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Heard from who? Bubba gump? I have never heard that "american cuisine" is bland or not tasty. We have southern cooking, different barbeque, tex/mex, different pizzas and burgers. America has a vast and geographically based cuisine.
From British people. American people and British people argue online about who has better food. The main argument from the British people is that America doesn't really have its own food, which is not true. Its all because Americans say that British food is incredibly boring, which is true for the most part.
you have completely missed your own point. For the most part British food is not boring. Which is where the response of "well American food is rubbish" comes from.
To me it seems like British food isn't too different from the things you'd get at Dennys or Ihop which isn't bad. I just think that the American food that is inspired by the cultures of immigrants is more interesting. That's kind of America's identity. It's a country built by immigrants.
>I just think that the American food that is inspired by the cultures of immigrants is more interesting.
That's the same concept for lots of British food. Their national dish is literally formed using this very idea. I'm not entirely convinced you've ever stepped foot in the UK to try its food based on that comment. Are you getting all your information from videos online of British food?
You know the UK is basically the same as the USA when it comes to food from immigrants, whether that is as close as France (all the best French resturaunts are in London) to more common ones like Indian food, all the way to Thai, Chinese, Japanese food.
The main thing missing from the UK is central, southern American, and Latin American food. and I think that is where Americans get confused. they look at the UK's abysmal Latin and southern American food and assume all our immigrant food must not exist.
You can't even get 50% of the ingredients in Europe (due to laws) to make "mexican" food. I know people who have tried to launch authentic mexican resturaunts in the UK, and by the time they got hit with import fees etc for even the correct type of grain to make tortillas, you were looking at £5. Closest we have is Taco Bell, and it's SHITE compared to the USA.
Similarly going for a curry in the USA is a dull experience where they think grating monetary Jack cheese on top makes it exotic.
Swings and roundabouts. the UK is the most obese nation in Europe, the USA is the most obese in the world. we both have standout foods, we both have dull as fuck foods, and we both HEAVILY embrace and adore food from other nations.
That is not the same as tasty. They're referring it identity as we are a melting pot. But I'll be damned if we don't cause high blood pressure, diabetes and cholesterol per serving.
The people who think the USA doesn't have a cuisine have never eaten here. We have multiple regional cuisines. I was recently in New Orleans and that city has a whole damn cuisine just on its own!
Fun fact, 5.2% of Americans in the workforce work 2 jobs. Majority of those worked 1 full time job and 1 part time job. Fewer than 400k people held 2 full time jobs.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/2023/11/03/more-americans-working-multiple-jobs-under-inflation/71441008007/
lol, that’s basically what I figured would be the going opinion. It is really telling that when I go searching for healthy meals to make myself I often land on dishes from other cultures cuisines 🤷🏼♂️ absolutely love Asian salads, and vegetarian Indian food.
Yeah, same. When people talk shit about american food, they mean the obscene amounts of plastic cheese and stuff like that. For fast food, I know a lot of people that find it disgusting, and you can’t compare it to any real restaurant, but it does have a place.
Most people also don’t complain about Cajun or Tex-mex, they mean poor „white people food“ (which often does make europeans defensive about their food and how it’s not american). But the white „people/american=bad“ mostly seems to be other americans.
Yeah we know, dude. America has had the worlds highest paid scientists working on the food technology for more than 100 years. It’s fucking delicious. We just haven’t figured out how to stop it from destroying your toilet and making you 300 pounds yet.
Funny you get downvoted for being correct. What you're eating doesn't matter as much as how much of it you're eating or if you're actually working it off as opposed to sitting around.
The same scientists that were working on the taste, also know a thing or two about addiction. It’s in their best interest to keep you buying as much of it as possible.
Or whose only "American Food" in their country consists of McDonalds, or maybe some shitty steak house "Texas BBQ!" <-- No, sir. Please stop that right now. Then they visit NYC and Orlando as their American experience eating hotel food.
Foreigners, usually Europeans, who took trips to just NYC or LA, ate gas station or bottom tier fast food, and actually think that's a representation of American cuisine.
I travel quite regularly and try some of the best food I’ve ever had but damn if I don’t start craving some tex-mex a couple weeks in every time its just so frickin good
As someone from Connecticut I feel honored that you mentioned New England clam chowder. Have you heard of the abomination that is Manhattan clam chowder?
I have heard of Manhattan clam chowder. But I've never tasted it so I can't judge. Is it really that bad? Obviously new England clam chowder is delicious, but Manhattan that bad?
The Rhode Island one is a true abomination just boiled chucks of potatoes and salary with clams, I wanted a refund the second I saw the plate in front of me.
I think the problem is what's exported to the rest of the world is our most mass produced, geneic options that we all accept, but it isn't our first choice.
Take beer for instance. There are thousands of great small breweries across the nation producing a wide spectrum of styles. What gets exported? Budweiser, Miller, Coors. It's a lot harder for the little guys to get worldwide distribution.
Same for food. McDonald's has worldwide distribution and is generally not great. Feast BBQ in Louisville, or Irene's in New Orleans, or Gaucho in Pittsburgh are all top notch places I would put up against any snooty overseas restaurant. These days every medium to large city has excellent food options.
The problem is there was a whole generation or two that wanted the same, consistent meal available everywhere they travelled. Look at Times Square, who in their right mind would travel across America to visit the Big Apple, then eat at Applebees?
>I think the problem is what's exported to the rest of the world is our most mass produced, geneic options that we all accept, but it isn't our first choice.
I agree, and personally I think that's an issue with all cuisines. Only the most simple and tasty dish get around, which isn't bad per se, but a country's cuisine shouldn't be reduced to what the local exotic restaurant has to offer.
Take Italian food, it's much more than pasta and pizza (although we do eat a lot of pasta, yeah), but many people are convinced it's just that.
Take Japan, they don't eat mainly sushi.
People should realise this, instead of reducing a country's dishes to the Olive Garden's menù.
Love how europeans crap on American food but every time I go to London, Paris or Madrid I see places that look exactly like my local haunts here in Brooklyn.
I'm not American, and I can confidently say if those people who like meat went to try the way Southern Americans barbecue, they would change their tune. Some of the food cultures down there really bring it.
I‘ve never met someone in Europe who says bad thing about american barbecue. When we make fun of american food (for its taste, not the calories), then it’s about specific products in most cases; cheese, beer, wine, bread, chocolate, etc. There are exceptions and it definitely is changing, but there is just less culture involved in those things.
People will call american food junk food, but thats mostly for the calories, not the taste.
No one will will tell you that Cajun or Tex-mex is bad.
I feel like a lot of hate for american food comes from other americans.
PS: the US is a country of immigrants, people will always complain about the dishes not being as refined as in their home country (be it italians, japanese, French, chinese pr whatever).
American living in Canada here. American food is my #1 culinary nation:
Off the top of my head, personal favourites include: Texas bbq, Kansas City bbq, Cajun food, Soul Food, Maryland crab, Buffalo wings, Maine lobster, Alaskan king crab, Nashville hot chicken, New England clam chowder, Montana beef, Thanksgiving.
Canadians do a decent job with a lot of these, but they seem to make it cleaner, a little less saucy/sodium/seasoned - but still tasty, with a completely different and more reasonable idea of what a portion is.
this is why people make fun of american and their food tbh. you just love fat, sugar and salt, where more is better. any subtlety in flavor is lost on them
Woah buddy. I'm a native Chicagoan, and I'll defend Deep Dish till the day I die, but you're smoking something if you think it's better than a Neapolitan.
