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Always makes me laugh when the country that sells “cheese” in spray cans or as plastic slices calls other countries’ food bad.
Laugh while you can. Shelf stable cheese is going to be real handy when WW3 breaks out.
Tbh when ww3 breaks out I’d rather not also be subjected to spray cheese
Yeah, that’s like saying when there’s food shortages at least you’ll have pepper spray to flavour your sawdust.
It already broke out
No. This is more like Cold War II.
It’s the same universe though, and the studios mostly collaborate on the overarching story.
I think the big team up event is going to be a big disappointment though. Too many characters to follow all the storylines, and you have to watch the shows too if you really want to keep up.
The whole thing doesn’t seem very inviting to new audiences.
I think the next big one will finally deal with all the power creep. It’ll set the surviving characters back a couple dozen decades and move onto smaller-stake, personal conflicts.
Barely anyone outside of Philly eats spray cheese regularly
Do you think everyone in the UK eats spotted dick/spotted dog regularly?
Yes.
You guys always miss the point, we have your cheese, and our cheese, and synth cheese, and any other cheese you want. Imported European cheese? Yep. Craft cheeses from Wisconsin? Any kind you can think of. Cow, goat, buffalo, sheep, cashew, chicken, fire-ant, whatever. I can go to Costco and get a 72lb wheel of Parmigiano reggiano, aged 2 years, shipped to my door within a few days. I can go to town and visit a number of delis and get a pound of anything sliced fresh. I can go to the grocery chain store and get a presliced pound or go to their full in store deli for more options. If I’m having a burger I might go for the classic American cheese slices. We also have a cheese flavored product in a can that is good when you are tired of living. You have only high quality cheese because there isn’t room on your tiny European shelf for the sheer variety of bullshit we also have.
…do you think supermarkets and online retail only exist in the US?
Internet Europeans seem to think we don’t have bakeries or breweries or dairy…ies… so it’s only fair to assume the inverse.
No, but you guys seems to think we only are aware of craft singles and can cheese. That’s our lowest level of cheese. I was trying to explain that despite your opinions, we actually do have food here.
Edit: Saying “we actually have that too” doesn’t mean in any way “Europe has no grocery stores”. I thought you guys had the good schools?
You literally said we have small shelves that can’t have a wide range of food. Read your own comment lol
Did you even go to school?
I also said we had cheese made of fire ant milk. Google hyperbole, then get back to me.
Of course I went to school, I’m an American, where do you think I learned to bar the door from gunmen?
In other words, nothing you said had any point then
Oh sorry for not being serious enough in the memes community. I’ll be sure to bring my dissertation next time about how your mom sucked me good and hard through my jorts.
What about Wensleydale and cranberries. That’s the best cheese
I hadn’t heard of that kind but it’s pretty! A quick search says I could get it at Walmart. I personally prefer not to shop there but that means it’s probably available somewhere else. I’ll be sure to try it some time, thank you for the tip
Is Ash…banging Pikachu?
Poor Pikachu being beaten by a stick.
Not beating or pummeling… More like smashing
Makes me chuckle the way Ash is probably staying behind Pikachu in the picture yet he throws the shadow. He must be a very gifted individual
If you’re referring to the surprised pikachu meme: I believe Brock is standing behind Pikachu cause Brock always wears brown pants
Yeah, I was. Most likely, you’re right, I completely forgot everything about this animé as time passed
I’m pretty sure that was canon for Ling Ling.
You know what else is poor food? Duck confit.
You know what else? Soul food is literally food made from things slaves got and grew themselves. Like, it’s below poor food and it’s absolutely amazing.
There’s poverty food from all over the world that’s amazing. The English are just bad at food.
Lobster was prison food.
Then again, they did just grind up the whole thing, scales and all.
Ummm scales? Lobsters have shells, I believe you were fed snake.
Sorry my foreign is showing
Well, they are giant sea bugs.
Beans. And. Rice.
We have different definitions of what amazing is. Poor food, is only poor food, because people with money choose better things because those better things have a higher taste ceiling, therefore poor food can only ever be average at best, else is it really poor food?
