Traveling abroad, we have learned not to be tempted by “American” food restaurants. Truly – trust us – it’s not American. Ever. It’s really not worth sampling to be sure. Looking for something safe to eat, we ordered nachos in Oban, Scotland, and got… About 20 tortilla chips, 1/2 a cup of marinara sauce, and 1/4 of a cup of cheese, all thrown into the microwave for just long enough to melt the cheese, but not long enough to warm the (refrigerated) marinara sauce.
Let’s not even go into the conception of “pancake.”
The McDonald’s next to D’s office boasts that it has “Classic American Food.” Well, MickeyD’s opened in 1951 or so, so, perhaps a chain hamburger joint in the UK still seems classic to someone, somewhere. After all, America has fifty states — who are we to say what’s considered classic to everyone, everywhere? But just as most Scots would be hard-pressed to say what Scottish food might be, it’s a lot harder to pin down American food in our multicultured land. Is real Scottish food haggis? Scones? Mushy peas? Bannock? Yorkshire pudding? Chips? Is classic American food just hamburgers? Or is it pizza? Spaghetti? Sourdough? Clam chowder? Baked beans? Potato salad? Greasy burgers, weird fried bread masquerading as pancakes, and marinara nachos can probably be found anywhere — which is a pity — but let’s not make the mistake of calling it classic anything!
– D & T
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Abroad "nothing" is American, German, Mexican, Chinese, French or Italian. To eat really Mexican food you MUST be in Mexico, and so on. Enjoy Scotland. 🙂 Hope you are having a nice time there. Cheers!
Marcus
Pining down Scottish food is actually quite easy: Cullen Skink, Scotch Broth, Neeps and tatties, kippers, haggis, caramel shortcake, tablet, irn bru, coconut macaroon (invented in Govan!), and so on. Oh, and curry, of course (ok, not scottish but adopted as their own).
But yeah, I agree, defining American food and cuisine is hard but not as hard as defining Canadian! At least I can quickly name an American "type" of cuisine (i.e. tex mex) off the top of my head. Canadian – eh, not so much!
p.s. that picture from Ad Lib? I've been but not for their "american" brunch just yet. I've only been for dinner….
The nachos at the Barony pub in Edinburgh are really good.
Canadian cuise, how about banock, back bacon and poutine.
It's true – if you want a particular regional cuisine, you must cook it for yourself!
Except … occasionally you'll get good nachos. Really: how hard are they? Unless you're a cook in Oban, apparently.