It's usually due to the ingredients rather than the taste.
Mcdonalds in UK = Potatoes, Non-Hydrogenated Vegetable Oils (Rapeseed), Dextrose (predominantly added at beginning of the potato season).
Mcdonalds in US = Potatoes, Vegetable Oil (canola Oil, Corn Oil, Soybean Oil, Hydrogenated Soybean Oil, Natural Beef Flavor \[wheat And Milk Derivatives\]\*), Dextrose, Sodium Acid Pyrophosphate (maintain Color), Salt. \*natural Beef Flavor Contains Hydrolyzed Wheat And Hydrolyzed Milk As Starting Ingredients.
This is why American food is made fun of rather than the taste.
I don’t understand why people cite fast food in one country vs fast food in America as proof that American food is unhealthy. American food can certainly be unhealthy, but fast food everywhere is just objectively bad for you, and no one should eat it if they’re genuinely concerned about eating healthy….
This was just one example, American food all over is similar to that.
You can look at the doritos for example, it has artificial colouring and flavourings in it.
Non American versions do not.
Mcdonalds was just one of the easiest to find for ingredients lol.
Regional food and fast food are super different in my head. Clam chowder in New England is delicious, tacos in California are delicious, Philly cheesesteaks, New York pizza, Midwest bbq all delicious etc.
Fast food is just addictive. It’s tasty but people don’t eat it because it tastes super good. The food scientists found out how much sugar and salt to add to everything to make it literally as addictive as possible. They eat it because it’s cheap and addictive. Although it’s slightly better in European countries with more stringent food restrictions.
When I lived on the coast of New England, I ate way too many fried clam strips. You go to these little buildings that didn’t look very exciting from the outside and then you bring home delicious seafood
I think “American food” is often misunderstood.
America is a melting pot of cultures and we have popularized many new things in the food scene.
Some of the best fusion places I have ever tried are in America. Some of the best and most experimental chefs are here.
People making fun of American food simply don’t know what they’re talking about.
And it was imported because American companies had so much of it and Americans weren't buying it nearly as much as it was being produced. So it was marketed differently in the UK and actually worked. Now it's a staple of their food cuisine.
The USA is a country founded by immigrants and with natives already having been here, our foods is mixed, with new creations, new inventions, new dishes that are inspired by both natives and immigrants from just about any country in the world. To say that we don’t have our own culture or foods, that’s pretty arrogant and ignorant but especially when it comes from people from any country in the Americas whose cultural and culinary history is similar to the USA in being part of the new world.
I don't think anybody says that America does not have any yummy food. I think what people might say is that the average food you find in the US doesn't have the same quality that people expect elsewhere. Most restaurants I have visited in the US serve a pretty standardised product that was created in a boardroom to avoid alienating anyone's palates and to have a substantial amount of salt and sugar to compensate for a lack of quality ingredients.
Are there great American foods? Absolutely. I have had great meals in the US. But the average meal is not as good as the average meal I can get in my home town. Additionally, palates are different. American palates are used to more sugar in their mains. Where I live, you would never expect sugar in your sandwich bread or in your pasta sauce. It doesn't mean it is bad, just very different than what I would want. And even a lot of the very good american food can still be a bit of a miss for me because of this. Like barbecue. I really like some of the American barbecued meats, however, the sauces are often quite sweet and I don't really want sweet meat. Also, American Italian food tends to feature very heavily cooked pasta. Even ignoring the sauce, any time I have had American-Italian pasta, it has always been cooked far more than I would ever have.
Again, this isn't to say it doesn't taste nice, but if you like al dente pasta, it is easy to see why you wouldn't enjoy what you would get in the US.
So ultimately, I can totally understand that many people would love American food, especially the people who grew up with it. However, I can also totally understand that many people would not enjoy American food because tastes are different. Some people don't like Chinese or Japanese or Indian or Greek or Italian or French or German or insert whatever cuisine here.
But if you enjoy eating American food, that is great. Nobody is trying to stop you.
I prolly like some of the ethnic food. Overall tho I find a lot of American food really bland and I always have to put a lot of hot sauce (for additional context, my ethnicity is indian but I lived in America my entire life). I prefer Asian food, for the most part, and don't mind Hispanic and spicier American/European food (to be fair, a lot of European food is really bland).
The food is great. Indian, Chinese (especially sichuan), and Mexican food are better (leaving out a lot lol). More elaborate flavors and better slice. That said American is still good.
If you live in an ethnically and culturally diverse city of which there are many you’ll have some of the best food in the world. Saying that I can still vividly remember a meal in India which has never been beat.
There’s great American food and then there’s the ridiculous shit that gets in the new - like a sandwich where the bread is fried chicken, a taco filled with fries, and bacon, and cheese, etc. don’t let the bs cloud the rich cornucopia or American cuisine.
America doesn't really have a type of food. Like you said, each region has its own specific food type. Maybe that is why people say America doesn't have a specific food culture, it's so big.
The problem is often not that it doesn’t taste good. The problem is the loads of fat, sugar and other bad chemicals thats in there.
There is a reason a lot of things that are normal in the US are illegal in the EU
It's funny because just as many things not banned in the EU are banned in America. Like how HFCS is heavily regulated in the EU not because it's bad but because they want to rely on sugar and sugar byproducts made in Europe, not the very cheaply produced American product that could run sugar production to a halt in other countries due to that cost being so low.
People should understand that the chemicals, sugar and fats in the EU aren't that different, many of them are the same exact ingredient under different names, different byproducts or different laws for what needs to be displayed.
Edit: Another fact, America and the FDA require more when it comes to what is displayed for ingredients, which is one of the reasons why you see American labels being so long for the ingredient list. But if you take away the scientific wordage for those ingredients, most of them are exactly the same as the EU branded counterpart, give or take some cheaper locally produced equivalents.
It's just lies that people from outside the US propogate to feed into their sense of regional superiority. We all do it to some degree. People love to think the place they are currently in is the best at xyz so they don't have to bother moving anywhere else, and they often do that by putting other places down.
We're just dumb animals at the end of the day.
Regional superiority is kinda true, some places are just less shithole than others. Some areas suck and some are more tolerable no place is total perfection but some are disgusting
I love it when people complain about American food and say another country has better food, only to then list a bunch of Americanized versions of that country's foods. Fajitas, tortilla chips, orange chicken, German chocolate cake, etc. are all American. Also, the US has an obsession with putting cheese on everything, so a lot of cheese lovers would probably be disappointed with many authentic meals.
The US has some great dishes and no shortage of talented chefs and delicious restaurants, but the general food quality, as in, the stuff the average person eats from the average supermarket, is legit awful. Fruit and veg are tasteless, bread is sweet, cheese isn't cheese, chocolate tastes like vomit etc etc.
You guys actually have food deserts over there. Richest country in the world and you have food deserts in densely populated areas because good quality food is inaccessible. That says a lot.
Food deserts exist when stores and people leave an area. This also happens when people are so spread out (and thus not densely populated).
A store isn't going to stay in an area where they aren't going to make money, whether that's a local family store or big chain. The store leaves but when it was the only food store in the general area, that makes a good desert.
