Starker on 1/6/2020 at 20:58
I figure that the sugar thing is more down to policies than anything cultural. In countries with universal health care the governments are incentivised to regulate the food industry in order to reduce chronic illnesses and drive down health care costs, but the US doesn't have that problem.
One thing I don't get, though is the free drink refills and cup sizes. Now, the refill part I do get -- soda is very cheap to make, the profit margins are huge, and most people can't really drink all that much, especially they are eating. However, if all the refills are free anyway, why would anyone ever get a big cup of soda?
catbarf on 1/6/2020 at 22:27
Quote Posted by Starker
I figure that the sugar thing is more down to policies than anything cultural.
TBH I'm not sure what you mean about health policies making a difference. They add sugar because it makes things taste better to a culture where that taste is desirable. If the UK or Netherlands or wherever suddenly rolled back health restrictions on food, I doubt you'd suddenly have sugar overload in everything, because it would (probably) taste gross to you, even if the companies could get away with it.
The most common beverage in the Deep South is sweet tea, traditionally brewed as a sugar supersaturation (> 2kg sugar per liter). Like I said in my reply to Harvester, it's not just sugar in the ingredients, it's sugar in the recipes- eg a common breakfast food being a sugared pastry covered in sugar syrup and topped with powdered sugar. It's most definitely a cultural thing, and I'm not a fan.
Quote Posted by Starker
However, if all the refills are free anyway, why would anyone ever get a big cup of soda?
So you can fill it to the brim right before you leave, pretty much. And/or not have to get up from your chair. In fast food joints, sizes often correspond to combo meals too, so you get a large drink because you ordered a large burger+fries combo or whatever.
SubJeff on 1/6/2020 at 23:04
Quote Posted by howeird
You need a basis juice for the salsa to be salsa... ...I perfected this recipe over several years. Make sure you use extra virgin olive oil. Should have said makes 4 to 5 cups or 2 1/2 pints
Ah, I see. So I can't mash some fresh tomato with a mortar and pestle to get the same effect? I'm unlikely to have canned tomatoes anytime soon and I'd like to make this. Not 2 pints though!
Quote Posted by catbarf
Stilton is excellent, no argument there. Proper English cheddar is pretty good too and beats the heck out of our orange blocks. As much as English cuisine gets mocked, I think you guys get the simple things- bread
What blew
my mind when I last visited London was how good the curry was. Like, frozen pre-packaged meals at the grocery store rivaling what I get at restaurants back home. It was incredible.
Re: Black beans
Our bread is really, really dreadful. Really dire. If it's worse in America I just can't. Bread on the continent is soooooo much better. Anywhere. Imho.
If the packaged curries are great to you then a. the restaurants back home are trash and b. next time you come to London message me and I'll suggest nice curry places for you. Packaged curries are also dreadful, imho, but we do have some really great curry houses.
I fried the beans with garlic, cumin, coriander, a diced hot chilli pepper (not hot enough), spicy paprika, sugar, some blended plum tomatoes and some good quality (organic farm produce stuff my wife gets in) pork. Had it with rice and a cucumber, cherry tomato and pickled red pepper salad. Was nice. Leftovers will be nicer tomorrow.
Quote Posted by caffeinatedzombeh
I'm not sure you'd really get away with Stilton on toast :)
Are you
trying to enrage me?? :p
Stilton on toast, with butter, is everything you would want with a beer and a nice trashy movie! Extra points for dipping tomato sauce. Extra extra points if the tomato sauce has tabasco in it.
re: light American beers. There is something to be said about these unobtrusive refreshers. They aren't far off Corona, Dos Equis, Birra Morretti etc and I think they get an undeserved bad rap.
Pyrian on 1/6/2020 at 23:29
The local McD's here doesn't actually charge different prices for different size sodas. Most places it's just a few cents difference.
That being said, the drive-thru is not exactly doing free refills anyway.
Starker on 1/6/2020 at 23:41
Quote Posted by catbarf
TBH I'm not sure what you mean about health policies making a difference. They add sugar because it makes things taste better to a culture where that taste is desirable. If the UK or Netherlands or wherever suddenly rolled back health restrictions on food, I doubt you'd suddenly have sugar overload in everything, because it would (probably) taste gross to you, even if the companies could get away with it.
