They don't eat fast food: how an immigrant lost 10 kg in a year living in an American family
'28.12.2020'
Source: Señora Profesora on Yandex.Zen
When it comes to American cuisine, many people immediately have associations with unhealthy diet and fast food, says the channel's author. Señora Profesora on Yandex.Zen. Next - from the first person.
It seems to me that today Russians consume fast food no less than Americans. But both in Russia and in America there are families in which they prefer to cook homemade food and monitor the right diet. I got into one of them.
During the year of living in America, I lost 10 kilograms. My mother cried when she saw me at Domodedovo airport a year later. She is convinced to this day that I was starved to death in the United States. I lost weight because, as I wrote earlier, it was not customary for Americans to have a hearty dinner, and in my American family it was also not customary to have a hearty dinner.
During my stay in the United States, I visited my American friends many times and saw that they didn’t eat as well as my “American parents”. Yes, many Americans order pizza for dinner, and some stop by for breakfast at McDonald's with their children. I'm really lucky. My American family cooked homemade food, and I was able to taste many new delicious dishes.
I tell you what ordinary middle-income Americans serve for breakfast, lunch and dinner.
Breakfast
I can refuse dinner, but to be left without breakfast is a tragedy for me. Therefore, I never deny myself anything for breakfast. America is no exception. While my “American parents” ate cereal and milk for breakfast or steamed a bag of oatmeal with boiling water, I added two more toasted bread, cheese, and strawberry or orange jam that I bought for me personally. As the head of the family joked, I ate more jam in a year than some in my entire life. By the way, when I told the Americans that many in Russia make preparations for the winter, they did not understand why? After all, you can buy in a store, but after calculating how much money you can save if you make homemade jam instead of purchased jam, they recognized that our Russian approach is quite justified.
On the subject: Why there are so many obese people in America: the opinion of an immigrant
Lunch
I couldn't have lunch in the school cafeteria. Therefore, I took yogurt and some kind of fruit from home with me as a snack. Coming home from school, I ate a hearty meal of what was left in the refrigerator from dinner the night before (Americans call it leftovers). For lunch, my "American sister" used to microwave soup from a tin can or chicken nuggets, which were always abundant in the freezer.
Dinner
We had dinner at about seven in the evening. It is not customary for Americans to cook for a week at once, so something fresh was always served for dinner. As a rule, it was the first or second course and vegetable salad. Often there was pasta on the table with minced meat and tomato sauce. Sometimes Lisa (that was my “American mother” name) would make chicken pie with vegetables or quesadilla. Her signature dish was beef stew, a thick, rich beef soup with vegetables that she cooked in a slow cooker.
The father of the family baked pancakes with honey and blueberries for the whole family every Sunday. He was also responsible for making banana bread, a bread-brick-shaped banana cake (hence the name).
Lisa didn't cook on Fridays, and the whole family ordered pizza or pasta for dinner.
Delicious American desserts are worth mentioning separately. My family loved making apple pie, apple crumble, brownies, and cherry cheesecake. Apple pie was traditionally served with a scoop of vanilla ice cream. Brownies are the dream of all chocolate lovers. True, because of the large amount of butter and sugar in the recipe, it is often not worth getting carried away with this dessert. My American family loved ice cream. It was in America that I first saw giant containers of ice cream, which can now be found in Russian supermarkets.
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Holiday menu
At Christmas and Thanksgiving, turkey was the table decoration. The garnish was served with mashed potatoes, boiled vegetables (beans, mini-carrots, Brussels sprouts), cranberry sauce and gravy (gravy). I was surprised that there was no alcohol on the festive table. At least in my family, drinking was not accepted. After dinner, the guests drank tea with cake, and after another half hour they went home. No noisy feasts.
The most exotic dish I've tasted in the USA is crocodile nuggets. Nothing fancy, it tastes like regular chicken. The Americans highly appreciated our Russian milk chocolate. Mom and Dad sent it out several times for my "American parents". Condensed milk did not cause much delight, but they generally refused to eat red caviar. My “American sister” did not know what caviar was, and when it was explained to her that it was, she made a disgusting expression on her face and said that there would be no such thing.
Yes, perhaps American cuisine is a mix of national dishes from around the world, but it is wrong to believe that Americans eat nothing besides fast food. Not all US residents eat in public catering, many of them take care of their health and prepare delicious and healthy homemade meals.
Original column published on the blog. Señora Profesora on Yandex.Zen
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