In Rome, I would stalk the "American" section of a large grocery chain for maple syrup, peanut butter, and salsa and tortilla chips to get my Mexican fix. (Oddly, the latter were Uncle Ben's brand!) In Paris, I found a store that stocked mostly mac-n-cheese, brownie mix, marshmallows, and peanut butter in the "American" section. It's interesting that different countries have different ideas about what constitutes "American" food!

I think I found the mayo most surprising. Oh, and that I didn't see peanut butter (A number one request from my family's former exchanges students).

To me, "American food" is simply American corporation food that I'd buy at a foreign supermarket if I was craving American "junk" food, such as Hershey's Chocolate or Frito Lay chips or American ice cream or Coca Cola or whatever.

There is a British shop across the street from my sister's place in D.C, they stock British food like Cadbury choclate, boiled sweets, Quavers, Monster Munch, you cannot find these in U.S stores. I always stock up at that store when I visit my sister.

I was talking to some friends about what might constitute "American" cuisine. One friend was insisting that it was BBQ, but my contention was that it is dishes made with highly processed ingredients. For example: S'mores, or Campbell soup casseroles, or Jello salad, or Rice Krispy treats.

The BBQ purists I know would claim that real BBQ is made using "rubs" mixed from scratch, and specific types of woodsmoke. But for the non-purists, BBQ *does* commonly use bottled sauces, and falls into my category.

The things on those shelves do seem to be the uniquely American ingredients one would need, to build the dishes of this type, while using locally sourced ingredients for the less-processed parts of the recipe.

The USA "ethnic" food that surprised me the most was ranch dressing. An Indian foreign student friend of mine fell in love when she encountered it, put it on EVERYTHING. It certainly wouldn't go on MY list of what I'd be craving a taste of if I were homesick abroad, but... Invented in the USA.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ranch_dressing

The German grocery store "american section" always made me laugh. Usually you also find a full line of taco products. Shells, meat seasoning, etc. I always found that really curious....

This reminds me of when I was staying in Spain and my host family kept being like "you guys like this." It was always funny to see their interpretations of US food--like when we described to our host mother the dessert of fruit pizza, and she stuck pineapple and pear on a normal pizza--she was so proud of making "our" food!

The other story I have is when there was a word on TV that I didn't understand, and I asked what it was--they said "processed, already made meals (I think like TV Dinners, Lean Cuisine kind of thing)--what EVERYONE ALWAYS eats in America." I was actually kind of insulted by that, because my family doesn't rely on those at all. But it is true that in the US there is much more of that kind of thing.

I do not know, since I am not from USA but I throw in a fair guess and perhaps a bit of an analysis in.

In USA ethnic food is whatever is not within the cultural grasp of white protestant people (with some expectations, perhaps). All in all, USA is a multicultural awful disgusting melting pot of whatever cultures but still any and all non english protestant cultures are treated as "ethnic". The cultures and ethnicities they include which are more well-known and more well-presented plus accepted in american mainstream are less ethnic accoring to their status to USA´s "race and immigration hierarchy".

But yes, USA is the home of terrible processed and bastardised cultural food. One could say that the only cuisine that USA genuinely has is fastfood and that only culture it has is popular culture. So, there is a little point of making any specific remains of immigrated cultural bits a big deal. They will all eventually blend into that hideous popcultural awfulness that USA is; In this country people have more in common with the television shows they watch and things they buy than what they ethnically or culturally originally are.

And on other note if this video portrays an European grocery store I would truly kill a person or two just to get this yank hideousness out of Europe for good. Gladly the EU did that for yank GMO already but it needs to go further than that. Why is there any american influence in EU, anyway? Why every steet corner is polluted with disgusting yank McDonald´s? Why is every movie theatre litteed with american movies? That is what I would like to know?!

When I lived in England for a year, I remember going on a mad hunt for canned pumpkin. (My American friends and I wanted pumpkin pie and pumpkin bread for Thanksgiving!) I would go into grocery stores and ask for it, and the confused staff would ask me why I would want such a thing. When I would tell them that, no, I didn't want to make soup but I did want to bake with it, they would be all the more confused. "Baking with vegetables?"

Finally, I found a funny little store specializing in "ethnic" foods. "Do you have any canned pumpkin?" I asked the clerk.

"We usually do," he replied. "But this time of year, the American students all buy it up! What do you use it for, anyway?"