The most common beverage in the Deep South is sweet tea, traditionally brewed as a sugar supersaturation (> 2kg sugar per liter). Like I said in my reply to Harvester, it's not just sugar in the ingredients, it's sugar in the recipes- eg a common breakfast food being a sugared pastry covered in sugar syrup and topped with powdered sugar. It's most definitely a cultural thing, and I'm not a fan.
Of course people here like sugar and sweet things. If companies around here started to add sugar in everything, people would eat it right up. That's not a cultural thing, it's a human thing. If people didn't like sugar, why do you think it's necessary to keep children away from snacks and junk food? Not because children have a culture of liking sugar, that's for sure. I wager that's also the reason why companies in the US add sweeteners to everything -- it's because they've tested it and found that people like it better. If it was the other way around, that they add sugar to everything because there's such a big cultural demand for it, it would be really curious that the US is such a homogenous place that people have a sugar culture everywhere and that all the immigrants also adopt the culture.
Pyrian on 1/6/2020 at 23:48
I feel like that sort of shifts over time. Like, people don't want things TOO sweet, but they do prefer things that are slightly sweeter than they're used to. And then they get used to that... So over time, as companies chase optimum sweetness and people's preferences shift, they shift towards ever sweeter.
Starker on 1/6/2020 at 23:54
Yeah, I figure there has to be a... sweet spot, though.
Pyrian on 2/6/2020 at 00:05
In 200 years people will just eat lollipops, rock candy, pixie sticks, and nutrient pills. :cheeky:
Starker on 2/6/2020 at 00:17
If the new Fallout games are any indication, people will still be eating supermarket food that's lying around all over the place for some reason. Or maybe that's just an East Coast thing.
catbarf on 2/6/2020 at 00:20
Quote Posted by Starker
Of course people here like sugar and sweet things. If companies around here started to add sugar in everything, people would eat it right up. That's not a cultural thing, it's a human thing. If people didn't like sugar, why do you think it's necessary to keep children away from snacks and junk food? Not because children have a culture of liking sugar, that's for sure.
Well, kids are (
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/03/090318140624.htm) biologically hardwired to like sugar in a manner that normally declines into adolescence and adulthood, so I don't think that's very relevant. Kids literally don't have a sense of 'too sweet'.
Have you never tried a food and found it unappealingly sweet? My family once shared a birthday cake with some friends in Tbilisi and they simply couldn't tolerate how overwhelmingly sweet it was. I've had shepherd's pie made with sugar added to the filling and I can't stand it. I find sugared bread unpleasant. It's just wrong.
Take coffee. Starbucks makes a killing on various coffee drinks that basically amount to a scoop of ice cream in a cup of coffee. If this were a universal preference, you'd think Italians- in the comfort of their own homes, where EU regulations on commercial products have no reach- would be dumping a good quarter-cup of sugar in every cup of coffee out of the moka pot. Yet there is a genuine preference for black coffee in Italy that largely does not exist in the US.
Quote Posted by Starker
I wager that's also the reason why companies in the US add sweeteners to everything -- it's because they've tested it and found that people like it better.
Of course they've tested and found that their market- Americans- like it better. But I think you are making a pretty big leap in assuming that reflects a universal human preference that is prevented by law in other countries.
It's not like they didn't have ready access to sugar in Nairobi, and there certainly weren't laws preventing domestic companies and restaurants from incorporating it in their food, but not once in two years did I eat anything local that was as sweet as a stack of pancakes with syrup. Cultural differences.
Quote Posted by Starker
If it was the other way around, It would be really curious that the US is such a homogenous place that people have a sugar culture everywhere and that all the immigrants also adopt the culture.
It's not, and they don't. 'Sugar culture', if you want to call it that, is strongest in the South, where sweet tea predates the rise of sugar-added groceries and diabetes/obesity rates are through the roof.
And immigrant communities use a lot less sugar than mainstream American cuisine, with the exception of those that have adapted to cater to an American audience (see: General Tso's Chicken).