# Your National Dish Of Shame **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** food-cooking\ **Created:** [May 20, 2022, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-national-dish-of-shame/964784 "2022-05-20T19:31:27Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Treppenwitz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treppenwitz/32/3445_2.png) [@Treppenwitz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Treppenwitz)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2022, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-national-dish-of-shame/964784/1 "2022-05-20T19:31:27Z")
Today, for the first time in my life, I took a photo of my dinner. It was the Dope’s fault. In an American diner in an industrial estate in the north of France, poutine was on the menu. I did not eat it for me, I ate it for science. I only know of poutine because of the Dope. I gather it divides opinion. I don’t know if “Canada’s national dish of shame” is fair or accurate (its how I briefly described it to a mystified Mrs T). But it led me to ponder on the idea of a National Dish Of Shame. No further definition is offered - why narrow the scope? I’m English, and I’ll offer as my national dish of shame The Full English Breakfast (particularly the version that comes with baked beans). It’s way too much for any meal, let alone breakfast. It’s full of fat/grease. It features baked beans in the morning. It comes with a mug of tea. You may agree or disagree with this. But hey, let me know your proposal for your own (or - heh - someone else’s) National Dish Of Shame. j ---
**Author:** ![Cardigan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cardigan/32/187_2.png) [@Cardigan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cardigan)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2022, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-national-dish-of-shame/964784/2 "2022-05-20T19:35:42Z")
The US has a lot of shameful choices. So very many to choose from. Since we have to start somewhere, I’ll open with the **corn dog**. This staple of county fairs frequented by bumpkins is as far as one can get from haute cuisine. Perhaps we need to create subcategories for the US like a Jello-meat “salad” category ---
**Author:** ![GreysonCarlisle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a87d85/32.png) [@GreysonCarlisle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GreysonCarlisle)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2022, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-national-dish-of-shame/964784/3 "2022-05-20T19:39:40Z")
Hákarl in Iceland. Fermented shark. Icelanders are pretty proud of it. I almost got through one, but I lost it in the home stretch. ---
**Author:** ![Novelty\_Bobble](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Novelty\_Bobble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Novelty_Bobble)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2022, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-national-dish-of-shame/964784/4 "2022-05-20T19:41:05Z")
> [@Treppenwitz](#): > > I’m English, and I’ll offer as my national dish of shame The Full English Breakfast (particularly the version that comes with baked beans). It’s way too much for any meal, let alone breakfast. It’s full of fat/grease. It features baked beans in the morning. It comes with a mug of tea. I’m English as well and though I rarely eat it I think a well executed FEB is a thing of beauty. I confess I’m struggling to come up with something that, no matter how well done, is something to be ashamed of. I think parsnips should be fired into the sun but I’m aware that’s far from universal and they don’t really count as a “dish”. ---
**Author:** ![Yogeekgirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yogeekgirl/32/4129_2.png) [@Yogeekgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yogeekgirl)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2022, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-national-dish-of-shame/964784/5 "2022-05-20T19:45:34Z")
Not sure if this is especially Minnesotan but I think there’s even a Prairie Home Companion song about : > **[Tuna Noodle Casserole - Campbell Soup Company](https://www.campbells.com/recipes/tuna-noodle-casserole/)** > > Tuna Noodle Casserole is the original dump-and-bake dinner, always ready to go right from your pantry!  Stir tuna, cooked noodles, cream of mushroom soup and a few other pantry items in a baking dish, sprinkle with buttered bread crumbs and pop... if that isn’t it, well, how’s your Tater Tot Hot Dish? don’t forget ketchup on everything. Lots.(also a running joke on PHC). ---
**Author:** ![Grrr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grrr/32/146_2.png) [@Grrr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grrr)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2022, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-national-dish-of-shame/964784/6 "2022-05-20T19:46:04Z")
Corn Dogs are fancy pants cuisine when you compare it to other current fair food fads like fried butter. ---
**Author:** ![snowthx](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowthx/32/10660_2.png) [@snowthx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snowthx)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2022, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-national-dish-of-shame/964784/7 "2022-05-20T19:49:30Z")
I do not have a national one for the US. I do have one for San Francisco - the clam chowder bread bowl. A hollowed-out mini loaf of perfectly good sourdough filled with chowder - an invention just for the tourists, of which there are many, and a way for restaurants to charge more and serve less soup, compared to a regular bowl. I guess you are supposed to break-up the separated top, or “stump” of the loaf on the soup, as well as eventually eat the rest of the loaf after you have spooned-out the soup. It ends-up as a soggy and chewy sourdough crust, most of which just gets thrown in the trash. Such a waste of good sourdough! > **[SF’s famed clam chowder bread bowl has a big problem](https://www.sfgate.com/food/article/Boudin-clam-chowder-bread-bowl-review-17128838.php)** > > It’s just too much bread. Edit: there are probably a lot of “regional” dishes of shame around the US. ---
**Author:** ![DCnDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dcndc/32/2842_2.png) [@DCnDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DCnDC)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2022, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-national-dish-of-shame/964784/8 "2022-05-20T19:54:40Z")
> [@Cardigan](#): > > I’ll open with the **corn dog**. Yeah, there’s probably going to be hot dogs involved, whatever it is. ---