The "ethnic" store re-stocked pumpkin after Thanksgiving. For 4 pounds (about $8 US at the time) a can!

America is kinda too big to fit in one section anyway- people who have moved around the states know how food is culture is more local than national. Buttercake and horse shoes from Illinois are one example... everyone in Utah knows about fry sauce and funeral potatoes (and that weird jello shit mormon moms make). Texas has tex-mex food. Southern food is in its own category as well. Chicago vs NY style pizzas. Scrapple is an east coast thing, apparently. The list goes on and on.

I live near and occasionally shop at Jungle Jim's (non-commercial link), which is basically 50-odd "ethnic" food stores under one roof.

One thing I've noticed about the food selections there, and I'm sure this applies just as much to the "ethnic" food in European markets, is that the definition of "ethnic food" is not so much, "This is what people in country X like to eat," as it is, "This is inexpensive, non-perishable food from country X that can profitably be shipped long distances."

Which means that, no matter what the source country or the destination country, canned, dried, sweetened, and processed foods are always going to predominate.

Most of the immigrants I see at Jungle Jim's head straight for the fresh produce. I just like European herring.

(FWIW, I once met a German tourist here who desparately wanted to get a "real" McDonald's hamburger, which he was convinced must be much, much better than the McDonald's hamburgers he'd eaten in Germany.)

This is hilarious! As a German who has lived in the U.S. for 6 years now, I would say this includes many of the foods I indentify as distinctly "American", although Peanut Butter Cups, Jolly Ranchers, and Cheetos are missing :D

'Ethnic food sections,' in my experience, are not 'foods commonly associated with X ethnicity,' but rather, imports or foods aimed specifically at X ethnicity, or that locals can't easily get from local companies. For example, what Americans sometimes consider 'Mexican food' is basically what you'd find at Taco Bell or Qdoba or Chipotle. If you walk down the 'Mexican food' aisle, you are much more likely to find soft corn tortillas, canned food with both English and Spanish labels, and imported sodas from Mexico as opposed to Taco Bell-brand taco shells and seasoning (which are available, yet are usually in a totally different aisle). The 'Asian' aisle doesn't have fortune cookies, but has plenty of noodles and imported snacks from Japan. The Germans I know don't go around thinking 'Americans eat chocolate syrup and BBQ sauce,' those are just delicious American branded foods that have been exported to German supermarkets. Notice that they're all American brands, exactly the same as in American supermarkets, as opposed to German brands stating 'American-style!' or whatever. From what I've seen, 'ethnic' aisles seem to be aimed at immigrants or children of immigrants who are used to their brands and don't feel like searching for a suitable replacement, or think that brand tastes better (for example, the Mexican Coke formula is in many people's, mine included, much better tasting than the American one), or even because American companies don't make that food at all, due to cultural differences (see about half of the snacks in these aisles. Some of them seem to just be, say, Japanese version of Starbursts in a different package and shape. But what American company makes spicy dried peapods a snack?).

It makes sense to me. It reminds me of overhearing the Mexican kitchen guys at a restaurant where I used to work making fun of the servers by talking in fake "English." I'd never heard a non-English speaker do an offensive impression of my language before and it blew my mind. "Oh, wow," I thought, "they have misguided impressions of us as well."

Also, the woman in the video was super cute.

I actually worked for a summer in Paris at an "American bakery stand." We sold chocolate chip cookies, pecan pie, brownies, etc. Desserts that are completely common in the U.S., but uncommon in France.

It was actually a lot of fun to see customers returning, dragging someone they knew to try a specific dessert. Usually it was the brownies.

And Griffin's syrup, from Muskogee!

It's unfortunate that the US "ethnic" food section relies so heavily on canned, bottled, and instant foods, though I can understand why. Especially when it's just a few shelves.

Being Canadian, if someone were to ask me what "ethnic" foods represented Canada, the foods that come to mind include bison and moose, smoked salmon, salt cod and smoked Goldeye, saskatoons, wild rice, fiddlehead greens and maple syrup products. Also stuff like poutine, seal flipper pie, Nanaimo bars and butter tarts. We have some world renowned regional wines and cheeses, as well.

I wouldn't think of foods like tomatoes, corn, beans, peppers or potatoes as "American" foods, even though they originated in the Americas, because many of them were so readily adopted into other cultural cuisines. It wouldn't even occur to me that salad dressings or cake mixes would be considered "ethnic" American food.

