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>The largest national/ethnic group contributing to the American population is German, followed by the British Isles/Ireland I would have thought people from th
by vram22 10y ago
>The largest national/ethnic group contributing to the American population is German, followed by the British Isles/Ireland
I would have thought people from the British Isles were the largest group, based on what I've read about America, the Pilgrims, etc. Is that wrong?
- CPLX 10y agoYes that's what people think instinctively but it's incorrect. Part of the issue is that two world wars served to erase tremendous amounts of the visible cultural legacy of the German influence on the US, streets and towns were renamed, biergardens turned into bars, and so on. The culinary influence is right there in plain sight though if you look for it, from the names of our big mainstream brewing companies to our national favorites, the Frankfurter and the Hamburger.
- caf 10y agoMaybe I'm slow, but I've sometimes idly wondered why Hamburgers contain no Ham - and your comment finally made be twig: it's Hamburger as in /ˈhambɜːrɡər/ not /ˈhæmbɜːrɡər/ !
- logfromblammo 10y agoSome things that are not completely obviously named after places: hamburger => Hamburg frankfurter => Frankfurt wiener => Vienna pilsner => Plzeň seltzer => Selters
- look_lookatme 10y agoBBQ, too. For instance, the Texas style of smoked BBQ is rooted in German immigration to central Texas.
- vram22 10y agoInteresting. I was just reading about Texas barbecue a couple of days ago (in fact I have a few tabs about cuisines open in my browser right now). They said the influence was from Germans, as you said, also Czech, IIRC (for the barbecue). Apparently East, Central, West and maybe South Texas all have different styles of barbecue. Edited for typo.