Unexplained Snacks of America

[Mabelline]

Yep, what the hay! If he thinks 'Buffalo' have wings, more power! Also, I guess there's no google yonder, huh?

[Adam Balic]

Amusing! But the author got more out of it than he probably intended. His article went across the pond and got a reaction from the culprits who eat this stuff..

What more can you ask!!

This would be "PondII" otherwise known as the Pacific?

[iain]

I'm surprised by the amount of reaction this piece has received. It was obviously a good-natured, tongue-in-cheek ribbing, written by an Australian for an American audience (I'm pretty sure The Morning News is an NYC-based blog). To find fault with the guy for not having done his research is rather missing the point, I think.

edited for spelling and grammar

Edited March 24, 2004 by iain (log)

[Bicycle Lee]

snacking is at the root of America's weight problems IMO... but you gotta pick the right snacks to attack. If only Americans all snacked uncontrollably on collard greens...maybe then we wouldn't be the spare tire hanging over the belt of the rest of the world...

Let's talk about products that are really scary, like Beefamato...it's Clamato with beef stock instead of clam juice....HORRID!

[iain]

{snip}

Let's talk about products that are really scary, like Beefamato...it's Clamato with beef stock instead of clam juice....HORRID!

Beefamato? I'm intrigued.

[JennyUptown]

I think some people should lighten up here.

No kidding!

Indeed. It was fun fluff. Take it at face value.

[lala]

I'm surprised by the amount of reaction this piece has received. It was obviously a good-natured, tongue-in-cheek ribbing, written by an Australian for an American audience (I'm pretty sure The Morning News is an NYC-based blog). To find fault with the guy for not having done his research is rather missing the point, I think.

edited for spelling and grammar

Ah, but you posted it on a food-centric site, with many opinionated users. Sorta like throwing chum to the sharks!

[cakewench]

Hey, I'll have you know I had my old co-workers in Oz addicted to Nutter Butters (sandwich cookies, in manner of Oreos, but with peanut butter cookies and uh, peanut butter in the middle), peanut butter M&M's, Reese's, etc. My mother used to send packages specifically for my closest friend down there.

For my part, I did honestly like Vegemite, and I brought some home with me. It is rather nice on a sandwich with some Tasty cheese. (Tasty = basically cheddar cheese, but Aussies seem to like to call it 'tasty' so that you know exactly what you're reaction to it should be. "what is this?? sure is tasty!" )

I enjoyed the article. Speculating on what the weird Yankee foods might be, based on the name and context in which it was heard, is a bit more interesting than the average taste test...

*edited* to add: I forgot my favorite Aussie food item! Chicken salt!! I just used some tonight, as a matter of fact, on my roasted cauliflower. mmm.

Edited March 24, 2004 by cakewench (log)

[mnebergall]

However, peanut butter cups and Reece's Pieces (like Smarties, but evil) are the work of the Devil. If an extraterrestial had ended up in a suburban back yard shed and been exposed to these, then the Earth would have been destroyed for crimes against Galactic Life.*

* More Australian humour.

???? This story line sounds familiar. The movie ET perhaps? I believe it was Reeses Pieces that in fact were used in that movie to entice the extraterrestrial out of the shed in the suburban backyeard.

[mags]

Eh, what's the big deal? People have been poking fun at other region's/countries' food fetishes for centuries. New Yorkers grimace at weak Midwestern coffee and Cinci chili with cinnamon and chocolate in it, and make fun of Angelenos' taste for stuff like wheat-grass juice and tofu-dogs; I know folks in the Midwest who think we all eat sushi because we're too dumb to cook the fish; I have friends in the UK who find the classic overstuffed American deli sandwich disgusting to contemplate (but I also cherish the memory of a pal from Chicago, visiting me in London, and staring at stunned disbelief at the faint veil of ham on a wafer of buttered brown bread he received when he bought a "ham sandwich" at a Brit Rail caff).

[Adam Balic]

Tasty cheese. (Tasty = basically cheddar cheese, but Aussies seem to like to call it 'tasty' so that you know exactly what you're reaction to it should be. "what is this?? sure is tasty!" )

We Australians respect the food products from other countries and try not to rip off regional names like Cheddar.

[Adam Balic]

However, peanut butter cups and Reece's Pieces (like Smarties, but evil) are the work of the Devil. If an extraterrestial had ended up in a suburban back yard shed and been exposed to these, then the Earth would have been destroyed for crimes against Galactic Life.*

* More Australian humour.

???? This story line sounds familiar. The movie ET perhaps? I believe it was Reeses Pieces that in fact were used in that movie to entice the extraterrestrial out of the shed in the suburban backyeard.

Well done you got it.

[Bicycle Lee]

{snip}

Let's talk about products that are really scary, like Beefamato...it's Clamato with beef stock instead of clam juice....HORRID!

Beefamato? I'm intrigued.

seriously... I thought I was on Candid Camera when I saw it...I almost fell over in a laugh/dry heave on the supermarket floor...Just go to the juice aisle and find the Clamato...it's beefy counterpart should be right next door.

[jhlurie]

I'm surprised by the amount of reaction this piece has received.

As am I. We shall have to enter it into our great eGullet database of topics which mysteriously seem to set people off.

The interesting thing about the author's choices, to me, is that they aren't very common items nationwide. The majority of them are southern U.S. specialties. There could have just as easily been references to Drake's Cakes or Clam Chowder or Chock Full O' Nuts or Bear Claws.

[tanabutler]

I would guess that the piece is typical Australian self-conscience satirical humour. The author is poking fun at himself and Australia, more then he is being critical of American "snacks". The reason why the snacks aren't researched is because this would defeat the purpose of the article. Obviously some forms of humour don't translate that well.

