Note to vacationing non-Americans: while it’s true that America doesn’t always have the best food culture, the food in our restaurants is really not representative of what most of us eat at home. The portions at Cheesecake Factory or IHOP are meant to be indulgent, not just “what Americans are used to.”
If you eat at a regular American household, during a regular meal where they’re not going out of their way to impress guests, you probably will not be served twelve pounds of chocolate-covered cream cheese. Please bear this in mind before writing yet another “omg I can’t believe American food” post.
Also, most American restaurant portions are 100% intended as two meals’ worth of food. Some of my older Irish relatives still struggle with the idea that it’s not just not rude to eat half your meal and take the rest home, it’s expected. (Apparently this is somewhat of an American custom.)
Until you’re hitting the “fancy restaurant” tier (the kind of place you go for a celebration or an anniversary date), a dinner out should generally also be lunch for the next day. Leftovers are very much the norm.
From the little time I’ve spent in Canada, this seems to be the case up there as well.
the portions in family restaurants (as opposed to haute cuisine types) are designed so that no one goes away hungry.
volume IS very much a part of the american hospitality tradition, and Nobody Leaves Hungry is important. but you have to recognize that it’s not how we cook for ourselves, it’s how we welcome guests and strengthen community ties.
so in order to give you a celebratory experience and make you feel welcomed, family restaurants make the portions big enough that even if you’re a teenage boy celebrating a hard win on the basketball court, you’re still going to be comfortably full when you leave.
of course, that means that for your average person with a sit-down job, who ate a decent lunch that day, it’s twice as much as they want or more. that’s ok. as mentioned above, taking home leftovers is absolutely encouraged. that, too, is part of american hospitality tradition; it’s meant to invoke fond memories of grandma loading you down with covered dishes so you can have hearty celebration food all week. pot luck church basement get-togethers where the whole town makes sure everybody has enough. that sort of thing. it’s about sharing. it’s about celebrating Plenty.
it’s not about pigging out until you get huge. treating it that way is pretty disrespectful of our culture. and you know, contrary to what the world thinks, we do have one.
Samin Nosrat has become known as the chef who taught Michael
Pollan to cook, after the famed food writer featured her in his book Cooked and his Netflix show of the same
name.
Now, she’s sharing her wisdom with the masses in her new,
illustrated cookbook called Salt, Fat,
Acid, Heat: Mastering the Elements of Good Cooking. The key to good
cooking, she says, is learning to balance those elements and trust your
instincts, rather than just follow recipes.
Sure, the Netflix documentary, “Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat” is a short, four part series that is an educational, highly informative show based on the excellent and eponymous cookbook, starring Cookbook Author and all-around Unicorn of Joy and Delight™ Samin Nosrat, but consider the following problematic details:
Samin (Imma call her Samin, bc I just feel like I KNOW HER) speaks Spanish and Italian on screen and viewers are treated to watching her be just as cute in more than one language
Samin interviews little Italian and Mexican grandmas and little artisanal Japanese lady miso producers and Samin’s Mom
Samin features small craft producers
The pesto-making was just Too Much
Lotsa women chefs and business owners on screen, almost like Samin made it a priority to upend the bro-tocracy present on too many cooking/food travel shows in order to highlight non-corporate producers of actually nurturing food
So many ladies. Much women. So wow.
I want Samin’s kitchen
Too many cute scarves, and apparently waxed cotton jackets are sexy now
Samin gets to eat gelato on screen and I don’t
The documentary fails to allow me to lick the food through the screen
Beautiful scenery I can’t afford to travel to immediately
The completely adorable way Samin says “wow” when she tastes something amazing
Tahdig
The poetic butcher guy talking about how pretty his pigs are
Samin’s full throated laughter
SHE LOOKS LIKE SHE GIVES REALLY GOOD HUGS
I am gluten intolerant and That Foccacia is Too Delicious and there is no Lactaid for bread
Culturally competent, non-voyeuristic conversations with foreign food producers that don’t involve Frat-Boy Hijinks or competitive alcohol consumption. Seriously, it’s like if the curious, openhearted bakers on GBBO from the Richard/Chetna/Nancy/Martha season all had an international travel show that was respectful of the host’s culture and of viewer’s intelligence, except it’s all wrapped up in one curly-haired, zaftig Unicorn of Joy and Delight™, Samin Nosrat
Just. Samin is a real-sized, non-model woman who gets to eat on screen. She visibly enjoys eating. Not once is she judgmental about anything, ever. I love her nose, and her smile, and her curls, and just. Samin.
I legit cried in the last episode when she talked about cooking being an act of service, an expression of love.
Anyway, I am going to marry Samin Nosrat and also probably spend too much money on parmesan cheese and miso. This show is problematic because there are only four episodes, but anyway, go watch “Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat.”
Just Sha 