interesting american food??
 

Hi everyone.. this is going to seem an odd request.. I am writing something and I am trying to use examples (available on the west coast or new york) of interesting, maybe a little bizarre food you can get at a store or a restaurant in the US. Obviously I am asking cos I'm not American, so I can't get out there to browse the shops. Can any of you post your favourite unusual candy or any wierd cereal or anything that you have seen or that you like? Or your favourite restaurant and what you like to eat there? Basically, any ideas of brands or types of food you like...

Cheers x mel :wavey:

Does it have to be american food? cause there hardly is such a thing...
AMber

:) I guess I am looking for something I can't get here (I am in the UK right now)... I am pretty sure most cereals and stuff are different, and I am just wondering if there are some things that some one from outside the US would see in an American supermarket and just really want to try.

For example: in New Zealand you can get different chocolate bars to the UK.. NZ has Mars and Bounty etc etc from the US but also Moro bars (a bit like Mars. So maybe an American in NZ might see Moro bars and think what is that??? and want to try it (or not). I'm kind of looking for that kind of thing.

If you can get it in the UK or New Zealand (where I am from, originally), I'll let you know.

Mel

Here in the Philadelphia area I LOVE a good soft pretzel!

Stuff like that?

Hi Sugar, yeah, like that, exactly. A soft pretzel?? Is it pretzel shaped? Like a salty donut???

My friend brought me a violet crunch candybar from Aus(I think?) in the fourth grade, and it was soooooo good. That's a good candybar if you remember it 20 yrs. later :laugh:

well let's see - this is pretty unique to New Mexico ( and therefore something I am missing greatly)....but green chile bagels...mmmm...they are so good - they are plain bagels with green chile baked in - you can get awesome Green Chile in New Mexico - you cannot get it anywhere else - we seriously have the best green chile (NOT PEPPERS) on the planet...

so I also enjoy Green CHile dip - it's sour cream mixed with green chile and it's SO good....I can eat a whole tub in one sitting lol....

I miss the land of green chile...

Hey,

Sometimes you can get them "pretzel shaped". Especially if you buy frozen ones in the grocery store (brand name: Superpretzel).

But if you buy them from the local convenience store they're usually shaped kind of like a tall, narrowish figure 8. Like if you put your fingers in the loops of the 8 and pulled?

Yes they are salty, but they're much more doughy than a donut. Closer to bread than a pastry.

How's that?

I was also thinking of scrapple, which is a popular breakfast meat around here. There's a saying about using pigs for food, and that's "You use everything but the 'oink'", and that's where scrapple comes in!

It sounds familiar.. I think you can get violet crunch bars in NZ too. Can you get Cadbury's chocolate in the US? It's pretty much the standard brand here...

Yeah, but I wouldn't say it's Standard. And i'd have to go with mexican food, i heard england doesn't have it, or it's not as good, or something. Since i would eat it all the time, i'd probably miss that most.
And, though i don't eat cereal hardly at all....oh, those Golden Grahams are great!
AMber

You can get Cadbury chocolate in the US, butr usually a fairly limited variety and (I think) mostly only in grocery stores. You don't see the Cadbury chocolate bars around the cash register that you see in the UK. (I lived in London for 6 months when I was in college).

The standard brands for chocolate bars at the register are Nestle and Hershey. Again, Hershey is based in Hershey, Pennsylvania, about 2 hours west of Philly, so I'm not sure if that's a regional thing. Anybody? The globe-trotting Deanna maybe?

No, in cali we have basically just hershey and nestle, too. of course, there are specialty chocolote places cause Ghiradelli square is right here, but.
AMber

that thing you eat with turkey for Thanksgiving
 

Just cereal or candy?

Cause right now I remember the "stuffing", I guess it's the name of that thing you eat with turkey for Thanksgiving.

That is not popular in Peru (in fact we don't celebrate Tksgiving). So maybe it could work (don't know if it's popular in UK, NZ or other places)

And of course pretzels.

How about something like a Philly Cheesesteak?

Or something southern like collard greens or black-eyed peas?

I don't know anything about the southern stuff, but I've had a cheesesteak or two in my time! :thumbsup:

Carol

Do you have like Funnel Cakes and Elephant Ears over there? They are tasty carnival treats.

:laugh: hardly....but yeah - I think the standards around the states are Hershey and Nestle....though is Mars its own brand? Like who makes Snickers and Kit Kat and stuff?

Also - my sister went to London about six years ago and brought me back a Flake bar....oh - my - God.....I LOVED it - I wish we could get those here in the states...it was ever so yummy...

