Food /
Polish vs american food [34]
Well, when I was in Krakow a few years ago, I was amazed at how many polish people at at McDonalds, especially when you can have a really decent lunch or dinner for nearly the same price anywhere in the old center! If it wasn't for a whiney dutch person who only ate what he already knew, I'd *never* have stepped in the joint.
That said, yes - I do hear McD's is healthier now. But if I recall there was a great deal of junk food there too - kebab, huge plates of meat and hardly any veggies. Let's not talk about the salads - a fresh salad bar doesn't exist there, at least not like back in Colorado or California. And there were plenty of overweight polish men and women there too, to back-up this up.
The point is, if you're going to only see one segment of the people, and then generalize to support that assumption, you're going to miss out on all the other wonderful variations out there. Let's not generalize, m'kay?
Now - what to eat? There is a great influence on the culture and kitchen based on where you go. The East Coast, for example - go to New York City and you can have VERY good polish, italian, chinese, jewish/kosher and russian restaurants. Jersey City has strong polish and italian connections. Go farther south, and you start entering english, french and the southern cooking. Go west and there's more french/bayou, mexican and tex-mex. Head to the coast and then you get the influence from the pacific rim: japanese, thai, korean, in addition to some spectacular mexican food.
Can LA produce a bagel or pierogie as good as you'll find in NYC? Not a chance. Can Jersey City do sushi as well as San Francisco? I don't think so. Local kitchens and imported talent flavor the States, and picking the right kitchen means learning about the people who emigrated there and discovering the love of food they brought with them.
Where you headed in the US? Maybe that's a start...?
