AmericanFood.doc

American FoodAmerican food is perhaps not the worlds most-celebrated cuisine, but it is varied, it is influential, and it is even a bit surprising. Just as with most of the worlds cooking styles, what is eaten at home and what is eaten in restaurants can often be quite different. Homes often stress quick and easy, while restaurants can push the limits of what is possible. People often go to restaurants to eat food they find too time-consuming and difficult to fix at home.Fast FoodThe best-known type of American food is “fast food”. Fast food is called “fast food” because it is meant to be made fast and eaten fast. When a normal office worker gets only about 30 minutes for lunch, he needs to be able to get in and out of a restaurant at top speed. Fast food restaurants have come up with methods of preparing large amounts of food in very little time, so fast food can include items not usually considered easy to make. The most common fast-food option is the sandwich, in its most basic form a combination of meat and bread. A fast-food meal usually consists of a sandwich, french fries (or potato chips), and some sort of beverage. In an effort to cater to a more health-conscious clientele wary of fast foods poor reputation, most chains have updated their menus with healthier options (like salads). Be aware, however, that although fast food is very popular, it is not the only American food, and a large number of Americans eat it only sparingly.Among fast-food sandwiches, the hamburger is king. A hamburger is composed of two pieces of bread (the bun), the top piece being larger and rounder than the bottom one. In between is placed a flat, round piece of ground beef (the patty). To improve the flavor of the hamburger many people apply various condiments, such as ketchup, mustard, and mayonnaise. Other additions include pickles, tomatoes, onions, and lettuce. Some people even apply a slice of cheese, creating a “cheeseburger”. Restaurants that have made their names primarily on hamburgers include: McDonalds, Burger King, Jack in the Box, Hardees, and Carls Jr. Wendys, another popular hamburger restaurant, is famous for its square patties. White Castle, a less common restaurant, is famous for its mini-hamburgers (known as “sliders”).Submarine sandwiches (a. k. a. subs, a. k. a. hoagies), sandwiches made with long, submarine-shaped (or torpedo-shaped) buns, can be bought at restaurants such as Subway and Blimpie. The long buns can be filled will all sorts of meats and vegetables. Quiznos is a sandwich shop famous for toasting its subs. Other more-traditional sandwich options are served at restaurants such as McAlisters Deli and Schlotzskys. Another sandwich restaurant is Arbys, which is famous for its roast beef sandwiches.Fried chicken is another popular food found at fast-food restaurants. Although even hamburger restaurants will often offer a chicken sandwich for variety, there are other eating establishments almost solely devoted to chicken options. Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC) is the best known of the chicken places. Similar, but less popular, chicken restaurants are Bojangles and Popeyes Chicken and Biscuits. Chick-fil-A, based in the southeast, does not serve fried chicken at all, but its entire menu is stocked with other chicken choices like chicken sandwiches, chicken strips, and chicken nuggets. Pizza probably came to America with immigrants from southern Italy. It was America, however, that brought pizza to the world. Take some bread dough, spread it out into a circle, add some tomato sauce and mozzarella cheese, and you have the most basic pizza. Change the crust (the bread) a bit, or change the sauce, or change the cheese and other toppings and you can create a million variations of this very simple food. Pizza Hut, Papa Johns, Pizza Inn, Little Caesars, and Dominos Pizza are the most common pizza restaurants in the United States.Even seafood has made it into the fast-food business. Fish, shrimp, and even clams can be found at Captain Ds and Long John Silvers, the two most popular fast-food seafood eateries. Grilled versions of the entrees can be ordered for the more health-conscious consumer. A common seafood side item is the hushpuppy, a fried cornmeal creation.Two other fast-food joints deserve mention. Taco Bell has been serving fast Mexican-style food since 1962. Popular choices include the tacos, burritos, and chalupas. Tacos are made from corn “tortillas”, thin, flat, round cakes made of ground corn. The taco shell is then folded into a “U” shape. Inside you put ground beef, chicken, or pork. The taco will be served with sour cream, cheese, and often a chili-based sauce. A burrito is a similar concoction made with a flour tortilla that is wrapped around the contents. The other eatery, Dairy Queen, first made its name serving ice cream treats, such as ice cream cones and sundaes, although some locations now offer a full fast-food menu.Home FoodAmerica has plenty of restaurants to indulge every taste, and restaurants are nice because they give Americans a break from cooking and cleaning, but eating out too frequently can put a strain on your budget; therefore, most people will have at least a few meals at home per week. Home food is often a bit different from restaurant food, though. So, the question is-what do Americans eat at home? The answer depends on which meal Americans are eating.The morning meal, breakfast, is often a quick, simple meal. You might eat a bowl of cereal and milk. With a few more minutes, you could cook yourself some fried eggs and bacon or sausage, or you could make some oatmeal, a porridge made from oats. On the side, you might have