Questions for the locals

Highway-Chile

Okay......I need help here.

If you were making yourself a peanut butter sandwich, do you spread butter on first?

If you were making a cold cut sandwich, would you first spread butter on....or would you use Mayo instead?

Would you eat eggs with ketchup, specifically stir it up in your scrambled eggs or squirt it over your over easy's?

Do you like eating whole pickles and feel pickles have a place on all sandwiches and..... wait for it.....hamburgers?

How about pouring maple syrup on your pancakes, bacon and eggs.....over everything?

People American's have some odd eating preferences!

I was raised on peanut butter on buttered toast or bread. If they see you doing that here, you might get "what the f**k are you doing?

Under no circumstances willthey eat Marmite here and they will feign barfing and say it is like eating a beef bouillon cube. Same for apricot jam and cheddar cheese on toast.....yummy with tea. Tea being hot tea, not iced.

Yet they put pickles on 'burgers, ketchup on eggs as well as syrup.....and pickle spears are arbitrarily served with your deli sandwich.

So what you got?

FruitarGeek

I tend to not put butter on peanut BUTTER, but I see no harm in doing so, its just an excuse for me to make it seem like Im going healthier

Butter usually always goes on bread without saying, except if its Peanut butter, Mayo is an exception, You can and should put butter on, but I dont, once again, to avoid getting a heart attack. But there is nothing wrong with it (if your healthy)

Egg and ketchup aka tomato sauce, yes, easy.

Pickles aka gerkins can go anywhere. Yummy on bread, burgers, and salads too.

Ive never tried syrup on bacon and eggs, I can imagine it tastes nice, but once again, its a health thing

I LOVE Jam and Cheese. It is the best recipe. Marmite and Cheese is pretty good too actually.

MikeM

I only use butter when cooking..

One of my favorite breakfasts is peanut butter on toast (no regular butter) with cold coke ? Gets me ready for the day!!

Personally, a dusting of cayenne pepper is awesome on eggs. Not big on tomato sauce with it though.

Syrup and bacon? HERESY!!!

Manfred-Klose

i had an apricot jam sandwich earlier. yummy.

nothing beats some lekka pap en wors. oh and biltong of course. and a castle.

DaFiz

Tomato sauce on everything... except my post toasties :-\

Peanut butter and apricot jam is the best combo ever ?

Cheese and Marmite works well too.

American eating habit are indeed odd. ?

Highway-Chile

Well yes....I should have clarified that I meant buttery spread or regular butter. I use Promise which is not real butter and is a tad more heart friendly, tastes okay also. Butter is the best tasting of course but not so healthy with all the fats.

But room temp peanut butter on top of cool to cold butter or buttery spread... on fresh bread.....it has never got old for me.

I never ever remember seeing pickle slices on a hamburger, cheeseburger, deli sandwich....anywhere in SA when I lived there. I guess since 1981 things have ....er.....changed ?

Man...I remember on the way in from Durban there was this roadhouse just outside of Jozie proper that had these KILLER toasted chicken sandwiches.

LOVE Marmite and cheese...or just on toast without cheese.....I found a store that imports it and just bought a king sized bottle. Vegemite is good too, close...but at the end of the day-no cigar!

I really miss smoked snoek on ProVita. ProVita I can find.......not the smoked snoek.

Boerie is achievable but I am more than partial to bbq'd Italian sausage now.

There is an SA establishment fairly near my house called...what else...The Springbok (Bar and Grill) http://www.thespringbok.com/ Check out the menu. I go here once in a while...the Naidoo's Durban Curry is pretty damn good, reminds me of home.

Have any of you guys ever visited Los Angeles/Hollywood etc or even lived here for a while?

DaFiz wroteTomato sauce on everything... except my post toasties

I had a friend in Durban who liked peanut butter and ketchup on bread. ?

PeteM

My wife tells me my tastes are pretty strange only because I will I try everything from syrup on bacon to Flora on toast sprinkled with mixed herbs. I also spread with mayo on occassions instead of marge or butter... learned that on a visit to LA... but it must be mild mayo like Kraft and then top it with a slice of ham and yes a pickle or two. Dare me and I'll try it. ?

MikeM

PeteM wroteDare me and I'll try it. ?

Ever heard of Epic Meal Time?

One of my favorite episodes...

chris77

PB and jam on fresh white, without butter or margerine. I can eat 'em for brekkie lunch dinner and anytime inbetween. ?
Favourite samie however is a braaibroodjie, with mircle whip and mrs balls, tomato, onion and cheese.

deefstes

Highway, the first thing I noticed when I visited the States for the first time was their odd ideas regarding breakfast. The hotel I stayed in served all sorts of danish pastries and donuts and what-have-yous but nothing resembling an actual breakfast. Same thing at the office, the guys who had their breakfast at the office were also eating pastries and crap.

Then in the evenings as I watched TV I noticed one ad after the other promoting product to fight "acid reflux disease". I was thinking, no people, that's not acid reflux disease, it's called heartburn and if you didn't eat the crap you did you wouldn't suffer from it.

singemonkey

Hamburger and pickles has become not so unusual here. In fact, I always put pickles on hamburgers at home.

Keep the damn tomato sauce away from my eggs - that's what pulped habanero chillies are for ?

One thing here is that it's hard to find a full English breakfast. But I manage fine at the Wimpy by getting a 2 bacon, 2 pork sausage, 2 egg, grilled tomato, and then getting extra baked beans, mushrooms, and a hash brown. No black pudding, but that's probably for the best. They don't serve it with a big mug of tea with the teabag still in like they do in an English greasy spoon, but it's good enough for government work.

