#8: U.S.A

👋Hello everyone! We come to the land where people are going to get the most fat as Americans get creative and do everything XL, I won't say more and explain more about food in America. Being the largest power in the world, it has the advantage that practically everyone has at least one representative of their country in that country and that throughout history has generated that food has evolved to be liked by the inhabitant's taking inspiration from a dish and modifying it. This can be seen in the most typical foods of the United States. ✌

🍔One of these dishes is the hamburger and I want to start with this one because when we talk about the United States many put the hamburger as their hallmark, but the reality is that according to the "gringos" themselves they do not consider it that way since there are more things that they consider more their own. The hamburger has its origins in Germany, but thanks to fast food chains like Mcdonal's or Burger King, which are American, they were taken over by them. From the hit caused by these delicacies, it became popular to take a dish to give it a touch of its own that many other countries did, but not as blatantly as the United States does. Going back to the hamburger, it has been sold as American since the restaurants there cannot miss it and it is very common to see it getting bigger and bigger or with more ingredients other than meat, cheese, lettuce, tomato and sauces. Nowadays hamburgers can be towers of meat with cheese, they can have beef, pork, chicken or fish as protein, have or not vegetables, or even be vegetable and even vegan, it is the most transformed dish in the culinary arts. 👅

✈The United States is gigantic, and this is reaffirmed when each state even has its own rules and laws, in the field of food this means that every state that we know are 50 has, so to speak, a favorite dish. For example, in New Orleans, the Gumbo, which is basically a stew with meat, seafood and Cajun seasonings, is the star, in Texas, fried chicken is indispensable, in Maine, seafood, especially crab, and so on. The two most popular states for us Latinos (remember that I am Latina) are Los Angeles, Miami and Texas, the latter has a very particular history with Mexican cuisine since being on the border with the country of tacos a person came up with the idea of mixing both ways of cooking to sell the idea of Tex-Mex food that has been either hated or loved by the rest of the world. Given this example, Americans have become unaccustomed to what is authentic and that doesn't only happen with Mexican food, we can see this effect in sushi from Japan or pizza from Italy where it has nothing to do with the original. But don't blame the Americans for the pineapple pizza thing, that was the work of a Canadian. 🍕

Bad food is made without pride, by cooks who have no pride, and no love. Bad food is made by chefs who are indifferent, or who are trying to be everything to everybody, who are trying to please everyone… Bad food is fake food… food that shows fear and lack of confidence in people's ability to discern or to make decisions about their lives. (Anthony Bourdain, 2019, para 31)

🍴Having explained all this, I want to imply that the United States does not have a defined gastronomy like the rest of the world. Another way to explain it is that here it is a mixture of everyone and that is why it makes Americans special because they always modify everything so that it lives up to their expectations, which are the bigger and fatter the better, since many of their guilty tastes are fried.

I grew up with the American influence since fast food chains are part of my childhood and currently, I follow many cooking accounts in the United States, their most recognized dishes are delicious but very unhealthy, and that's why he earns 8 out of 10 golden spoons.

🍳Recipe: Mac and Cheese 😋

My beloved Italians might hate me, but it's the cheesy pasta that Americans created that's just perfect. It is a very simple dish and if you make a whole package of pasta, you can give 2-3 dishes.

• A package of pre-cooked pasta, it is traditional to use some short pasta and not spaghetti but the one you like.
• Two tablespoons of butter
• One tablespoon of wheat flour
• 1 1/4 cup of milk
• Combine as many cheeses as you want, just try to have cheddar, mozzarella and parmesan which are the basics.

1. First, cook the pasta as it says on the package with water and salt and do not add oil to the water. Mix occasionally so it doesn't stick.
2. While the pasta is cooking, you will make a béchamel sauce which is simply to melt the butter in a pot or pan and while it melts add the flour do not stop mixing for a minute or until the flour takes a more golden color, add the milk and do not stop mixing until all this thickens over medium-low heat.
3. Turn off the heat and add the cheeses of your choice, mix until incorporated, add the pasta, mix evenly and that's it!

💖Thanks for reading. See you later. 👋

References

Anthony Bourdain. Sarah Weingarten. (2019). 51 Anthony Bourdain Quotes and Life Lessons We'll Never Stop Loving

51 Anthony Bourdain Quotes About Food, Travel, & Life — Eat This Not That