"American" food from a non-U.S. perspective?
 

If you live in the United States, it would not be uncommon to say "Let's go out for Mexican/Chinese/Vietnamese/whatever." **

You pretty much have an idea of what that means and what kind of food and dishes will be served when you say that.

Question: Do folks in other countries say "Let's go out for 'American food'"? And if so, what is pretty well understood as the kinds of things you expect to be eating?

**Note: Yes, I understand that Mexican/Chinese/whatever as it is typically served in the U.S. is not "authentic." Let's use another thread for that debate. :) I'm simply talking about what one commonly expects in the U.S. when going out to eat X ethnic food.

Hard to say and my answer stands only for me. Yes, here in Germany there are places with "American food" (I don't mean McDonalds, Pizza Hut, Subways etc.). There are some good American Sports Bars which serve real Burgers, Chicken Wings, Spareribs, Club Sandwiches and other in my opinion typical American food. You find these places mainly in areas with large US Army installations and of course they are popular with GIs.

I can't think anyone would suggest going for 'American' in the UK. It is simply not a cusine type, unlike the much loved Indian.

However, in the unlikely event of some doing so the assumption would be some form of burger or diner type food along TGIF lines. Tex Mex has a following too but a distinct identity. Otherwise, most people associate US food with McDonalds. You think we have bad food, but really we know you do. ;)

American restaurants in Germany
 

I agree with caspritz78 on the situation in Germany.

In addition to the American Sports Bars he mentioned I would add:

- American Diner style restaurants (serving real hamburgers, one or two sorts of steaks, salads, sandwiches, spareribs etc.)
- American steak houses (though very rare)

In most larger cities you´d find American restaurants / restaurant chains in the yellow pages, e.g. "Louisiana" being one of the largest.
(Even Planet Hollywood opened a couple of restaurants in Germany some years ago, but wasn´t too successful)

IMO most people would rather go to American style restaurants because of the whole experience (entertainment, "lifestyle", food) rather than the culinary experience.

In Australia there's no real concept of American food. Except McDonalds and their ilk.

Audrey

I agree. American steak houser are very rare. Argentinean steaks are more common in Germany. I also agree on Louisiana. Even if I'm not sure if it is real American food.

The few places I remember in Europe that served REAL American food did not last long. Applebees tried with several restaurants, and they all closed. I saw Wendy's come and go, Arby's lasted 2 months, and a really autentic diner joint closed after a year.

On my last trips to Germany I saw "Subway" in several towns. Do the Germans consider this as "American food"?

Thanksgiving Day at Harry's Bar in Venice is always a big deal for many local affluent Venetians. I have enjoyed Thanksgiving dinner for several years at Harry's and it is a very traditional Thanksgiving feast, albeit, a lot better than my mother served. Always surprised to see the restaurant filled with mostly Venetians, looking for that great turkey dinner. Very few Americans. Then again, there aren't many American tourists in Venice in late November.

I remember an Outback Steakhouse across from our motel in Campbelltown. Surely that qualifies as American food! :p

When I host foreigners, hamburgers aside, one of their main ideas of what American food is, "I want a big, tender steak!"

Is that just off the M4? I saw one the day on the way from Merrylands to the city and almost died of laughter (and the bronchitis I had at the time). I don't mind outback, my fiancee (well her best friend) took me to one when I was visiting her in San Antonio. Somehow I don't think it works in Sydney!

I think Steak Places would qualify in Australia, Lone Star certainly bills itself as an American Steak House. Apart from that it'd be franchises that originated in the USA, and Hungry Jacks which is the Australian version of BK (legal stuff forced the name change)

What would be called Tex-Mex in America is called Mexican in Australia and would usually not be associated with America.

I think there's a Hooters in Parramatta although I don't usually venture that far west. :p

There's a Tony Roma's too which would also classify as American. Personally I think "American" food is probably too heavy and rich to ever be considered anything but fast food over here.

Australia is much like the United States in that a lot of the food we do well is not from Australia, like Thai and Vietnamese. I guess the same is true of British cuisine and Indian.

Although I could go a shrimp poboy right about now.

This one was in Leumeah, just a block west of the railway station.

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&sour...h&z=16&iwloc=A

We didn't eat there, choosing more often instead (well, three times throughout the week) to eat at the MUCH more authentically Australian Red Rooster. ;) (Hey, it beats any chicken place in the U.S., including Chick-Fil-A! :D)

I think Fat Ammy's in "Wee Britain" typifies the non-US view of American-style dining. ;)
http://www.dailyfork.com/Fat-Ammy%27s.jpg

What is American food exactly? I thought it was a big pot and all went into it.

:)

I think their is Pizza Hut all over the world, that is distinctly american, NOT italian! It is a terrible place to eat, and it is a shame anyone would think it is italian. Even the 'spaghetti and meatballs' is american, not italian.

Basically american food is, take some part of the world's food, mix it with another part of world's food, and sometimes you come out with a great thing(some could argue spag and meatballs as such) and sometimes you end up with a terrible mess.

Frankfurt a/m seems to have a few "real" American style steakhouses. Probably because of the expat banker community.

Apparently to the marketing folks at Wagner frozen Pizza in Germany, nothing says “Texas” more than mozzarella and pepperoni.

http://i29.photobucket.com/albums/c2...h72hs5dj4e.jpg


”Boston” means mozzarella, spinach, onions, and... almonds.

What you're all missing here is the answer to the actual question. Yes, we have these foods and yes they are American (or considered American) but if we're sitting at home thinking about eating at one of these places, we don't go "Lets go get some American"

If we were to go out and get some Indian, Chinese or etc - we'd most likely say "lets go get some Chinese" because the restaurant isn't exactly a big chain - like McDonalds or similar.
That, and you can't go to a restaurant here that is classed as American. McDonalds isn't billed as "McDonalds, American cuisine"
A Thai place would be "Onni's, Thai Cuisine" - so the naming convention doesn't work the same.

