Well, I certainly did, yes…
Also, while we’re at it French dressing does not look remotely like anything I’ve ever seen in France. You would think French dressing would be a basic vinaigrette of some sort, but here in the US, it’s a creamy, somewhat sweet and tomato-y concoction (probably ketchup-based, but I’m not 100% sure. Looking online, it does appear a lot of French dressing recipes do include ketchup.)
Similarly, in Hungary there is a “French salad” franciasaláta, which is basically peas and carrots and often finely diced potato suspended in copious amounts of mayonnaise, with some pickles thrown in for some zesty tang. It looks like a “salad” that should have originated in Minnesota or Wisconsin or something. I don’t know for certain that it doesn’t have any actual French connections, but it sure as heck doesn’t look like something the French would throw together. Maybe it’s the mayo that makes it “French.”
I’ve read in a couple of places that gyros are actually from NYC, not Greece.
Seems like a lot of these are named after people with place-names for names- French for French’s mustard, German for German Chocolate Cake, and a guy named Caesar Cardini invented the Caesar Salad in Mexico (Tijuana, I believe).
Funny, I somehow just found the perfect template for responding to the Caesar salad sentence:
Even if it was not named directly after a Roman emperor, that doesn’t change the point that it was originated by someone named “Caesar” and is named after the person it was originated by.
The Bombay duck doesn’t come especially from Bombay (Mumbai); it’s found plentifully in the waters off that coast, but not there only by any means. And it isn’t a duck, but a fish – Harpodon nehereus– most usually sold dried.
Chilean sea bass.
Darren Garrison writes: Guinea pigs aren’t from Guinea.
As of a few centuries ago, the English seem to have had a way of deciding that any new and exotic creature or plant which reached England; was most likely to come from either Guinea or Turkey. Rhubarb – originally from the Far East, later obtaining plentifully in Russia, was long known in England as Turkey Rhubarb.
I’ve also heard Chicago as the originator of at least the mass-produced “meat cone” variety. Yeah, the history doesn’t seem to be that clear. From what I can find, it’s certainly related to the doner kebab. Some histories say it went from Turkey to Athens and then to the US. The interesting thing I find is that the gyros here are typically lamb or a mix of lamb and beef, while in Greece, pork is very common, if not the most common. I don’t think I’ve seen pork gyros here (other than in the similarly cooked Mexican-Lebanese tacos al pastor.)
There’s a lot of very ersatz barbecue which just has an evocative American location appended to it. I know there are regional styles of barbecue, so the names ought to mean something to people who know, but the “Kansas City Sharing Platter” or “Smokin’ Texas Stack” or whatever else comes out of a microwave in a UK pub chain would probably earn you a good hiding if you served them in KC, Texas or wherever the name suggests.
I admit that Rocky Mountain oysters did originate from the American West but they sure are** not** seafood.
Also spotted dick is a British pudding that does not contain any meat from the nether regions–spotted or otherwise.
Edit: Ok these are technically not what the OP was talking about, but it relates to to it with food names that aren’t what they suggest.
Ham comes from the leg (in both countries). Canadian bacon is smoked like ham, but from the back, which is why Ontarians (at least) call it back bacon. Peameal is the same cut, but would be cured without smoking, and of course has been rolled in peameal.
For that matter, hamburgers aren’t from hamburg, and wieners aren’t from Vienna or Frankfurt, and lower-case “champagne” isn’t from Champagne.
but it’s made with tabasco chiles, which are.
Bojangles cajun food started in Charlotte NC which is nowhere near Cajun country.
When I was a kid “Chinese” was attached to a far-out variant of something familiar, so “Chinese Checkers” was the name given o the checkers-like game played on a hexahedral board with marbles.
Similarly, we had “Chinese Apple” for “Pomegranate”. There was a “Chinese Auction” that followed different rules*.
But “Chinese Jump Rope”, I’m surprised to learn, really IS Chinese in origin (although it’s also called “French Skipping” in the US and “American Ropes” in Scotland) – Chinese jump rope - Wikipedia
*and which may actually be Chinese in origin, but probably isn’t – Chinese auction - Wikipedia
That’s awfully close to Olivier salad or Russian salad. The wikipedia entry doesn’t mention the Hungarian version but the Croatian and Bosnia & Herzegovina name for it is francuska salata.
I’m thinking about making this to bring to Thanksgiving. A few recipes call for tuna, capers and hard boiled egg which sounds pretty good.
Dijon mustard wasn’t invented in Dijon, France. Dijon the plant isn’t grown in Dijon, France.
I’ll Have a couple Coney Islands with a Boston Cooler, thanks,
Got one.
Salisbury Steak - is not from Salisbury. It’s another “named after somebody” situation.
Yep, that’s all variations on the same theme. It’s actually quite tasty! And my mom made the Polish version of it, which I guess is called sałata jarzynowa (“vegetable salad”) from the link, but I actually don’t remember her ever calling it anything, oddly enough. It would also contain hard-boiled eggs in it, which I don’t remember the Hungarian version having (and quickly looking at the Hungarian recipes, I