some toast with jelly or an English muffin similarly prepared. If you like larger breakfasts and have more time, you might fix some waffles or pancakes. Americans will often drink milk, orange juice, or coffee with their breakfasts.Lunch is usually an informal affair. On a normal day, lunch consists of a sandwich, some chips, and something to drink. Popular sandwiches include: peanut butter and jelly sandwiches; ham and cheese sandwiches; bacon, lettuce, and tomato sandwiches (BLTs); grilled cheese sandwiches; and bologna sandwiches. You might also add a pickle to your plate.Supper in many homes is the most important meal of the day because the whole family is together. A typical supper follows the “meat and three” pattern, one piece of meat and three side items, usually vegetables. The meat may be cooked in a variety of ways. Chicken is very popular because it is low in fat, but beef is probably Americas favorite meat. Pork and fish are less frequent meat options. Common sides include: spinach, broccoli, carrots, green beans, green peas, corn, potatoes, and asparagus. Beer and wine may be drunk at supper in place of the usual beverages. Suppers tend to be fairly light on weekends, as the main meal is often eaten at midday.On weekends, it is common to eat brunch, a combination of breakfast and lunch. Brunch is usually eaten around 11 am or so and includes most breakfast foods, although sometimes foods more common at other times of day will make it onto a brunch menu. This meal takes the place of both breakfast and lunch, so it is usually a rather large one.The term “dinner” can be a bit confusing. For some people, “dinner” is another word for “supper”. Other people use it at times in place of “lunch”. It seems that “dinner” is best used when describing the main meal of the day. On weekdays, this often means supper, while on weekends this can mean lunch (especially on Sundays). A dessert is often served at dinner. Dessert is usually something sweet, such as ice cream, or cookies, or fruit.Snacks (and Junk Food)When youre hungry and its not meal time, its time for a snack. Aside from fruit and other healthy options, there are many choices that might better be called “junk food”. Junk food has very little nutritional value and has quite a few calories, but it does taste good! A little junk food from time to time is probably not too bad for you.“Chips” are crunchy snacks made of potatoes or corn. “Potato chips” are very thin slices of potato fried in oil until they are crispy. (English people actually call them “crisps”.) Usually salt is added to flavor the chips, although most snack food companies offer a variety of flavors. Well-known potato chip brands include: Lays, Cape Cod, Utz, Herrs, and Pringles. “Corn chips” are made of fried cornmeal and are usually found in twisted shapes. Fritos is the best-known brand of corn chips. “Tortilla chips”, another related snack, are made of fried corn tortillas. Tostitos and Doritos are the best-known brands. Chips can be eaten plain or with a “dip”, a sauce you dip your chip into.“Crackers” are thin, flat, bread items that are baked and often unsweetened. To improve the flavor, various seasonings (e.g., salt, cheese, and herbs) can be added to the dough. Sometimes these seasonings are sprinkled on top of the crackers before baking instead. Crackers can be eaten “as is” or combined with cheese or various “spreads” (a condiment applied usually to a bread item). Cheez-its, small, square, bite-sized cheese-flavored crackers, are very popular, as are Ritz Crackers, circular, lightly-salted crackers with a hint of butter. Saltines, square, bland crackers sprinkled with salt, provide ample space for any sort of topping, whether it be a spread or a sandwich-style topping.“Pretzels” are another bread item. Pretzels can be simple stick shapes, but are often twisted shapes. Salt, often the coarse type, is added to flavor these snacks. Pretzels can be hard or soft. Mustard often accompanies them.The word “cookie” comes from the Dutch “koekie” meaning “little cake”, and that description suits cookies perfectly. Cookies are very much like little cakes. The dough used to make these food items is very much like that used to make cakes (i.e., eggs and sugar have been added to the dough). At times, other items, such as chocolate, peanut butter, or nuts, are added to the basic mixture. Common cookies in the United States include chocolate chip cookies, oatmeal cookies, and the store-bought Oreos.In America, “candy” refers to many sweet food items eaten as snacks. “Hard candy” is made from a sugar and water “syrup” that has been boiled and then cooled. Various flavors and colors can be added to make the mixture more interesting. Lollipops are hard candy that has been placed on some sort of stick. Licorice is a chewy rope-like (thick or thin) candy that originally was flavored with extracts from the liquorice plant. Licorice comes in black and red varieties. Another popular candy is “jelly beans”, fruit-flavored, bean-sized and bean-shaped treats with a soft interior and slightly-hard exterior.“Chocolate” is usually included among the food termed “candy” in America. Chocolate includes extracts obtained from the cacao bean. Sugar is often added, in varying amounts, as the raw chocolate is rather bitter. Chocolate is often turned into candy bars, like the basic Hershey bar, or a Snickers bar, which adds peanuts and caramel. Reeses Peanut Butter Cups, another popular chocolate treat, are small peanut butter cakes covered in chocolate. Hersheys Kisses, small drops of chocolate, M&Ms, chocolate covered with hard candy shells, and Kit Kat bars, long thin sections of chocolate-covered wafers, are also quite popular.