Note to vacationing non-Americans: while itās true that America doesnāt always have the best food culture, the food in our restaurants is really not representative of what most of us eat at home.Ā The portions at Cheesecake Factory or IHOP are meant to be indulgent, not justĀ āwhat Americans are used to.ā
If you eat at a regular American household, during a regular meal where theyāre not going out of their way to impress guests, you probably will not be served twelve pounds of chocolate-covered cream cheese.Ā Please bear this in mind before writing yet another āomg I canāt believe American foodā post.
Also, most American restaurant portions are 100% intended as two mealsā worth of food. Some of my older Irish relatives still struggle with the idea that itās not just not rude to eat half your meal and take the rest home, itās expected. (Apparently this is somewhat of an American custom.)
Until youāre hitting the āfancy restaurantā tier (the kind of place you go for a celebration or an anniversary date), a dinner out should generally also be lunch for the next day. Leftovers are very much the norm.
From the little time Iāve spent in Canada, this seems to be the case up there as well.
the portions in family restaurants (as opposed to haute cuisine types) are designed so that no one goes away hungry.
volume IS very much a part of the american hospitality tradition, and Nobody Leaves Hungry is important. but you have to recognize that itās not how we cook for ourselves, itās how we welcome guests and strengthen community ties.
so in order to give you a celebratory experience and make you feel welcomed, family restaurants make the portions big enough that even if youāre a teenage boy celebrating a hard win on the basketball court, youāre still going to be comfortably full when you leave.
of course, that means that for your average person with a sit-down job, who ate a decent lunch that day, itās twice as much as they want or more. thatās ok. as mentioned above, taking home leftovers is absolutely encouraged. that, too, is part of american hospitality tradition; itās meant to invoke fond memories of grandma loading you down with covered dishes so you can have hearty celebration food all week. pot luck church basement get-togethers where the whole town makes sure everybody has enough. that sort of thing. itās about sharing. itās about celebrating Plenty.
itās not about pigging out until you get huge. treating it that way is pretty disrespectful of our culture. and you know, contrary to what the world thinks, we do have one.
So theĀ ādoggy bagā thing is real?
Y-yes? Is it not overseas?
Holy shit, this is the first thing in 760 days that has made me feel more positive about America.
Not only is the doggy bag thing real, but some restaurants make it EVEN COOLER. Here in Portland, thereās a restaurant that will literally create a foil animal sculpture with your food inside. Like. We love sending people home with leftovers So Much that we want to make them Even More Special than just eating out itself was.
Iām dying that people donāt realize doggy bags are a real thing. Even fancy restaurants treat that as normal and expected, even if one doesnāt usually need one because the portions are smaller. The only fancy places that look askance at taking home leftovers are ones that are trying to be more foreign as a fashion thing.
Many restaurants have branded bags and boxes with the restaurantās name on them.
When Americans eat crap, itās often more about food deserts and a complete lack of reasonable public transportation than about our restaurants having insane portions.
A food desert is an area with no supermarkets or grocers where the only place that sells food is a convenience store with twinkies. Itās very common to not live within walking distance of a place that sells ingredients. In the suburbs, itās normal to not only live outside of reasonable walking distance of food but also for that distance to be a huge highway with nowhere youāre legally allowed to walk. From conversations with friends, this sounds relatively uncommon in most countries. Every place has some farms in the middle of nowhere, but US style suburbs arenāt the norm.
Meanwhile, at least in some areas, we tend to have a lot of storage space, so itās common to go to the supermarket only occasionally and stock up for the week/month with things that will keep. Weāre not usually buying 800 servings at once because weāre actually going to eat all that right now.
The way normal people shop for fresh vegetables a lot of places just isnāt possible in big chunks of the US, and itās very much a class thing.
Iām kind of surprised no one brought this up yet but as a culture we had this huge economic disaster about eighty years ago paired with an androgenic ecological disaster in this big portion of the middle of the country that caused widespread famine and starvation
on the leftovers thing, if youāre only visiting for a short time (and thus wont be able to use any leftovers), try agreeing to order one meal to share with whoever youāre at the restaurant with, instead of each of you getting your own meal. It definitely shows off the portionability of almost all restaurant food. 1 meal per 2 to 3 people should work without creating any leftovers.
The first thing I usually do when I get a burger is cut it down the middle and decide which half Iām going to eat, and which Iām going to save for a rainy day. Then, I divide the side-food in a similar way (be it fries, vegetables, or whatever). If Iām visiting the south, known for its hardy portions (texas, alabama, etc), Iāll actually divide it further, eating (for example) only half (or less) of the burger, and none of the friesā which means it becomes 3-4 days of lunchesā¦ for the family Iām staying with. Yes. You can give your leftovers to someone else. In fact, itās considered really kind, if they like that kind of food. And since theyāre usually the ones that took you to the restaurant, it may even be their favorite type of food.
Food is really a sign of affection, in every possible way, from the trope ofĀ āmotherās day means serving mom breakfast in bedā toĀ ācutting the wedding cake is one of the most important wedding photosā toĀ āone of our holidays literally has kids running up to every house in town in costume to ask for candyā toĀ āBBQ sauces are a generationally-passed-down tradition.āĀ
Itās not about the food itself, the food is a symbol of working (or paying) for an experience that your loved ones will enjoy. Itās the stubborn grandmas remembering the great depression. Itās the parents that remember eating fish cakes and stewed tomatoes in 1965, and deciding to make something edible instead. Itās the inexperienced kids handing their parents a gross bowl of shredded cheese and cheerios because they want to show that affection and havenāt figured out how to do it right yet.
Thereās a restaurant in DC that specifically, as part of its menu, gives you an equal portion of specific ātraditionalā foods to take home. Theyāre packaged separately and half-baked so they reheat well when you get home.
If you have a potluck with friends, itās perfectly normal to leave your leftovers of whatever dish you brought with the hosts, as a thank you for them hosting. Itās also perfectly normal, if you are hosting friends for a traditional meal like thanksgiving, to give them some of the leftovers to take home with them (like your grandma would do).
I recently hosted a big dinner, and one friend couldnāt come at the last minute. So I brought her leftovers the next day anyway, because thatās one big way Americans show we care.
In many areas it is an actual thing to make friends with new neighbors by going over and introducing yourself with a plate of cookies or pie. If I go to a dinner at someone elseās house, the very first thing I ask after getting the invite is āwhat can I bring?ā because it shows iām not an ungrateful guest. And if they say ānothing,ā Iāll probably still bring a bottle of wine or something.
Iām gonna reblog again because I realised I forgot something huge.
Itās tradition, across the US, that when your friends help you move, you repay them with pizza. This is usually because pizza is easy to order in when everyoneās tired and most people like it (so you could theoretically replace it with chinese or something), but the fact is we repay kindness with food. And itās very specifically, always food. It canāt be replaced with buying them a drink down at the bar or something. Someone helped you out and showed they care by sacrificing time and effort for you? You show your appreciation with food.
Food = love
As a constantly hungry human bean, I approve this post
the person I reblogged this from mentioned the Dust Bowl in the tags and yeah, if anyoneās wondering WHERE this food culture came from - a quick google search will tell you all you need to know!
In college for me, at a 95% residential college, most people didnāt have cars. It was extremely common for my sorority for people to post in our group with a request like āHey I need a ride to the train station, Iāll repay with coffee/lunch/dinner/etc.ā Pretty much every favor was repaid with some kind of food.