Micky D's is not cuisine, so they can't call it such ;)

I can think of dozens of restaurants in other countries where some menu items are either what I would consider modern american cuisine, or where some element of american cuisine has influenced a particular dish.

I view the increasing appearance of grilled fish with "California style" veggies and a baked potato for instance as an american inspired dish. Same with salads with a piece of chicken or fish thrown in and some types of steak or pizza.

However, going out specifically for American cuisine? The closest thing that comes to mind is people going out to american themed restaurants to emulate the experience of being in america, not necessarily to eat american food. I'll use the example of Pakistan, where brands like McDonalds, KFC, Pizza Hut, TGIF, etc are much more popular than their franchisee's ever thought they would be. Most Pakistanis are mono-paleted, refusing to eat any foreign cuisine other than Chinese and perhaps Thai (Nothing else is spicy enough!). However, the popularity of american restaurants has skyrocketed largely as a function of the desire of urbanites to emulate american life and culture, not particularly because they enjoy the food. I got an inkling of this in China recently, and certainly thought this was the case in Japan, Singapore and Hong Kong in the 80's.

Thank you. :)

That was indeed the main point of my question. ;)

Outside of the usual fast food joints, I guess the first concept that appeared in the UK, 20 years ago?, of an 'American' food restaurant was TGI Fridays; which is still here and still relatively successful. As mentioned above, other franchises (same food, different name on the door) have tried to establish themselves and quickly failed.

But in answer to the question; it's no. If you were going to suggest going to Fridays you'd say exactly that, not "How about American?"

We certainly have our fair share of faux American 50's style diners with the usual burgers, fries, melts, malts etc. and some of them, here in Ireland anyway, are pretty good.....and pretty expensive to boot!

The one I saw must have been the Strathfield one, I can't believe there are three!

I like Red Rooster, especially the chips but Chick-Fil-A is better IMO.

Grass is always greener on the other side of the fence, I guess.

'Course, Chick-Fil-A is on green grass for me, since I have to travel thousands of miles to find one. I still like Red Rooster better! :D

Bahhh, Chick-Fil-A is over-rated [and ALL are closed on sundays]... There is one less than 2 miles from my place and I've never set foot in it. :D

As far as "American" food in other countries, there are plenty of American-style places in the UK (think TGI Friday's) but I've always found them to be overpriced, more like a novelty than mainstay. That's probably the reason why they have a hard time succeeding...

HTSC

burgers, buffalo wings, and steaks. think the local bar & grill

and mashed potatoes and meat loaf :)

and biscuits and gravy...

and steak and potatoes . . .

Neither are most of the places claiming to be Thai, Chinese, Indian, etc around my area, but they still consider themselves to be.

In Greece, there are Applebees (so ScottC can't be right when he says that all European Applebees have closed! :p ), Ruby Tuesday, TGIF, and Bennigans, all of which would qualify as "American cuisine". They're popular with a lot of people in the 16-21 age range, but range from the awful (Bennigans) to the decent-but-too-expensive-for-what-it-is (TGIF), hence I never visit them...
Most of the patrons seem to go there for the fact that both the customers and waiters are in the same age group as themselves (and the youth/inexperience/poor training of some waiters really does show)

Mash???
 

Yup, China has succumb to themes/franchises! I mean Maccers/Pizza Hut etc and now Lawrys! I was amused having roast beef with mash and sweetcorn in the latter :)
Or is that typical Americana cuisine????

Yes, but more to Taiwanese than American franchise concepts. Actually I've never been to Dairy Queen in the States but was rather happy to find one nearby my temporary residence. What a nice blueberry shake on a hot summer day.

Never heard of Lawry's. Roast beef with mash[ed potatoes?] and sweet corn would be American but not necessarily typical--it might be something you'd cook for a Sunday evening special dinner with family, but it's certainly not something you'd eat every day.

Mashed potatoes and corn are somewhat common sides, though. A real roast beef is for special occasions.

Prime Rib place!
 

Sorry - here's the link...www.lawrysonline.comPerhaps it's called Prime Rib and not Roast Beef!

This is a great question, OP, and I have always wondered what non-Americans think about this. My experiences living in the Middle East are the same -- we think of Chili's, TGI Fridays, or fast food, or steak houses as "American."

It's a shame. All of those are certainly legitimate dining options in certain circumstances, which I enjoy sometimes, but it's missing out on the real American food that is certainly competitive with the great cuisines of the world.

For example, in Washington, DC, the U.S. city in which I have spent the most time eating out, I used to enjoy going to Olives, Vidalia, CityZen, Corduroy, Mendocino Grille, Paolo's, DC Coast, Firefly, and Zola, to name a few. I would call of these "American" -- or perhaps in some cases American accents to other cuisines -- but they are hard to typify.

For anyone who has been to some of these places, what would you call them? And how would they be positioned in a city outside the U.S.?

In Sweden, the fast-food joints aren't regarded as "american" food.

However, there are alot of products, especially meat/barbecue in the grocery stores which is regarded as American. Like.. there are tons of "American BBQ Sauce", and "American ribs" and so on.

Au contraire, at least we don't eat Marmite :D

Yes, indeed, we ran across one in Athens and almost died of laughter. Who would have thought, the very sight of it was rather jarring.

When we were in Paris last Christmas there were people on the street everywhere handing out flyers for Subway, so I think they're making a big push. It wasn't called Subway, but the graphics and colors used made it clear what it actually was.