jake wrote:
> Bubba wrote:
> > Developing ethnic foodways and national specialties takes time...lots of
> > it. Something the United States, still in it's infancy as a culture,
> > has not had much of.
> > I would, however, like to hear some opinions, by non-Americans, on
> > United States cuisine as an ethnic food.
>
> > What do you see as the most typical trait of American cooking?
> >
> Tio me, the use of sweet flavourings along with meat stands out. And
> American foods seem sweeter then Dutch foods in general. And I have to
> say something like green bean casserole (which I read about here aroudn
> Thanksgiving) wouldn't appeal to many people here.
> Altogether, American food seems to be "starchier"than Dutch food. And I
> am amazed that it seems to normal to buy meals/foods/snacks out all the
> time.

I suspect the starchiness is a very astute observation. Growing up, my
dinners were always meat, starch, and veggie, except when we had no
veggies. I think most Americans are very accustomed to having at least
some sort of starch in every meal. It's actually something I've been
trying to work on, switching out the starch for a second veggie when
cooking.

>
> > 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.
>

Personally, I think this is a great list. There are certainly items on
here that don't appeal to me at all (jello salads, gah!), but I don't
think there's anything on here that would strike me as particularly
unusual. (Well, except for wheatgrass juice. I wonder if there's some
other name that I know that by.) Part of that might be geographic.
There's a fair bit in the list that I would characterise as "Southern"
cooking, which is the part of the States where I grew up.

--
Ernest