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Monday, September 12, 2011

The American Palate

Happy Mid-Autumn Festival!  While at a Pronunciation Workshop today, I was talking with a Chinese woman who was telling me how very sweet American food was and comparing it to Chinese food.  I don't know why I haven't just become accustomed to it but every time people go on and on about how greasy and unhealthy American food is and how sweet everything is, I just look at them in shock, "You are in America!  You still think all we eat are hamburgers and chocolate chip cookies?"  (This girl mentioned bacon - I told her I only eat it a few times a year and she asked if I was vegetarian)

However, when asked to describe what Americans eat on a normal basis, I'm at a loss.  Where do we even begin to explain the wealth of variety that Americans eat?

Recently, my oldest sister came for a visit from Paris.  She's been gone for about 4 months, enough time to miss and crave American food.  Surely, this would be a good description of what constitutes as good American fare right?

The other day, over lunch, I asked her what foods she had been craving and eating while she had the chance.  This is her not-entirely-comprehensive-but-pretty-close-list:

(1) Chef Boyardee Lasagna from a can
(2) Spagetti-Os
(3) Cheerwine
(4) Double stuffed Reese's Cup (I'd never heard of this before)
(5) Mello Yello
(6) Macaroni and Cheese

Are you kidding me?! I looked at her and then at my other sister who just nodded, "Yeah, she really did eat all those things."

And what was still on her list to eat?
a Corn dog.

She kept insisting that she needed to go find and eat a corn dog.  Meanwhile, my other sister and I shook our heads in disbelief.  "You never ate corn dogs when you lived here before - why get one now?"

I can just see her returning to France and telling her friends about eating these great American meals.  I can just hear beautiful French being shared in the conversation until we get to the ever blase, "Corn dog."  (Then again, maybe the French can make corn dog sound exotic - we can only hope)

But I guess, after all, when you're craving a corn dog, only a corn dog will do.

2 comments:

  1. Just for the record, I virtually lived off of corn dogs during undergrad...and I've never gone to Cook-Out without getting one. So I DO eat corn dogs.

    Also, you left a few things off of the list: Carolina barbecue, ice cream sandwiches, carrot cake, brownies, enchiladas, tacos, cheeseburger, pintos and cheese (Taco Bell), bacon burger, popcorn, and a cobb salad. Good stuff. I'm sure all of my French friends are terribly jealous. You can find all the good stuff from France (macarons, eclairs, fromage, etc.) in any US city, but finding Chef-Boy-R-Dee in France is impossible!

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