Have you ever had pre-cracked eggs from a carton? No, neither had I. Until now. But pre-cracked egg whites in a carton are a thing in America apparently (health! convenience! more packaging for landfill! yay!). Recently I had a friend ask me  “what’s the most American thing you’ve seen so far?” followed by a pic of a dude dressed in what was basically the American flag in Walmart.  I think if that dude had been searching for pre-cracked eggs in a carton, we'd definitely have a winner. 

But it did get me thinking about what typical American things I’d seen or done. Obviously none that beat a man dressed in the American flag in Walmart, but surely I’d seen some American things?

So I turned to the Aussie community in NYC (so, everyone) and asked them what are the most American things they have seen.  Turns out we have seen a LOT of American things, so many that there are too many for one post and I’m going to break them up into differently themed groups. This week I am going to focus on the most American foods, because food is the best.  And also because I have the most food stories. Probably bc America is pretty synonymous with food.  Let me write food one more time.

I’ll start with the cheese stories, because cheese and me are a package deal. Already in one month I’ve eaten two different dishes of deep fried cheese, and that is without searching it out. I repeat, I did not go in search of the deep fried cheese, it found me on its own. The first was called cheese curds and is basically thumbnail-sized pieces of cheese, deep fried, served in a large bowl as a “starter”. A starter for heart failure or obesity sure, but delicious anyway. Anyone following my Instagram would have seen the second, which was a gigantic piece of mozzarella that was also deep friend.  And I got it for FREE.  It was served at a fundraiser I went to where ALL THE FOOD WAS FREE. Not just like a few dim sims and spring rolls and that one bowl of chips which is somehow cold and stale before it even reaches the table. Nachos, deep fried chicken, deep fried cheese … there was more I’m sure but these were the only ones I cared about.

The other awesome cheese thing they have here is processed orange cheddar cheese! It’s orange! It can’t be remotely healthy, but it is so delish. And great melted on a bacon and egg bagel. Or on toast. Or crackers. Or by itself as a snack. Basically good at any time for any thing. I've learnt that the history of this orange colour is centuries old and comes from the UK (read more here if you are a cheese colour buff) but the bright, obviously processed colour of it just screams Americahhhhn to me. And yum. 

(As a pointless aside, but one that frustrated me last week, I have been unable to find Danish feta, you know, the really smooth almost spreadable one. If anyone knows where to find it, hit me up.)

To continue the deep fried theme started earlier, I had to turn to other people because a girl can only eat so much deep fry. Nicky and her boyfriend went to the OC fair and got deep fried red velvet cake. Deep. Fried. Red. Velvet. Cake. As if deep fried, or red velvet cake weren’t enough on their own, some genius decided to combine them.  

The next totally American food thing is the maple bacon donut (like there isn’t enough drool on my keyboard already). Yep, they’ve taken maple bacon (admittedly maple bacon is Canadian, but maple syrup on bacon feels very American right?) and added it to a donut with some icing just for good measure.  Look we’ve probably got these in Aus somewhere too (god knows we have every other weird version of donut, cronut, hamburger cronut) but if you are looking for something that feels so American it hurts (your arteries), this is probably it. I can’t take credit for this one, it was a guy called Rod who found it and presumably ate the shit out of it / them.

It would also seem that I’m not the only one concerned about $1 pizza (see previous post here).  One evening, while leaving a restaurant on 7th avenue, Tom witnessed a drunk guy run out into the street and get hit by a cab. In Tom's own words, "the man was thrown to the ground with a tumble and a loud thud. As onlookers gasped in shock of what they had just seen, the man stood up unscathed, cursed like mad at the cab driver, and continued running across the street where he entered a $1 pizza shop and bought a slice."  This drunk man is a man after my own heart and I think if we ever met I would delete tinder and marry him and we’d be drunk and chasing cheap pizza forever.

OK just one more, and only because this one is close to my heart. Vatche saw a line of people at Popeye’s Chicken (chicken to rival the Hannah god that is Australian KFC) at 4am in the morning. On a Monday. On a MONDAY.  Admittedly I was probably in that line, but I still think this is pretty American.

That’s all for now, I’m all fooded out. It's by no means a definitive or exhaustive list, just the things me and people I know have come across so far.

Still to come for most American things I’ve (we’ve) seen is language and grammar and the downright weird (and sometimes gross). 

p.s. I am sure you are all as excited as I am at the prospect of me eating and writing about deep fried Turkeys if I make it through to a thanksgiving here!