Local specialties around the world

[Norm Matthews]

I just found this in a remote corner of my computer.  I don't remember when or where I saw it but I thought I'd share it with you.

What food do Americans eat that nobody else in the world eats?

 

Grendel Khan

 

I moved from England to the US. Some foods that were unique to me that come to mind are listed below. I've tried all of them. I would order some again (but not all of them)

 

•Grilled Cheese Sandwiches

•Smores

• Gumbo

•Jambalya

• Muffuletta

•Grilled Rattlesnake

* Fried catfish

• Chicken fried steak

• Buffalo wing with a blue cheese dip

* Chili dogs

• Grits

•Biscuits and gravy

•Indian tacos ( made on Indian fry bread)

• Green beans with grilled onions on top

• Lobster roll

• Lobster bake

• Tuna melt

• Po'boys

• a ton of Tex-Mex dishes

• Peanut butter and grape jelly sandwiches

• A bunch or "salads"( peas and peanuts, pistachio salad. Cobb. Ceasar, etc)

• Twinkies ( the only "food" that has enough preservatives to survive a nuclear attack).

• Meatloaf?

 

So, what did I miss?

 

 

Staff note: this post and response to it have been moved from Food Funnies, to maintain topic focus.

[AlaMoi]

hmmm, I think the one"un-miss" is the meatloaf item.
 

seasoned ground beef - except for the literal physical "shape" - is very widespread, goes by many different names - but it's the same thing - ground beef + egg + seasoning + (?bread for) thickening."

"Frikadellen" and associated near-same-name kin in northern Europe/low countries/et al . . . is basically a 'mini-meatloaf'

 

"rattle steak" anything, obviously not going to appear in Europe...

Cajun 'aka NOLA' may indeed appear in France - not qualified to answer that . . but Cajun is a blend of 'stuff' migrated 'down south' from the upper/bordering French settled/speaking areas 'up nawth'

 

 

 

Edited Tuesday at 11:44 PM by AlaMoi (log)

[liuzhou]

I find it very difficult to believe that anyone from England wouldn't know grilled cheese sandwiches. I'm British have been eating them for about 70 years. They are common.

 

Cobb and Ceasar (sic) salads, too. Meatloaf, although not so common as in the USA, is also well-known.

Edited Wednesday at 03:14 AM by liuzhou (log)

[haresfur]

Yeah, grilled cheese is the most basic of the toasties that are very popular here. Often made on a panini press but with basic bread. A coworker would have the same cheese toastie every day and had a carefully calibrated system using a beer glass to hold the lid up so it wouldn't squish the sandwich too much (later replaced by a stand with a threaded rod and plastic prop that our techo made for even more precise adjustments. A friend ran a toastie shop for a long time before he turned it into a pseudo diner. I miss the toasties.

 

I have seen Caesar salad here (not exactly authentic) and am pretty sure tuna melts. 

[liuzhou]

Yes. And Twinkies have been sold in the UK for years. Most supermarkets have them, Damn, I can even buy them in China. Not that I want to!

 

The whole list is seemingly written by someone who never gets out much. Most of the list can be found in the UK, certainly in the larger cities. London has many American eateries selling most of these. I ate  Jambalaya for the first time in London in the 1970s.

 

Also, much of the list exists in the UK, but under different names. I remember my mother making what was basically chicken fried steak but she didn't call it that. The very similar Scottish dish seems to be older than chicken fried steak, appearing on menus and in cookbooks  earlier thatn any American reference to CFS.

 

Edited Thursday at 03:09 AM by liuzhou (log)

[Katie Meadow]

I never heard the word "toastie" until I came to eG. In fact, or maybe I'm making this up, it was in a post by Anna N. I guess I never ordered a grilled cheese sandwich when visiting the UK. For the hell of it I googled it, trying to determine if there was actually a difference. Predictably there is a world of dopey confusion as to what that might be. To some people a toastie indicates it is made in a " toastie maker" or press as opposed to flipped on a skillet. Where the butter should go is another topic entirely. My mother, a New Yorker who spent her growing years in Cincinnati never made a grilled cheese sandwich in her life, as far as I can  remember. Nor did she ever make tomato soup, which is a nice traditional go-with. When I proudly got my first cast iron pan at a flea market in college I started making them for myself. If I asked my husband to make me a toastie he would be stumped. However he makes a mean grilled cheese. In a cast iron skillet. The butter goes on the outside. "Toastie" seems more inclusive, as it implies that it need not be just cheese between the slices. But I'm stuck with grilled cheese. Another word I learned being on eG is "melty."

[Amy D.]

I'd say that everything on that list is distinctively american. 

 

While in the uk we have cheese on toast, and cheese toasties done at home in the little toasty machine with two triangular depressions that everyone ends up buying and only using for a week or so before its forgotten about. Grilled cheese is only a definition that we started to hear in the early 00's with the rise of american cookery shows, and only really commonplace now with the street food trend. 

Yeah you can buy twinkies but only in the "american" grocery section (at a premium.