**Author:** ![Treppenwitz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treppenwitz/32/3445_2.png) [@Treppenwitz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Treppenwitz)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2022, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-national-dish-of-shame/964784/9 "2022-05-20T19:56:21Z")
Or candy floss. But I think that’s an international embarrassment. Like churros/chichis. j ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2022, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-national-dish-of-shame/964784/10 "2022-05-20T20:04:07Z")
> [@Treppenwitz](#): > > I only know of poutine because of the Dope. I gather it divides opinion. I don’t know if “Canada’s national dish of shame” is fair or accurate (its how I briefly described it to a mystified Mrs T). I’ll go with Treppenwitz on this one. ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2022, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-national-dish-of-shame/964784/11 "2022-05-20T20:05:23Z")
> [@Treppenwitz](#): > > It features baked beans in the morning. Baked beans are a common breakfast side in New England as well. ---
**Author:** ![Biggirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biggirl/32/3294_2.png) [@Biggirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biggirl)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2022, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-national-dish-of-shame/964784/12 "2022-05-20T20:09:40Z")
There are two dishes that I have found out are pretty New York centric but I’m not ashamed of them at all. 1. Buttered roll with coffee regular 2. Jamaican patty with cheese Maybe other people would look askance at a NY regular coffee with all the sugar and half and half (and also not quite know what a ‘hard roll’ is) and others without a large Caribbean population won’t know what a Jamaican patty is and those who do would scoff at how you can go to a pizzeria where they will open up the patty and put mozzarella on it and pop it back into the oven. But they’d be wrong. Wrong I say! ---
**Author:** ![kitap](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b9e5f3/32.png) [@kitap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kitap)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2022, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-national-dish-of-shame/964784/13 "2022-05-20T20:30:38Z")
Jello salad. ---
**Author:** ![Yogeekgirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yogeekgirl/32/4129_2.png) [@Yogeekgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yogeekgirl)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2022, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-national-dish-of-shame/964784/14 "2022-05-20T20:31:38Z")
Love me some Buttered Roll & coffee reg, whenever I go to NYC. Even better, you can go to any corner bodega for it. Carry on! ---
**Author:** ![Treppenwitz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treppenwitz/32/3445_2.png) [@Treppenwitz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Treppenwitz)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2022, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-national-dish-of-shame/964784/15 "2022-05-20T20:35:18Z")
Ok, I’ll bite. What the heck is butter roll and coffee reg? j PS - and what’s the deal with it? ---
**Author:** ![nelliebly](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nelliebly/32/5422_2.png) [@nelliebly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nelliebly)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2022, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-national-dish-of-shame/964784/16 "2022-05-20T20:43:04Z")
I don’t think there are quite as many dishes of shame here in the U.S. as there were back when people served Fluffernutter sandwiches (peanut butter and marshmallow fluff between bread slices), Jello studded with carrots and grated cabbage, and noodle rings filled with a bland creamed tuna. I nominate Hawaiian pizza, even though we’ve had that argument recently. (I’d spell it Hawai’ian were it not an insult to actual Hawai’ians, [few of whom will actually eat the stuff](https://www.villagevoice.com/2010/04/30/do-hawaiians-eat-hawaiian-pizza-plus-a-little-history/#:~:text=So%20there%20you%20have%20it,it%20comes%20to%20pie%20toppings.). ---
**Author:** ![Biggirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biggirl/32/3294_2.png) [@Biggirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biggirl)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2022, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-national-dish-of-shame/964784/17 "2022-05-20T20:43:12Z")
So, I googled ‘buttered roll coffee reg’ and the second site was [my very own 8 year old thread about it!](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buttered-roll-a-new-york-thing/638137) I feel famous! The first [is this New York Times ode to it.](https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/01/dining/buttered-roll-new-york.html) ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2022, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-national-dish-of-shame/964784/18 "2022-05-20T20:45:49Z")
A roll with butter on it and coffee with cream and sugar. The rolls vary, something round and sliced through like a sandwich, then buttered. ---
**Author:** ![flurb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/51bf81/32.png) [@flurb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flurb)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2022, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-national-dish-of-shame/964784/19 "2022-05-20T20:53:11Z")
> [@Cardigan](#): > > I’ll open with the **corn dog**. This staple of county fairs frequented by bumpkins is as far as one can get from haute cuisine. Speaking of fair food, at the Texas State Fair the corn dog long ago metastasized into an ungodly proliferation of Deep Fried “X” — Oreos, butter, beer, ice cream, pecan pie, pop tarts, potato salad, etc. I know it’s just a novelty for most, but the seemingly endless willingness of fair goers to cram into their maws any food or food-adjacent item that has been coated in batter and fried in probably filthy cooking oil is disconcerting. ---
**Author:** ![Treppenwitz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treppenwitz/32/3445_2.png) [@Treppenwitz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Treppenwitz)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2022, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-national-dish-of-shame/964784/20 "2022-05-20T20:55:23Z")
> [@Novelty\_Bobble](#): > > I confess I’m struggling to come up with something that, no matter how well done, is something to be ashamed of. I thought of a few more. Tapioca pudding. Rice pudding. God help us, bread and butter pudding. j [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-national-dish-of-shame/964784.md?page=2)