US food standards vs the rest of the world

[Subduction Zone]

Haha. Maybe too much baking powder. I could have sworn that was in it. One of the two made the cornbread hard as wood.

I looked up recipes and found most with neither. I may have to look again. I do not bake all that much. I do know from an early mishap in a high school home economics class that amounts of ingredients in baking is far more crucial than in other types of cooking.

 

[JustGeorge]

They might be conflating baking powder and baking soda. Baking powder does not need an acid added. Baking soda does. Baking soda is Sodium bicarbonate. That is it. Baking powder has at least two ingredients and sometimes more.

But the same book would have both ingredients... ah well. Who knows.

 

[Shadow Wolf]

It really depends. Where I live, people tend to eat healthier things. We have major grocery chains (with all those preservatives and stuff), but we also have food coops and farmers markets where people can buy locally grown and produced things. Since I live in a veritable gateway to the east, Asian food is pretty common here as well. I have things such as sambal paste, mirin, oyster sauce, locally made kimchi, milk fish, and other ingredients at my disposal - but I would say this is much more rare outside of coastal areas.

That's another perk of California. There are so many varieties of ethnic foods here, both restaurants and grocery stores, it's been a delight. Indiana is a sea of mega chains, few grocery stores, heavily catering to a MidWest diet (lots of starch, meats, and fried stuff) and "ethnic" foods are mostly either heavily Americanized versions (less than Panda Express, they don't have one of those where I lived), garbage buffets, or just not there.

 

[SomeRandom]

A good way to kill cravings for restaurant food is to work in one, or be married to someone who does, so you can hear what really is in(and isn't in) that garbage.

Good for the tongue, bad for the gut(and just about everything else).

Though if you want restaurant food, but don't want the price, you can always go to the distributer. Most restaurants don't cook their stuff from scratch, they have it brought in frozen from distribution companies(around here, its Sysco and Martin Brothers). They usually have outlets where consumers can just buy the same product outright.

Lol I work in a deli. And I can’t look at a cooked chicken. But it’s not because we have unsafe standards. Quite the opposite. But for a while our oven would collect fat at the front and would inevitably get maggots. They stopped it though due to safety concerns. Still though. Yikes

 

[SigurdReginson]

That's another perk of California. There are so many varieties of ethnic foods here, both restaurants and grocery stores, it's been a delight. Indiana is a sea of mega chains, few grocery stores, heavily catering to a MidWest diet (lots of starch, meats, and fried stuff) and "ethnic" foods are mostly either heavily Americanized versions (less than Panda Express, they don't have one of those where I lived), garbage buffets, or just not there.

Yah... When I went to Arizona there was this town where the only Asian restaurant there was this small Chinese joint. The locals seemed to love it, but it was no joke microwave food. I was kind of shocked.

I wonder how these people would react to a home cooked meal by a Filipina grandmother with a lifetime of cooking experience under her belt? Then again, grandmas just make wonderful food no matter where on the globe they happen to come from, I often find.

Edit: To be fair, that could be any small town here in the USA, but I do find this to be much more the case in places farther from access to the ocean or diversity outside of midwestern/classic American style cooking.

 

[Shadow Wolf]

I would think that there'd be a lot of farmer's markets in Indiana and other major farm states. In my travels I've seen plenty of makeshift produce stands along the side of the road.

You'd think, but Indiana does not eat healthy. Outside of a few places, things like farmer's markets just don't have an appeal, as healthy eating, fresh foods, and making it yourself just does not have much of an appeal. To them, making it yourself boiling some noodles and stirring in Velveeta or a package of powdered cheese, and meat makes up the bulk and majority of their fresh foods.

 

[Shadow Wolf]

Lol I work in a deli. And I can’t look at a cooked chicken. But it’s not because we have unsafe standards. Quite the opposite. But for a while our oven would collect fat at the front and would inevitably get maggots. They stopped it though due to safety concerns. Still though. Yikes

I sweat all over the grill and in the grease at McDonalds, and had managers who at a few places who did hold food beyond holding time.

 

[Shadow Wolf]

Yah... When I went to Arizona there was this town where the only Asian restaurant there was this small Chinese joint. The locals seemed to love it, but it was no joke microwave food. I was kind of shocked.

I wonder how these people would react to a home cooked meal by a Filipina grandmother with a lifetime of cooking experience under her belt? Then again, grandmas just make wonderful food no matter where on the globe they happen to come from, I often find.

