What American Food Tropes Would You Like to See Die?

43 comments

1. I’d like to see some critical thinking globally. Instead of believing that we only have one cheese, bread, chocolate, or beer in the US, it would be nice if they could understand, like their country, we have choices, maybe even more so.

   Without clicking on your link, I assume it’s Taco Bell. Yeah, that one is certainly getting old too.

2. I’m not sure it’s a trope, but I’d like to improve the language that equates spices and spicy to capsaicin or similar irritants.

   A good bread pudding, with cardamom, nutmeg, and cloves has plenty of spice.

3. American cheese bad.

   It’s pretty similar to what Fondue is. Cheese with an emulsifier. It’s not plastic or not real food. Just a congealed cheese emulsion which makes it superior for melting.

4. “American cuisine is fast food.”

   People judging American restaurants by the American owned chains they have in their countries or in the American tourist centers. KFC is more popular internationally than in the US. We don’t all eat at McDonald’s every meal. No, any restaurant in Times Square is not the norm for the US.

   And we have world class cuisine. We have wines that rival the best French wines. A far more diverse beer scene than Europe. Cheeses in the top 10 of the world. Plus unique cuisine such as Cajun, Creole, Barbecue and more.

5. We only eat fast food, never created our own cuisines from indigenous ingredients on the continent, our breakfasts are mountains of desserts (Johnny Harris, looking at you), we have no bakeries, we aren’t open to trying other cultures’ cuisines abroad, etc

6. Most of them.

   But, for whatever reason, a number of people seem to believe we don’t have freshly baked bread, beer apart from Bud Light, and cheese that isn’t Kraft singles.

7. The thing where people just parrot things they’ve heard. (Yes, this covers a lot.)

   More specifically, the thing where people from abroad 1) go to Florida (because that’s where Disney is), 2) go to a 711-style convenience store for food (rather than a supermarket) or only go to nearby chain restaurants and 3) go home with the unquestioned assumption that this is all we have. That the stuff available at a 7-11 in Orlando is the sum of what we have to buy. That we have no bread or cheese, or vegetables. Then they post questions here that start “We know that…” about things that are in no way true.

   So that? Except they haven’t even been to Florida, they’re just copying what other people said.

8. That we don’t have some of the best and most diverse food of any country.

9. We all eat processed greasy foods. I absolutely do not. The only time I ever do is when I do road trips.

10. That the small shelf of American Food products in the German hypermarket is representative of our daily consumption and not simply processed foods that are shelf stable. If I applied this same logic to my grocer, all Japanese people eat is noodles with various sauces and Pocky.

    We have vast grocery stores with unbelievable diversity in even our smallest towns. We eat a more diverse diet than most places on earth.

11. This has mostly come around in the YouTube cooking era, but I really hate the obsession over food “authenticity.” Chinese-American and Italian-Americwn cooking isn’t “fake” versions of the stuff from home, they’re new dishes inspired by old ones.

    It only ever flows one way too. Potatoes, Tomatoes, Corn, Vanilla and Cocoa weren’t available in Europe for the overwhelming majority of human history so if you wanna make authentic cuisine you better throw all that out.

12. I’m tired of people thinking we don’t have access to quality food. I’m also tired of people thinking that just because one country chooses to block food from another county that means it’s because it’s not safe rather than protectionism. I’m understand we have shit food, but we also have access to high quality food too.

13. Mostly the moving goalposts or double standard or just incorrect type stuff:

    * When providing examples of American cuisines, you get the “well that’s regional” to anything you say while they ignore that when they say “Mexican” or “Italian” or “Chinese” food, they’re also describing a collection of dishes that originated from regions…

    * “You can’t get quality XYZ in America!”. Actually I do get XYZ, every week, and no it doesn’t have any added sugar. “You’re going to a specialty store”. Nope, run of the mill super market. “I bet it’s super expensive item though”. Nope. “Downvote”.

    * The disbelief we actually have fresh produce sections in stores. I’ll get downvoted showing pictures of one of the 4 close supermarkets by me with gigantic fresh produce sections then get told my experience isn’t what they experienced on their short trip to Florida (did you not go to a Publix which are fucking everywhere?) so I must be misrepresenting stuff or downvoted.