The one thing that freaks me out about the concept of living in the states is their apparently bizarre distaste for real cheese. People tell me you get something called "American cheese" which is vomit-worthy, and it's all you can do to get any regional cheeses at all. Living without a variety of good cheese seems a nasty kind of masochism.

Zulublues

Agreed. The Americans have some wierd taste styles, but one that I have taken under the belt (pun intended) is the so called Canadian Breakfast served at some of the local Wimpy type outlets. A large waffle, two fried eggs covered with crispy bacon and drenched in maple syrup. Mmmmmm. Don't knock it until you have tried it.

Unfortunately these are but a memory since my recent diabetes diagnosis.

deefstes

singemonkey wroteThe one thing that freaks me out about the concept of living in the states is their apparently bizarre distaste for real cheese.

You're right on the money there. I couldn't understand either why they insist on eating such pale, rubbery, tasteless cheese. You get the odd small cheesery here and there that make proper cheese and some speciality stores will even sell imported cheese but it's far from commonplace.

The same goes for their beer. Your mainstream beers are bleak and watery and doesn't even resemble a liquid that resembles beer. It's horrid. There are some very nice microbreweries to be found dotted around the country where you can get excellent beer - Abita Amber (New Orleans), Oak Creek (Sedona), Sunset Ale (south Florida) jumps to mind.

And don't even get me started on their chocolate... ☹

Bob-Dubery

deefstes wrote The same goes for their beer. Your mainstream beers are bleak and watery and doesn't even resemble a liquid that resembles beer. It's horrid. There are some very nice microbreweries to be found dotted around the country where you can get excellent beer - Abita Amber (New Orleans), Oak Creek (Sedona), Sunset Ale (south Florida) jumps to mind.

It's like that nearly everywhere - except maybe England (not Britain, England), Ireland and Belgium. The staple is cold pissy lager but there's better stuff to be had if you seek it out.

Samuel Adams is a pretty good mass market label. They make a very good pilsener - properly bitter. Coors is a bit on the bland side for my tastes, but it's very good quality. Most American lagers have a percentage of rice in the mix, which gives them a lightness of body that the American beer drinker enjoys.

I was in Houston some years ago. First thing: If you've been to Houston in the summer you will understand the attraction of an ice cold lager. Second thing was that I got taken to some "English pub". It wasn't convincing - it did have a Union Jack tacked to the wall. I didn't want to be rude and agreed to have a pint of the local bitter - from the St Arnold's brewery. You could have knocked me over with a feather! It was superb. Fruity, complex, not too gassy and well hopped. I had another pretty sharpish.

I find this to be the marvellous thing about the USA. There is loads of lowest common denominator mass market product available - everything from beer to live music. BUT the market is so huge there that the niche markets are actually very big and musicians or brewers that want to aim at a smaller, more discerning market can do very well.

Highway-Chile

singemonkey wrote But I manage fine at the Wimpy by getting a 2 bacon, 2 pork sausage, 2 egg, grilled tomato, and then getting extra baked beans, mushrooms, and a hash brown.

People tell me you get something called "American cheese" which is vomit-worthy, and it's all you can do to get any regional cheeses at all.

You will not ever....and I mean ever, find a fried tomato on a breakfast here.......well in LA.

Cheeses are easy to find.....maybe not quite the exotic choices of local markets like Holland, SA, Germany etc but as someone said you can find anything here. But as far as general cheeses, the supermarkets all have a big selection between the regular dairy section and the deli section.....cheddars in sharp, medium and mild, gouda, blue cheese, brie, asiago, camembert, gorgonzola, mozarella, colby, pepper jack, Swiss, edam, goat, havarti, parmesan, romano, feta, marscarpone, fontina..... etc etc etc etc. Not a problem. And of course the cheese logs like sundried tomato's, garlic and herb etc etc

But yes....mostly you have to ask for anything other than American sliced cheese on a burger. You know those triangle processed cheese wedges.......American almost tastes like that......very processed. It's good with a burger but I love cheddar on a burger the most, especially if the burger is on home made patties and not frozen mystery beef patties from the supermarket.

Actually.... our access to groceries 24/7 and the huge amount of choices, the sheer abundance of all kinds of foods including various ethnic food choices....in the regular supermarkets, is not to be scoffed at....it's uh.....meant to be .....er scoffed down! ?

Seriously, the flipping supermarkets are huge and they are all over the place, often within blocks of each other. Von's, Safeway, Gelson's, Ralph's, Trader Joe's, Jon's, Whole Foods, Smart And Final, Fresh And Easy, Vallarta.

My mom was out recently and could not get over the amount of choices. My best friend and his wife are nutritionists and have had their own health food company in SA since the 80's. On a trip out here they commented that Americans have absolutely no excuse to be so fat given all the healthy and fresh food choices in the supermarkets. They also commented on the size of the vegetables and fruits. (LOL.....some of it is probably exported SA fruit)

Beer wise.......I kinda never was a drinker but for the very occasional beer, it has to be ice cold Corona with a lime. Even better is if the glass has been frosted as well. A good afternoon beer. Not too heavy.

In SA when I was a kid I liked Carling Black Label.......but that's 'cos I was ignorant being as I did not really drink beer for flavor......I drank to get shitfaced. I would probably drink Castle Lager today. I thought Lion tasted awful.

Whoa...I just noticed....is Lion beer off the market?

Jack-Flash-Jr

I miss Silk... the soy milk and NY deli's. We were lucky living in Brooklyn you could get pretty much anything you were looking for (even SA beers)... I assume LA is the same, spent too little time there. In between you're pretty much scr%^ed if you like real cheese, real beer, real anything.
American mass beers are TERRIBLE but the micro-brews are GREAT!