Edit: To be fair, that could be any small town here in the USA, but I do find this to be much more the case in places farther from access to the ocean or diversity outside of midwestern/classic American style cooking.

Reminds me of this one restaurant in small town Indiana. It served the same food you'd find in gas stations, in concession stands, and some stuff to be microwaved. Very low quality, very cheap, inexplicably popular.

 

[Vinayaka]

Let's never forget the power of food lobbyists. For them, it ain't about health, but it sure is about money. When's the last time you saw an enticing ad for apples?

 

[SomeRandom]

I sweat all over the grill and in the grease at McDonalds, and had managers who at a few places who did hold food beyond holding time.

See we would have been taxed for that. So we don’t lol

 

[Stevicus]

I certainly don't really like travelling in the US by car, as it is difficult to find what I consider healthy food, on the road. Large cities are okay. That said, it's better than it used to be. We often use grocery stores, but even then a larger supermarket is needed.

I have different definitions of food than many Americans.

There's a rule of thumb many people follow when traveling on the road: If you see a lot of trucks parked outside, you know it's a good place to eat.

 

[SomeRandom]

Let's never forget the power of food lobbyists. For them, it ain't about health, but it sure is about money. When's the last time you saw an enticing ad for apples?

Whoa. You guys don’t have Apple ads?

 

[Stevicus]

Whoa. You guys don’t have Apple ads?

 

[Vinayaka]

There's a rule of thumb many people follow when traveling on the road: If you see a lot of trucks parked outside, you know it's a good place to eat.

Not a rule of thumb I could follow. How many truckers are vegetarian and gluten free? But yes, for 'regular' folk it makes sense.

 

[Sundance]

This thread seems to me to be confusing government food standards with cultural dietary habits.

And comparing the United States with the "rest of the world" doesn't make much sense, since "the rest of the world" is a big place and includes many different kinds of traditional diets along with many versions of food processing and storage standards (ranging from strict to none at all).

I live near San Jose California and I'm not really aware of any sort of distinctly Californian diet. Our local food is kind of international. We eat Mexican one day, Italian the next. Or it might be Chinese one day and Thai or Indian the next. Lots of Asian food around here. There's less and less of the older style 'meat and potatoes' cuisine imported from Europe that was consumed by previous generations. If visitors find portions are too large, remember that nobody is forcing you to eat all of it.

As far as FDA standards are concerned, I expect that they are equivalent to first world standards around the world, perhaps with some minor differences here and there that places like the EU might choose to exploit to protect their own farmers. American food standards are better than health standards in many poorer parts of the world. You aren't going to get Monteczuma's Revenge from eating American food.

San Jose, food-wise, sounds similar to here in Baltimore. Places here sell food from all over.

 

[Shadow Wolf]

There's a rule of thumb many people follow when traveling on the road: If you see a lot of trucks parked outside, you know it's a good place to eat.

 

[Shadow Wolf]

San Jose, food-wise, sounds similar to here in Baltimore. Places here sell food from all over.

Much of California is like that. Mexican, Thai, Chinese, Vietnamese, English, Italian, Irish, it's about all here.

 

[Stevicus]

Now, it seems that Flying J and Love's are the big stops these days, although they're often affiliated with one of the major chains. Or, one can expect to find Denny's, Waffle House, Country Kitchen, or other such fine dining along the interstates.

 

[Vinayaka]

That's another perk of California. There are so many varieties of ethnic foods here, both restaurants and grocery stores, it's been a delight. Indiana is a sea of mega chains, few grocery stores, heavily catering to a MidWest diet (lots of starch, meats, and fried stuff) and "ethnic" foods are mostly either heavily Americanized versions (less than Panda Express, they don't have one of those where I lived), garbage buffets, or just not there.

That's a perk of many large cities. The difference between my city, Edmonton, and rural Alberta, is extreme. Little _________ s exist here. I'm sure there is spinoff from immigrants and IT in California for sure.

 

[Shadow Wolf]

Now, it seems that Flying J and Love's are the big stops these days, although they're often affiliated with one of the major chains. Or, one can expect to find Denny's, Waffle House, Country Kitchen, or other such fine dining along the interstates.

I do like Flying J and Love's for a clean bathroom that is usually clean, but even traveling I tend to pack things like nuts and dehydrated fruit because Loves and Flying J often don't have good food in them or attached to them.