14. That we routinely eat deep fried anything. The only time I have seen some of the outlandish concoctions are at state fairs. I’ve never had a deep fried oreo outside of that. And I’ve never actually witnessed deep fried butter or deep fried coke.

15. The idea that the most basic forms of a food in America is what we consider the pinnacle.

    For example any time cheese is mentioned people online seem to have the idea that the only cheese you can get in America is Kraft Singles. Or with chocolate they seem to think every American thinks Hersey’s is the best.

    Beer especially, the microbrew movement in American over the past 20 years puts the entirely of Europe to shame. Yet any time American beer is mentioned people act like Budweiser is the only thing America has to offer.

16. “It is too expensive to eat healthy in the us”

    This is a common European stereotype of U.S. cuisine.

17. “American beer is all bad”

    We have thousands of craft breweries across the country now. Many have won awards around the world. Saying US beer is bad because of Coors is like drinking a Heineken, dislikeing it, and stating all European beer is bad.

18. Hating on Italian-American and Chinese-American cuisine. They are unique cuisines distinct from Italian and Chinese cuisine that were born from the immigrant experience. They aren’t less than the “authentic” cuisine. They are different and tell a different story.

19. That everything we eat is fried.

    Just went to a County Fair yesterday, I don’t know anywhere outside of fairs where I can get a fried Oreo.

20. That it’s all fake, plastic, poison, full of “chemicals,” making us sick, or any other alarmist unscientific babble.

21. “Your bread tastes like cake and is only good for toast! It’s not real bread!”

    Commercial white bread is as much a staple to Americans as any bread in any country in Europe. The simple difference is that the US is much bigger and more spread out, and since that means food needs to survive being shipped it’s higher in fat, salt, and/or sugar than you’re used to, and we all don’t have time to bake our own bread once or twice a week or more often, and we all don’t live close enough to a standalone bakery to get what you’d consider to be “real” bread. Even the Italian or French breads in the US mostly come from supermarkets, because it’s easier.

22. That Americans don’t have good variety in beer and that we all just drink budweiser.

    30 years ago, that stereotype was pretty true. Bars and stores often only sold a small selection of beer, usually budweiser and maybe 2-3 other corporate brands.

    However, since then, America’s brewery scene has exploded and we now arguably have more variety than anywhere in Europe. North Brooklyn alone has *28 breweries*. Even many local corner stores have shelves like [this now.](https://thumbs.dreamstime.com/z/huge-selection-beer-supermarket-shelves-bottles-lined-up-display-specialty-its-wine-alcohol-department-47779437.jpg)

23. We other damn things besides fast food, including things from the easily-found produce section. Saw someone complaining that they couldn’t get fresh vegetables. Also, I don’t know a single person who likes or buys the spray cheese.

24. I haven’t seen this brought up in awhile, but there used to be people that would take pictures of the most unhealthy carnival/state fair foods like fried butter on a stick and think that was regular fare for us.

25. My mother in law came to USA a few weeks ago and I took her to three American restaurants, one Chinese-inspired (owned by Korean descent American) and the other Mexican-inspired (owned by European descent American)

    She enjoyed the food but kept saying that “this is not American food, this is Asian food” or “this is Mexican food to me.”

    We also did an American seafood restaurant and she said “when you said American food I thought we would get hamburger and hot dog.”

    And then she ate a hamburger at the airport on the way back to Amsterdam.

    So maybe it’s less that Europeans don’t like American food but maybe that when they like American food they just don’t consider it American food?

26. This is really specific, but places that have incredible food but uncomfortable chairs. Most brewpubs fall into this trap trying to look trendy.

27. I’ll repeat it: the complete lack of common sense and critical thinking to equate a business model (the fast food restaurant) with a nation’s cuisine. The US has one of the best all around dining scenes in the world, and no self-deprecating Americans or provincial homers from other countries will convince me otherwise.