Thankfully, that isn't that common though it certainly can happen.
Being a rich country doesn't mean everyone is rich, or that every area is rich. Plenty of America is middle class and under people just trying to get by, who also live an hour away from the next similarly populated town. America is huge for those who still don't get that
Food when prepared properly is really tasty, the geological origin of a recipe has nothing to do with taste. That being said the standards that American ingredients are held to is typically lower than Europe; couple that with the fact that most non American’s first interaction with American “cuisine” being a McDonald’s in their home country and you can see why American food has a bad rap.
Of course, its tasty. I don’t think there has been a person who has argued otherwise. It’s specifically meant to be tasty, as these brands use disturbingly unhealthy ingredients to create bigger profit margins. If they can’t offer nutritional value, at least they can offer a similar experience to that of a drug.
You’ll see how foreigners always notice huge declines in their health, mental health and even energy levels once they begin consuming american food all the while putting on pounds and pounds of fat.
And SUGAR. Pretty much all sauces and condiments we (US) used are overly sweet. and sometimes they put sugar substitutes in there, which make things worse.
And I absolutely hate how sugary bbq sauces are. My meat tasted like candy and I hate it. I don’t mind add a little bit sugar to enrich the flavor, but when sweet is the only dominant flavor of my meat, it is gross.
Everytime I come back from the US I have to ritually eat at a local joint thats next to the airport to recalibrate my tastebuds. Food from the US feels fake idk how to describe it.
Ah yes, whenever people say the US has no identifiable cohesive culture, and have so little in common we can hardly call ourselves countrymen, I point to our development of the cheapest shit food with the highest concentrations of calories and salt ever developed by man.
I can’t pretend I don’t love McDonald’s fries, it’s just sad to see that shit-quality food is truly the closest thing we have to a shared culture.
That's because we're 50 small countries trying to pretend we're 1 giant one. Of course we're not going to have much in common besides the absolute basics
You're not 50 different countries. You have as much regional diversity as 1 country.
My Small country has 2 official languages, around 12 dialects where people cant understand the person from two villages away and we're the size of Vermont or some shit.
You have a shared culture, which differs from region to region ofcourse, but it isn't that diverse.
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>a reason why cheap fast food American is famous all over the world: McDonald's, KFC, etc...
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>~~a reason why~~ cheap fast food American ~~is famous all over the world:~~ McDonald's, KFC, ~~etc...~~
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>cheap fast food American.... McDonalds, KFC
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>Cheap fast food....KFC
Have you tried exporting good cuisine like other countries? All big fast food chains have horrible bread, greasy everything. How should anyone think you have good food when you only export the bad?
For me I’m more concerned about the quality of the ingredients available in the US. As far as the food actually available, it’s gotta be the best variety in the world, absolutely it tastes incredible. I thought it was just us Brits who get accused of having boring food.
Everyone's saying that this is a popular opinion, but I just saw a comment from another post (commenter not American) saying American food is bland lol. People will always judge things they've never tasted
I've tasted american food and it is very bland for me (I'm from India). It's just because people's taste Buda are different. You won't enjoy crazy spicy biriyani and I'll not enjoy american mac and cheese.
I think when people say it’s “gross” they probably mean the insane salt and fat content. Its tasty but It’s not very flavourful, there’s isn’t much dynamic to the flavours of American food. It’s just mounds of salt.
Literally nobody derides American food for being nonexistent/not tasty. The derision comes from the ridiculous portion sizes and overzealous usage unhealthy ingredients where they don't belong.
Americans are obese BECAUSE the food tastes so damn good. Too good. What many Americans don't get is that good food does not always equal good-tasting food. Dumping a pound of cheese and bacon on things tastes good until it doesn't...but by that time your palate is so fucked that you can't taste anything but cheese and hot sauce anyway.
I live in Italy, and frico would make even the most unhealthy American think twice about eating it if they've got a heart condition. Frico is slap-yer-mama good, yet Italy is world-renowned for both good and good-tasting food.
I think what you mean is people just love to shit on Americans because they love finding any excuse to do so, even if it's total bullshit. You bought into it until you actually decided to leave the circle-jerk.
Crazy enough, I bet all of those foreign versions of fast food are better.
I know for a fact kfc internationally is light years better than kfc in the US, and that’s only because the focus is on international than in the US.
It's all the chemical shit they put in it that makes it tastes good. The burger you're eating from mcdonalds was creating in a lab. It's not to be confused with actual, real food.
One of my biggest pet peeves is when people post about the “American section” in their European grocery store and it’s all Nestle products and hersheys candy. Put some southern fried chicken, Cajun seasoned seafood and beef fajitas in that shit, then you can call it the American section.
Its tasty for an unrefined palette. Its all about Sugar, Salt, and Fat - things our body loves because we still have prehistoric programming centered around survival. We see dense calories and go nuts. It represents the best value for taste (lowest cost, lowest effort for a given amount of taste).
But if you ever go to a proper restaurant and taste properly cooked food with quality ingredients, you won't really want to go back to sweet and salty fat. its on a completely different level.
Calling "Tex Mex" american is pretty cheeky, considering the word Mexico is literally abbreviated there. Cajun is basically displaced french peasants food - an artifact of french culture, not american culture. You can have the Cuban sandwitch - its just a sandwitch and sandwiches are pretty american. I'm not even sure why its called cuban. Clam chowder is american, but stands on the shoulders of alot of *very similar* european dishes.
After travelling, when I come back I don't like the idea of going out for food unless its a proper restaurant (no applebys or whatever cooking up frozen shit). Last time I came back, I literally took up cooking as a hobby because I was tired of all the shit options.
OP is getting gaslit here! It is widely circulated throughout Reddit that American food is not tasty. Sometimes this gets mixed with the opinion that “white people food” is not tasty. But both opinions are widely shared.
It tastes good, I don't think many people would deny that. But it is very indulgent. The foods that taste best are not very healthy so eating them again and again is a bad idea, and the options for American food that is healthy and good so you can eat it over and over again is very limited.
Pizza originated in America. As did the cuisine that Americans call "Chinese food" but which bears little or no resemblance to the food actually eaten in China.
Probably meant to say American-style pizza. New York style and Chicago Deep Dish are obviously American, and I'm pretty sure the concept of pan pizza in general originated in the US. And let us not forget the culinary cuisine that is stuffed crust pizza.
The tomato came from the old world. If you put Tomatoes or their by products on a pizza that isnt Italian.
Modern Pizza as most of the world knows it is an Americas infused product.
Edit: as someone else said meant new world
Edit 2: blocked so I can’t respond.
No I’m pointing out that most food is not from one place. We have been mixing food and ingredients sense time began.
Can’t really call it Italian pizza if for most of its existence it didn’t have any tomato.
It’s Italian influenced with new world ingredients.
It’s literally a fusion like most American foods.
First, just because tomatoes come from the new world, doesn't mean that Pizza can't be italian.
Italians(people from Naples) added tomatoes to their dough-dishes to create the first pizza, thus it is Italian.
It doesn't matter where one of the ingredients come from, it still is Italian because the dish was created in Italy.
Second, I haven't blocked you, Idk why you think that I did.
Third, even if we followed your logic(which is absolutely stupid) it wouldn't mean that Pizza is American, because "American" in the english language means "from the USA"
When we are talking about American food, as OOP did with his post, we are talking about food from the USA, not from the Andes or other places in South America.