North American regions do have their own unique cuisines, but I think because the US and Canada in particular are such "young" countries, it's hard for a lot of people to think of them having a cuisine (and why aren't native food cultures viewed as cuisines?), but they certainly exist - and it's got nothing to do with fast food, highly processed food or junk food, either. I'm rather saddened and perplexed by the hateful anit-American comments some have made. What a small, ignorant view of North America it reflects (and before people get upset, I mean ignorant as lacking in information and experience, not a reflection of intelligence). We've got wonderful food cultures, well worth being proud of.

After living in Texas for 18 years, I was amused when I moved to California and found Velveeta, Ro-Tel, and collard greens in the "ethnic" foods section.

At my grocery store (as an American studying in Germany), the peanut butter has migrated out of the "American" section but still has stars and strips. Real maple syrup is in the jam aisle (where peanut butter is too), but the fake stuff is in the American section. Cheese whiz is always a strange addition to the American section, which I didn't even know people ate.

There are a ton of other American brands(like cereals, colas, ice cream etc) that are not in the American section bu in their respective section.

Some times I wander wistfully by the American section and hope to notice they added something yummy that I can't find here in Germany... but alas no

This is an interesting question... A short while ago I was trying to think of "American" foods for my Japanese classmate, because her brother was visiting from Japan and he wanted to try the local cuisine. But we're in a very liberal bit of the West Coast so people mostly eat "ethnic" food anyways, like Thai and sushi and whatever the hell it is people buy at Whole Foods. :p

We pretty much agreed that a lot of "American" food was just bastardized foods from other countries. I suggested that stuff that seems "American" to me included all the stereotypical McDonalds foods, but also stuff like spaghetti, meatloaf, baked chicken with stuffing, mashed potatoes, bagels, chicken sandwiches... meaty and starchy sorts of food, which probably originated in (Northern/Western?) Europe.

I have to say that I'm a tiny bit annoyed by some of the anti-US sentiment in this post, but I'm not going to feed the trolls past saying that I'm annoyed.

Anyway, I think it's really interesting but to me it looks like it's stuff that isn't necessarily supposed to be representative of the USian diet, but rather stuff that is exported and maybe not easy to find in other countries. I know I have a friend who is currently working in China and she gets really excited when she finds things like cake mix and such- I figure it is the kind of stuff you sort of take for granted until you go somewhere that they are less than commonplace.

And really, past that, it would be really hard to pin down any sort of food tradition for the US- you can say we're all about processed foods all you want, and that may be partially accurate, but frankly that's a trend that is popping up everywhere- we just seem to have embraced it faster. Still, there seems to be some kind of idea that we all sit around the TV with our TV dinners every night and, well, I don't know ANYONE who does that, so I can't honestly think that it's the "norm" in the US even though everyone perceives it to be so. But our food is a mish-mash of many things, and our country is so large that each region usually has enough local food traditions that you'd think it was a country all its own- and usually those traditions are traced back to another country and have just morphed.

I'm kind of sad that people seem to think this is a bad thing. I think it just makes the food culture more rich and varied, but I guess some people worry that it dilutes the significance or something? I don't know.

In addition to the aforementioned peanut butter, mac and cheese, and marshmallows, I have US born and raised friends in foreign countries who beg for Chocolate Chips and brown sugar.

I think it's that these things are strongly associated with American cultural experiences (like the pumpkin pie at thanksgiving). We want to roast marshmallows when we go camping, bake chocolate chip cookies for a friend, or have mac and cheese when we need some "comfort food." Campbell's soup casseroles, and ranch dressing can be like a "taste of home" when you're away. Are they cuisine or "everyday" American foods? No, but they are hard to replicate with substitutes in another culture, and they are things we eat as kids so they have strong memories associated with them.

In our local supermarket (Australia) the "American" section has Dr Peppers, poptarts, oreos, Reece's and Hershey's chocolate. Way to give us a bad impression of the American diet!

But seriously, I don't know that the foods in the American section of overseas supermarkets ONLY show what stereotypes that country has of American cuisine (although of course that is some of it, especially when it is food items that ALSO exist in the non-American parts of the supermarket). I think it is mainly (1) the particular items that are easy to import and store long-term (because it probably doesn't have as fast a turnover as other items) - and this is why it tends to be highly processed packaged foods, and (2) whatever items of American food have proved popular with the local tastebuds. I know our grocery store very occasionally brings in a new product (cinnamon candies, once, Butterfingers last year, cherry cola for a while, and milk duds another time) and if it doesn't sell well, they don't restock it.

