In Spain there are definitely "American" restaurants, aside from fast-food chains. They do very well, though not from me because they suck. :)

There are a couple of global chains like Hard Rock, TGIF and Tony Roma's in Madrid, but nationwide we get the home-grown places with off-sounding names that seem to have been subject to a literal translation: Foster's Hollywood and Rock & Ribs are the two biggest. Both their names and menus remind me of "Americatown", the restaurant the Simpsons visited in Tokyo.

You can dine on such sort-of-familiar sounding things as Bacon & Cheese Fries, Pizza Fajitas, "Salad Cheese Cabra", and of course a stack of pancakes smothered in chocolate sauce and whipped cream for dessert. All washed down with a 7-ounce Coke, no ice.

Part of my disappointment is due to all of these things being passed through the Spanish cultural filter in order to make them palatable for the market - much the same way Spaniards would just shake their head at what passes for paella served in the US - but I suspect it's got as much to do with the fact that the people cooking and serving these dishes have never eaten the thing they're supposed to be a copy of so there's not really a point of reference.

It's not like we don't have plenty of great food here, but once in a while a guy does get homesick for B&G, CFS, or blueberry cobbler. And now I make those at home.

^^

.. corn bread and turkey with stuffing and gravy!

Thanks, MD. :)

Also I will add that the supermarkets here sell frozen fries, reconstituted onion ring-shaped food product, and chicken fingers in a red-white-and-blue starred-and-striped bag under the McKennedy brand. If I were a cynic I'd roll my eyes at that!

there is definitely southern and midwestern cuisine.

theres also "cookout" and/or barbecue type stuff, which can overlap with the aforementioned regions.

sometimes american vs elsewhere is more subtle - like hotdogs vs other sausages.

california has also gone "organic" etc crazy, which has spread to a certain degree, and im not saying its not found in other countries, especially naturally, but nowhere else has the same kind of (pop)culture.

I love those!

No, you don't. Trust me. Imagine someone dried out onions, ground them into a paste, then mixed them with water and binders and squizzed the resulting goo through a die that yielded perfectly uniform rings. Bread and deep fry. It's got the texture of a loogie at a county fair and tastes like chemicals.

Alan, you will think less of me know that that is exactly what I do like.

Kroger used to sell them frozen.

For someone whose reason for eating onion rings is for the mildly onion-y flavored crust, these are perfect. When I get onion rings that have actual onions in them that are more than ~ 3/16" wide I pull the onions out and eat the crust.

I have not been accused of having really highbrow taste. :D

In Sydney, there's a great little place in Neutral Bay (on Military Road) called 'South'. The chef is an American and they serve a mix of the southern US, 'rustic' type food; Busciuts and gray, jambalaya, crab cakes, pull apart pork roast, greens, etc. It's a small place, but always busy and not just with ex pats.
Although I visit the Mid West a couple of times each year, to me, this style of cuisine is what I consider American, not the chic, modern dining you would find say in San Fran. While these places are cutting edge, each country has chefs who are pushing the envelope (London is now considered the pinnacle of dining in Europe, but we wouldn't say that English cuisine is one we would go out for:D). To me, it's the traditional foods that remind me of places I have visited.
On another note, while in Dubai recently, I was amazed by the amount of US owned, fast food outlets. I saw Chilli's, Subway, KFC, McD, Hardy's to name a few. Is nowhere safe from these guys!!

Oh my goodness I can't believe I'm the first to list this...

When my UK friends come over this is what I feed them and they will practically moan with with ecstasy while eating.....and beg me for recipes or air mail packages...

Barbecued baby back ribs, fried green tomatoes, buttermilk biscuits with cream gravy, fried chicken dredged in buttermilk and tobasco sauce, sweet potato soufflet with brown sugar pecan topping, fried okra, black-eyed peas, cracklin' cornbread, peach sweet tea and banana puddin'.

I believe in other parts it's called Soul Food. Down here in the deep south it's called supper. :p

Enormous portion sizes are requisite.