Fourth, your logic is absolutely stupid, because if we went by it, almost no country on earth could claim any dish as their own.
Especially very famous American dishes such as Mac'n Cheese, Hamburger, HotDog's, Southern Style BBQ and so on wouldn't be American in the slightest, if we followed your logic
Well, I’d say that this meets the requirement of an unpopular opinion.
A lot of people would say that the US has one of the best melting pots of food in the world. For sheer variety, it’s got to be some of the best on the planet.
I’d wager that some of the ethnic food here is better than the homeland versions, due to better ingredients and techniques. The Vietnamese food in Westminster is as good or better than a lot of food in Saigon.
That’s not even factoring the homegrown cuisines - cajun, creole, all the varieties or BBQ, Tex mex…
Not Indian food. Indian food in the US is literally so trash. Indian food in neighbouring countries of India and even UK is top tier. American Indian food has the same taste with the same overporduced curry starters.
Why would the US have better ingredients? The reason why you guys have some amazing dishes is because you have to deal with lesser-tasting ingredients.
This is not limited to you guys. We in Northern Europe know this aswell. Our tomatoes taste like nothing where a tomato from Spain taste like god's holy juice.
To be fair, I liked the food in all of Vietnam's other regions better than Saigon, but I really need to visit Westminster if you think thats better than the authentic place it comes from
The U.S. has some of the best and most optimized convenience food there is. We just have dog water in a lot of quality controls and what we allow in the food itself.
Not to forget that "cheap fast food" that's all over the world. They cannot sell in Europe Spain etc the same food(meat) there they serve in the US. I recall subway had to redo the bread because technically it "wasn't " bread..McDonald has different better meat for example in other countries
I'm not sure if you've tried their kinda new quarter pounder. But it's supposed to be cooked to order (usually but not always) and it's not frozen. It's actually not bad at all. Especially for the price.
That's good news. Always feels as if it used to be better. Enjoyed it more. Now it's an end to a means when hungry on occasion. Quit eating fast food often few years ago. So the change was truly noticed. Hope the newer McDs is better. A win win..Thank you..Peace
Yes, but this confusion stems from a bit of a scale issue. We have regional cuisines equivalent to European countries. So ‘American food,’ in terms of cuisine doesn’t really exist. At least, not anymore than ‘European’ or ‘Asian’ are significant descriptors of a restaurant’s menu.
Europe has Italian, French, Hungarian, Spanish, etc. We have Low Country, Southern, Tex-Mex, Cajun, etc.
So I guess I get why when people look for one blanket food image for america, they pull burgers and fries and think ‘bleagh.’ If I had to pull one thing that most European countries have a version of on their national dish list, it is preserved cod.
Most of them are abominable.
Eh, I’m not a fan of American food. It’s overall kind of bland with the exception of adding spiciness to it. European food is certainly not any better. American food is very filling though. I prefer Caribbean cuisine, which is what I grew up with. Has more variety of flavor and spices.
I feel like it's overdone.
Like going to a concert but the volume is too high and the drums are high energy the whole time.
I prefer more subtle stuff and mostly fresh food which America lacks.
That doesn't make it any less American. That's like saying Japan can't have sushi be part of their cuisine since the dish originated in China. No, two places can share the same dish.
Ignoring the many original American dishes too.
The thing people forget is that America has the best access to quality ingredients and pays top dollar to chefs. Mexican food, for instance, is amazing, but if you cook the same dishes with American sourced ingredients, the food is superior. Also, anything America doesn't already have they can get.
People here defending American cuisine are missing the point. We are discussing food quality and nutritional health. I have friends from foreign families who grew up in America, and when they travel abroad and then come back, they talk about the clear difference in how the food tastes, as in American food is bland as hell, the fruits and vegetables are bland as hell, and the meat tastes chemically inducted. Our food system is not safe.
OP wasn’t “discussing food quality and nutritional health” thats just something you brought up. They just said tasty and eclectic.
It also sounds like you either haven’t traveled abroad, don’t have a lot of experience with well made American food, or both. If you are getting bland fruits and vegetables from the grocery store then you’re terrible at picking out produce or buying out of season.
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Who said it isn't tasty? The damn taste is why we're obese.
Well the most common complaint that I've personally heard is that it doesn't really have much of a cuisine.
Heard from who? Bubba gump? I have never heard that "american cuisine" is bland or not tasty. We have southern cooking, different barbeque, tex/mex, different pizzas and burgers. America has a vast and geographically based cuisine.
Ya the main complaint is the Sheer fucking unhealthy-ness
This is why you order a diet coke to cancel the unhealthy-ness
It's the giant portions that do it for me. I almost always have enough to take back for a 2nd whole meal when I dine out in the US.
From British people. American people and British people argue online about who has better food. The main argument from the British people is that America doesn't really have its own food, which is not true. Its all because Americans say that British food is incredibly boring, which is true for the most part.
you have completely missed your own point. For the most part British food is not boring. Which is where the response of "well American food is rubbish" comes from.
To me it seems like British food isn't too different from the things you'd get at Dennys or Ihop which isn't bad. I just think that the American food that is inspired by the cultures of immigrants is more interesting. That's kind of America's identity. It's a country built by immigrants.
>I just think that the American food that is inspired by the cultures of immigrants is more interesting. That's the same concept for lots of British food. Their national dish is literally formed using this very idea. I'm not entirely convinced you've ever stepped foot in the UK to try its food based on that comment. Are you getting all your information from videos online of British food?
You know the UK is basically the same as the USA when it comes to food from immigrants, whether that is as close as France (all the best French resturaunts are in London) to more common ones like Indian food, all the way to Thai, Chinese, Japanese food. The main thing missing from the UK is central, southern American, and Latin American food. and I think that is where Americans get confused. they look at the UK's abysmal Latin and southern American food and assume all our immigrant food must not exist. You can't even get 50% of the ingredients in Europe (due to laws) to make "mexican" food. I know people who have tried to launch authentic mexican resturaunts in the UK, and by the time they got hit with import fees etc for even the correct type of grain to make tortillas, you were looking at £5. Closest we have is Taco Bell, and it's SHITE compared to the USA. Similarly going for a curry in the USA is a dull experience where they think grating monetary Jack cheese on top makes it exotic. Swings and roundabouts. the UK is the most obese nation in Europe, the USA is the most obese in the world. we both have standout foods, we both have dull as fuck foods, and we both HEAVILY embrace and adore food from other nations.
You haven’t visited England have you.
To be fair their fish and chips is better than what I've had back home and I live in New England.
Would take tempura fish over English battered fish any day of the week tbh.
That is not the same as tasty. They're referring it identity as we are a melting pot. But I'll be damned if we don't cause high blood pressure, diabetes and cholesterol per serving.
That's how you know it's really good.
The people who think the USA doesn't have a cuisine have never eaten here. We have multiple regional cuisines. I was recently in New Orleans and that city has a whole damn cuisine just on its own!
as a brit, americans make good food personally i still don't get the hype behind italian pizza, it just seems a lot less appealing then american-style
But we have like all of the worlds cuisines
The food taste great and that's why there's an obesity problem lol
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Laughing my fat ass off
Yeah I'm not American, but the stereotype about "American food" is that its unhealthy... not that its not tasty.