That’s a bit wrong. Poverty food was poverty food a lot of time just because it wasn’t trendy for the rich and royals to eat the same food as the common people. They may even have preferred the poor food, but they couldn’t eat that in view of others.
Ay yo, tacos ain’t rich people food. Just saying.
All Mexican food is delicious, but that’s not a difficult feat when you fry everything and smother it with cheese and sauces. Heck man, they even have a chicken dish that’s mixed with chocolate. They’re all about flavor, health and fitness be damned.
You ever have a guac or huitlacoche taco? Delicious and incredibly nutritious.
Still poor people food.
Also, not nearly as much Mexican food as you think is fried or cheese centric and moles are a hugely important facet of Mesoamerican cuisine and can vary in terms of how calorie packed they are.
Moral: Spotted Dick is what you get from spending too much on Rent, Bangers & Mash.
Elsewhere in the world it’s what you get if you stick it in the wrong hole.
they realize that every culture’s cuisine is dictated by the poor doing what they can with what they have, right? Do you think my italian-american ancestors were hype to eat beans and paste every day for its own sake? No, they did it because they had 170 kids each and could only find work throwing garbage over the hill into the pond for 2 cents a year. It’s just that they also made it really, really good.
“When this food is made good its made good” also applies to British cuisine. You’re telling me that brandy cake made with a type of fat that supercedes butter for all of its baking properties, Corinthian raisins and a warm brandy/cream sauce doesn’t sound good?
I didn’t say anything about British food being good or not good. I said that if you’re gonna start with the premise that British food is bad and try to explain it with poverty you’re gonna have to explain why impoverished people everywhere else are turning out bangers like Max Martin in 1999.
I just did though?
Their point is: poor people recipes from Italy taste better than poor people recipes from the UK, generally.
Your point is: it’s possible to make UK recipes taste better if you do them a certain way, specifically.
They are speaking generally and you are speaking specifically. Hope that helps you understand.
But I described the most basic recipe for spotted dick, made in the most peasant way possible?
Brandy is the cheapest alcohol and easily home-made, the peasant-way of preserving both fruit and bread (/cake) in the UK, suet is more peasant than butter or other forms of fat because it is the rendered fat from discarded animal carcasses, but that process actually makes it more rich .
You gave a specific example of one recipe, to combat the notion that Italian food is generally better. I don’t know how to explain it any differently to you, but you’re not having the same conversation as the rest of us right now.
I figured “when food is made good its good” kinda covered that.
I thought this was an interesting topic of one of the episodes of chef’s table (netflix docuseries). The chef focused on what real “american” cuisine looks like, and since cuisine typically comes out of hardship, American food doesn’t have as distinct of an identity since the USA has typically been a country of “plenty.” Was really a fascinating point, and it made me look at food culture in a very different way
I dunno man, the Pretzel Bun wasn’t really popularized until after Millenials couldn’t afford houses
Lol fair. Though I don’t mean to suggest that there is no hardship anywhere in the US (i think that’s why chicken wings became popular), but across the board, food has historically been more easily accessible in the US than most nations than pre existed it. Sure there are some regional delicacies, but no true US cuisine. I’m sure that could be partially explained by the geographic size as well, but there are some distinct differences in UK cuisine even though those cultures are significantly closer.
The US is too big to have a unified cuisine. The UK is hard to compare to because even their accents vary much more across a small geographic area, their cultural regions are strictly divided and enforced thanks to deeply entrenched classism and social pressure.
Also I just flat disagree that cuisines like Cajun/Creole or Tex Mex or Southwest/Santa Fe don’t qualify as true US cuisines.
I think they would identify as more as their own regional cuisine, as opposed to being a part of some larger US identity. I think this would be similar to understanding of french or italian cuisine, but then if you dig into specific regions you’ll get “tuscan” as opposed to prototypical “italian.” That nuance for “US cuisine” is not as well defined because it doesn’t exist in the same way, even though regional cuisines are totally distinct in their own way.
