaw on sandwiches There’s alot of tinned corn used on cheapo salads here and on pizza. Apparently that isn’t common in America even in the corn belt. 😃 I don’t know whether it’s true that Irish pizza is better but we do have some yummy pizza here. Coleslaw on a sandwich didn’t strike me as strange but she said she’d never seen it. ---
**Author:** ![Catfood\_Purrito](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c6cbf5/32.png) [@Catfood\_Purrito](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Catfood_Purrito)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2007, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/surprised-by-american-food/396668/157 "2007-03-21T17:55:15Z")
[QUOTE=tim314] My inlaws all put peanut butter and maple syrup on their pancakes. I’d never seen that growing up on the East coast (syrup of course, but never peanut butter, and certainly not both together). I assumed it was a midwestern thing. [/QUOTE] I grew up in the midwest, and I’ve never heard of such a thing. That’s disgusting. My dad would eat peanut butter and honey sandwiches, though, and sometimes peanut butter and butter. Ick. I like my peanut butter plain, personally. Well, crunchy, but no butter, honey, jelly, bananas, or anything else mucking it up, and especially no maple syrup, that’s heinous. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2007, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/surprised-by-american-food/396668/158 "2007-03-21T18:07:43Z")
[QUOTE=Mishell] I grew up in the midwest, and I’ve never heard of such a thing. That’s disgusting. [/QUOTE] My dad was born in Nebraska and grew up in Colorado before moving with the family to Southern California. He liked peanut butter and Karo Syrup (corn syrup) on his pancakes. His brothers did too. When I was growing up it was a bit of a family joke, since no one else we knew ate pancakes with peanut butter. (It’s good, but I’ve always preferred butter and syrup.) ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2007, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/surprised-by-american-food/396668/159 "2007-03-21T18:13:34Z")
[QUOTE=crowmanyclouds] I’m thinking pickle barrels in delicatessens might predate that! [/QUOTE] Yes, and that was pre-dated by the pickle barrels in old country stores. But most people back then didn’t parade down the street eating the monster. That habit seems to have been popularized at county fairs and the like. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2007, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/surprised-by-american-food/396668/160 "2007-03-21T18:26:51Z")
[QUOTE=silenus] But most people back then didn’t parade down the street eating the monster. That habit seems to have been popularized at county fairs and the like. [/QUOTE] And the Jolly Green Giant is hugely, hugely aroused by it. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/surprised-by-american-food/396668.md?page=7) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/surprised-by-american-food/396668.md?page=9)