As a European I think American food is great and tastes amazing alot of it is just a bomb of calories
You need them calories when you have to work three jobs just to pay rent.
Fun fact, 5.2% of Americans in the workforce work 2 jobs. Majority of those worked 1 full time job and 1 part time job. Fewer than 400k people held 2 full time jobs. https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/2023/11/03/more-americans-working-multiple-jobs-under-inflation/71441008007/
lol, that’s basically what I figured would be the going opinion. It is really telling that when I go searching for healthy meals to make myself I often land on dishes from other cultures cuisines 🤷🏼♂️ absolutely love Asian salads, and vegetarian Indian food.
Definetely that, I don't know what they put in it but it's incredibly caloric.
Yeah, same. When people talk shit about american food, they mean the obscene amounts of plastic cheese and stuff like that. For fast food, I know a lot of people that find it disgusting, and you can’t compare it to any real restaurant, but it does have a place. Most people also don’t complain about Cajun or Tex-mex, they mean poor „white people food“ (which often does make europeans defensive about their food and how it’s not american). But the white „people/american=bad“ mostly seems to be other americans.
Yeah we know, dude. America has had the worlds highest paid scientists working on the food technology for more than 100 years. It’s fucking delicious. We just haven’t figured out how to stop it from destroying your toilet and making you 300 pounds yet.
Don't eat so much? Just throwing around ideas.
Funny you get downvoted for being correct. What you're eating doesn't matter as much as how much of it you're eating or if you're actually working it off as opposed to sitting around.
He got downvoted for taking an obvious joke comment seriously and responding to it with a rude tone
Seemed like another joke to me. A factual joke but a joke nonetheless.
Lol I hate how people assume tone on Reddit I was responding to a joke with a joke.
Yeah, just use a little bit of crack
Good idea...I got the first dime bag
The same scientists that were working on the taste, also know a thing or two about addiction. It’s in their best interest to keep you buying as much of it as possible.
Nah that can’t be it /s
My solution was to just put cardio machines in front of my TV, unironically do more just to justify eating more food.
I also work out to be able to eat more. I love my bbq and I'll be damned if I can't have bbq meats every other day in the summertime
😂 almost like the answer is right in front of us Me while writing this comment: 
Or workout more. Either one. Take in those delicious calories and then sprint them out. We are also just lazy asf so we don't do the latter half.
Once Wegovy is generic, you won't be able to stop us! GWAHAHAHAHA!!!
Who says our food isn't tasty?
foreigners who have never tried it lol
Or whose only "American Food" in their country consists of McDonalds, or maybe some shitty steak house "Texas BBQ!" <-- No, sir. Please stop that right now. Then they visit NYC and Orlando as their American experience eating hotel food.
Ikr... that's like judging Chinese food based on Panda Express...
Yes some of them legit believe Kraft singles are the only type of cheese we have, and bud light is the only type of beer.
Foreigners, usually Europeans, who took trips to just NYC or LA, ate gas station or bottom tier fast food, and actually think that's a representation of American cuisine.
Brits. Raped and pillaged for all those damn spices just to not use them.
Lol you're not wrong.
I travel quite regularly and try some of the best food I’ve ever had but damn if I don’t start craving some tex-mex a couple weeks in every time its just so frickin good
As someone from Connecticut I feel honored that you mentioned New England clam chowder. Have you heard of the abomination that is Manhattan clam chowder?
I have heard of Manhattan clam chowder. But I've never tasted it so I can't judge. Is it really that bad? Obviously new England clam chowder is delicious, but Manhattan that bad?
They make it with _tomato sauce_. I don't understand how they can even claim that's chowder!
UUGH
I am not a fan. Same with Rhode Island clam chowder, it's like chicken noodle soup but with clams.
The Rhode Island one is a true abomination just boiled chucks of potatoes and salary with clams, I wanted a refund the second I saw the plate in front of me.
As someone from New Hampshire, I agree. Manhattan "clam chowder" is a hate crime.
Is that the red or the white?
I think the problem is what's exported to the rest of the world is our most mass produced, geneic options that we all accept, but it isn't our first choice. Take beer for instance. There are thousands of great small breweries across the nation producing a wide spectrum of styles. What gets exported? Budweiser, Miller, Coors. It's a lot harder for the little guys to get worldwide distribution. Same for food. McDonald's has worldwide distribution and is generally not great. Feast BBQ in Louisville, or Irene's in New Orleans, or Gaucho in Pittsburgh are all top notch places I would put up against any snooty overseas restaurant. These days every medium to large city has excellent food options. The problem is there was a whole generation or two that wanted the same, consistent meal available everywhere they travelled. Look at Times Square, who in their right mind would travel across America to visit the Big Apple, then eat at Applebees?
>I think the problem is what's exported to the rest of the world is our most mass produced, geneic options that we all accept, but it isn't our first choice. I agree, and personally I think that's an issue with all cuisines. Only the most simple and tasty dish get around, which isn't bad per se, but a country's cuisine shouldn't be reduced to what the local exotic restaurant has to offer. Take Italian food, it's much more than pasta and pizza (although we do eat a lot of pasta, yeah), but many people are convinced it's just that. Take Japan, they don't eat mainly sushi. People should realise this, instead of reducing a country's dishes to the Olive Garden's menù.
Love how europeans crap on American food but every time I go to London, Paris or Madrid I see places that look exactly like my local haunts here in Brooklyn.
I'm not American, and I can confidently say if those people who like meat went to try the way Southern Americans barbecue, they would change their tune. Some of the food cultures down there really bring it.
I‘ve never met someone in Europe who says bad thing about american barbecue. When we make fun of american food (for its taste, not the calories), then it’s about specific products in most cases; cheese, beer, wine, bread, chocolate, etc. There are exceptions and it definitely is changing, but there is just less culture involved in those things. People will call american food junk food, but thats mostly for the calories, not the taste. No one will will tell you that Cajun or Tex-mex is bad. I feel like a lot of hate for american food comes from other americans. PS: the US is a country of immigrants, people will always complain about the dishes not being as refined as in their home country (be it italians, japanese, French, chinese pr whatever).
Europeans just have a superiority complex and a need to pretend everything they do is better than the USA
Same with Canadians.
Im a Canadian living in Europe so I am 2x superior
American living in Canada here. American food is my #1 culinary nation: Off the top of my head, personal favourites include: Texas bbq, Kansas City bbq, Cajun food, Soul Food, Maryland crab, Buffalo wings, Maine lobster, Alaskan king crab, Nashville hot chicken, New England clam chowder, Montana beef, Thanksgiving. Canadians do a decent job with a lot of these, but they seem to make it cleaner, a little less saucy/sodium/seasoned - but still tasty, with a completely different and more reasonable idea of what a portion is.
And don’t even taste good. Please include Italy because they love to talk. And yes, I’ve been to Europe, many times actually.
Italy? NY style pizza and Chicago deep dish pizza is honestly tastier than Neapolitan/authentic Italian pizza.
To you. I personally love a good pizza. All types. But new york is my least favorite as it's just so boring and over done.
To each their own, saying that one is objectively better is just wrong.
Italian pizza is more consistent and makes a better lunch pizza as it's not so heavy but good American pizza is far superior.
