Depends on what you’re going for. Having spent significant time at both (my family is Polish and I lived for three months in Croatia), I still think the basic staples are better in both, as well as the average home meal. But you’re not going to have anywhere near the selection of the US, and not every food is going to be better.
Once again, depends on what you’re thinking of. London IS indeed a first-rate chow destination, and considered such. For example, here’s a highly accoladed chef that says London is “very possibly the gastronomic capital of the world.” It’s expensive as heck but, I agree, the depth, range, and quality of food available in London is amazing. That said, I do think you’ll find that sort of vibrant food culture in any large cosmopolitan city, like New York.
I agree there. There’s plenty of crap restaurants there, too. My experience is that, on average, I didn’t have to work quite as hard to find a decent restaurant.
From what I’ve seen googling both, there seems to be quite an overlap between quail, partridges, and pheasants. The Spanish name is faisán, but the pics I get for the three English words include many which could perfectly well be faisanes… it’s not the most specific word in the world for most non-biologists, either. In any case, you know which eggs I mean
Yeah, here in the US, it’s quail eggs that you can sometimes find in the supermarket, and those are the little eggs that are usually associated with more fancy-pants dishes. I don’t know if they use other bird eggs in other parts of the world, but I wouldn’t be surprised if they do.
OK, I’ll be the one. I’ll admit that I don’t find Velveeta all that disgusting. My sister used to make a decent dip by melting it with salsa. As a kid, I considered Velveeta the gold standard for grilled cheese sandwiches and the king of omelette fillings.
Many of the staples I eat in Australia are American foods. Raisin Bran-- although it’s called Sultana Bran, of course. Hamburgers and pizza are European food adapted by Americans, imported to Australia, then further adapted by putting beets on them. If Aussie butter is better than, say, Land 'O Lakes, I haven’t noticed. The peanut butter is worse, and we shall not speak of Vegemite.
Probably the situation for me is a combination of low expectations and nostalgia. Fried perch or smelt may not be great food-- certainly can’t be very good for you-- but I look forward to having it when I come back to the States. If somebody offers me Hershey’s chocolate, I know what I’m about to experience. If I want better, I can get it. Not in every store in America, no, but I’m confident that I could get Dove or another premium brand in most every town, and find a fancy chocolate shop in most cities. But, really, on the infrequent occasions on which I eat chocolate, Hershey or Cadbury is good enough.
I know London has nice high-end restaurants. So do New York, Chicago, and Las Vegas. Actually, going by Michelin stars, looks like Japan is the current champ, not anywhere in Europe. There’s a few stars in the USA-- more in 2012 than the Netherlands or the UK, for instance. Not bad considering that in 2005 there were none.
How much does cheese cost in Europe? American food prices are low, in my experience. “Good” cheese-- for a given quality of "good’, as in your opinion of “good”-- may only be expensive when compared to the locally produced mild cheddar and colby cheeses popular in American supermarkets, not in comparison to what Europeans pay.
I agree completely, basically it has its uses and places just as I wouldn’t try to put gouda on nachos. But the idea of a slice of Velveeta in a cold cut sandwich makes me shudder!
I question the notion that the popular American chains mentioned above serve complete and utter garbage. They may lack subtlety but many of them serve pretty tasty chow. I never understand where the horror of places like Olive Garden comes from. It’s fine, not amazing. I’ve literally had worse meals in Italy. I dunno whether I picked the only region in Italy not renowned for its food but other than a local pizzeria, none of the food I had was remarkable other than for its relative expense.
I also think one way in which American restaurants beat those of any European country is that special menus for people with different dietary requirements are far more common in US restaurants.
The only downside I can think of of the mainstream American dining experience is how many damn places expect you to wait half an hour or more to be seated. Fuck that shit.
FWIW, the best quality (and most reasonably priced) food I’ve ever had was in Germany but it’s got plenty of crappy fastfood joints too.
For what it’s worth, what this Canadian notices when eating in the US versus Canada or elsewhere is not a difference in quality, but in quantity. US restaurants seem to generally serve larger portions.
Restaurant chains in Canada have capitalized on this - some adopt expressly US-style names, as a way of advertising to the Canadian customer that they serve large servings of food. I’m thinking of chains like Montana’s Cookhouse and Boston Pizza (despite the names both are Canadian-based chains).
From reading the nutrition information on their websites about the food they serve.
The food at casual chain restaurants usually tastes at least OK. Usually not great, but at least acceptable. It’s just that it’s often served in too-big portions, and has too many calories and too much sodium. If it weren’t for the health concerns with eating that way, I would probably eat at that kind of restaurant more often than I do.
Things like mass-produced cheese do have their uses. Those uses are not the same as the uses for artisan cheese. If you tried eating them in the way you would eat artisan cheese, you’ll probably be disappointed, same as you probably wouldn’t like it if you ate butter or soy sauce straight.
I just ate at a chain restaurant that had a Salmon dish that was edible. Not great, but OK. The flavor of the fish was hidden by a nice “better living through chemistry” sauce but the quality of the fish was closer to cheap canned tuna than anything I would buy in the store. If it was replicated from scratch using good Salmon it would have been great which is what I would expect from a mom-and-pop restaurant. Keep in mind I’m not that picky. I like a good grilled cheese sandwich but you can’t make it with margarine. I like basic food properly made.
I think the point people are making is that what we call an artisan cheese in the US is just the local cheese in a lot of other countries. There will certainly be price differences in cheese in a country like Ireland or France or Italy but it won’t be the wild price-point differences found in the gourmet section of a US store.
I don’t know, “I think the problem is that people in the United States just aren’t exposed to good food” implies it, if not outright states it. It may not have been meant that way, but that’s what it says to me.
I think she’s denying that that’s always the case - that a lot of people (maybe even some in this thread, I don’t want to put words in her mouth if this is not the case) seem to shrug, say “he’s telling the truth; American food IS crap,” and resolve to better satisfy the superior palates of sophisticated Europeans who actually know what good food really is.
Again, I don’t understand the defensiveness. If someone says “I don’t like New York, it’s too crowded” would you say “Well if you go out to The Cloisters it’s not crowded and there are places in Central Park where there are hardly any people at all. Besides, if you go the to the mall before Christmas in the mid-west it’s crowded too”?
Some countries have better food than others. You may disagree about which ones, but it’s not a horrible thing to say.
Not “are rarely,” not “are not often” - “just aren’t.” That’s just as blunt a statement as “most Americans have never had decent food.”
Like I said, that may not be what was meant, but I think that’s a reasonable interpretation thereof. Thus CubMistress was reasonable in saying that she believed that someone had said that in this thread.
And yes, I know what fallacies are. See statement above.
So the statement you put in quotes was not actually said, but you decided to paraphrase what was said and put quotes around it. I resent you calling me “a snob that hates America and wants us to be taken over by cheese eating surrender monkeys who will confiscate our guns and Velveeta”. Not that you said that, but I think it’s a reasonable interpretation.
Okay, I’m confused now; which statement in quotes “wasn’t actually said”? Both statements I referred to were cut and pasted from actual posts on this page. I think we may be talking past each other here to some extent?
Back off from that crack pipe man. Our strength is in our diversity. Sure Italian food in Italy is terrific, but that’s the vast majority of what you find in restaurants, and what you find the ingredients to make, unless you go hunting an ethnic restaurant.
Here, I can get several different varieties of barbecue, Cajun food, Creole food, Tex-Mex, steaks, seafood, cheesesteaks, or “traditional” stuff like Boston Market carries, and they’re all just as American as anything else.
