# Ugly American cuisine **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 16, 2013, 4:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ugly-american-cuisine/655812 "2013-04-16T04:18:14Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![Lynn\_Bodoni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e47c2d/32.png) [@Lynn\_Bodoni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lynn_Bodoni)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2013, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ugly-american-cuisine/655812/81 "2013-04-16T21:35:00Z")
> [@vontsira](#): > > Thanks – and to all, for all explanations / recipes re “casserole-y stuff”. Perhaps as a Brit, I fail to “get it”; but the big role seemingly played here by canned soup, comes across as a bit unappealing to me. Wonder whether a “snob” version of the green bean casserole might be done, starting from all-fresh ingredients? > > I had to Google Chicken a la King; but that sounds nice. Canned cream soups, especially cream of mushroom soup, are used as a substitute for homemade cream sauces. Most casseroles depend on some sort of sauce, and generally a cream sauce. It’s certainly possible to make cream sauce from scratch, but opening a can takes about half a minute, while making the sauce might take a quarter to half an hour. If you’re just trying to get dinner on the table ASAP, often times the speed will outweigh the taste, particularly if your family is not especially picky about the taste. ---
**Author:** ![Balance](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ccd318/32.png) [@Balance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balance)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2013, 10:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ugly-american-cuisine/655812/82 "2013-04-16T22:00:10Z")
> [@sandra\_nz](#): > > Heheh, I love that you are all trying to convince me of the merits of grits. 😉 > > I’ll be in Texas later this year, maybe I’ll try some! Nah, it’s up to you. Candidly, they’re not that high on my list, though they’re not bad with some black pepper and bacon. I just find the instant “Grits?! Yuck!” thing kind of weird when similar dishes don’t get that response. ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2013, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ugly-american-cuisine/655812/83 "2013-04-16T22:06:59Z")
> [@Lynn\_Bodoni](#): > > Canned cream soups, especially cream of mushroom soup, are used as a substitute for homemade cream sauces. I would venture that much of what has become known as American cuisine can be traced back to a single advertising agency in the mid-20th Century that convinced clients like Campbell’s, Kraft, General Mills, and Betty Crocker to start printing recipes on their packaging. ---
**Author:** ![pancakes3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ba9def/32.png) [@pancakes3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pancakes3)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2013, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ugly-american-cuisine/655812/84 "2013-04-16T22:10:27Z")
> [@Balance](#): > > Nah, it’s up to you. Candidly, they’re not that high on my list, though they’re not bad with some black pepper and bacon. I just find the instant “Grits?! Yuck!” thing kind of weird when similar dishes don’t get that response. Cheese. Cheese is the key. And buttered toast points. And sausage. Admittedly no, individually grits isn’t all that great but neither is a bowl of plain pasta or plain rice. I do think grits is one of the better and definitely underrated breakfast foods out there. I like it much better than oatmeal and cold cereal. ---
**Author:** ![SCAdian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scadian/32/3292_2.png) [@SCAdian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SCAdian)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2013, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ugly-american-cuisine/655812/85 "2013-04-16T22:26:35Z")
> [@DrFidelius](#): > > That’s a little bit backwards. Lactose intolerance is the normal situation, with alctose tolerance being a mutation. > > Most of the adult mammals in the world are unable to digest lactose well. They stop producing lactase enzyme after they stop nursing. > > European-descended populations have a mutation that keeps the lactase production turned on, which allows them to digest milk and milk products well into adulthood. Per [Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lactose_tolerance): The ability to digest lactose into adulthood (lactase persistence) would have only been useful to humans after the invention of animal husbandry and the domestication of animal species that could provide a consistent source of milk. Hunter-gatherer populations before the Neolithic revolution were overwhelmingly lactose intolerant, as are modern hunter-gatherers. Genetic studies suggest that the oldest mutations associated with lactase persistence only reached appreciable levels in human populations in the last ten thousand years. Therefore lactase persistence is often cited as an example of both recent human evolution and, as lactase persistence is a genetic trait but animal husbandry a cultural trait, gene-culture coevolution in the mutual human-animal symbiosis initiated with the advent of agriculture. Several genetic markers for lactase persistence have been identified, and these show that the allele has multiple origins in different parts of the world (i.e. it is an example of convergent evolution). The version of the allele most common amongst Europeans is estimated to have risen to significant frequencies about 7,500 years ago in the central Balkans and Central Europe, a place and time