You can learn a lot about a country by their food. Cultures that use every part of an animal or plant in whatever way they can usually have a history of poverty or scarcity, and some of the recipes they come up with are ingenious. Some things that sound disgusting to an American palate can end up being surprisingly tolerable when properly prepared. But just like you can learn about another culture based on what they eat, it stands to reason that you can see what other cultures think of America based on what we eat. So when I saw a store called Taste of America, I had to check it out.
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The Taste of America store. The window display has cereal and Pringles, popcorn and beer. While there’s nothing here that’s exactly gourmet, there’s also nothing unfamiliar or strange. |
| Apparently you can just write ‘All American’ on a box and people think it’s a staple food in the US. I’m not saying we don’t like pancakes, but who’s heard of Mississippi Belle? |
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Oreos! What could go wrong here? Mint, red velvet, and peanut butter? I’ve never heard of these before. I’ve seen regular, double stuff, and maybe something seasonal around Halloween, but these are new to me. |
| The drink case, with beer, soda, iced tea, and candy bar flavored drinks. Several of the beers are Canadian, but I guess Canada is the 51st state, so it counts. |
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Pringles, found the world over. But here we have “American” flavors, such as smoky bacon and jalapeno. But for some reason we also have prawn cracker flavored Pringles, which I have never seen on American shelves. And they have cheeseburger Pringles. |
And, since I know you’re wondering, I got a bottle of Snickers shake. Remember when Dairy Queen used to make Snickers Blizzards? Imagine one of those. Now let it warm up until the ice cream is melted. Pour it through a strainer to remove all of the tasty chunks of candy. Add some more milk and water to what’s left, and that’s the Snickers shake. If you’re imagining that it tastes like sugar and watered down milk that was bottled by a guy who once looked at a Snickers, you’d be right. It was a terrible excuse for a Snickers beverage. I feel disappointed, both by the drink, and in myself for getting my hopes up. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to rethink my life decisions. With a mouthful of peanut butter Oreos. I’ll have to go back for the cheeseburger Pringles later.
