What Do American's Eat? - Part 5 - Milk Shakes

All this week I'm going to be featuring "American" items that I found in a European grocery store (Lidl) during a sale they had featuring American products.

The term "Milkshake" is actually very ambiguous.  The only thing one can say is that all "milkshakes" should contain milk, or a milk substitute.  There should also be some kind of mixing happening as well, be it with a blender, by hand, or even just a good shake.  After that the milkshake is whatever you really want to make of it.

The USA is most certainly the milkshake capital of the world.  Just about ever single burger place in the whole country offers their version of a milkshake.  Some are thick, tasty, and filling, others are weak, taste like plastic, and about as runny as water.  You can find milkshakes in other parts of the world, but it's often associated with America and American themed restaurants.  It's more of a novelty in most places and not the norm, in fact, I don't think McDonald's in Europe even sell milkshakes.

CC

What Do American's Eat? - Part 4 - Wings

All this week I'm going to be featuring "American" items that I found in a European grocery store (Lidl) during a sale they had featuring American products.

The chicken wing is another food that I can't argue that it's American tradition.  Just about every historical text I've found claims that the BBQ/Buffalo style of chicken wing originated new Buffalo New York.  After that the history goes in several different directions with more than one place taking credit for the creation.

One could argue that cooking chicken wings is not an American creation, but that's pretty obvious.  The part that makes these "American" is the sauce.  How the sauce is applied and the ingredients are most certainly an  American invention.  Similar to caramel corn, I'm surprised more places around the world have not adopted chicken wings into their diet.  It's the kind of food any country could customize to their own taste, without loosing the spirit of the original.

CC

What Do American's Eat? - Part 3 - Caramel Corn

All this week I'm going to be featuring "American" items that I found in a European grocery store (Lidl) during a sale they had featuring American products.

There is no way I can argue that caramel corn is not an American treat.  Sure we Canadians eat it too, but history shows that it's an American invention, it's said to have been premiered at the Chicago worlds fair in 1893.  I can say that caramel corn is really not a snack you can find everywhere in the world.

This is very surprising to me since popcorn is very readily available just about everywhere.  The idea of putting a sweet coating on popcorn seems like something that the rest of the world should be going nuts about, but their not.  I'm not saying it's not available in other places, it's just not that popular.  You can't go to a carnival, state fair, or any kind of outdoor event in the USA without finding some caramel corn.  You can't even walk into a mall in America without smelling the stuff.  Why has this taste and texture sensation not taken over the world?

CC

What Do American's Eat? - Part 2 - Crunchy Peanut Butter

All this week I'm going to be featuring "American" items that I found in a European grocery store (Lidl) during a sale they had featuring American products.

Peanut butter, some of you don't give it a second thought, others of you aren't really sure why so many people don't give it a second thought.  I've discovered in my travels that many people outside of North America don't really get the appeal of peanut butter.  It seems strange to people in North America because it's really part of our every day.

Now you may have noticed that I've been using the words "North America" when describing this treat.  While peanut butter is very popular in the USA, it's not necessarily an American invention.  In fact I should probably change "North America" to just "the Americas" because peanut butter's origins can be traced back to the Aztecs.  Even stranger, the modern smooth incarnation of peanut butter was said to patented by a Canadian (Marcellus Gilmore Edson), and not George Washington Carver, and many American's might think.

CC

What Do American's Eat? - Part 1 - American Pizza

All this week I'm going to be featuring "American" items that I found in a European grocery store (Lidl) during a sale they had featuring American products.

While the history of pizza is fairly controversial, one has to agree that the USA played a big part in it.  Most food historians agree that the current incarnation of pizza is most definitively the American style.  The USA can't take credit for being the first to take dough, put toppings on it, and put it in an oven, that ideas been around for thousands of years.

The question then comes, what is an American style pizza?  In this case I think the influence comes from Pizza Hut.  For those that travel a lot, you'll find that there are pretty much Pizza Huts all over the world.  Other than a few topping differences, the style of crust and sauce is pretty much the same at any Pizza Hut, no matter where you go.  This pizza has a very similar crust, so I imagine that the makers of this pizza figured that Pizza Hut is the way American's like their pizza.  The problem I've found about "styles of pizza" is that in the USA, it's very regional.  In Chicago you get a deep dish, New York seems to have a fluffy crust, and California likes their crust thin.  So what I'm saying is, you can pretty make any kind of pizza you want, say it's "American style", and somewhere in the USA you would be right.

CC

What Do Americans Eat?

This week at our local Lidl (Lidl is a German grocery store chain with stores all over Europe) they had a very special sale.  It was a sale on "American" products.  I'm fairly convinced that all of the products feature may not have been made in the USA, but instead products that Europeans think Americans enjoy.  Now I'm not American, but having lived near it most of my life, and traveled around it, I think I have few ideas about what is an American product.

BBQ chips are something you might find in the US.  I just thought it was odd that they called them "crisps" instead of chips.  I guess they do that to make sure that the European shoppers don't mistake them for french fries.  This was the first sign that lead me to believe these products may not be American, but American themed instead.

I've had hamburgers in Michigan, New York, California, Indiana, Ohio, Kentucky, Pennsylvania, Florida, and several other states I'm sure.  In that time, I don't think I've ever had the option of "Hamburger Sauce" for my burger.  This reminds me of a sauce I discovered in Belgium called "Americana" for french fries.  I know the USA is well known for their sauces, so maybe that's where this idea come from.

Americans like sweet flavours, and they really like packaged desserts.  This collection of yogurts is like nothing I've ever seen in the US, however, I think it would probably sell really well.  It combines the popularity of crazy flavours in the US, with the possibility of health food (even though it's probably not that healthy at all).  I've never seen these in the US, I think maybe Lidl should start importing them there, only maybe they should re-design the packages with a Euro theme.

I did actually buy a few things from Lidl (all of the products above were sold out), so every day next week I'm going to feature an "American" product I bought at Lidl.

CC