For some reason, maybe partly how similar the particular food item is to other local foods, the American foods that are popular in one country are not the same as those that are popular in others.

I'm sure here in the U.S., people who immigrated from south america, particularly mexico would find it weird with some of the stuff in the "ethnic" aisle of a super market too. I think its sad what constitutes "american" food in other countries looking at us and what we see as american food. It is bastardization of other cultures, it is almost negelent of, oh i don't know, indigenious americans here before the north americas became "america." Its a display of ignorance on Americans part to act bewildered at the choice and observances of other countries in what they interpret as "American" food

I'm from Germany, and on the one hand I find the thought a little ridiculous that a grocery aisle is supposed to represent a country's culinary culture. It's not a museum! Do you really think any thought whatsoever went into the question what the average American likes to eat? Isn't it more a question of what's the cheapest, most widely available and preserved for the longest time?

I mean, we in Germany eat meat and potatoes all the time, but it wouldn't make any sense whatsoever to import meat and potatoes to a ethnic food aisle thousands of miles away to properly represent our cuisine.

On the other hand I'd love to know what you people WOULD put in that grocery aisle that represents USA culinary culture in the right way? What's missing here?

When I think of American foods I think of two categories: fair/ball park snacks and Southern food. The first category is just so universal across the nation and the second is just something I have only found in my region. The second category also shows the main issue with pegging the U.S. with one cusine; our nation is so large and diverse that each region has its own distinct food. It isn't like you can go to Ohio and get Southern style corn bread. It is just different.

Foods I didn't realize were "American": marshmallows, peanut butter, and brownies

It's interesting as well the way ethnicity becomes collapsed outside America - that chips and salsa, for example, are considered American food in some European countries, but are Mexican food within America. As a Canadian, I consider Maple Syrup to be Canadian and not American, and am surprised that something that seems so iconic to my country is collapsed into American in other contexts. It's also instructive to consider how much of the food listed by commentators as distinctly American has particularly First Nations/Black roots as well - this is interesting as while racialized people are generally considered to be marginal and an afterthought, if one looks at many of the actual cultural traditions in mainstream white America, they demonstrate how important people of colour have been in defining the country, as these food traditions make clear (Southern Food/Soul food are inherently derived from slave culture, peanut butter was invented by a former slave, Thanksgiving food is nearly all food from Native culture, etc.) This reminds me of Ralph Ellison's essay about how there is no "white" in America that isn't defined and transformed by its relation to Black culture, politics, etc, and that what is uniquely America as opposed to European is precisely this interrelation.

PS. I live in a rather backwards part of Canada, and our foreign food aisle is embarrassing, it's basically taco shells and chick peas.

If you'd ask 100 Germans what food they associate with the USA, 100 would answer "burgers". Of course not, the U.S. is associated with burgers, hot dogs and barbecued meat, but you don't find those in the ethnic food aisle but in the fridge with the other meats. Duh. I'd have expected a little more from a sociology blog. ;)

Er, sorry, my comment got mangled somehow, it was meant as a reply to the line

"Also, apparently we in the U.S. are most associated with processed sweet/dessert items, and BBQ sauce."

In France, the most popular mass-produced sliced bread--like what Americans most often use for toast and sandwiches--is a brand called Harry's (pronounced 'arry's, of course). It took me a while to realize that the packaging is American-themed with stars and stripes. For French people, of course, the default bread is the baguette, and what we would probably consider plain old sliced bread is an American ethnic food (made by a French company). They didn't have "sandwich"-sized zipper bags in the grocery stores.