I used the UK as an example because they have distinct regional cuisines like Cornish, Welsh, Scottish, Yorkshire, etc, even though it is geographically quite small. To me, that defies the logic that the US can’t have a more distinct food identity but then also coexist with various subcultures across a larger geographic area.
That’s the point, the US is geography about the same size as mainland Europe, and only about 80mill less people. Would you criticize Europe for not having a unified food culture across the entire continent? How about North Africa? No, that would be ridiculous. It’s the same for the US, you’ll find some similarities but even with the same food there will be differences and some places where you shouldn’t buy that food.
For instance, California has great Mexican food and especially street tacos. But you’ll find it hard to locate really good pizza. Florida is technically in the south, but there’s not a lot of good Mexican around, but fresh seafood is really nice. NY has some specialties but is probably the best place in the entire world for culinary diversity and quality. There are more immigrant populations there demanding quality food representation than anywhere else in the world. Even relatively sparse locations like small Midwest towns will typically have an okay pizza place, a good Chinese place, and a great Mexican restaurant. That’s way more than most countries can say.
US food culture is far more than what you see on TV
I don’t think i made my point clearly enough. I get that there are regionally distinct cuisines such as cajun cuisine, but my point was that this occurs even in smaller countries and locations such as the UK, which has numerous culinarily distinct cultures despite being a fraction of the size of the US. I’m not sure why you’re completely ignoring my point there. I’m also not sure how highlighting Americanized versions of other cuisines is relevant at all. I understand that other cuisines coexist inside of the US, but they are not actually US cuisines. Are you suggesting that Mexican food existing in California or the midwest is one possible definition of US cuisine? Because this actually feeds into the point that American cuisine doesn’t really have its own distinction.
I’ll try using Germany as an example. German food has an identity, wurst, schnitzel, etc. sometimes it’s borrowed (wiener schnitzel from vienna), sometimes its distinctly German. But Germany also has various regions with their own distinctive cuisines (former independent states like bavaria, swabia, franconia, hesse, etc each with their own cuisine). This would be like cajun is in the US. On top of that, there’s plenty of transplant cuisines, such as Turkish doner which is quite popular. This would be like mexican food in California. Yet, german cuisine is still able to stand out as its own thing.
I also completely disagree, North African cuisine as an example absolutely has some level of shared culture. Sure, Morocco and Libya have different cuisines for example, but they sit on the southern Mediterranean and share spices, vegetables, etc, and have a shared history.
I understand that I’m not a food expert and I’m citing a documentary about food experts that was interesting. I’m not certain why this feels like an attack. Additionally, that doesn’t mean it’s my only source of information.
Everything comes from somewhere else. Beans, corn, peppers, potatoes, squash, and tomatoes all came from the Americas. So any culinary traditions using those ingredients only goes back at maximum early 1700s, but more like early 1800s. They pale in comparison to the many centuries of history they have on this side of the ocean. Native people have been nixtamalizing corn for longer than anyone has been speaking French.
The UK has distinct food culture, that’s not at issue. But you can trace it to the density of people and length of time inhabited. But if you look at specific regions of the US, you can see similar. Take a similar size area. Like the northeastern seaboard from Boston to north Carolina, that’s a HUGE amount of regional food differences. Beans, soups, seafood, sandwiches, barbecue, fried chicken, breakfasts, desserts, slaws and salads. And that’s not even mentioning the alcohol traditions. Scotch wouldn’t exist without used American white oak bourbon barrels.
But yes, I am making the argument that both Mexican and Chinese food in the USA are separate and culinarily distinct things than what you find in their home countries. They’ve been in this country for well over 100 years; living, evolving, changing the attitudes and palates of Americans the whole time. You won’t find most US Chinese dishes anywhere in China, and you won’t find a dish that looks like US Mexican or TexMex in Mexico, even if it’s got the same name. But they will be regionally different. They’re influenced by each other, but they’re separate.
More than that, I’ll give you three foods that evolved from elsewhere but finalized in the US, and three honest foods that are 100% from the USA, showing off deep food culture. First for the evolved dishes that now are around the world. Hot dogs, hamburgers, and fries. They all had precursors, but the combination of German/Belgian food, French baking, and food science with industrialization to make for a cheap food that is tasty and easy to eat? Purely American. And now exported worldwide.
