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Cooking
in the USA is not just hamburgers, pizza and fast food!
Our fast food restaurant chains have been very successful
at introducing American style fast food around the world,
now people from many lands believe it is what we all eat
in the USA. As the melting pot of many different cultures,
the US has also become the mixing pot for many different
cuisines, and we have a rich variety of foods to choose
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Fast
Food is certainly available all over the USA and is very
popular. You will find a wide variety of fast food restaurants
serving all sorts of delicacies from American style hamburgers,
hot dogs and fried chicken to Italian pizza, Mexican tacos,
Greek Gyros and Chinese egg rolls. Some of the fast food
can be quite delicious and it is almost always inexpensive.
The restaurant chains may lack interesting variety, but
you will usually be assured of good service, consistent
quality and clean facilities. |
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American
cooking (US cooking) is usually considered to consist
of the traditional dishes long popular in the USA. Most
were introduced by the early European immigrants but
modified to take advantage of the locally available
ingredients and to conform to local tastes. Fried chicken,
meatloaf, baked potato, corn, baked beans and apple
pie would be considered traditional American dishes.
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Drinking
Tip: The minimum drinking age is 21 in nearly every
state. Laws prohibit anyone under 21 years
old from buying, owning or drinking any alcoholic
beverage. Bars and nightclubs will not permit anyone
younger to enter even if parents accompany them.
Restaurants that serve alcohol will allow children
to enter and eat but will not serve them any alcoholic
beverage.
Smoking Tip: Smoking is now banned in
all elevators, public buildings, hospitals, busses,
trains and airplanes in the US. Restaurants have
"smoking" and "non-smoking"
tables. Many families do not smoke and prefer that
guests do not smoke in their home. Before you light
a cigarette, always ask your host or companion if
smoking would bother them. |
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Regional
Cooking varies from state to state and is highly
influenced by the types of ingredients locally available,
as well as the cultural background of the people
that settled in the area. New England cooking, native
to the northeastern states; was heavily influenced
by the cuisine of the original English settlers.
Southern cooking has definite African influences.
Cajun cooking, from the New Orleans area, is a spicy
mixture of Spanish, French and African styles. California
cooking is known for the use of fresh fruits and
vegetables in interesting combinations with Asian,
Mexican and Spanish flavorings.
Ethnic
Foods of all sorts are popular everywhere in the
US and readily available in most areas. Italian
cuisine is popular everywhere, from fast food
pizza to gourmet Italian regional cuisine. The
same is true of Chinese cuisine. Mexican restaurants
are extremely popular in the southwestern and
western states and can be found throughout the
rest of the states as well. In most cities you
will also find restaurants serving Eastern European,
Greek, Middle Eastern, Indian, African, South
American, Caribbean and numerous other cultural
foods.
Healthy
Food is very popular in the USA. Everyone seems
to be dieting and trying to lose a few pounds.
If you prefer low fat, low calorie or vegetarian
food, you will have no trouble finding it in the
US. Salad bars are very common and many restaurants
offer low calorie or low fat items on their menus.
Cheap
Eats are readily available. If you are touring
the USA on a very tight budget, you can easily
feed yourself quite well on less than $10 a day,
and if you are willing to do a bit of your own
cooking you can get by on even less.
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