Funnel cakes....YUM.........*mouth watering*

Carol

thanks guys
 

I am taking notes here...

Deanna, that green chili sounds good. I have never tried it, but I like sweet red chili so I think I might like green. I love avocado dip... and corn chips.

Amber: I have heard the name Golden Grahams before... what is it like? Mexican food here is hard to find (maybe easier in London) and not very authentic. I read that Taco Bell is the biggest mexican chain restaurant in America. Is that right? Do they have other things other than Tacos? is the food any good? I have so many questions.

Sugar.. thank you! scrapple.. that is a great name for a breakfast meat. And superpretzel is also a very good brand name :)

Villavic.. we have stuffing in turkey or chicken at christmas too.. nice, expecially with chestnuts.

Violet.. cheesesteak? is it a piece of cheese on a steak? or in a steak? Like those sausages with cheese inside. It sounds delicious. Is that only in Philly then?

On the edge of 17.. Ok, I have to ask, funnel cakes? elephant ears? Please tell.....

You can get hershey bars and nestle stuff in NZ also.

Thanks everyone :wavey:

Oh, final question, can you buy Simpsons (the show) cereal? And if so, is it very delicious and are the pieces of cereal shaped like characters?

Hey,
Do you have corndogs? they are also a carnival treat, along with cotton candy.

Funnel cakes if I'm thinking of the right things a long thin deep fried sticks of dough with sugar and cinnimon, aka Churoos (sp?)

Do you have saltwater taffy?

As for odd foods I always thought Chitoos (orange puffy chips) were a bit off, but maybe you guys have them.

I assume you have versions of ding dongs, ho hos, drumsticks, twinkies, snowballs etc.

Here is a link for one of the famous cheesesteak places in S. Philly.

http://www.patskingofsteaks.com/cheesesteak.htm

I prefer Jim's Steaks or Tony Luc's, though. But Pat's website gives a good description and picture. Basically it's thinly sliced steak fried on a grill, served on a hoagie (sub) roll with cheese, usually Cheez Whiz, but I get Provolone if it's available. When you order, you tell them "with" or "without", meaning with or without onions. "Cheesesteak without" for me. They are available elsewhere, but I believe they originated here in Philly. There was actually a pretty good place in Clearwater FL where I used to live....

As for funnel cakes, think dough fried in oil topped off with powdered sugar.

Add the two together and it's a heart attack waiting to happen!

Carol

And speaking of things that originated in Philly, how about Tasty Kakes! Like Little Debbies, ho-hos, etc, but SO much better! Kandy Kakes, blueberry pies......

Carol

Ohhh
I used to love little debbies...

No - Funnel Cake and Churros are different. Churros are the fried sticks of dough with cinnamon sugar...Funnel Cakes are also fried dough - but in a lump/cake form...and they can be topped with a variety of things - powdered sugar, chocolate, fruit....they're SO good...


Anyway - green chile and red sweet chile are vastly different...green chile is quite hot (if roasted right) and just has this amazing flavor...

Just a note -- Taco Bell is NOT Mexican Food haha...it is - but like the bottom of the barrel crappy Mexican Food - I stand by the opinion that the best Mexican food comes from Southern New Mexico and El Paso Texas....goooood stuff there - even the Mexican food I got in California didn't cut it for me...

Taco Bell is the biggest Mexi chain, but it's not good mexi food.(although I like it, but i have base, fast food tastes in addition to my finer ones) And Cali has soooo many good actual mexican food restaurants, that it's a travesty to mention taco bell in the same sentence...yes, they have burritos, nachos, etc.oooo nachos...mmmmm....anyway, it's all meat, cheese, tortillas, salsa, guacamole, beans,rice...chips....very good....golden grahams are a delicious, graham cracker and honey tasting cereal...not too sweet, not to healthy, if you know what i mean..
AMber

I think a lot of southern foods might work: fried chicken, mustard greens, cornbread, buttermilk, turnips, pickled beets, pickled okra, fried okra, fried squash, etc. Some of these foods have to be American only. :lol:

Flakes!
 

Oooh...my nana brings those home from Ireland. So very delicious and crumbly.

Shamus

Ya left out...
 

the ever-popular "Pickled Pigs Feet" :lol: :laugh: :lol:

Brian j.

