Food in America is more different than I thought it would be. You expect the oven temperatures in F and measuring things in cups not by weight, but there is a whole world of strangeness beyond this.
First of all, the regular supermarkets are nowhere near as good as in the UK - at first glance they are enormous and bursting with choice, but upon a closer look, so many of the aisles are filled with pre-prepared food and snacks. For example, it is actually quite hard to buy raw ingredients like bread flour and herbs and if you do find them, there won't be much choice. The fruit and veg are not great quality, and although meat is cheap (suspiciously so), it is rare to see a meat counter so you can't look it in the eye. Given that we are striking distance to the Pacific, the choice of fish is very limited and poor quality, mostly pre-frozen. And the prices are higher than the UK for most basics. A few happy exceptions are asparagus (much cheaper than the UK and very good), and steaks (ditto), so these are our staples! One weird phenomenon is that you simply can't get everything you need from one shop, in the same way that you could in say Waitrose or Tesco, and everyone seems to accept this. So we do a big online shop from Safeway for commodities like cereal, wine and diet coke, then get fresh produce from a smaller market-style supermarket called Trader Joes, and then go to speciality butchers (which are bizarrely hard to find) for decent cuts of meat or fish.
Then there is the matter of different foods being available - often I have had a complete blank look when asking for something which I had always taken for granted in the UK, like fruit squash or tartare sauce . On the other hand, there are aisles full of ingredients where I have no idea what to do with them - perhaps time for an American cookbook.... Also, sneakily, sometimes they have something called the same thing but it turns out to be different, like stuffing (US version all horrible and bready so I have smuggled in a few kilos of Paxo), and sausages which - would you believe it - are sold pre-cooked! And don't get me started on "biscuit".
And then, there is the matter of translation. It seems to me that it is in the food arena where the language differences are most apparent. I have frequently felt like I was playing charades with the attendants in Safeway trying to communicate what vegetable stock is (turns out it is called bouillon, ad is usually sold in cans). There are the well-known ones like zuchini (courgette) and eggplant (aubergine), and cilantro (corriander). But it took me a while to work out that rocket is called arugula (what a pretty name), and broad beans are called fava beans, and many more. The cuts of meat are all called different names, as are flour and sugar.
And finally, the American habit of mixing savoury and sweet things with great abandon. Nowhere is this more apparent than when eating breakfast out. You might order scrambled eggs and bacon, and to go with it you are offered a hash brown (sensible), home fries (just about acceptable) or a fruit salad (fruit and eggs? On the same plate??). And on the side, toast (fine), English muffin (fine), sweet fruit muffin (weird).
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