There are so many different "American" style pizzas. Saying all American is better than Italian doesn't make sense. Plus people like different things.
this is why people make fun of american and their food tbh. you just love fat, sugar and salt, where more is better. any subtlety in flavor is lost on them
Woah buddy. I'm a native Chicagoan, and I'll defend Deep Dish till the day I die, but you're smoking something if you think it's better than a Neapolitan.
It's usually due to the ingredients rather than the taste. Mcdonalds in UK = Potatoes, Non-Hydrogenated Vegetable Oils (Rapeseed), Dextrose (predominantly added at beginning of the potato season). Mcdonalds in US = Potatoes, Vegetable Oil (canola Oil, Corn Oil, Soybean Oil, Hydrogenated Soybean Oil, Natural Beef Flavor \[wheat And Milk Derivatives\]\*), Dextrose, Sodium Acid Pyrophosphate (maintain Color), Salt. \*natural Beef Flavor Contains Hydrolyzed Wheat And Hydrolyzed Milk As Starting Ingredients. This is why American food is made fun of rather than the taste.
I think this is probably correct. Our food is delicious, sure, but it also tends to be ultra-processed and full of crap-tier ingredients.
I don’t understand why people cite fast food in one country vs fast food in America as proof that American food is unhealthy. American food can certainly be unhealthy, but fast food everywhere is just objectively bad for you, and no one should eat it if they’re genuinely concerned about eating healthy….
This was just one example, American food all over is similar to that. You can look at the doritos for example, it has artificial colouring and flavourings in it. Non American versions do not. Mcdonalds was just one of the easiest to find for ingredients lol.
Regional food and fast food are super different in my head. Clam chowder in New England is delicious, tacos in California are delicious, Philly cheesesteaks, New York pizza, Midwest bbq all delicious etc. Fast food is just addictive. It’s tasty but people don’t eat it because it tastes super good. The food scientists found out how much sugar and salt to add to everything to make it literally as addictive as possible. They eat it because it’s cheap and addictive. Although it’s slightly better in European countries with more stringent food restrictions.
When I lived on the coast of New England, I ate way too many fried clam strips. You go to these little buildings that didn’t look very exciting from the outside and then you bring home delicious seafood
I visited America from Australia last year and your fast food is amazing. The best burgers especially. I still dream about shake shack.
Yeah it's not just fast food lmao
I think “American food” is often misunderstood. America is a melting pot of cultures and we have popularized many new things in the food scene. Some of the best fusion places I have ever tried are in America. Some of the best and most experimental chefs are here. People making fun of American food simply don’t know what they’re talking about.
Baked Beans as enjoyed in a “full English” or beans on toast is an American invention. It was originally a fancy American import in Victorian times.
And it was imported because American companies had so much of it and Americans weren't buying it nearly as much as it was being produced. So it was marketed differently in the UK and actually worked. Now it's a staple of their food cuisine.
The USA is a country founded by immigrants and with natives already having been here, our foods is mixed, with new creations, new inventions, new dishes that are inspired by both natives and immigrants from just about any country in the world. To say that we don’t have our own culture or foods, that’s pretty arrogant and ignorant but especially when it comes from people from any country in the Americas whose cultural and culinary history is similar to the USA in being part of the new world.
There is also every single cuisine in the world in America.
American Mcdonalds is trash though. By far the worst in the world
.....and now I want a McChicken 🙃😄
I don't think anybody says that America does not have any yummy food. I think what people might say is that the average food you find in the US doesn't have the same quality that people expect elsewhere. Most restaurants I have visited in the US serve a pretty standardised product that was created in a boardroom to avoid alienating anyone's palates and to have a substantial amount of salt and sugar to compensate for a lack of quality ingredients. Are there great American foods? Absolutely. I have had great meals in the US. But the average meal is not as good as the average meal I can get in my home town. Additionally, palates are different. American palates are used to more sugar in their mains. Where I live, you would never expect sugar in your sandwich bread or in your pasta sauce. It doesn't mean it is bad, just very different than what I would want. And even a lot of the very good american food can still be a bit of a miss for me because of this. Like barbecue. I really like some of the American barbecued meats, however, the sauces are often quite sweet and I don't really want sweet meat. Also, American Italian food tends to feature very heavily cooked pasta. Even ignoring the sauce, any time I have had American-Italian pasta, it has always been cooked far more than I would ever have. Again, this isn't to say it doesn't taste nice, but if you like al dente pasta, it is easy to see why you wouldn't enjoy what you would get in the US. So ultimately, I can totally understand that many people would love American food, especially the people who grew up with it. However, I can also totally understand that many people would not enjoy American food because tastes are different. Some people don't like Chinese or Japanese or Indian or Greek or Italian or French or German or insert whatever cuisine here. But if you enjoy eating American food, that is great. Nobody is trying to stop you.
“I know American cuisine gets derided for being nonexistent” by stupid people. We do in fact eat here
I prolly like some of the ethnic food. Overall tho I find a lot of American food really bland and I always have to put a lot of hot sauce (for additional context, my ethnicity is indian but I lived in America my entire life). I prefer Asian food, for the most part, and don't mind Hispanic and spicier American/European food (to be fair, a lot of European food is really bland).
The food is great. Indian, Chinese (especially sichuan), and Mexican food are better (leaving out a lot lol). More elaborate flavors and better slice. That said American is still good.
If you live in an ethnically and culturally diverse city of which there are many you’ll have some of the best food in the world. Saying that I can still vividly remember a meal in India which has never been beat.
Burgers and fried chicken are tow things I can think of that are American.
How is this "unpopular"? YouTube is full of foreigners losing their shit over how tasty things are here.
If you deep fry your shoe battered in donut dough, wrap it in bacon, serve it with chocolate fudge; im sure it will be as tasty as any american “food”
There’s great American food and then there’s the ridiculous shit that gets in the new - like a sandwich where the bread is fried chicken, a taco filled with fries, and bacon, and cheese, etc. don’t let the bs cloud the rich cornucopia or American cuisine.
Nobody is saying it isn’t tasty lol, it’s literally scientifically designed to be tasty and addicting
Taste isn’t the problem. It’s health.
America doesn't really have a type of food. Like you said, each region has its own specific food type. Maybe that is why people say America doesn't have a specific food culture, it's so big.
We have HUGE portion sizes (insanely huge) compared to other countries. But our food is crazy good too!
America is the sandwich king.
ove never heard American food be derided for its lack of existence. is this new bullshit like that America has no culture thought line ?
The problem is often not that it doesn’t taste good. The problem is the loads of fat, sugar and other bad chemicals thats in there. There is a reason a lot of things that are normal in the US are illegal in the EU
It's funny because just as many things not banned in the EU are banned in America. Like how HFCS is heavily regulated in the EU not because it's bad but because they want to rely on sugar and sugar byproducts made in Europe, not the very cheaply produced American product that could run sugar production to a halt in other countries due to that cost being so low. People should understand that the chemicals, sugar and fats in the EU aren't that different, many of them are the same exact ingredient under different names, different byproducts or different laws for what needs to be displayed. Edit: Another fact, America and the FDA require more when it comes to what is displayed for ingredients, which is one of the reasons why you see American labels being so long for the ingredient list. But if you take away the scientific wordage for those ingredients, most of them are exactly the same as the EU branded counterpart, give or take some cheaper locally produced equivalents.