approximately corresponding to the archaeological Linearbandkeramik and Starčevo cultures. From there, it most probably spread eastwards as far as India. Likewise, one of the four alleles associated with lactase persistence in African population, is also probably of European origin. Since North Africans also possess this version of the allele it is probable that it actually originated earlier, in the Near East, but that the earliest farmers did not have high levels of lactase persistence and, subsequently, did not consume significant amounts of unprocessed milk. Lactase persistence in Sub-Saharan Africa almost certainly had a separate origin, probably more than one, and it is also likely that there was a separate origin associated with the domestication of the Arabian camel. None of the mutations so far identified have been shown to be causal for the lactase persistence allele, and it is thought that there are several more yet to be discovered. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2013, 11:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ugly-american-cuisine/655812/86 "2013-04-16T23:54:49Z")
> [@Lynn\_Bodoni](#): > > Canned cream soups, especially cream of mushroom soup, are used as a substitute for homemade cream sauces. Most casseroles depend on some sort of sauce, and generally a cream sauce. It’s certainly possible to make cream sauce from scratch, but opening a can takes about half a minute, while making the sauce might take a quarter to half an hour. If you’re just trying to get dinner on the table ASAP, often times the speed will outweigh the taste, particularly if your family is not especially picky about the taste. We should never have rebelled. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![gotpasswords](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c57346/32.png) [@gotpasswords](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gotpasswords)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2013, 12:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ugly-american-cuisine/655812/87 "2013-04-17T00:03:47Z")
[QUOTE=sandra\_nz] Grits. Yuck. 😛 [/QUOTE] If they taste like grit, they’re not cooked enough. Try taking one or two slices of “American” wrapped sandwich cheese and stirring them into a “serving” of grits once they’re done cooking. Easy cheese grits, not that the “real” way to make them is much harder. A lot of casseroles are visually unappealing on their own. I make a chicken and rice dish that’s primarily chicken, cream of something soup and rice, and it’s somewhere between gray and beige, but it tastes good. ---
**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:** [April 17, 2013, 12:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ugly-american-cuisine/655812/88 "2013-04-17T00:15:55Z")
This is the other reason they invented hot sauce: color. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2013, 12:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ugly-american-cuisine/655812/89 "2013-04-17T00:18:19Z")
carnivorousplant writes: \> Canned tasting green beans, canned tasting mushrooms, soggy fried onions \> and canned soup. davidm writes: \> I’ve eaten it when it was made by that recipe and wasn’t crazy about it. I didn’t say it was good. I said it wasn’t an exotic taste. Obviously if you use fresher ingredients you can make a better version of it. ---
**Author:** ![Dave\_Hartwick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/7feea3/32.png) [@Dave\_Hartwick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dave_Hartwick)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2013, 12:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ugly-american-cuisine/655812/90 "2013-04-17T00:21:58Z")
Speaking of hot sauce, I remember seeing ads for Tobasco here in Australia but it didn’t seem to catch on. Australians like sweet chili sauce much more than hot chili sauce in my experience. It may not have helped that Tobasco used lines like “Makes two day old pizza taste like day old pizza!” ---
**Author:** ![stui\_magpie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stui_magpie/32/11010_2.png) [@stui\_magpie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stui_magpie)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2013, 12:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ugly-american-cuisine/655812/91 "2013-04-17T00:26:35Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > Did you eat it hot, with roast beef and savory gravy? :dubious: Yep. Horrible doughy lumps of crud. Maybe I just had badly cooked ones. ---
**Author:** ![XT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xt/32/456_2.png) [@XT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XT)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2013, 12:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ugly-american-cuisine/655812/92 "2013-04-17T00:30:55Z")
I’m not sure there IS anything that’s uniquely American (we take other peoples foods then corrupt them to suit our own tastes), but things I’ve noticed is that in a lot of Asian countries they can’t abide cheese or dairy products, while in a lot of country they get queasy about all the pork we eat. Everything varies though, and I’ve seen some odd stuff. I remember the first time I was in Japan and went into what was basically a 7-11 (don’t remember what it was called…might have actually been a 7-11), and noticed a huge wall of beef jerky, of all things. Gods know why, but they had what looked like hundred of different varieties. No chips though…instead what looked like dried shrimp to me in similar type bags. In India I remember going into a McDonald’s and being looked at strangely and more than a bit queasily when I wanted a cheese burger (no beef…no idea if that’s still the case), but they had some good chicken substitutes (I couldn’t abide the vegetarian stuff…yucko :p). ---
