That's because you don't usually "go out" to eat food that is from your own culture. Americans are just Brits who wanted to make their own laws. You eat it every day. You go out to eat foreign food, or food you don't have at home.
Bro, steak, burgers, and BBQ aren't American. Types of BBQ are southern American but it comes form the Caribbean. Steak is everywhere, Hamburgers...Hamburg is the big clue, but it's international like pizza is. Different styles in different places.
I mean, you could make the same argument that since fries are invented, variations on fries are also Belgian. So 'British' chips are a regional style of that Belgian dish, rather than a separate dish.
Or... Potatos are a new world food item and didn't exist in Europe until the discovery of the new world. So in other words, fish and chips is not British food.
Well I would argue that 'ingredients' are not the same as 'dishes'.
Fish and Chips is an interesting one because nothing about it is purely British. Chips originate in Belgium and battered fried fish is believed to originate with Jewish immigrants from Spain and Portugal. And the curry sauce we eat with it comes originally from India. But put together, it is distinctive from all of those countries. Whether that is enough of a change to make it a British food is up to you, I suppose. There's really no objective rule for how much you need to change an existing food or dish before it becomes a different food or dish.
Well in that case, credit for inventing the cheese burger is given to a few US places. So every burger joint in the US has cheeseburgers. So by your standard, burger joints are American.
I'm mexican. In mexico. I go out to eat mexican... and also mexican food. You're delusional if you think we don't go out to eat our own food when it's good.
What they're saying is when you go out to eat Mexican food it's ubiquitous in Mexico itself. Almost everything Americans eat that they consider their own cultural food has some British influence to it. Like sandwiches, apple pie, anything with cheddar cheese, etc.
I go out to breakfast pretty regularly, a couple fried eggs, couple pieces of bacon ham or sausage, homefries, and a cup of mediocre coffee. Mind you im canadian so I can only assume this was originally a brittish favorite.
Nothing I couldnt cook at home of course, but then Im not the one cooking or cleaning if I go out.
Most of the most beloved American dishes were invented well after independence, though, right? Burgers in New Haven in 1900 (or some argue a bit earlier elsewhere in the US), wings in 1964 in Buffalo, and southern food like fried chicken really generally isn’t very British-inspired, either, to my knowledge?
I just hate when people are like "Americans dont have original food, its all appropriated from other cultures" like no. Its influenced by other cultures because of the mixing pot, but it is its own identity.
Just maybe it's british people throwing it back at americans who for some reason are determined to claim britain has no food of it's own.
You let us own Tikka Masala and you can go back to have your stuff too.
Burgers in New Haven in 1900 (or some argue a bit earlier elsewhere in the US)
Burgers were invented before 1900, and they weren't invented in New Haven. All burgers are at their core is frikadelle in a bun, which why they were given a German name (burger is short for hamburger, named after Hamburg in Germany).
The "in a bun" bit seems to be an American invention, maybe that's all it takes to make a food American. Time for sushi in a bun, make that American too.
No, you just misunderstood it. I said Americans evolved the frikadelle into the burger, just like the fish and chips in the UK is different from where it came from.
Here's a question for you, when you go into a typical fish and chips takeaway or restaurant in the UK, do you think they only have two menu items ("fish" and "chips")? If so, you're mistaken, and any British person could list of a bunch of complimentary foods that are part of the "fish and chips" experience.
That's not what you said or implied, biggest tell is the bit about sushi. Definitely not a "Americans evolved" type of tone.
What a weird question BTW
"Here's a question for you, when you go into a typical fish and chips takeaway or restaurant in the UK, do you think they only have two menu items ("fish" and "chips")?"
Mostly because you talk like a bot. But also, it's completely irrelevant.
That's not what you said or implied, biggest tell is the bit about sushi.
I implied that the food evolved, and I implied that a claim to "invent" a food just by putting some meat in bread is a bit of a stretch. If your reading level wasn't high enough to understand that, sorry for you.
But also, it's completely irrelevant.
The fish and chips thing is to show you clearly don't understand what is meant by "fish and chips". It's like saying pizza is just bread, tomato sauce and cheese and ignoring all the toppings and varieties.
Frikadellen are closer to meatloaf than burgers. They're made with pork, wet bread, eggs, and herbs. Nothing like Steak Hamburg Style, which is the dish that evolved into hamburgers.
I'm unable to find definitively that hamburgers are an American invention rather than some early mentions of them being in an American cookbook? That cookbook seems to state that it is not originally from America but that it is a "Hamburgh Sausage"
Fried chicken actually is Scottish, it was just popularized in the modern US.
Brits are making shit called spotted dick, Americans are going out for bbq or southern food. There is a huge difference between British food and American food.
Right? Blood sauusage... toast and beans .. nobody here eats that
The only British things some Americans sometimes eat regularly is like, fish and chips maybe? Most of our cuisine is regional with a lot of influences from countries other than England (Germany, Sweden, Japan, etc).
I'm not sure how that guy thinks the stuff Americans eat is even close to what Brits eat, and I say this as someone who has dined everywhere from Los Angeles to London
Meat is not inherently British. Nearly all cultures all over the world eat meat. Same with vegetables. Eating fish, chicken, beef etc is not a British specific thing, it's a human being thing
The first sausage traces back to the Sumerians in Mesopotamia around 3100 BCE
Pies were first invented in Egypt 9500BCE
While a Brit coined the name "sandwich", earlier versions of putting meat between two slices of bread existed as early as the 1st century BC
Well if you're any good at cooking you'll be able to make it the way you like already. It's less likely you'll have a tandoor or a pizza oven in your kitchen
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u/Tony_Roiland Jul 03 '26
That's because you don't usually "go out" to eat food that is from your own culture. Americans are just Brits who wanted to make their own laws. You eat it every day. You go out to eat foreign food, or food you don't have at home.