Cool Whip, why???

[Harriet Jones]

Oh no, it's definitely not that bad here. It just means unpleasant. Actually now you mention it I've heard 'nasty' used on US TV (admittedly on Springer and Jeremy Kyle and the like) to refer to people (usually women) of dubious character too. Like 'skanky'. Yeah. Definitely doesn't mean that here.

 

I thought the Jeremy Kyle show originated in the UK.

[perpetua]

Oh no, it's definitely not that bad here. It just means unpleasant. Actually now you mention it I've heard 'nasty' used on US TV (admittedly on Springer and Jeremy Kyle and the like) to refer to people (usually women) of dubious character too. Like 'skanky'. Yeah. Definitely doesn't mean that here.

 

I thought the Jeremy Kyle show originated in the UK.

It did (and believe me we're not proud of it!) but there's a US version with American guests. We get it here, perhaps you don't?

[Yvaine]

It's like when you guys go on about 'handicapped' people. Where I'm from, it's a horrible and patronising way to refer to disabled people and I wince every time I see it, but I appreciate the cultural difference and that it isn't meant as an insult. Therefore I don't either take offence or pull you up on doing something I think is rude (which is rude in and of itself, no?)

Bit of tolerance, is all I'm saying.

That's not the preferred usage here either, FWIW.

I've never heard of Jeremy Kyle, but I may be living under a rock.

[perpetua]

It's like when you guys go on about 'handicapped' people. Where I'm from, it's a horrible and patronising way to refer to disabled people and I wince every time I see it, but I appreciate the cultural difference and that it isn't meant as an insult. Therefore I don't either take offence or pull you up on doing something I think is rude (which is rude in and of itself, no?)

Bit of tolerance, is all I'm saying.

That's not the preferred usage here either, FWIW.

You'd never know it from reading this forum

I've never heard of Jeremy Kyle, but I may be living under a rock.

Honestly, that's probably the best place to be when it comes to Jeremy Kyle

[Harriet Jones]

It's like when you guys go on about 'handicapped' people. Where I'm from, it's a horrible and patronising way to refer to disabled people and I wince every time I see it, but I appreciate the cultural difference and that it isn't meant as an insult. Therefore I don't either take offence or pull you up on doing something I think is rude (which is rude in and of itself, no?)

Bit of tolerance, is all I'm saying.

That's not the preferred usage here either, FWIW.

I've never heard of Jeremy Kyle, but I may be living under a rock.

You're not missing anything.  It's pretty much the same as Jerry Springer.

[perpetua]

It's like when you guys go on about 'handicapped' people. Where I'm from, it's a horrible and patronising way to refer to disabled people and I wince every time I see it, but I appreciate the cultural difference and that it isn't meant as an insult. Therefore I don't either take offence or pull you up on doing something I think is rude (which is rude in and of itself, no?)

Bit of tolerance, is all I'm saying.

That's not the preferred usage here either, FWIW.

I've never heard of Jeremy Kyle, but I may be living under a rock.

You're not missing anything.  It's pretty much the same as Jerry Springer.

But without the humour.

[iridaceae]

Nah, it wasn't the "sweet" descriptor that bugged anyone. It was subsequent posts about "nastiness" and the like. Sometimes these Trans-Atlantic threads sort of spiral down into "America: Why do you eat such horrible gross food, and wash it down with a cup of gasoline?" and it kind of wears on the nerves after a while.  And there's more diversity of food here than people sometimes realize.

Actually lots of message boards bash American food. I actually asked on one years ago if there was *any* American food that was liked. Yes there is; BBQ,  Cajun and peanut butter cups were big winners as was Mexican.

For the record I don't think you're missing anything by not having Thin Mints; I think they're ridiculously over-praised and haven't had one in 40 years or so.

[ladyknight1]

We buy two boxes of Thin Mints every year. One sleeve (two per package) "lives" in the freezer as that is DH's favorite way to enjoy them.

[lowspark]

Thank you for the responses, I hope I didn't offend anyone, I certainly know that everywhere has variety - especially somewhere as large as the United States.

We travelled pretty widely, and true there wasn't a lot of home cooking - but eating out from fancy restaurants to casual cafes and hot dog carts... and I did find things to be sweeter than I was used to.
It was not a criticism, just an observation.

When I was in the Uk, I also noticed that the same brands taste totally different - Cadburys for example (I prefer the UK stuff)

I kind of think I know an equivalent of a jello salad here - we kind of use it as a snack/dessert....

For those that have been to Australia - how did you find our food in comparison (apart from so much more expensive - just like everything else)

Oh - and Do they still make Girl Scout Thin Mints.... I love those things

Nah, it wasn't the "sweet" descriptor that bugged anyone. It was subsequent posts about "nastiness" and the like. Sometimes these Trans-Atlantic threads sort of spiral down into "America: Why do you eat such horrible gross food, and wash it down with a cup of gasoline?" and it kind of wears on the nerves after a while.  And there's more diversity of food here than people sometimes realize.

But having something be sweeter than you expect--I get that. I got annoyed at Outback a while ago because I ordered this fish dish with two sides and for whatever reason they'd made all three dishes sweet, so there was no contrast, nowhere to rest the taste buds between bites of sweet stuff, if you will.

And yes, they do still make Girl Scout Thin Mints! They're practically a religion. If you ever want a similar taste when it's not GS cookie season, Keebler's Grasshopper cookies are very similar and are inexpensive.

