FOOD
American cuisine in itself is not bad. Our cooks have an abundance of fresh ingredients and a heritage of marvelous regional dishes: apple pie, clam chowder, Louisiana gumbo, barbecued oysters, corn fritters, strawberry shortcake, and countless other delectable dishes. As many guidebooks lamely say, it is possible to eat very well in America.
It is also to eat very badly, and many Americans do – by choice rather than necessity. A lot of supermarket food, while cheap and plentiful, is produced to provide the most calories with the longest shelf life and the shortest preparation time. The result is frozen dinners, packaged sweets, instant puddings, bottled salad dressings, and canned sauces. Manufacturers are working night and day to invent new products that will captivate the public. Almost any conceivable meal is available ready-made.
The problem is that none of this stuff is very good. It supplies calories, but in real satisfaction it doesn’t measure up to anything fresh or homecooked. Even fruits and vegetables are raised to survive long shipping or storage periods, rather than taste. Meats are tender and good, but very fatty and distressingly laden with hormones and antibiotics. Also most supermarket food is wrapped, canned, frozen, jarred, or packaged in such a way that you can’t examine it until you get it home. (Many are so well sealed that they’re maddeningly difficult to open even at home.) If you try to open jars or poke into packages, management will be distressed.
SWEET AND BLAND
A Tanzanian said he found American food so bland he nearly starved when he first came. “Back then, I couldn’t even find a bottle of Tabasco [a hot sauce] in my little town.” Then he discovered pizza and survived. The American palate has become braver than it used to be, but in the average household you won’t find much seasoning in use beyond salt and pepper.
And sugar. There seems to be no end to the march on sweetness. Americans are stuck on sugar, and sugar (or other sweeteners) is added to most packaged food. It’s hard to find a snack that isn’t sweet, and a number of main course dishes are served with a sweetener – such as pancakes with maple syrup and lamb with mint jelly. American pastries are very sweet, and Americans eat sweet desserts much more regularly than most people.
A lot of sodium (an element in salt) is regularly added to packaged foods, which has caused such an outcry among doctors (too much is said to be bad for the heart) that new lines of food are coming out advertising themselves as “sodium-free.” There are also a lot of sugar-free foods, but you have to read labels carefully to make sure you aren’t just getting honey or corn syrup or an awful-tasting artificial sweetener.
EATING HABITS
The first two meals of the day eaten by an American are generally quick. The classic American breakfast of bacon and eggs is seen more at weekends than when the whole family is rushing to school and work. Cereal with milk and a cup of coffee is probably the usual morning sustenance of the average American. Lunch consists of a sandwich, soup or salad. Dinner is the large meal of the day.
The American dinner has fallen under medical disapproval due to its high cholesterol content. The meal typically consists of a large piece of meat, ketchup, vegetables with butter, potatoes (fried or with butter), and a sweet dessert. It might also be an equally fatty frozen meal, heated in the microwave oven, or a high-calorie pizza.
A large proportion of Americans report that they would like to change their diets, but habits are hard to break. The beans, vegetables, and whole grains that doctors keep urging us to eat require time to cook, which we haven’t got. Take-out Chinese food may be as close as many Americans get to low-calorie, low-cholesterol meals.
FAST FOOD
Fast food establishments, such as McDonald’s, Burger King, Wendy’s, Pizza Hut, and Taco Bell purvey their specialties from coast to coast. Few urban areas are so small as not to be ringed with a few of them.
Each item, which you step up to a counter to order is mass-produced according to an exact prescription. The menu, often illustrated, is permanently displayed above the counter. No alcohol is served. Your food comes with an almost equal weight of plastic and paper serving containers and cutlery, which are you expected to throw into the trash when you’re finished. You should specify if you want you order to take out.
Fast food restaurants appeal greatly to juvenile tastes. The notorious plastic taste of much of the food offends gourmets, but these places do have the advantage of being clean and extremely cheap. No tipping is expected.
FAMILY RESTAUTANTS
This is an amorphous category, so-called because you can bring the kiddies, usually meaning a) the place is fairly casual; B) the bar, if any, is out of sight; c) a high chair is available for the baby; and d) the food is of the familiar American kind – chops, steaks, fried fish, salads, and potatoes. Many family restaurants are Italian, and pizza and spaghetti now seem as American as apple pie.
On entering, you should wait to be seated. No matter how crowded the restaurant is, you won’t be asked to share a table with another party, even if you are alone.
You’ll probably get a basket of bread and a glass of water without asking. Menus are frequently large and elaborate, describing the food in superlatives (“cooked-to-perfection chicken breasts in mouthwatering cream sauce with garden-fresh vegetables”), but you should ignore the adjectives and try to figure out what the dish is.
You may have a choice of ordering a dinner or a la carte. If you order a la carte, you will be paying separately for the various components of your meal, such as the salad and dessert. The dinner, which costs more, includes the extra courses. Read the small print to find out what comes with what.
At this level of dining you may run into one of the new chummy waiters. Such a one will appear at your table and say “Hello. How are you tonight? My name is Steve. I’m going to be your waiter. I’d like to tell you about our specials.” After his speech is over, he will behave much more like a real waiter – disappearing when you want him most – than a friend. You are not expected to introduce yourselves to him.
Your soup or salad will be served before the main course. Presumably this is to keep you happy while you’re waiting. The drawback is that after bread and salad one is often too full to eat the rest of the meal. As large servings are a feature of family-style restaurants, you may want to ask for a “doggie bag” to take your leftovers home in. The waiter will whisk your plate away and bring back your dinner wrapped up – your next day’s lunch.
Family restaurants have a pleasant lack of pretension and reasonable prices, but do not attract gourmet eaters. A 15 % tip is sufficient, as in most restaurants.
DRINKING
Although Americans are consuming less alcohol than ever before, drinking still occupies a large role on the social stage. “Let’s meet for a drink” usually means let’s get together at a bar after work and before dinner, although such a thing can also be done after dinner.
Some bars serve food, but their primary stock is alcohol. The price of the same drink could vary from $1.00 in a down-and-out saloon to $6 in a mahogany-panelled room with a view. You won’t get a menu, but the bartender is supposed to know low to make almost any concoction you order. Mixed drinks (known as cocktails when consumed before dinner) have ringing names that suggest little about the ingredients: martinis, margaritas, Tom&Jerry’s, Bloody Mary’s. Some of the pack a wallop so it’s wise to find out what you’re imbibing. You may also order whisky neat (no ice), on the rocks (with ice), or in a highball (with ice and water in a tall glass).
любимой.