Next are the cultural dishes. First is chili. Every state has some version, some variety. With or without beans, different protein, brown or white, and different spices. But it’s a dish that comes from hard work, long hours, and wanting a filling meal that’s easy to make but well spiced. No bean soup quite hits the same highs, it’s almost more of a stew. Then you have biscuits and gravy. It originally came from the Revolutionary War, but today it’s best recognized as southern love on a plate, and and just as many calories. People from the UK often confuse US biscuits for scones, but they’re not. Scones have egg, and usually sugar in the dough, and get worked 2-3x as much as a biscuit, which is crispy on the outside but inside is airy, light, fluffy, and savory. Goes well with the rich, creamy, peppery sausage gravy. Last is barbecue. That’s got 5 legitimate culinary traditional regions and probably like 4 more that could argue for another. But it comes from poverty and slavery, when people couldn’t get good cuts of meat and had to invent methods to make them good. Then they combined that with Afrocaribbean flavors and local ingredients, and you have a unique tradition that is probably some of the best open heat cooked meat in the world.
After all this, I’m really not some sort of American chauvinist. Honestly I prefer pasta, ramen, and some African foods most of the time. But everywhere I see this lie that the USA has no food culture and it drives me wild. It’s a rich and diverse food culture, but just very different than the media says and very different than the rest of the world, and especially Europe. So it can sometimes be hard to understand. Hopefully this helps.
That sounds really interesting, you’ve made me curious about this topic now; I’m not a documentary kind of person, but I’m probably going to read about it later.
I typically don’t watch documentaries, and I watched the entire series. It’s pretty well done!
Each episode follows one world renowned chef and their personal history, their food journey, their take on food in general, and where they are now. The first episode was an Italian chef who tried to bring home cooking to restaurants in Italy and was met with backlash by the community (you can’t monetize Mom’s home cooking). The second one was about a highly regarded chef who moved to Argentina to cook for a remote village and that’s pretty much it (as far as i recall) because it was way less stressful cooking a whole pig underground than running a 3 Michelin star French restaurant.
Fascinating stuff.
I think it’s more that the US is a very recent country and was a melding of many cultures, plus the sheer size of the country and diversity of the ingredients found around the country.
Yeah that’s fair, but in some ways other young countries have their own distinctive cuisines that are popular, such as Mexico and Peru. Additionally, i don’t think the blend of other cultures is really the problem in having an identity. Other countries have plenty of immigrant populations, but they still have their own identity. For example, turkish doner is huge in Germany, but German cuisine is very much its own thing. Then you can even dial it in even further, looking at bavarian, franconian, swabian, etc.
I agree that any one of those points alone doesn’t make for a particularly distinct cuisine, but combining them leads to a lot of diverse sub customers. I think the size point is the biggest one though. It’s hard to compare us cuisine to a single country since the US is so big that different regions create their own sub cuisines. As far as the sub cuisines go, I do think there are distinct cuisines, like you have various bun based sandwiches like burgers, hotdogs, and subs, there’s also casseroles, roasts, and southern food is its own distinct cuisine.
Right, but that was the point of the episode of the documentary. At a basic level, American cuisine is based on plentiful food sources, and we get things like burgers and hotdogs. I recommend watching it, it was quite interesting. I’m not trying to suggest that this is the only explanation, but it was an interesting theory nonetheless.
Sure, some regions have some variety (as you mention, a casserole). Size is a factor, but similarly maybe countries have some form of culinary identity (russian, chinese, brazilian). They have sub cultures as well. I’m not well versed in them, to be honest, but i know they exist.
It was an interesting point that i found to be somewhat profound especially as i explored other cuisines, which are typically developed during hardship.
A lot of south Louisiana food is a reflection of this.
Watch “High on the Hog.”
This keeps coming up like British chefs aren’t household names in America.
Also, spotted dick is awesome.
British food is unironically amazing.