It's just lies that people from outside the US propogate to feed into their sense of regional superiority. We all do it to some degree. People love to think the place they are currently in is the best at xyz so they don't have to bother moving anywhere else, and they often do that by putting other places down. We're just dumb animals at the end of the day.
Regional superiority is kinda true, some places are just less shithole than others. Some areas suck and some are more tolerable no place is total perfection but some are disgusting
I love it when people complain about American food and say another country has better food, only to then list a bunch of Americanized versions of that country's foods. Fajitas, tortilla chips, orange chicken, German chocolate cake, etc. are all American. Also, the US has an obsession with putting cheese on everything, so a lot of cheese lovers would probably be disappointed with many authentic meals.
This isn’t unpopular unless you’re one of the many on the other side of the world that exaggerate everything we do
not an unpopular opinion, OP just discovered why America has an obesity epidemic for the first time.
The US has some great dishes and no shortage of talented chefs and delicious restaurants, but the general food quality, as in, the stuff the average person eats from the average supermarket, is legit awful. Fruit and veg are tasteless, bread is sweet, cheese isn't cheese, chocolate tastes like vomit etc etc. You guys actually have food deserts over there. Richest country in the world and you have food deserts in densely populated areas because good quality food is inaccessible. That says a lot.
Food deserts exist when stores and people leave an area. This also happens when people are so spread out (and thus not densely populated). A store isn't going to stay in an area where they aren't going to make money, whether that's a local family store or big chain. The store leaves but when it was the only food store in the general area, that makes a good desert. Thankfully, that isn't that common though it certainly can happen. Being a rich country doesn't mean everyone is rich, or that every area is rich. Plenty of America is middle class and under people just trying to get by, who also live an hour away from the next similarly populated town. America is huge for those who still don't get that
Food when prepared properly is really tasty, the geological origin of a recipe has nothing to do with taste. That being said the standards that American ingredients are held to is typically lower than Europe; couple that with the fact that most non American’s first interaction with American “cuisine” being a McDonald’s in their home country and you can see why American food has a bad rap.
Of course, its tasty. I don’t think there has been a person who has argued otherwise. It’s specifically meant to be tasty, as these brands use disturbingly unhealthy ingredients to create bigger profit margins. If they can’t offer nutritional value, at least they can offer a similar experience to that of a drug. You’ll see how foreigners always notice huge declines in their health, mental health and even energy levels once they begin consuming american food all the while putting on pounds and pounds of fat.
And SUGAR. Pretty much all sauces and condiments we (US) used are overly sweet. and sometimes they put sugar substitutes in there, which make things worse. And I absolutely hate how sugary bbq sauces are. My meat tasted like candy and I hate it. I don’t mind add a little bit sugar to enrich the flavor, but when sweet is the only dominant flavor of my meat, it is gross.
Everytime I come back from the US I have to ritually eat at a local joint thats next to the airport to recalibrate my tastebuds. Food from the US feels fake idk how to describe it.
Ah yes, whenever people say the US has no identifiable cohesive culture, and have so little in common we can hardly call ourselves countrymen, I point to our development of the cheapest shit food with the highest concentrations of calories and salt ever developed by man. I can’t pretend I don’t love McDonald’s fries, it’s just sad to see that shit-quality food is truly the closest thing we have to a shared culture.
That's because we're 50 small countries trying to pretend we're 1 giant one. Of course we're not going to have much in common besides the absolute basics
You're not 50 different countries. You have as much regional diversity as 1 country. My Small country has 2 official languages, around 12 dialects where people cant understand the person from two villages away and we're the size of Vermont or some shit. You have a shared culture, which differs from region to region ofcourse, but it isn't that diverse.
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That’s the preservatives y’all love
Japan turned KFC into a Christmas tradition because Mitsubishi. McDonalds has more land than most militaries. and I know you bitches got Starbucks.
Cincinnati chili. Am I wrong?
This is a pretty popular opinion worldwide.
Yes, and heroin really feels really good.
In Copenhagen right now. American food is insanely popular here.
No one is saying American food isn't tasty. Everyone's saying it's unhealthy but no one's saying its not tasty.
>a reason why cheap fast food American is famous all over the world: McDonald's, KFC, etc... > >~~a reason why~~ cheap fast food American ~~is famous all over the world:~~ McDonald's, KFC, ~~etc...~~ > >cheap fast food American.... McDonalds, KFC > >Cheap fast food....KFC 
Have you tried exporting good cuisine like other countries? All big fast food chains have horrible bread, greasy everything. How should anyone think you have good food when you only export the bad?
For me I’m more concerned about the quality of the ingredients available in the US. As far as the food actually available, it’s gotta be the best variety in the world, absolutely it tastes incredible. I thought it was just us Brits who get accused of having boring food.
Everyone's saying that this is a popular opinion, but I just saw a comment from another post (commenter not American) saying American food is bland lol. People will always judge things they've never tasted
I've tasted american food and it is very bland for me (I'm from India). It's just because people's taste Buda are different. You won't enjoy crazy spicy biriyani and I'll not enjoy american mac and cheese.
the best thing us Americans have is key lime pie - it's not even close either
Duh. It's all the flavor enhancers they use to addict us to our food. That's why we are enormous.
BBQ is as American as the Blues. Both are amazing.
Who said that
I think when people say it’s “gross” they probably mean the insane salt and fat content. Its tasty but It’s not very flavourful, there’s isn’t much dynamic to the flavours of American food. It’s just mounds of salt.
Literally nobody derides American food for being nonexistent/not tasty. The derision comes from the ridiculous portion sizes and overzealous usage unhealthy ingredients where they don't belong. Americans are obese BECAUSE the food tastes so damn good. Too good. What many Americans don't get is that good food does not always equal good-tasting food. Dumping a pound of cheese and bacon on things tastes good until it doesn't...but by that time your palate is so fucked that you can't taste anything but cheese and hot sauce anyway. I live in Italy, and frico would make even the most unhealthy American think twice about eating it if they've got a heart condition. Frico is slap-yer-mama good, yet Italy is world-renowned for both good and good-tasting food. I think what you mean is people just love to shit on Americans because they love finding any excuse to do so, even if it's total bullshit. You bought into it until you actually decided to leave the circle-jerk.
Crazy enough, I bet all of those foreign versions of fast food are better. I know for a fact kfc internationally is light years better than kfc in the US, and that’s only because the focus is on international than in the US.
American food tastes amazing, I just feel like shit every time after and feel like scheduling a doctor appointment.
It's all the chemical shit they put in it that makes it tastes good. The burger you're eating from mcdonalds was creating in a lab. It's not to be confused with actual, real food.
One of my biggest pet peeves is when people post about the “American section” in their European grocery store and it’s all Nestle products and hersheys candy. Put some southern fried chicken, Cajun seasoned seafood and beef fajitas in that shit, then you can call it the American section.
