jake wrote:
<snip>
>>
>> Do you consider food American food to be ethnic?
>>
> I don't normally use the word ethnic for anything - it is uncommon to do
> so in my mother tongue and at the same time I think it is about as
> specific as the "democracy"- it can be any number of things.
>
> I think of American cooking as foreign, from a froeign countyr. I am
> aware that it consits at elast in part of components form a number of
> cultures, so I would find it hard to summarize the "essence" of American
> cooking.

Fair enough!

<snip>
>
>> What do you see as the most distinctive American dishes?
>>
> Hamburgers, meat loaf, bagels, corn on the cob and various versions of
> corn dishes (bread, grtis, hominy etc). Chocolate chip cookies, muffins.
> Waldorf and Ceasr salads. Eggs for breakdfast, as well as other hot
> foods for breakfast. Cereal. Rice Krispies. Jello. And jello salads
> (weird stuff). Chocolate syrup. Combinations of many flavours in one
> food (such as in ice cream variations). The number of decisions to make
> before you have ordered your coffee at Starbucks. Cajun cooking, African
> American cooking in general. Quick breads. Carrot cake. Zucchine bread.
> Large, soft cookies. Twinkies. Pumpkin Pie, Key lime pie leomon meringue
> pie, pecan pie, cheesecakes. Cream cheese. Processed Chesse. Mozzzarella
> sticks. Cinnamon sticks. Tex Mex. Jalapenos (even though I knwo they're
> probably Mexican). BBQ sauce. Sweet ptoatoes served with marhsmallows or
> sweetish spices. Marshmallows. marshomallows on hot chocolate. Smars
> (sp?). Hot dogs. Popcorn. Wheatgrass juice. Mac and cheese. Mac and
> cheese with tuna and canned mushroom soup. Noodle soups. Chicken pot
> pie. The extensive use of blueberreies (I envy you). Cookie dough in ice
> cream. Fudge. The availbility of liquid smoke. Using baking poweder and
> baking soda to a much larger extent. Devil's and Angel Food Cake.
> Turkey. Subway-types sandwiches. Hoagies.

WOW!!! Great list! You've been doing your homework. I've eaten
most of these at some point in my life, as I'm sure many Americans have.
But not all and not with frequency. Try to keep in mind that the U.S.
is big and while we are fairly homogeneous, traveling across the U.S. is
a little like traveling across Europe...little pockets of regional
specialties.
>
>> Any other observations you'd like to make.
>
> I'm sure things could come to mind if peeople ahve specific questions.
> American protions are famous for their size, come to think of it. And
> doggie bags seem to very specific to American eating.
>
>>
No 'doggie bags' elsewhere. Didn't realize that. I think maybe the
large portions led to the doggie bags

<snip>
> I didn't read this until after writing my list of foods. I am glad I
> didn't include McDonalds

Thank you for that, and thank you for your answers.

Bubba


--
You wanna measure or you wanna cook?