Tuesday, August 22, 2006

food tourism

Here's a question for you all: Imagine you're a tourist in the United States, and you're interested in having some uniquely American food experiences. Not just American foods -- I'm talking about the whole experience surrounding the meal. What can you have here that you can't have anywhere else?

Mark and I were thinking about this while we were in Europe. Our list so far:

1. Breakfast at a greasy spoon diner. You know, the Waffle House or something like that. Hash browns -- smothered, covered, diced, etc. -- served by a surly waitress who calls you "honey."

2. Barbecue, obviously. At a place that gives you bibs, wet naps, and a roll of paper towels on the table.

3. A bucket of soft-shell crabs and a beer, at a place where they cover the picnic tables with newspaper.

That should get you started. Discuss.

6 Comments:

Blogger Sarah @ Baby Bilingual said...

How about the county fair experience, where you have the equivalent of a progressive dinner: first, say, the curly spuds, some fresh-squeezed lemonade or weak draft American beer, then a turkey leg and a gyro or Philly cheesesteak sandwich, followed by funnel cake and Dippin' Dots for dessert. To complete the experience, you need to end up spending much more money than the food is worth, and then get close to barfing it back up on an upside-down carnival ride.

11:25 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Tara.........what about my favorite? A crispy corn dog on a stick!

8:50 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Tara, what about my favorite - a crispy corn dog on a stick!

8:59 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Las Vegas buffet, complete with prime rib, shrimp cocktail and plenty of awful jello desserts!

3:06 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Food at a baseball game-hot dogs, beer, peanuts, etc. You can't get much moe American than baseball, unless it's Thanksgiving with turkey, sweet potatoes, pumpkin pie and even green bean casserole.

6:59 AM  
Blogger lis said...

How about a dutch oven dinner? The food itself doesn't so much matter, as long as it's cooked outside in a big dutch oven with coals. And if you can get a cowboy poet in the mix, even better.

8:04 PM  

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