Good points!

I think it's very fun piece of writing, and the humor translated extremely well for me. I love his instant assumptions ("a bag of gristle" -- honestly, he's right) and guesses (that Tums are "vaguely medicinal candy").

It's like hearing a child create words for things they don't know the words for...like when my daughter was two and called called vapor trails in the sky "airplane rainbows."

And yes, people need to lighten up. He's Australian, for God's sakes. That means he's mellow and he's having fun.

[Bicycle Lee]

No worries mate...

[NeroW]

Mr. Pibb is sort of like one step up from Dr. Rocket, a generic soda also meant to compete with Dr. Pepper.

I drank it from a vending machine outside of a K-Mart once.

Anyone else?

I thought the article was funny. I was a little disappointed he didn't mention my personal favorite way to eat pork rinds, which is with hot sauce.

[auntdot]

Sounds to me this bloke woke up after a night of feasting on Fosters with a deadline one hour away.

Clearly this guy knows as much about food as I do about the mating rituals of dingos.

If someone wants to lampoon American snacks, do so, and have some fun doing it.

But grits, collard greens, and hush puppies are not snacks.

(As someone who was raised on the streets of NYC but has lived many years in the South, cannot abide grits, love greens, and hush puppies are OK.)

Maintain my stated opinion that this piece popped out of a fuzzy mind desperately searching for nine hundred words to complete his column.

[cakewench]

no, he didn't.

Real Aussies don't drink Fosters.

Or, for the 'special service announcement' version: Real Aussies don't let Aussies drink Fosters.

(after this point, you need to break it down by state... I was a Cooper's Pale girl, myself, but I'm sure that'll draw some scrutiny from the clear NSW/Vic majority here!)

I think the point of the article is that the author doesn't know what the foods are. At least, that's the point *I* found amusing, along with the guesswork involved as to what the foreign substances might be.

This thread is actually serving as a reminder of just how seriously some Americans can take... everything. Are we completely unable to laugh at ourselves? They're just GRITS, for hominy's sake.

*edited* for clarity...

Edited March 25, 2004 by cakewench (log)

[helenjp]

Well, now Google is here to make life boring...but when I was growing up, my friends and I spent plenty of time wondering what various picturesquely named US foods might be like. Speculation on "hoe cakes" took us through most of our 5 years of high school, I recall...

I do have close friends who have encountered north american muffins at close quarters. My time will come... One of these days, I'm going to get off the plane, and yell "America, take me to the supermarket"! I'm going to collect detailed evidence on Twinkies, Pop Tarts, Cheese Wizz...will my life be long enough to see me to the checkout, I ask myself...

...and if buffalo don't have wings, I don't think I want to know.

[Adam Balic]

Real Aussies don't drink Fosters.

Or, for the 'special service announcement' version:  Real Aussies don't let Aussies drink Fosters.

Funny how true that is, given the promotion of the filth as 'Aussie beer' overseas. I am from Vic. and we mostly drank Cooper's (still remember the old style stubbies before they went all fancy-mid neck), VB, Melbourne Bitter, Cascade and Boags. I may have tasted NSW beer, but can't re-call.

Funny how the humour is so Australian specific and they think that 'The Office' is going to work in main stream USA.

[cakewench]

ah yeah, Boags and Cascade were a couple of nice ones, but always a bit high-end for my budget while I was there.

Best Cooper's memory: my aussie friend getting up from our table, asking if she should 'get us a coupla Pales?' and my reaction of 'pails of what, exactly??' as if our beer intake hadn't been high enough, she was going to have me drinking by the bucketfull by the end of the evening. ah, fun.

Helen, I just love the first visit to a supermarket in a new country! I could seriously spend an afternoon purusing the shelves (and, er, with my questionable knowledge of German, and living in Germany, I can spend that time easily if I'm looking for something obscure. I get sidetracked easily!)

The only way you should ingest Cheez Whiz, should you insist upon doing so, should be on a cheesesteak in Philly. There is no other purpose for that substance. (and even then, personally, I'm a provolone gal)

[Jensen]

I related quite well to his thoughts on hush puppies...

Until two years ago, I had no clue whatsoever what a hush puppy (the foodstuff) was. It boggled me because the only reference I had for that term was the shoes! I finally ran across them (the food) on a cross-country trip I took with my racing buddy, Lynne.

We had been racing in Delaware and a bunch of us went for dinner afterwards to a local crab restaurant (Wiso's, to be exact). They were on the menu as an optional side dish and, having no clue whatsoever as to what they were, I had to ask my dinner mates whether I should try them or not.

I did and I liked them (well, I liked them enough to order them again a couple of days later in Maryland). I haven't had them since though. Actually, I don't think I've *seen* them since.

As an almost-completely unrelated aside, just now I went looking at the websites for Hush Puppies, the shoes. Hush Puppies in Canada are way funkier than the ones in the US. The ones on the American website look like the Hush Puppies of yore; I guess the US market didn't get the reincarnation of Hush Puppies as a fashion shoe that the Canadian market did...

[FoodMan]

I found this article rather confusing. There are indeed plenty of outlandish snacks in America, but I don't think that buffalo wings, bear claws and Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups fit into that category.

Correct.

I was not born or raised in the US and still think this article was a waste of my time and really not funny. If this is comedy, then I guess I don't get it.

Elie

[Bux]

I'm surprised by the amount of reaction this piece has received. It was obviously a good-natured, tongue-in-cheek ribbing, written by an Australian for an American audience (I'm pretty sure The Morning News is an NYC-based blog).

Both editors seem to be from NY and NY is the only city that has its events featured. I'd say the Aussie article is online because some Americans found it funny.