Thanks for reminding me of that one! How could I have forgotten?! ;)

Oh, god, my mom keeps a huge jar of those on her kitchen counter. She looooves them. ::shudders::

Have you tried looking in your local bulk candy store? They have them in mine, along with other cadbury imports and novelty candy. If not, I'm sure you can order them somewhere on the web. :nod:

Amber & Deanna
:) yeah, I had a dim sense that using Taco bell and mexican food in one sentence was probably wrong. I guess I've never had genuine Mexican food, only chili and beans and meat stuffed in a taco shell with a handful of grated cheese :(

jadegypsy: saltwater taffy.. is that like candy floss, pink spun sugar on a stick? or is that cotton candy?
corn dogs??=sausage/hotdog on a stick?
I have heard of Chitoos.. I guess they are like cheese ball things? In NZ we had Burger Rings, which I loved as a kid, little rings (surprisingly) made of whatever these things are made of.. maize cheese snack stuff, and flavoured (supposedly) like burgers. very tasty.

Carol, thanks for the link, it sounds pretty good. I'm sure there are restaurants in California where you can get that kind of thing. i'd be going for "with" I think.. onion is good. :)

golddustwoman.. good idea, I will try to find out about southern food too. Okra is a vegetable right? What does it taste like? I need to do a search...

Amber: those golden grahams sound good. You mentioned finer taste in food, could you elaborate? Where is a classy place to go or thing to order? If Taco Bell is a bad place to take a first date (?) where would be the classiest place to go??

deanna: Thanks for the churros- funnel cake description.. I'm going to do a search on them :) Do you like Japanese food at all? You can get these wasabi coated nuts and little rice cakes that are pretty intense. that's what your description of the green chile reminds me of anyway.

It's wierd, I have heard of a lot of these foods from years of watching American TV but never really knew what they were, just assumed... man, i could be so wrong about those corndogs! They're not made of sweet corn are they??

Oh.. I just read about scrapple. Am I right in thinking it is something only homemade? You can't buy that in a store, can you?

Yeah you can buy it in the store. You buy it in a little refridgerated loaf, slice it, and fry it. :wavey:

Scrapple sounds an awful lot like what we call "souse meat" here in NC. Either way, it's revolting. :laugh:

Corndogs are like hot fried thin cornbread wrapped around a hot dog.
I would only know good restaurants around my area, or other areas i've been, and the famous ones in new york. You can tell a nice one just by looking, though...though the quality of food definitly varies in nice restaurants, and some restaurants that don't look as foofy, serve great food.
AMber

Souse has sort of a jelly-like consistency, doesn't it? And you can see all the random pieces of whatever in it...Wait, maybe that's souse LOAF. I've seen that in the grocery store. Scrapple is sort of grey and has a mushier texture to it. I haven't had it in years, but I remember that it's not as bad as it sounds! :shrug: Not sure why I'm commenting on this thread since I haven't ever tasted souse and I haven't had scrapple since I was a kid. Maybe because I find it so interesting that people actually EAT souse. Somehow scrapple doesn't seem as gross to me. ANYway... :laugh:

Yes you can, but read this and then tell me if you'd want to.

But what parts of the hog go into the creation of scrapple? After the ham, bacon, chops and other cuts of meat are taken from the butchered pig - what remains are fixings for scrapple - including the meat scraped off the head. Scrapple may contain pork skin, pork heart, pork liver, pork tongue - even pork brains.

Scrumptious!

Hey:
Someone already explained corndogs, but yeah they are hotdogs on a stick covered with a cornbread coating.

Saltwater Taffy: ummm not really sure how to describe it, its soft taffy/toffee that is put in salt water and flavored, they come in all kinds of flavors and colors (kinda like jelly beans). http://www.fralingers.com/history.htm

Oh and I totally forgot, but Cracker Jacks, the carmel covered, peanut, popcorn with prizes, kinda goes with a saying the someone got their drivers liscense out of a cracker jack box.

Oh an pixi stix- sticks of flavored sugar, I used to love those.

Do you have fruit roll-ups?

Oh and Lucky Charms, a cereal with marshmellows, we love to start kids off healthy:)

It is a vegetable. How it tastes? It is a green vegetable. It is small with soft, round, white seeds inside. I really can't think of anything it taste like. Fried okra tasted kind of like a cross between green beans and corn, maybe. :shrug: If it isn't breaded and if it isn't cooked properly, it can be slightly slimy in texture. Unbreaded okra is usually served with tomatoes in a stewed form. That is about the best I can do on describing okra. It is one of those things that is hard to describe. You should just try it and do some research. :D

Delicious if fried crisp on the outside and a little mushy on the inside! :D