28. I’m just glad jello-ifying everything is dead…

29. a few:

    shitting on american cheese. people knocking on american cheese have simply not found the right one yet. you use it precisely because it melts and adds to the taste. also what is fondue?

    “not real pizza like in italy.” first off, this is the us, not italy. second, the only qualifier of food should be how it actually tastes once its prepared. food improves the more you experiment with it, and the styles we do have in the us are just as delicious as an authentic neapolitan pizza, just in different ways.

    “american food has no taste.” not only is that a sweeping generalization, it also completely ignores that sometimes you just want something in the taste zone that american cuisine provides. it is a different zone rather than something that has no taste compared to what people normally have. hell i’m indian and sometimes i just want an american pan pizza precisely because it tastes that way

30. I get very annoyed when people from other countries (let’s be honest mostly European ones) act like we don’t have access to “fresh” food.

    Our cultural cuisines can be high sugar, fat, and calories and I’m not going to defend the Standard American Diet as being healthy… but stop acting like you can’t find fresh, whole foods in a grocery store. Or a restaurant that serves scratch made food. They’re everywhere. It’s a blatant lie. Yet so many little comments on the internet about how nice it is that in their country they have fresh vegetables and not everything is frozen or packaged, unlike the US.

31. Peanut butter and jelly sandwiches are garbage or only fit for small children. Say this and I know you’ve never had a good PB&J. And for reference, a good PB&J is not made with sourdough and marmalade.

32. Food should be wide not tall. Burgers, nachos, etc , that are impossible to eat are infuriating

33. Stop comparing our worst food (fast food) to others bests

    Yes, we have Taco Bell. No, that is NOT our Mexican food.

    I almost shit myself watching a Canadian try to tell me we think we know what Mexican food is. Like buddy I’ve never even seen a decent Mexican population in Canada and half my home state is Mexican immigrants lmao

    There’s so much good food here but our marketing highlights brands. Respectfully, recognize the difference we’ve between branding and culture

34. Here’s one I’d like to see die from Americans ourselves. You’re not an ‘expert’ on a dish because you grew up in a certain part of the country. You can get authentic tacos in Minnesota. Good pizza exists outside of NY. I’m sure there are great BBQ places in Washington state.

    You get the idea.

35. Peep and candy corn hate. Those are great candies.

36. After having seen British tiktokers show their full English breakfasts/Sunday roast dinners/ when they plate up their “Chinese” take out, I’m formally demanding that they all stfu about American portion sizes. They’re filthy hypocrites.

37. Sandwiches shops that make sandwiches with 3-4 solid inches of meats, and a tiny bit of everything else (pickles, cheese, peppers, etc).

    People will argue that it’s a “great value”, but it’s one of my personal pet peeves. The ratio of all components is vastly more important and critical for a great sandwich. And don’t even get me started on how difficult it is to actually eat a sandwich like that.

38. I’m with you on the stupid “diarrhea” bullshit. All that tells me is a startlingly amount of people online have major stomach issues.

    Besides that, ignorant people whining about American cheese.

39. That there is no authentic “American food” when there is a bunch of native American cuisine especially in Southwest cooking.

40. I hate when people get so offended by people trying new things in their recipes or making modifications to suit their own tastes. I swear that there are food purists who act like a chef is guilty of a war crime if they have the audacity to make linguine dish with spaghetti. If it tastes good, let them make the dish how they want.

41. The internet bred and fed misconception that American food isn’t seasoned or spicy.

    Not every dish is a lip numbing, tongue burning, make the skin on the roof of your mouth feel like is peeling off and blind your eyes from the sweat on your brow capsicum blow out, but really neither is every dish from any cuisine.

    American food, especially from the Gulf South and Southwest is very flavorful, and some dishes or preparations of dishes are hot. Cayenne and Tabasco are staple peppers in Gulf South cooking. The Southeast cranks out some great flavor, too.

42. I’ve seen a lot of people get worked up about orange cheese. pal we didn’t even invent the practice go bother the english about it. or the french, they do it too. see how telling them they do cheese wrong goes for you

43. Honestly, I think watching non-Americans try and guess what goes on an American frozen pizza is kind of incredible.