“Doughnuts” are a type of fried cake. They can be glazed with sugar, or filled with different types of jelly and whatnot. Doughnuts are usually eaten as a morning snack or as breakfast. Dunkin Donuts and Krispy Kreme are two very popular doughnut stores in the US.Other snacks include: popcorn (usually salty), nuts (such as almonds, cashews, and peanuts), sunflower seeds, and jerky (strips of dried meat). Ice cream, such as that made by Ben & Jerrys, Baskin-Robbins, Dreyers, Edys, Hagen-Dazs, Breyers, and Pet, comes in a variety of flavors and has been an American favorite for years.SoupsMost soups eaten in American homes come from a can, usually from the Campbell Soup Company. Campbells “Cream of Mushroom” soup, “Tomato” soup, and “Chicken Noodle” soup are the three most popular types in America. Soups are usually just another food option and only eaten from time to time. The soup and sandwich combination is quite well-known.Some soups are known as “thick” soups. These soups use various substances, such as cream or starch, to thicken the soup. “New England Clam Chowder”, made with potatoes, cream, and clams, is just such a soup. (Another clam chowder, “Manhattan Clam Chowder”, has a tomato base.)SaladsIn America, the term “salad” is understood to refer to a “green salad”, a mixture of various lettuces and greens that is dressed with a sauce known as “salad dressing”. The two main types of lettuce that show up in American salads are “iceberg” lettuce, a crisp, lightly-colored lettuce whose leaves come in a circular “head”, and “romaine” lettuce, a greener lettuce that comes in longer, more slender leaves. To start a salad, these leaves are torn into several pieces. Vegetables are then added to this salad base. Common vegetables (in sliced or shaved form) in a green salad include: carrots, cucumbers, onions, celery, and tomatoes. It is also common to add cheese, “bacon bits” (crumbled bacon), sunflower seeds, and even pieces of hard-boiled egg. Another very common addition to a green salad is “croutons”, flavored cubes of toasted bread. The final addition to the salad is the salad dressing. The most common are vinegar- and oil-based, as in Greek- and Italian-style dressings, and creamy, as in Ranch and Thousand Island dressings. Another creamy dressing, “Blue Cheese” dressing, is flavored with blue cheese, a very strong cheese.Salads are most commonly eaten as a side item, but salads can also be the main part of the meal. These “entre” salads often contain some meat. America has other foods termed salads, but it is unclear what the link between green salads and offerings such as chicken salad, potato salad, fruit salad, and pasta salad is.Ethnic FoodAmerica is a country with a thousand ethnic groups and, as a result, a thousand cuisines, but only a few cuisines have made their mark so far on common American food. Japanese, Chinese, Thai, and Indian restaurants are quite popular; nonetheless, these cooking styles have not changed American food as have Italian and Mexican food. It should be stressed that only some Italian and Mexican dishes have actually made it into the home. Additionally, what America calls “Mexican” food and “Italian” food have been altered somewhat from the foods in the original countries.The main contributions of Mexican food are probably tacos, burritos, salsa, and guacamole, although, along the border of the United States and Mexico, no doubt other foods have shown up in American homes. Tacos and burritos can be found in the fast-food Mexican-style restaurants like Taco Bell and the many Mexican-style chain restaurants, but these foods have entered the common American household as well. Salsa (“sauce”), a chunky tomato and vegetable mixture, and guacamole, an avocado sauce, are often used as dips.The Italians gave pizza to American food, but Italian foods other great contribution is pasta, a collection of various wheat-based foods that are usually boiled in water and served with a sauce. Although “spaghetti” is clearly a noodle and “lasagne” a wide, ribbon-shaped one, it would be incorrect to think all pastas are noodles. Some are tubes, such as the ridged “penne” and the small, curved “macaroni” (or, properly, “maccheroni”). Some come in interesting shapes, like “farfalle” (“butterflies” in Italian) and “orzo”, rice-shaped pasta. Some pastas are even filled with cheese or meat, such as “ravioli”, a square-shaped stuffed pasta, and “tortellini”, a ring-shaped stuffed pasta.In America, pastas are often served with a basic tomato sauce (sometimes known as “marinara” sauce) or a tomato sauce with meat (sometimes known as “Bolognese” sauce). (“Spaghetti and meatballs”, a quintessential American dish, is served with a tomato sauce.) Pasta can also be served with “alfredo” sauce, a Parmesan cheese and butter mixture, or with “carbonara” sauce, another creamy creation that adds bacon and egg. Less common sauces include “pesto”, a sauce made of olive oil, Parmesan cheese, pine nuts, and crushed basil and garlic, and “aglio e olio”, a garlic and olive oil sauce.Although it is not entirely clear how Italian (or, to be exact, Italian-American) food made the jump from exotic to ordinary, one factor was certainly a manEttore Boiardi, a man known to Americans as “Chef Boyardee”. Boiardi was an Italian immigrant and well-regarded chef who created his own brand of Italian-style foods to sell to the American public. The brand used the name “Boyardee”, so Americans would pronounce his name correctly. “Chef Boyardee” produced rations for the U. S. military during World War II, no doubt introducing Italian food to many Americans for the first time. To many people, “Chef Boyard