Roast dinners, English Breakfast, British-Indian cuisine, cakes/puddings, pies and pastries, casseroles, cheeses, fucking sandwiches, a well-executed fish and chips. Shit, even super basic stuff like Macaroni cheese can taste really good if it’s made with some good technique.
But what’s even more amazing is the US’s ability to push stereotypes based on WW2 rationing even into the 2020s.
Agreed. I was raised by an English father and an English grandmother. There is a lot of amazing British cuisine. A good shepherd’s pie is heavenly. Sure, there’s also disgusting British food (I’m looking at you, Marmite), but there’s disgusting food in every culture.
Also, British candy is so much superior to American candy. I can’t think of a single candy in America that comes even close to a Rowntree’s black currant fruit pastille. And the British know what licorice is. Americans think it’s that red shit and they think real licorice is disgusting.
Famous for their French cuisine.
But I’m just ribbing; Toad in the hole is fucking delicious.
Anthony Bourdain? Gordon Ramsay? Never heard of 'em. I exclusively watch Justin Wilson and Uncle Roger.
/s
like British chefs aren’t household names in America
I dunno, they’re taking a massive beating lately from Uncle Roger.
Well we can kind of claim him too - Nigel Ng had been living in London working as a data analyst for Monzo when his Uncle Roger character blew up during lockdown.
No, he Malaysian, as is the character. Just because he immigrated doesn’t mean you claim him. Do you work for the East India Company?
All that hoity-toity British “poor” food, only available at restaurants. Meanwhile, tacos are literally found on the streets the world over, where they are always delicious.
What I’m saying is: 🌮 > 🇬🇧
No tacos around here…
You poor soul. May tacos one day fill your belly with their grace.
Taiwanese man who can cook. Dated a British girl in college. I normally cook and one day she decided to cook for me.
I went into the kitchen to see what was happening and she was boiling the broccoli… in just water… No salt…no oil… just water.
She was also microwaving some kind of yellow peas in the microwave… in just water.
I haven’t made it over to the UK to try real British food, but as of now, it’s not very favorable.
Blows my mind every time I get reminded of toast sandwiches - it’s treated with the same sense of normalcy that I would have for, say, microwave ramen
Toasties!
There’s also cock-a-leekie soup.
And it’s fucking delicious.
Chips aren’t exactly cheap these days. Poor food isn’t cheap more.
please, do tell me about this rich people british food that tastes good
British food is a bit like the English language. We robbed everyone else of all the best bits which could get our hands on. We then reimagined them. “Chinese” and “Indian” food are good examples of this.
For proper good English food, you have to go back a bit. It tended to be simple, high quality food, done well. The traditional roast is a good example. Along with its fancy cousin, the beef wellington. A good stew, or casserole can be amazing, when done well. A lot of “rich people” food gets thrown in with “french cuisine”.
Beyond those you have the traditional dishes, things like a ploughman’s lunch, or a shepherds/cottage pie. Suet pies can be wonderful if done right, and desserts like carrot cake can be excellent. Even the classic British fried breakfast can be a thing of beauty, with proper care.
Unfortunately, almost all of these have been heavily bastardised now. The big supermarkets have conditioned us to crap food. Even finding good ingredients is a challenge now. The fruit and veg we get are dire, and it’s difficult to build a mighty tower on poor foundations.
Oh, and also remember, we exported a LOT of our food around the world. British cuisine formed a baseline for measuring other cultures to be measured against.
A lot of “rich people” food gets thrown in with “french cuisine”.
A lot of British “rich people” food is french cuisine. What with your nobles being basically french for some time, and also having a boner for our rich fucks’ ways for a long time after that
The whole situation is fairly incestuous (a bit like the old money rich). If an English ‘french’ cook improved something, it would get rolled into ‘french’ cooking. It could even flow back to the ‘french’ cooks in France, given time. At this point we just don’t know anymore how information flowed.
On top of that, anything that seems to match the French style gets thrown in with French cuisine. Whether it was actually a French invention or not doesn’t matter.
Yeah, true
It’s called French food.
