Well, there are only a few distinctly American foods, since we are basically a melting pot of a bunch of cultures (mainly English). The only American dishes I can think of is barbeque, burgers, and the concept of deep frying everything. There's also the East Coast seafood, that was made popular here (blue crab, scallops, lobster, and various fish).

Hawaii also has a pretty distinct cuisine, but I assume we are talking about the mainland.

Here in Japan, Amerika in conversation, Beikoku (literally "Rice Country") less often, and officially Amerika Gasshuukoku (USA).

As for eating ?nnards", grilled cow intestines are popular, raw salted squid innards on rice or with sake (very fishy taste), and other similar ones. Long ago had raw whale tongue, which was like eating concentrated grease.

Because it's got the worst consistancy. Either pastey or rubbery - all depending on how it's cooked. The flavor isn't so bad, though it leaves an unpleasant aftertaste, but I just can't get over the way it feels when you're chewing it.

I wasn't even aware there was "American" food. Regional I guess, but I always kind of assumed it was all a take on a food from elsewhere. Though I can't say I'm proud of being the country known for bbq and cheeseburgers. (Again, is anyone surprised by the current state of our countries health?) Oh and deep-fried oreos taste like chooclate funnel cake - if anyone is wondering.

Oh so it would make me toss my cookies? Yeah, that I could believe. (Whiskey makes me physically sick to even smell...)

And don't forget the Pacific Northwest. Here in Washington, we have a lot of seafood that is vital to America's supply as well as several varieties not seen in the east coast. Some things about the our seafood industry you may know of is the Clam Bucket (a legendary restaurant that was recently featured on the the show Man Vs. Food, if you watch it), the seafood chain Ivars, and then there is the show Deadliest Catch, which happens in Puget Sound. The Puget Sound itself is between here and Alaska.


Very interesting. I have never heard the official Japanese, err... Nipponese name for the United States before. May I ask why it is sometimes referred to as a "Rice Country"? I thought we were more known for wheat, with China, Nippon, Korea, etc. being known for rice.

They showed a can of it on a comedy panel show called QI. They were told that they weren't allowed to open it on set because they could be sued.

During the final decades of the Tokugawa bakufu and the early Meiji period the USA was referred to as "Ameriken" or "Meriken", though ultimately in 'standard' Japanese (Tokyo dialect) it was "Amerika". The first kanji used to write "Meriken" and the second used to write "Amerika" is the character for 'rice', which could also be pronounced 'me'. So, the character was chosen for its pronunciation rather than its meaning. The most-used Chinese style reading (on-yomi) for the character for rice today is "bei", the Japanese-style reading (kun-yomi), kome. In Chinese the characters used are "Beautiful Country" (mei-guo). In earlier times those used meant "Flower Flag Country", similar to "Hoa Ky", the Vietnamese for Flower Flag, which is also used to refer to the USA. The name used for the first branch of City Bank to open in Shanghai was "Flower Flag Bank".

Got this from the Japanese Wikipedia.

Just "America", really.

I'm Canadian. I and some of the people I know generally call it the US. Some of us get mildly annoyed when people say America since we all live on a continent called North America.

But US just sounds... meh. "America" has a nicer ring. We refer to Canada as "Canada", and not "the northernmost country in North America", if that helps any.

To: everyone. What constitutes a typical breakfast in your country?

Sandwitches with ham and cheese, yogurt or filmj?lk with cereal and Coffee.

I just go for Coffee and a snus though.

I always thought of the barbecue as more of an Australian thing, but now that I think about it, I'd no idea where it originated.


Hmm, sounds like it wasn't cooked well either way. Definitely shouldn't be rubbery, but paste sounds a bit iffy to me too: it should have a more definite consistency than that, and not an unpleasant one. Except for the tubes, I'm not so keen on them.


Lard.

Bowl of rice with a raw egg poured on it, dried seaweed, dried plums or some other pickled vegetable, a roasted fish. Typical Japanese breakfast served at a hotel. Don't think many young people have this for breakfast at home though.

Wow, that is a far cry from the "American" breakfast. I usually wake up around noon, but if i happen to get up earlier I go for bacon, eggs, and a side of cinnamon toast. And maybe an orange if I am still hungry. But seeing your breakfast made me realize how ignorant I am of Japanese cuisine, except for teriyaki, which is really popular in Washington. I'll make sure to look out for dried seaweed the next time I go to Uwajimaya, and I'll see if it is palatable to my tastes.

No dried plums though.

My kids used to and my grandkids now eat dried seaweed like candy -- for a snack.
The plums, though, as you suspect, are maybe an acquired taste.

Barbecue did not originate in America. If that's what wikipedia says, that's, well, just what wikipedia says.


I don't know about dried seaweed, but fresh, boiled/grilled/fried seaweed tastes really good. You don't even have to buy it anywhere. Just go to a beach and start grabbing strands. Make sure you wash those properly, of course, if you do go that route.

I had another question... which I've now forgot.

For a lot of people in America, its a bowl of a cereal.

This or toast, some people also have fry-ups, better known possibly as an "English Breakfast" - give or take a few things.
If there was food left from the night before then cold pizza is usually on the cards

So once you get past Americans being fat, loud, obnoxious, and stupid gun toting creatures, what else do you think of us Americans, or at least the people in your country?

I've always been curious.

Bread and cheese, in my experience.

Yes, I believe it's most popular in Australia and Britain.

/incredulouseyebrowraise

Australia, South Africa and America, maybe. Britain?


I think you're amiable and well-meaning people, mostly. Maybe a bit self-righteous and sheltered, as a whole. But mostly cool people. Obviously, each person is an individual -- I'd measure them on that basis, not according to where they were born or where they live -- but as a whole... ^ You're alright.

Besides being sheltered, world policing and rather self centered....You're alright and I've met/spoke to quite a few of yous to know that you ain't all dikes, plus you got some fine looking women. Though some have a very linear sense of humour like something that's commonly found funny and laughable by all over here, is generally found as just a plain insult over there.

Proud, Patriotic, Friendly, Outspoken, Community and family minded. Sports loving, welcoming and polite. Although it seems sarcasm and irony is lost on a lot of Americans.

I love the Americans. I went on holiday for two weeks and everyone was lovely and I didn't even see that many fatties. I'd love to live there. I like the sense of identity Americans have. They're proud of the flag. A lot of us in England are almost embarrassed, or made to feel embarrassed by out own government. We've lost our sense of national identity, because we're a stoic nation...we don't really speak up for what we believe. Just kinda keep it to ourselves and turn in to passive agressive husks.

We LOVE BBQ in Britain. Everyone does it in Summer.

I kind of get the feeling that most of you are perfectly nice, normal people, but since, being normal, you tend not to make the news, all we ever hear about is the obese, gun-toting mentalists. I also get the impression that while most of you, as individuals, are perfectly nice, en masse you're quite a lot more racist, homophobic, evangelically religious and just, well, backward, than one would expect from such a big, rich, country.