I live in the US, so this is based purely upon discussions with my brother and his SO from England and their friends, but it is not so much that they do not serve food that we have in America, as that it is not called "American". When you think of going out in the US, you think of fast food, or southern, or pizza, or TGI Fridays, or whatever. The same there. There is no "American" food - they still go out for burgers, or pizza, or whatever. Yeah they kind of think of it as American, but don't really call it that - they call it by a more specific name.

For instance, if you say "Indian", you think, curries, maybe samosas, and that is mostly it. Chinese think stir fry type items. Mexican is usually tortilas around something (even if that is not really Mexican). There is no "American" item. It's too diverse to be an style on it's own.

All those things plus a few more are what I would call American food as well. Things that you pretty much can.not.find outside of the US. I would include all BBQ meats cooked in smokers, and especially American breakfast sausage (links or patties).

Interestingly enough, I was once told that Chili is really the only true American dish. I kind of think it is true.

What other nation in its right mind would have come up with things like deep-fried dill pickles or fried coke?

Back to the title subject for a moment, I've stopped counting friends visiting the US who find American food remarkably salty. Would the posters here agree with that?

Of course, then there are the the foreign interpretations of traditional "American" food...

....I still remember seeing a menu posted outside what I was told was "pretty good" restaurant in Oxford which advertised "Authentic Southern Fried Chicken"... Smothered with MUSHROOM GRAVY.

Now there actually *are* a few places in the South that will actually serve gravy WITH fried chicken (not smothering, but on the side), most notably Maryland and to a lesser extent Virginia. But it's CREAM gravy, a pan gravy, or a "Country" gravy (cream with flavored w/ pork products like sausage, ham, or bacon). Certainly not mushroom gravy, since mushrooms are *not* a significant part of traditional Sothern cooking. And certainly no self-respecting Southerner would smother fried chicken before it got to the table...as it would defeat the purpose of frying the chicken crisp!

And don't get me started on the offenses against nature that are "chili" served in foreign lands... (I once got served a bowl of chili with green peas in it in London! ...and another with artichokes in France!)

American food is huge in Singapore, although oddly, the epitome of cool here seems to be New York City. In general, "Western" food with no further qualifiers translates into anything grilled and served with french fries, while "American" is a loosely defined subset of that revolving on a steak-burger-hot dog-pizza-pasta axis. Note that Italian, French, etc are not considered "Western". Some semi-random examples:

* New York, New York, probably the most authentic of the lot, with Philly cheesesteaks, all-day breakfast, pancakes and lots of stuff that is very American but isn't necessary instantly associated with the country
* NYDC, eclectic menu with pizza, pasta, brownies, cheese cake etc
* Manhattan Fish Market, mostly fish and chips (yeah, not too American...)
* Empire State, burgers and buffalo wings and whatnot
* Billy Bombers, retro 50s diner style

...and lots more... (308, to be precise!)

in japan
 

i recalled seeing TGI fridays, red lobster, trader vic's, wolfgang puck, tony romas and a hawaiian-styled burger chain.
i dined there at the old spaghetti factory and a buffet place called sizzler and another place that may have been called harvester. denny's was everywhere. also some delicatessens and bakerys that were oriented more toward american items, an increasing number of good brewpubs with accompanying fare familiar to americans, and the occasional jazz cafe.
there were quite a few other one-off places that were fairly american and at least a couple in tokyo that were canadian (thanksgiving turkey dinner served in october).
then there was the odd random and totally isolated little place in the hinterlands that one would occasionally come across - one i recall was a roadside shack where the father and son served dodger dogs and anchor steam beer while wearing dodger jackets and caps.

http://bento.com/tf-rest.html#cuisine2

Lived in Paris for 30 days and the oddest bit was the "American" section of the supermarket the way our supermarkets have Mexican or Chinese food.

It was a single endcap on an aisle at most, sometimes just a shelf, but it always had peanut butter, marshmallow fluff, and then the makings nachos and tacos in many varieties.

I went to "English Pub" called The Frog which is apparently a chain. It had beer it brewed itself like many places here in the states - according to locals the only good beer to be found in Paris. Though it was themed as "English" the locals all concured it was more American in its offerings - we ordered nachos (with the proper bright orange nacho cheese) and a proper cheeseburger. It did have some English food offerings, so to the French the two are somewhat interchangeable.