 

 

 

Within about 10 miles of us we have bakewell pudding (not the tarts they have a puff pastry base and almost custardy filling) only found them in bakewell. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bakewell_pudding

There are probably lots of local cheeses too such as stichelton cheese 

[TicTac]

16 hours ago, liuzhou said:

 

 

The whole list is seemingly written by someone who never gets out much. Most of the list can be found in the UK, certainly in the larger cities. London has many American eateries selling most of these. I ate  Jambalaya for the first time in London in the 1970s.

 

 

 

The list was penned by Norm.  Not sure if the snarky/rude comment was intended or not, but certainly not necessary.

[rotuts]

@TicTac

 

pleased someone else , thus others ,

 

noticed.  

 

nothing new , really .

[Tropicalsenior]

2 hours ago, TicTac said:

The list was penned by Norm

No, the list was originally posted by Norm as a joke on the Food Funnies Topic. It was something that he found on his computer as a joke.

[liuzhou]

6 hours ago, TicTac said:

The list was penned by Norm.  Not sure if the snarky/rude comment was intended or not, but certainly not necessary.

 

No, the list wasn't penned by Norm, as he explains. It was written by someone using the name Grendel Khan.

 

 

Edited yesterday at 02:08 AM by liuzhou (log)

[Kerry Beal]

8 hours ago, Katie Meadow said:

I never heard the word "toastie" until I came to eG. In fact, or maybe I'm making this up, it was in a post by Anna N. I guess I never ordered a grilled cheese sandwich when visiting the UK. For the hell of it I googled it, trying to determine if there was actually a difference. Predictably there is a world of dopey confusion as to what that might be. To some people a toastie indicates it is made in a " toastie maker" or press as opposed to flipped on a skillet. Where the butter should go is another topic entirely. My mother, a New Yorker who spent her growing years in Cincinnati never made a grilled cheese sandwich in her life, as far as I can  remember. Nor did she ever make tomato soup, which is a nice traditional go-with. When I proudly got my first cast iron pan at a flea market in college I started making them for myself. If I asked my husband to make me a toastie he would be stumped. However he makes a mean grilled cheese. In a cast iron skillet. The butter goes on the outside. "Toastie" seems more inclusive, as it implies that it need not be just cheese between the slices. But I'm stuck with grilled cheese. Another word I learned being on eG is "melty."

The butter goes on the inside and the outside!

[haresfur]

9 hours ago, Katie Meadow said:

I never heard the word "toastie" until I came to eG. In fact, or maybe I'm making this up, it was in a post by Anna N. I guess I never ordered a grilled cheese sandwich when visiting the UK. For the hell of it I googled it, trying to determine if there was actually a difference. Predictably there is a world of dopey confusion as to what that might be. To some people a toastie indicates it is made in a " toastie maker" or press as opposed to flipped on a skillet. Where the butter should go is another topic entirely. My mother, a New Yorker who spent her growing years in Cincinnati never made a grilled cheese sandwich in her life, as far as I can  remember. Nor did she ever make tomato soup, which is a nice traditional go-with. When I proudly got my first cast iron pan at a flea market in college I started making them for myself. If I asked my husband to make me a toastie he would be stumped. However he makes a mean grilled cheese. In a cast iron skillet. The butter goes on the outside. "Toastie" seems more inclusive, as it implies that it need not be just cheese between the slices. But I'm stuck with grilled cheese. Another word I learned being on eG is "melty."

 

My originally American parents used to do grilled cheese on a waffle iron that I think they got as a wedding present in the 1950s. The waffle part flipped over to give you flat plates for grilling. The sandwiches would end up very squished. Also used for grilled PB and jam. Grape jelly would end up like napalm in your mouth if you weren't careful.

[haresfur]

7 hours ago, Amy D. said:

I'd say that everything on that list is distinctively american. 

 

While in the uk we have cheese on toast, and cheese toasties done at home in the little toasty machine with two triangular depressions that everyone ends up buying and only using for a week or so before its forgotten about. Grilled cheese is only a definition that we started to hear in the early 00's with the rise of american cookery shows, and only really commonplace now with the street food trend. 

Yeah you can buy twinkies but only in the "american" grocery section (at a premium.

 

 

 

Within about 10 miles of us we have bakewell pudding (not the tarts they have a puff pastry base and almost custardy filling) only found them in bakewell. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bakewell_pudding

There are probably lots of local cheeses too such as stichelton cheese 

 

I believe those toasters with the triangular depressions are an offshoot of the jaffle irons I recently finally saw in action camping with friends. Basically put the metal triangular bits on hinged metal rods. Assemble your jaffle in the irons, close them and cook over a wood fire or your gas camp stove. I learned a little about the creativity as to what you put into the jaffle, depending on your mood and whether you are cooking for children.

[Katie Meadow]

4 hours ago, Kerry Beal said:

The butter goes on the inside and the outside!

I'll take one grilled cheese sandwich and a heart attack on the side. Which side would that be?