[QUOTE=Staggerlee]
I found Taco Bell a guilty pleasure. I never eat fast food, but if these were available in Britain (they’re not, are they?) I would probably be morbidly obese.
[/QUOTE]
Back in the early eighties, there was a Taco Bell at Picadilly Circus. Don’t know if it has survived.
[QUOTE=Promethea]
The habit of serving sweet and savoury things on the same breakfast plate - specifically waffles, jam and link sausages. This weirded me right out but in fact it really worked. Tasty!
[/QUOTE]
So the Rooty Tooty Fresh 'N Fruity at IHOP must really blow your mind!
[QUOTE=2pelo honey]
Gack! 
Sounds similar to the decaying shark that Anthony Bourdain ate on the Iceland episode of No Reservations…buried for 6 mo’s?
He said it was singularly the worst thing he ever put in his mouth, or something very close to that.
[/QUOTE]
Ah, yes, hakarl, the nastiness that has to be washed down with Brennivin, the “national drink” that nobody really drinks. It’s so bad that my dad has stories of going to Thorrablots (winter feast festival) and people saying at the hotel room door, “I’m not going to come in and chat; I just had some hakarl.” The usual response was something akin to “No shit; I could smell you from 100 feet away!”
It’s about as bad as skata (similar to lutefisk; it’s made from skate), which, when cooked, will make your whole house smell like pee.
Here’s an American that never really got the breakfast savory and sweet thing, either. Syrup on my pancakes and waffles, yes. But never near my bacon or sausage … I think it’s just maple flavor that I don’t like. Somebody mentioned that Peanut Butter is the American Vegemite, or Marmite and I would have to disagree… Maple Syrup mixed with Peanut Butter holds that distinction. It’s almost like the caviar of America- totally unique in taste, entirely original to America.
Unfortunately, I hate the cloy of maple. And when mixed with Peanut Butter, I think of a dirty gym sock stuffed in my mouth alternated with lashes on my tongue with a Maple Venik.
[QUOTE=Beware of Doug]
As an American living in America, I would actually like to hear more along the lines of the OP’s observation, i.e., what other countries do to American food.
[/QUOTE]
Well, there was that time I went to Chang’s American Grill (yes) in Nuremburg. My hamburger came with a large slice of cucumber on it. I think somebody made a mistake in translation.
[QUOTE=Beware of Doug]
As an American living in America, I would actually like to hear more along the lines of the OP’s observation, i.e., what other countries do to American food.
[/QUOTE]
We put beetroot on hamburgers.
[QUOTE=jjimm]
But the one thing you never ever see outsite the US is Deep South-style “barbecue”, which was a total revelation. I don’t know why this isn’t exported. Come on entrepreneurs, we need this stuff over here - stat.
[/QUOTE]
Barbecue is a very delicate art, probably because it’s such a slow cooking method. You’ll notice that there aren’t any fast food barbecue places, and the barbecue chains are generally mediocre. The only good barbecue seems to be made in little hidden, hole-in-the-wall joints.
You can probably make better BBQ in Europe than America because of the laxer Health Inspection Standards. Not a ding on Europe, just a fact that “patina” in an artisanal craft, isn’t quite so heavily regulated.
But yea, the idea for Europe is a roadside shack with a homemade smoke pit, no commercial smokers, lots of Hickory some imports and local ingredients adapted… don’t try to replicate that SC or Texas thing, just duplicate it.
[QUOTE=Cunctator]
We put beetroot on hamburgers.
[/QUOTE]
And egg. Don’t forget the fried egg.
[QUOTE=tiger lily]
And egg. Don’t forget the fried egg.
[/QUOTE]
Skip the beet. Keep the egg. And add an Ortega chili. (Okay, I haven’t actually put egg on a burger since high school; but I remember how good it was – with the chili, of course.)
[QUOTE=tiger lily]
And egg. Don’t forget the fried egg.
[/QUOTE]
Ah, I had that once here in upstate NY…LOVED it!!! Grossed out my friend across the table, though, between my requirement of med-rare burger and over easy egg…after a bite or two, it only looked good to me, I guess. 
[QUOTE=Scubaqueen]
**Quiddity **, can i come live with you? 
i lurves me some apple butter!!
it’s very tough to find here in the hoosier state where it doesn’t taste like book glue!!
and yes, i’ve tasted book glue as a wee one…
[/QUOTE]
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=Sage Rat]
That I’m aware of they’re two separate items in the US as well. It might have been a regional thing, or the lady just didn’t care about the distinction.
[/QUOTE]
McDonald’s refers to all their hamburgers as sandwiches. A hamburger is a type of sandwich: a piece of meat enclosed by two pieces of bread.
[QUOTE=tiger lily]
And egg. Don’t forget the fried egg.
[/QUOTE]
Ugh. I was going to add that.
The first I encountered it, in Leipzig, it was a whole mushroom omelet attached to a steak. I got violently ill after eating it.
The second time was in Munich, when I hadn’t eaten for ten hours–it was a hamburger with the aforesaid fried-on egg and salsa. I just ate it, I was too tired to care.
[QUOTE=devilsknew]
Somebody mentioned that Peanut Butter is the American Vegemite, or Marmite and I would have to disagree… Maple Syrup mixed with Peanut Butter holds that distinction. It’s almost like the caviar of America- totally unique in taste, entirely original to America.
[/QUOTE]
I have never heard of that. Are you sure this is common? I hardly think it’s the American caviar, though.
(And sorry for mixing Marmite and Vegemite up, earlier in the thread. I can never keep track who eats which!)
Daniel
Just remember: “Vegemite” is “Marmite” spelled upside down!
[QUOTE=Left Hand of Dorkness]
I have never heard of that. Are you sure this is common? I hardly think it’s the American caviar, though.
(And sorry for mixing Marmite and Vegemite up, earlier in the thread. I can never keep track who eats which!)
Daniel
[/QUOTE]
Well, I can’t vouche for its widespread appeal. But I know it is a fairly common thing from anecdotes. What, you mean you’ve never had a peanut butter and syrup sandwich?
I only make the caviar analogy because it is indigenous to America. Only, by the maple syrup… that’s American. The groundnuts are imported but the combo…that is uniquely American.
I don’t care much for Maple smoked Bacon, either… just sensitive to that sap.
Actually, lutefisk tastes pretty good. And this from someone who’s not a big fan of fish.
[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]
Mine isn’t. Think apple pie filling - not the glutinous gooey ick that you get in cheapo pies but cooked apple with cinnamon and sugar. Then the cooked apples are broken up gently with a spoon.
[QUOTE=devilsknew]
Well, I can’t vouche for its widespread appeal. But I know it is a fairly common thing from anecdotes. What, you mean you’ve never had a peanut butter and syrup sandwich?
[/QUOTE]
I’ve never heard of anyone doing this, although it sounds like something 3 bored stoners created out of a nearly bare pantry.
[QUOTE=devilsknew]
What, you mean you’ve never had a peanut butter and syrup sandwich?
[/QUOTE]
No, but I’ve had peanut butter and honey sandwiches. Yum.