"Americano" sandwiches from various vendors usually had beef or were more complex in having many meat/cheese/veg choices as opposed to other mentioned regions. It was almost as if it was a way of identifying the chef's special, as they often had a lot more complexity then the other regionally labeled sandwiches.

Btw, the French rather like McD's and eat it about as much as any American.

I can see that. Most food I've had outside of the US other than Japanese or Indian, I've had to or wanted to get out the salt shaker. Korea being the best example. If what they say about salt and hypertension is true, Koreans should have the lowest blood pressure in the world. ;)

For me an opulent Surf and turf (lobster + steak) screams american food, esp. in a 'traditional' diner.

Or for a different twist head to Manila and see what those american-crazy filipinos are having - besides basketball games on TV. Pizza Hut, TGIs, ... are all present and cheaper than a good local or asian restaurant. Oh, and the Philippines will be the first asian country to have a serious obesity problem.

The Scots.

Think who started the "Deep Fried Mars Bar" amongst other things. That's not to say it isn't tasty!

My Vietnamese brother-in-law considers Cracker Barrel to be the epitome of 'American' food.

Modern American high end food started here.

It is probably fairly described as the modern American cuisine now. Previously I think it was more regional. Those regional versions still exist in better and worse forms but I think what was originally called "California Cuisine" has supplanted them on the national level.

NO, we don't think that our food (South Louisiana) is real American food. ;)

Anytime that I leave South Louisiana, I always avoid any restaurant that advertises Cajun, Creole, or New Orleans food.

Lots of interesting viewpoints, though the OP is asking whether other countries recognize a specific "American" cuisine, not what Americans think it is.

I know but I thought I would throw in another view. I was trying to think whether California cuisine is seen outside the US but I pay so little attention to anything American related while traveling that I cant remember. I was hoping that others might comment on whether they see that perspective on American food.

Yeah... and most of the responses (not surprisingly) settled on rehashing the stereotypes we all know.:rolleyes:

mike

Unfortunately, I would consider going for American food too be, meat meat and more meat...or something heavily processed. That's enough to put me off the idea.
I appreciate that's not how people in the USA eat at home (and USA is fairly diverse), but it is the stereotype that comes to mind when I think of food in an US American eatery and typically what one finds in a US food establishment outside of the USA.
Just my perspective (from the UK).

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Actually I don't think that is far off from how a large number of Americans eat at home.

When I think american food, I think the stereotypical fried junk (mcdonalds etc). And also clam chowder, caffinated everything, and what's it called? Hash or something? Random minced salty meat?

Hash browns, i.e. shredded potatoes grilled in a skillet?

Or if hash refers to some random minced salty meat, I have no idea. Spam? ;)

Here's hash according to Wikipedia.

I've never eaten it, but then I'm probably not a typical American as I don't like meat in general.

To me Fried Chicken, Mac&Cheese, baked potatos and anything with butter on tops I consider as American food. Don't forget the bacon bits:p.

Yuck. Kinda reminds me of an East Coast friend's description of scrapple.

Please don't think that's normal American food! :p

But it is. Corned beef hash is on the menu of practically all breakfast restaurants. At least west of the Rockies. It's normally just minced corned beef and potatoes, it's delicious, and very common. I have met very few people who don't like it. (And it's nothing like scrapple)

Ah. Well, I'm not a fan of corned beef (too salty), so that might explain why I haven't eaten it. I haven't noticed it on any menus (at least along the west coast from California to Alaska), but then again, I've never been looking for it.

I guess it sounds less gross than I first thought--if it's just corned beef and potatoes with a few onions and things thrown in, I guess it can be considered normal! ;)

Sorry to get (more) O/T, but the corned beef hash w/poached eggs at The Buena Vista Cafe near gate 82 at SFO is an excellent rendition and extremely popular in the morning hours.

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Do the Argentinian Steak places actually serve beef imported from down here...?

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In EZE, the only restaurant that is not a burger joint that the locals associate with US Cuisine would be a place called Kansas.

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Do folks still make beef hash from leftovers or is this a myth...?!

I do.