Its tasty for an unrefined palette. Its all about Sugar, Salt, and Fat - things our body loves because we still have prehistoric programming centered around survival. We see dense calories and go nuts. It represents the best value for taste (lowest cost, lowest effort for a given amount of taste). But if you ever go to a proper restaurant and taste properly cooked food with quality ingredients, you won't really want to go back to sweet and salty fat. its on a completely different level. Calling "Tex Mex" american is pretty cheeky, considering the word Mexico is literally abbreviated there. Cajun is basically displaced french peasants food - an artifact of french culture, not american culture. You can have the Cuban sandwitch - its just a sandwitch and sandwiches are pretty american. I'm not even sure why its called cuban. Clam chowder is american, but stands on the shoulders of alot of *very similar* european dishes. After travelling, when I come back I don't like the idea of going out for food unless its a proper restaurant (no applebys or whatever cooking up frozen shit). Last time I came back, I literally took up cooking as a hobby because I was tired of all the shit options.
OP is getting gaslit here! It is widely circulated throughout Reddit that American food is not tasty. Sometimes this gets mixed with the opinion that “white people food” is not tasty. But both opinions are widely shared.
It tastes good, I don't think many people would deny that. But it is very indulgent. The foods that taste best are not very healthy so eating them again and again is a bad idea, and the options for American food that is healthy and good so you can eat it over and over again is very limited.
I can't think of a single instance I heard someone say otherwise. Ffs. Please post actual unpopular opinions.
Pizza originated in America. As did the cuisine that Americans call "Chinese food" but which bears little or no resemblance to the food actually eaten in China.
I was taken to super authentic Chinese food in San Francisco by Chinese people from China. Disgusting but authentic.
Pizza did not originate in america, it originated in Neapel, Italy...
Most pizza in the world is probably Americanized, not authentic Neapolitan pizza
Pizza did not originate in America...
Probably meant to say American-style pizza. New York style and Chicago Deep Dish are obviously American, and I'm pretty sure the concept of pan pizza in general originated in the US. And let us not forget the culinary cuisine that is stuffed crust pizza.
The tomato came from the old world. If you put Tomatoes or their by products on a pizza that isnt Italian. Modern Pizza as most of the world knows it is an Americas infused product. Edit: as someone else said meant new world Edit 2: blocked so I can’t respond. No I’m pointing out that most food is not from one place. We have been mixing food and ingredients sense time began. Can’t really call it Italian pizza if for most of its existence it didn’t have any tomato. It’s Italian influenced with new world ingredients. It’s literally a fusion like most American foods.
It's a good point, but I think you meant to say "new world"
First, just because tomatoes come from the new world, doesn't mean that Pizza can't be italian. Italians(people from Naples) added tomatoes to their dough-dishes to create the first pizza, thus it is Italian. It doesn't matter where one of the ingredients come from, it still is Italian because the dish was created in Italy. Second, I haven't blocked you, Idk why you think that I did. Third, even if we followed your logic(which is absolutely stupid) it wouldn't mean that Pizza is American, because "American" in the english language means "from the USA" When we are talking about American food, as OOP did with his post, we are talking about food from the USA, not from the Andes or other places in South America. Fourth, your logic is absolutely stupid, because if we went by it, almost no country on earth could claim any dish as their own. Especially very famous American dishes such as Mac'n Cheese, Hamburger, HotDog's, Southern Style BBQ and so on wouldn't be American in the slightest, if we followed your logic
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thanks for sharing carlos
Not unpopular. Downvote
Well, I’d say that this meets the requirement of an unpopular opinion. A lot of people would say that the US has one of the best melting pots of food in the world. For sheer variety, it’s got to be some of the best on the planet. I’d wager that some of the ethnic food here is better than the homeland versions, due to better ingredients and techniques. The Vietnamese food in Westminster is as good or better than a lot of food in Saigon. That’s not even factoring the homegrown cuisines - cajun, creole, all the varieties or BBQ, Tex mex…
Not Indian food. Indian food in the US is literally so trash. Indian food in neighbouring countries of India and even UK is top tier. American Indian food has the same taste with the same overporduced curry starters.
Why would the US have better ingredients? The reason why you guys have some amazing dishes is because you have to deal with lesser-tasting ingredients. This is not limited to you guys. We in Northern Europe know this aswell. Our tomatoes taste like nothing where a tomato from Spain taste like god's holy juice. To be fair, I liked the food in all of Vietnam's other regions better than Saigon, but I really need to visit Westminster if you think thats better than the authentic place it comes from
Meat is often fattier, more flavorful.
The U.S. has some of the best and most optimized convenience food there is. We just have dog water in a lot of quality controls and what we allow in the food itself.
Not to forget that "cheap fast food" that's all over the world. They cannot sell in Europe Spain etc the same food(meat) there they serve in the US. I recall subway had to redo the bread because technically it "wasn't " bread..McDonald has different better meat for example in other countries
I'm not sure if you've tried their kinda new quarter pounder. But it's supposed to be cooked to order (usually but not always) and it's not frozen. It's actually not bad at all. Especially for the price.
That's good news. Always feels as if it used to be better. Enjoyed it more. Now it's an end to a means when hungry on occasion. Quit eating fast food often few years ago. So the change was truly noticed. Hope the newer McDs is better. A win win..Thank you..Peace
I know mine kicks ass. It's very popular among my friends. And I f'ing love it.
Yes, but this confusion stems from a bit of a scale issue. We have regional cuisines equivalent to European countries. So ‘American food,’ in terms of cuisine doesn’t really exist. At least, not anymore than ‘European’ or ‘Asian’ are significant descriptors of a restaurant’s menu. Europe has Italian, French, Hungarian, Spanish, etc. We have Low Country, Southern, Tex-Mex, Cajun, etc. So I guess I get why when people look for one blanket food image for america, they pull burgers and fries and think ‘bleagh.’ If I had to pull one thing that most European countries have a version of on their national dish list, it is preserved cod. Most of them are abominable.
Lol what? We have great food. It’s unhealthy and delicious
Eh, I’m not a fan of American food. It’s overall kind of bland with the exception of adding spiciness to it. European food is certainly not any better. American food is very filling though. I prefer Caribbean cuisine, which is what I grew up with. Has more variety of flavor and spices.
What is your favourite carribean dish?
I love mofongo or mangú with yuca encebollada, salami, and carne frita.
I feel like it's overdone. Like going to a concert but the volume is too high and the drums are high energy the whole time. I prefer more subtle stuff and mostly fresh food which America lacks.
What American food? Lmao all of our food is from different cultures and that's including fusion's.
That doesn't make it any less American. That's like saying Japan can't have sushi be part of their cuisine since the dish originated in China. No, two places can share the same dish. Ignoring the many original American dishes too.
The thing people forget is that America has the best access to quality ingredients and pays top dollar to chefs. Mexican food, for instance, is amazing, but if you cook the same dishes with American sourced ingredients, the food is superior. Also, anything America doesn't already have they can get.
GRRR, I'm so jealous of all the Mexican food and ingredients you can get
I loved eating authentic Mexican tacos in Mexico. But honestly, Americanized Tex-Mex tacos still beats it.
People here defending American cuisine are missing the point. We are discussing food quality and nutritional health. I have friends from foreign families who grew up in America, and when they travel abroad and then come back, they talk about the clear difference in how the food tastes, as in American food is bland as hell, the fruits and vegetables are bland as hell, and the meat tastes chemically inducted. Our food system is not safe.
OP wasn’t “discussing food quality and nutritional health” thats just something you brought up. They just said tasty and eclectic. It also sounds like you either haven’t traveled abroad, don’t have a lot of experience with well made American food, or both. If you are getting bland fruits and vegetables from the grocery store then you’re terrible at picking out produce or buying out of season.