I also found stars-and-stripes-adorned peanut butter in a can at a big grocery store once, and the label said something like: "For a truly American experience, put it on your pancakes." :)

I read this post and the comments some hours ago, and something just stuck in my head.. Maybe it should be a post on it's own, I just feel the need to post it anyway. Some comments on this post that is supposed to be revolving around U.S. American food in the world, somehow made it about the U.S.A. themselves. Or to make my point more clear: there is a lot of anti-U.S. sentiment, as has been pointed out before.
I feel like this anti-US atmosphere is to be found much more often in a recent western European discourse, than it used to be. It has become socially acceptable to "hate" the U.S. And due to the very strong ties between western European and U.S. American culture, this strikes me as remarkable. I think it might have something to do with the fact, that the U.S. come hand in hand with capitalism (?), which would also explain, why such comments were written to this particular post about products in grocery stores. And when my grandparents and my parents generations were to be wooed by captalistic promises, nowadays not so much anymore.. And the savior U.S.A. became some sort of punching bag. I also think U.S. stereotypes are changing - from the free marlboro man and the idea of a country with endless possibilities = the american dream, towards greedy rich people, failed finance system, poor and unemployed people = the american nightmare. I'm wondering if Europe is in such desperate need to blame someone?
It's a very complicated thing, since this relationship lasted for a long long time, and it's just a feeling I have, I seem to be reading a lot of negative statements about the U.S. and I just felt like bringing this up..

it looks like those are all imported foods, american brands. which is different than saying it's what americans eat, it's just what american companies make that maybe german companies don't. in the us, when there's ethnic sections, they have a lot of stuff that isn't imported, it's being marketed to whatever ethnicities they are marketing to.

As I am a German, who never went to the US, all I learned about American (US) food, I learned from either cooking books, blogs or sitcoms.
For this what reminds me as typical American food are mostly cakes/ baked desserts just like brownies, muffins, cookies, New York cheesecake... this is stuff you can nowadays find in almost all german baking books.
Also i think of the great decorated cakes with a lot of colourful froting and a lot of sugar in general. This kind of cake decorating is something very new in Germany, I mostly see it in blogs reffering to sites in the US or in England. And especially the rich use of colour on food is something i would referr to as American.
Also of course American Pancakes, which are very differnet to German Pancakes. And some special ice cream brands like Ben and Jerrys, and candy like M&M or candy bars like Mars and Snickers.
But you are absolutely right the peanut butter is missing at that shelf. Peanut butter is something always sold with stars and stripes on it.
Besides of the sweets I would only see burgers, BBQ and maybee mac'n'cheese. When I watch a American sitcom they mostly eat "ethnic" food (chinese, italian, indian...) or one of the above or food, that does not sound typical American for me (like casseroles for example). This is food you can find in nearly all (european) countries, I know german cooking books, which are about 80 years old with a lot of different casseroles in it. So this ćan't be very American. Mashed Potatoe is the same this is food, we eat here for at least 100 years, so it can't be very American.

Please note this is not a complete list of American in any kind. But this is what a average German would think as American food.

I think at that grocery store they have this is corner for two reasons:
1. Americans living in Germany, who like to have some typical food from home.
2. Germans (or ervery other nationality) who like to cook typical American.

so a German who wants to make let's say a typical American thanksgiving, would know how to cook, so he buys fresh ingredients, what you can find elsewhere in the shop (meal at the meal, vegetables at the vegetables...) Nobody would think corn or potatoes are typipal American, but you may need them for your thanksgiving dinner. SO where's the Problem to buy german potatoes and german corn. You may believe it or not but we have all this here. Oh and yes we have also turkeys, so you don't have to sell them at a American corner.

I hope you geht my point. A lot of the food Americans (and maybe also Germans) see as typical American food can't be sold at a American corner, because it either has to be stayed cool (like meat for example) or it has normal german ingredients, or it may be a "exotic" ingredient (e.g. sweet potatoes) but this can't be seen as needed for only one cuisine, so you would find it just at the vegetables

A lot of the "ethnic" sections at my local grocery stores (in the US) are all processed stuff, too. Because you don't need the ethnic section to give you, say, jalapenos. Or lemongrass. Or whatever; that's all in the regular produce sections and so on. But if you want fish sauce, or a Goya marinade, it's to the "ethnic" section with you.

So I'm not surprised that the USA "ethnic" section would contain what it contains. Little surprised not to see Nestle semi-sweet chips, though; that's what our German friends always wanted us to send them (so they could make proper chocolate-chip cookies. Betty Crocker, pfft. Toll House 4evah.)

Where's the Tabasco sauce?

Where's the apple-and-cinnamon-flavoured cereal and the coloured cereal with marshmallows? They blew my mind (but never my tastebuds as the idea of eating the stuff repulsed me) as a first-time 11-year-old British visitor to the US.

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