**Author:** ![notfrommensa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/f14d63/32.png) [@notfrommensa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/notfrommensa)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2013, 12:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ugly-american-cuisine/655812/93 "2013-04-17T00:45:05Z")
What do non-Americans think about Pork Rinds? ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2013, 12:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ugly-american-cuisine/655812/94 "2013-04-17T00:59:16Z")
> [@Broomstick](#): > > That even bothers some of us Americans. I like cheese myself but I don’t want it on _everything_. Not from Minnesota, eh? Dropmom puts cheese on apple pie, fercryinoutloud. > [@LC\_Strawhouse](#): > > Carnival food (fried dough, etc.)? Fried dough is a universal favorite. I loved it when South Asians started owning the Dunkin’ Donuts around here because they brought what DD calls the buttermilk doughnut, a craggy lump of fried dough, maybe a bit raw in the middle, dipped in a sugar sauce and set out to dry. It tastes like some Indian desserts I’ve had. > [@sisu](#): > > eek cream in the gravy “Cream” gravies are usually just a roux. Sausage gravies use flour, water, and the fat left from frying the sausage, then you finish it by adding the crumbled sausage. Remember that this is po’ folk food and quality fixin’s, like cream and the good (and larger) pig chunks, got sold. > [@Student\_Driver](#): > > …but wintergreen is the primary flavor for the major brands. And vanilla. Modern commercial root beer is basically wintergreen-vanilla pop. Saw Jeremy Clarkson with a can of Barq’s a while back, so not all Brits think it’s nauseating. Maybe just the Brits who aren’t nauseating themselves. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2013, 1:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ugly-american-cuisine/655812/95 "2013-04-17T01:36:25Z")
First there’s somebody doubting there’s coffee in red-eye gravy. Now this: > [@dropzone](#): > > “Cream” gravies are usually just a roux. Sausage gravies use flour, water, and the fat left from frying the sausage, then you finish it by adding the crumbled sausage. Remember that this is po’ folk food and quality fixin’s, like cream and the good (and larger) pig chunks, got sold. I won’t say that never happens but it’s not the norm. Cream gravy usually does contain cream (or some other dairy product like milk or buttermilk). [cite](http://southernfood.about.com/od/gravyrecipes/r/blbb170.htm) [cite](http://www.food.com/recipe/cream-gravy-240324) [cite](http://homesicktexan.blogspot.com/2007/02/cream-of-gravy-crop.html) [cite](http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/foodnation-with-bobby-flay/chicken-fried-steak-with-cream-gravy-recipe/index.html) ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2013, 1:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ugly-american-cuisine/655812/96 "2013-04-17T01:41:42Z")
> [@stui\_magpie](#): > > Yep. Horrible doughy lumps of crud. Maybe I just had badly cooked ones. I’d say so. The Yorkshire puddings I had in England were slightly crunchy on the outside and light and eggy on the inside. I wouldn’t particularly want to eat them all by themselves, but they were a good complement to roast beef and gravy. They also have to be eaten hot, fresh out of the oven. Otherwise they tend to be chewy, in my experience. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2013, 1:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ugly-american-cuisine/655812/97 "2013-04-17T01:42:23Z")
> [@dropzone](#): > > “Cream” gravies are usually just a roux. A gravy with roux is just a regular gravy. As mentioned above, it’s dairy that, unsurprisingly, turns it into a “cream” gravy. I have never heard of a cream gravy not having milk or cream in it. I also don’t think I’ve ever had sausage gravy that did not have milk in it. ---
**Author:** ![missred](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/missred/32/14096_2.png) [@missred](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/missred)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2013, 1:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ugly-american-cuisine/655812/98 "2013-04-17T01:45:13Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > I’ll grant you, just plain grits are **not** good eating. But absolutely nobody I ever seen eats them that way. I hit them with butter, salt, pepper, butter, hot sauce and butter when I eat them. You forgot the sausage and cheese. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2013, 1:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ugly-american-cuisine/655812/99 "2013-04-17T01:45:58Z")
> [@notfrommensa](#): > > What do non-Americans think about Pork Rinds? I’ve seen similar products in Mexico and Eastern Europe. Pork rinds, goose skin rinds, chicken skin rinds, etc. They’re a bit more substantial, in my experience, looking [like this.](http://www.chew.hu/teperto/) ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2013, 1:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ugly-american-cuisine/655812/100 "2013-04-17T01:46:14Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > I won’t say that never happens but it’s not the norm. Cream gravy usually does contain cream (or some other dairy product like milk or buttermilk). I’d say whole milk in the case of sausage gravy. Anything else would be too heavy, IMHO. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ugly-american-cuisine/655812.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ugly-american-cuisine/655812.md?page=6)