Agreed that it goes both ways - just making the point that tourists tend to have a pretty warped idea of what the food traditions in the countries they go to ar

Agreed that it goes both ways - just making the point that tourists tend to have a pretty warped idea of what the food traditions in the countries they go to are. My point of reference is how annoying it is when you try to go to an oden spot or something and your friend complains that they’re not eating wagyu steaks (which you’ve eaten every week for the last month for each friend visiting Japan pre-corona times), and therefore this meal is unhealthy because it lacks a huge amount of protein. I think a lot of people’s impressions of foreign food are a result of their own pickiness. Specific to the American culinary tradition though I find it pretty wild that for most people I know back home, healthy = salad, there seems to be very little mainstream options besides that. Like you said, it is possible to be healthy; but the default American family meal these days is a far cry from that, even compared to a typical convenience store food eating lazy Japanese person.