Note to vacationing non-Americans: while it’s true that America doesn’t always have the best food culture, the food in our restaurants is really not representative of what most of us eat at home. The portions at Cheesecake Factory or IHOP are meant to be indulgent, not just “what Americans are used to.”
If you eat at a regular American household, during a regular meal where they’re not going out of their way to impress guests, you probably will not be served twelve pounds of chocolate-covered cream cheese. Please bear this in mind before writing yet another “omg I can’t believe American food” post.
Also, most American restaurant portions are 100% intended as two meals’ worth of food. Some of my older Irish relatives still struggle with the idea that it’s not just not rude to eat half your meal and take the rest home, it’s expected. (Apparently this is somewhat of an American custom.)
Until you’re hitting the “fancy restaurant” tier (the kind of place you go for a celebration or an anniversary date), a dinner out should generally also be lunch for the next day. Leftovers are very much the norm.
From the little time I’ve spent in Canada, this seems to be the case up there as well.
the portions in family restaurants (as opposed to haute cuisine types) are designed so that no one goes away hungry.
volume IS very much a part of the american hospitality tradition, and Nobody Leaves Hungry is important. but you have to recognize that it’s not how we cook for ourselves, it’s how we welcome guests and strengthen community ties.
so in order to give you a celebratory experience and make you feel welcomed, family restaurants make the portions big enough that even if you’re a teenage boy celebrating a hard win on the basketball court, you’re still going to be comfortably full when you leave.
of course, that means that for your average person with a sit-down job, who ate a decent lunch that day, it’s twice as much as they want or more. that’s ok. as mentioned above, taking home leftovers is absolutely encouraged. that, too, is part of american hospitality tradition; it’s meant to invoke fond memories of grandma loading you down with covered dishes so you can have hearty celebration food all week. pot luck church basement get-togethers where the whole town makes sure everybody has enough. that sort of thing. it’s about sharing. it’s about celebrating Plenty.
it’s not about pigging out until you get huge. treating it that way is pretty disrespectful of our culture. and you know, contrary to what the world thinks, we do have one.
Reblogging because I honestly never thought about it but yeah, this lines up.
ok? so how often do americans eat home-cooked food? cause on tv people often say they’re at the same restaurant/diner 3-4 times a week…
that’s common in middle and upper classes where people have more money to spend on nights out, and that’s okay! especially w the middle class, they’re supporting their community in an important way! but most of us poorer folks can’t afford to eat out often bc it’s cheaper to make an entire box of spaghetti with a jar of sauce for 4 bucks total (making meals for three or more days) than it is to pay 15 bucks for only 2 meals tops, or double at fast food restaurants if you want anything close to the same proportions.
most of the culture this post revolves around was created and is continued by the working class and poor communities who in the end rely heavily on the group rather than the individual. I can’t speak personally for urban areas but I live in farm+mountain country and the local church is always putting on huge meals. REALLY big ones have admission to help support the church (sometimes they even print flyers to get everyone’s attention) and pay for food that isn’t donated/brought and made by congregation and community members but a lot of them are free. The fire house is the same way.
even with individuals in town, I’ve been offered more dinners at work by customers than I can count, especially on holidays. yeah the community has its problems but when everyone knows everyone, we all get fed one way or another.
