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>> The US has a fantastical food culture because it's a large country that can natively produce almost every crop, and was historically agrarian. Adding to that

>> The US has a fantastical food culture because it's a large country that can natively produce almost every crop, and was historically agrarian. Adding to that, the US food culture always changes to wars, new immigrants, boycott, and government subsidies. Most countries aren't like that, and are significantly more conservative with dietary changes. With all these advantages in the US's favor, why is it that Europe is held as a standard of food done right? Discourse on the American diet is almost always concerned with obesity and diet-related diseases and induced by a villain-of-the-year ingredient (e.g. transfats, sodium, cholesterol, oxidants, monosodium-glutamate, corn syrup, etc). Where as, say, the Dutch breakfast and Italian wine culture are respectively associated with growing heights and increased longevity.

throwaway0a5e 5y ago
>With all these advantages in the US's favor, why is it that Europe is held as a standard of food done right? Because filter bubbles and liking Europe[1] is very fashionable in filter bubbles that are demographically similar to HN and most of HN has a social circle full of similar demographics that they get their food opinions from. There are plenty of people who hold middle America in high culinary regard. The rest of the things those people tend to have to say are generally not welcome around here so those people don't hang out here and don't hang out with the kind of people who hang out here so there's little discussion going on between these groups of people. [1] For a very specific definition of "Europe" that is a far smaller than the actual continent.
- Dracophoenix 5y ago
  > Because filter bubbles and liking Europe[1] is very fashionable in filter bubbles that are demographically similar to HN and most of HN has a social circle full of similar demographics that they get their food opinions from. I don't think that's the case. Demographics for cooking and pop nutritionist shows are not comparable to the demographics of HN. The audience of the former is dominated by married, middle-aged women in metro-suburban areas across the United States while the audience of the latter is dominated by unmarried, late-20s, bicoastal, urban-dwelling men. Outside of family relations or significant others, I see little overlap between the two at the individual or social level. > There are plenty of people who hold middle America in high culinary regard. The rest of the things those people tend to have to say are generally not welcome around here so those people don't hang out here and don't hang out with the kind of people who hang out here so there's little discussion going on between these groups of people. My complaint is not about a lack of high regard, but lack of objective assessment. Sure, association or lack thereof might have something to do with a lack of commentary on American diets. But it has nothing to do with unqualified undermining of those diets. Such an opinion must have first come out of someone's mouth before becoming an oft-repeated factoid. If you know of any, what middle American diets are associated with height, longevity, increased musculature, or better overall health and by what standard is this proven?
showerst 5y ago
The US is, as usual, large and diverse enough that you can find data for either point. I think many "people" (aka the ones comparing food cultures and rating restaurants) would say that big US grocery stores are incredible, and our best restaurants are as interesting as any on earth. It's also fair to say that our average person is extremely out of shape, and eats a comparatively huge amount of processed garbage. Food culture in a lot of suburban places is a mix of fantastic (fresh affordable food available year round) and dismal (32oz Monsters and Applebees). My diet (a city dweller who pays some attention to food, but likes some junk), my neighbor the vegan (who is great cook are rarely eats out), my buddy's from our small city back in Missouri, and a poor child in southeast DC are all totally different.
dismantlethesun 5y ago
Fantastical means something strange, atypical or weird as if it came from fairy tale. It's not necessarily good or bad, so I wouldn't call it an advantage. I didn't realize it could so easily be confused for “fantastic” which has a nice connotation.
- Dracophoenix 5y ago
  I know what fantastical means. The context of the comment I was replying to was that the sheer variety of crops and associated diets in the US is atypical and relatively unique to this country due to the list factors. The mainstream (or I should say armchair nutritionist) opinion suggest such food production is generally excessive and disease-inducing. I would think it should be an advantage and what I wanted addressed is why this isn't the case.

throwaway0a5e 5y ago

>With all these advantages in the US's favor, why is it that Europe is held as a standard of food done right? Because filter bubbles and liking Europe[1] is very fashionable in filter bubbles that are demographically similar to HN and most of HN has a social circle full of similar demographics that they get their food opinions from. There are plenty of people who hold middle America in high culinary regard. The rest of the things those people tend to have to say are generally not welcome around here so those people don't hang out here and don't hang out with the kind of people who hang out here so there's little discussion going on between these groups of people. [1] For a very specific definition of "Europe" that is a far smaller than the actual continent.

Dracophoenix 5y ago
> Because filter bubbles and liking Europe[1] is very fashionable in filter bubbles that are demographically similar to HN and most of HN has a social circle full of similar demographics that they get their food opinions from. I don't think that's the case. Demographics for cooking and pop nutritionist shows are not comparable to the demographics of HN. The audience of the former is dominated by married, middle-aged women in metro-suburban areas across the United States while the audience of the latter is dominated by unmarried, late-20s, bicoastal, urban-dwelling men. Outside of family relations or significant others, I see little overlap between the two at the individual or social level. > There are plenty of people who hold middle America in high culinary regard. The rest of the things those people tend to have to say are generally not welcome around here so those people don't hang out here and don't hang out with the kind of people who hang out here so there's little discussion going on between these groups of people. My complaint is not about a lack of high regard, but lack of objective assessment. Sure, association or lack thereof might have something to do with a lack of commentary on American diets. But it has nothing to do with unqualified undermining of those diets. Such an opinion must have first come out of someone's mouth before becoming an oft-repeated factoid. If you know of any, what middle American diets are associated with height, longevity, increased musculature, or better overall health and by what standard is this proven?

showerst 5y ago

The US is, as usual, large and diverse enough that you can find data for either point. I think many "people" (aka the ones comparing food cultures and rating restaurants) would say that big US grocery stores are incredible, and our best restaurants are as interesting as any on earth. It's also fair to say that our average person is extremely out of shape, and eats a comparatively huge amount of processed garbage. Food culture in a lot of suburban places is a mix of fantastic (fresh affordable food available year round) and dismal (32oz Monsters and Applebees). My diet (a city dweller who pays some attention to food, but likes some junk), my neighbor the vegan (who is great cook are rarely eats out), my buddy's from our small city back in Missouri, and a poor child in southeast DC are all totally different.

dismantlethesun 5y ago

Fantastical means something strange, atypical or weird as if it came from fairy tale. It's not necessarily good or bad, so I wouldn't call it an advantage. I didn't realize it could so easily be confused for “fantastic” which has a nice connotation.

Dracophoenix 5y ago
I know what fantastical means. The context of the comment I was replying to was that the sheer variety of crops and associated diets in the US is atypical and relatively unique to this country due to the list factors. The mainstream (or I should say armchair nutritionist) opinion suggest such food production is generally excessive and disease-inducing. I would think it should be an advantage and what I wanted addressed is why this isn't the case.