Jurgen

Many have made postings on this site, questioning how Europeans view Americans. American attitude towards food is often questioned. <BR> <BR>Todays Times newspaper has an excellent article that may shed some light on the subject:- <BR> <BR>http://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/0,...284408,00.html <BR> <BR>

Ed

I believe the attitude is called hypocrisy? <BR> <BR>I know of no less healthy breakfast than a "traditional Enlish breakfast". <BR> <BR>So this reporter got a free holiday to the US which makes him: <BR>1) A freeloader; <BR>2) Expert on American food; <BR>3) Yet another populist playing to the European mentality of "Don't mind our faults, it's all caused by the damn Americans". <BR> <BR>Good for circulation, I guess. About what one would expect from England's degenerate press.

Philip

I have made more than 10 trips to the U.K. and I didn't know that Britian was considered the gastronomy capital of the world. <BR> <BR>You fellow Fodorites have lied to me by telling me to seek out good dinners in France & Italy, all the while knowing that Britain was the creme de la creme. <BR> <BR>Where is the nutritional value in bangers & mash? How about black pudding? Maybe it's found in the fried fish & chips? <BR> <BR>Obviously the mad cow disease has affected the poor author of this article. I hope while he was in the U.S. he ate a good helping of beef so that his iron-poor blood could reach his brain.

Neil

Well Phillip and Ed, if the journalist is so wrong, then why does America have by far and away, the highest obeseity rate in the world?

s.fowler

Or we could combine this with the Camilla post -- Will Camilla toss her chips on Route 66?

Dave

Sorry to tell you all this , but UK , England in particular has excellent food. If you read the AMERICAN food magazines you'd know that the standard of cooking is fast approaching and in some cases over taking France. <BR>You need to eat some where other than pubs, and chain reataurants if you want to be able to compare. even the tiny little town of Ludlow has 3- Michelin starred restaurants.

Yuck U.K

The U.K. has the highest candy consumption per capita of the world. Dentistry heaven. Germany has the highest beer consumption, per capita. Etc. etc. <BR> <BR>Obviously, the Europeans have maintained their purity by barring McDonald's, Disney, etc. <BR> <BR>Americans have destroyed their girth by importing Euro-food, beginning in the 50s with pizza. <BR> <BR>Real problem: journalists whose stock in trade is generalizations, attitude, and whipping up controversy to sell advertising space.

Neil

How ridiculous to blame American obeseity on Italian pizzas. The obvious reasons are the huge American apetite for junk food, allied to a reluctance to perform any form of excercise. <BR> <BR>This newspaper article, extracted from the respected Times newspaper, does represent how many Europeans view Americans. <BR> <BR>Try looking in the mirror, and stop writing it off as sensationalist journalism.

Capo

Neil, Re: "The obvious reasons [for American obesity] are the huge American apetite for junk food, allied to a reluctance to perform any form of excercise." <BR> <BR>I certainly tend to agree with that. In addition to fat-and-calorie-laden junk food, it's also huge portions. <BR> <BR>I thought the article was interesting. I'm sure I'll offend many of my fellow Americans but I truly believe that America is the land of gluttony, not just with food but with many other things as well.

Yuck, doubled

Jurgen, what you call an "excellent article" is what we, in the trade, call pure fluff. Doesn't matter if it was published in a "respected" newspaper. They all publish fluff to amuse and delight. This piece is not scholarship or serious investigative reporting. It's a wiseacre's personal record, complete with palpable snideness, generalizing on the basis of travel to isolated areas in a very specific area of the country, viewed through an intentionally jaundiced eye. <BR> <BR>I will not argue with the assessment of fast food and portion size of "road food", and I think most Americans would not argue with it either. But the author implies that how he ate "on the road" is an objective account of American eating habits. Let me tell you something about the pastries in a Lyons tea shop.... <BR> <BR>The problem comes with what amounts to nothing more than pandering to the latest craze in Euro-snottery: bash Americans, this time for heft. <BR> <BR>Neil and Capo must have come close to an orgasm of arrogance reading that. But Neil, you have to be a complete nitwit to think I was seriously blaming Italians for exporting pizza. Irony is apparently lost on you in your eagerness to show the world the evils of Americans. <BR> <BR>And Capo, your supremely superficial "analysis" of most issues never disappoints. Try making a distinction, for example, between an "average" American who makes $25K/year, one who makes $25oK/year, a corporation that sets prices, portion sizes, advertising policy, etc., and the multinational corporations who are pretty much able to do exactly what they want without government limitation. I daresay there are just a few European companies who sell food and own restaurants in the US. <BR> <BR>Unless you are prepared to say there is essential gluttony basic to the free enterprise system -- in which most of Europe participates to at least some extent -- you are in no position to cluck like an old biddie about the fried food served to one smart-ass limey reporter on a bat to make Brits feel superior to Americans, once again. A curious obsession, that. <BR> <BR>

Yuck, postscripted

The aptly yclept or more likely pseudonymous Ian Belcher seems to have demonstrated, primarily, an enormous capacity for gluttony on his own part.

Neil

To Yuck: <BR> <BR>You suffer from verbal diarrhea. Probably a result of too much junk food!