The food of the USA

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These notes about the food in the SUA were made during a short trip to this country. These are just our food experiences and you may have a totally different experience depending on your budget, where you travel and where you eat.

Also check out out guide to Vegetarian Restaurants Near NYC's Grand Central Station

Notes from 2005

Take-Out

• American food is often ‘take-out’. You can eat at a number of fast food chain stores, of varying style, and they are found absolutely everywhere:
  
• Burgers - McDonalds, Burger King, Fatburger, In'n'out Burgers, Carl’s Jnr, Jack in the Box
  
• Family - Denny’s, Wendy’s (not the ice-cream store), Johnny Rockets
  
• Sandwiches - Subway, Quiznos Subs
  
• Other - IHOP (International House of Pancakes), Starbucks, Taco Bell
  Coffee is at another level here - everyone drinks it, everywhere, any time, all the time, on the way to work, on weekend outings, even while walking the dog. They even have drive through coffee outlets, just to make sure you can access one when needed!

Pizza, Hotdogs and Hamburgers

These are America’s favourite foods. You can usually buy pizza by the slice anywhere, it is always very large and with only one topping plus cheese. Hotdogs come in a variety of sizes with a variety of sauces with the standard being tomato and mustard. Hamburgers are an institution, you can get the chain store types as well as the restaurant made sort. They are a staple meal for most Americans, and are always served with fries.

Sandwiches

Sandwiches are often served toasted or heated, and are usually a roll, not slices of bread. Subway now toasts their rolls with the cheese, so it is a ‘melt’. Sandwiches are usually served with pickles, either sliced in the roll, or whole on the side. They are also served with chips (crisps) as a side.

Cheese

Most American cheese is yellow. Another interesting variety is the pepper jack cheese, which is cheese with minced peppers (chilies) throughout.

Pretzels

A very popular snack, either the large bread like type or the small crisp variety. The bread types can be topped with anything from salt to icing.

Entree

A main meal is called an entree, and entree is called an appetizer

Mexican

There are Mexican restaurants all over the south west of America. They are as popular as Asian restaurants in Australia.

Sushi

Sushi is very popular, especially in San Francisco. The Californian Roll was named after this place. It is a seaweed roll, with rice, filled with seafood stick, avocado and cucumber. Delicious and fresh.

Beer

In some regions beer is legal to drink on the street. Often you can drink on the beach, but not after sunset, and not on the paving next to the beach.
There is a big trend for ‘low carb’ beer. It is only slightly lower in carbohydrates and calories, and a little more expensive that the regular types.

Kool Aid

This is the closest thing to cordial, it is a powder for mixing with water. Comes in a sugarless variety as well.

Oxygen

An interesting site in Las Vegas were the ‘oxygen bars’. You can take a break from the hectic life of Vegas, to sit and rejuvenate with a burst of oxygen given via tubes through the nose. Yes, they look like hospital patients, and people do believe they will be cured of their tiredness with some oxygen up the nose.

Tips and Taxes

The strangest part about American food and food service is the taxes and tipping that go with it. All food is quoted with a price that taxes are added to when purchased. When dining in a restaurant, it is essentially compulsory to tip the wait staff, 15-20% on top of the price of the meal. This can be very deceiving when trying to stick to a budget.

Clam Chowder Sampling

When in California, we had a visit to Monterey Fisherman’s Wharf where the local specialty clam chowder was on offer, a creamy thick clam and other seafood soup served in a bowl of sour dough bread. There was lots of taste testing, all having their own unique characteristic flavours. We had a pleasant meal, eating at a restaurant at the end of the wharf while watching the seals play in the ocean.

New Orleans

Here are some of the notes made while spending a few days in New Orleans

• Po Boys - a glorified roll basically a French baguette, usually with a mayonnaise or other gravy dressing with the meat, and salad.
  
• Jambalaya
  
• Creole style food and spices
  
• Blackened catfish with herbs and spices and grilled
  
• French donuts - Beignets with heaps of icing sugar
  
• Muffalettas - Italian-American served on a large crusty round Italian roll, filled with a variety of sliced meats and cheeses and topped with olive salad (pickled vegetables like olives, capsicum, cauliflower, onion, capers, chili)
  
• Gumbo soup - Rich Louisiana stew comes in many varieties. The vegetable base is often Okra, with seafood as the most common meat, usually served with rice. There is also chicken, duck, sausage and other types.
  
• Red beans and rice - a particular New Orleans way of preparation, with the beans slow cooked until they reach a creamy texture with a mix of onions, bell pepper, celery and spices.
  
• Drinking laws - drinks only allowed in plastic vessels in the streets.
  
• Tabasco sauce - made on Avery Island in Louisiana.

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