This reads like the author barely knows the US. The US is 50 countries pretending to be one.
Even that chart about the US spending 1.5h on cooking is silly when you consider bbq culture in texas for example.
One of my first impressions of California in LA when I moved from a different state was how tasteless and bland every food I could get was. LA had a "foodie" reputation so I was shocked. Food trucks had "ok" fish tacos but even in regular tacos in mexican neighborhoods I tried were not spicy enough or even when spicy very tasty enough. I went to different neighborhoods to places with "5 star reviews" and ordered a lot using Doordash. I even took others to show them how great Thai food is and they commented (correctly) how that food they had wasn't particularly tasty. I don't know to put it, like the food was afraid to offend my taste buds maybe.
In NYC the pizza, italian food, Deli food, Shawarma trucks were all amazing to me. Miami, had a lot of tasty Cuban food (best ceviche I ever had).
I also had good french food in the US. You can have better tasting food in the US than anywhere in Europe, but the author is right that most people in the US don't go out of their way for that experience. The local cuisine in any part of the US reflects what the locals prefer. Any asian restaurant in the south will serve you iced tea for example and it all tastes the same.
Ultimately the author and the snobbish french are criticizing the tastes of the majority of americans not what type of cooking is available. They do not believe in democracy when it comes to culinary taste, they are culinary chauvinists who believe their measurements of taste and how their food makes them feel is superior to all else. Never mind the subjectivity of culinary taste.
The author is also clueless about how much food means to americans. In most of the US outside major cities, there is little to do outside of work other than eat. Just drive a lot to places and eat. Home cooking and soulfood mean a lot in the south.
The author and others just refuse to open their minds up to the possibility that other people can taste the same food (like me and LA area food) and have that mean something wildly different to them. How the food makes us feel is what we like ultimately and that is shaped by our life experience.
Even that chart about the US spending 1.5h on cooking is silly when you consider bbq culture in texas for example.
One of my first impressions of California in LA when I moved from a different state was how tasteless and bland every food I could get was. LA had a "foodie" reputation so I was shocked. Food trucks had "ok" fish tacos but even in regular tacos in mexican neighborhoods I tried were not spicy enough or even when spicy very tasty enough. I went to different neighborhoods to places with "5 star reviews" and ordered a lot using Doordash. I even took others to show them how great Thai food is and they commented (correctly) how that food they had wasn't particularly tasty. I don't know to put it, like the food was afraid to offend my taste buds maybe.
In NYC the pizza, italian food, Deli food, Shawarma trucks were all amazing to me. Miami, had a lot of tasty Cuban food (best ceviche I ever had).
I also had good french food in the US. You can have better tasting food in the US than anywhere in Europe, but the author is right that most people in the US don't go out of their way for that experience. The local cuisine in any part of the US reflects what the locals prefer. Any asian restaurant in the south will serve you iced tea for example and it all tastes the same.
Ultimately the author and the snobbish french are criticizing the tastes of the majority of americans not what type of cooking is available. They do not believe in democracy when it comes to culinary taste, they are culinary chauvinists who believe their measurements of taste and how their food makes them feel is superior to all else. Never mind the subjectivity of culinary taste.
The author is also clueless about how much food means to americans. In most of the US outside major cities, there is little to do outside of work other than eat. Just drive a lot to places and eat. Home cooking and soulfood mean a lot in the south.
The author and others just refuse to open their minds up to the possibility that other people can taste the same food (like me and LA area food) and have that mean something wildly different to them. How the food makes us feel is what we like ultimately and that is shaped by our life experience.