For me, it's, not so much offensive, but definitely annoying when people in other countries make assumptions about the entire US based on one American food they've tried, or one American city they visited or one American person they met. And for my money, go ahead and change "one" to "two" or "six" or "12" even, in the previous sentence.

I would never post here that I visited London and ate a fish & chips dinner that was too salty so all fish & chips in England must be too salty. Or that I visited Paris and asked someone for directions and that person was rude so all people in France must be rude. It's just plain silly. The existence of bad food, rude people, etc. in a particular location doesn't preclude the existence of great food and gracious people in the same location.

So a statement like the following is nothing but sweeping generalization of all bread in the US. And based on what? Certainly not based on what is readily available to me at several locations in a very small radius, right here in Houston.

I can't eat the bread. Too sweet, nasty texture. I find a lot of their food too sweet for my taste.

I get it that there's plenty of stuff here that people, both in the US and outside of it, don't like. To each his own. But to then somehow project that experience to say that all bread in the US is sweet with a nasty texture, I mean, that's quite a leap, isn't it?

So, it's not so much that I don't accept the criticism or am defensive or get offended if someone says they don't like something or feel that  "Rest of the world: Why don't you like what we like? Everything here is better than what you have, and if you say you don't like it we're going to be offended".

It's ok to say, "I didn't like the bread I ate when I visited the US", it's not ok (IMO) to say, "and therefore I don't like any bread in the US."

Because that comes off as the flip side of the italicized quote above. It comes off feeling like the person is saying, "Everything in the US is bad and since you live there and like it, a) you have bad taste and b) you don't know what you're missing."

I know that's not the intent of 99% of the people posting! But it can sure sound that way.

[DavidH]

Every time I go to Europe, I'm reminded that although in the US many people think of Europe as one place, there are major cultural differences between countries. The US, while one country is quite large and quite diverse.  The differences are not based on a national boundary, but by regions, but the food and tastes of New England are markedly different from say the Southwest. 

That said, some of the processed bread I've had in the US bears little if any resemblance to anything I've seen in Europe and I can see how it would not appeal to a European palate.  If I hadn't grown up with it, I probably would find it extremely unappealing too. 

Jello salad was very popular in the 50's to 70's and still seems to be common in mid-Western and South Eastern potlucks.  A savory Jello salad, if there is such a thing, is lemon or lime Jello with vegetables like carrots, celery, peas, etc. suspended in it.  It is often served on lettuce, garnished with radishes, and may include a cream based dressing like French (mayonnaise and ketchup mixed), Green Goddess, or sour cream.  The sour cream could be mixed into the Jello too.  In the 50's and 60's there were savory Jello flavors like Italian Tomato or Celery, but they were discontinued.  I can only hope the salads were better with those, since a sweet lime Jello, crunchy vegetable, and cream based dressing is not a combination I like. 

A sweet Jello salad could be any flavor with fruit suspended in it, often canned fruit cocktail.  Cool Whip is a preferred topping.  A sweet Jello salad seems to make more sense to me, since it's at least all consistently sweet and dessert themed.  It is worth pointing out that one would never confuse the flavor of Jello with that of fresh fruit, although some flavors are better than others. 

[katycoo]

For the record I don't think you're missing anything by not having Thin Mints; I think they're ridiculously over-praised and haven't had one in 40 years or so.

I feel this way about Tim Tams.  I mean, they're fine, but I don't know why others get so excited about them.

[Hmmmmm]

Every time I go to Europe, I'm reminded that although in the US many people think of Europe as one place, there are major cultural differences between countries. The US, while one country is quite large and quite diverse.  The differences are not based on a national boundary, but by regions, but the food and tastes of New England are markedly different from say the Southwest. 

That said, some of the processed bread I've had in the US bears little if any resemblance to anything I've seen in Europe and I can see how it would not appeal to a European palate.  If I hadn't grown up with it, I probably would find it extremely unappealing too. 

Jello salad was very popular in the 50's to 70's and still seems to be common in mid-Western and South Eastern potlucks.  A savory Jello salad, if there is such a thing, is lemon or lime Jello with vegetables like carrots, celery, peas, etc. suspended in it.  It is often served on lettuce, garnished with radishes, and may include a cream based dressing like French (mayonnaise and ketchup mixed), Green Goddess, or sour cream.  The sour cream could be mixed into the Jello too.  In the 50's and 60's there were savory Jello flavors like Italian Tomato or Celery, but they were discontinued.  I can only hope the salads were better with those, since a sweet lime Jello, crunchy vegetable, and cream based dressing is not a combination I like. 

A sweet Jello salad could be any flavor with fruit suspended in it, often canned fruit cocktail.  Cool Whip is a preferred topping.  A sweet Jello salad seems to make more sense to me, since it's at least all consistently sweet and dessert themed.  It is worth pointing out that one would never confuse the flavor of Jello with that of fresh fruit, although some flavors are better than others.

Who are these people who think of Europe as one place? I've never met anyone planning a European vacation who didn't agonize over which countries or which regions of a country they wanted to visit. In my experience, there is much more confusion about the Asian cultural differences.

It's a well documented fact that US food is sweeter than the majority of other cultures. I remember watching a documentary about Japanese experiencing American cookies and how they could barely eat one. We had an abundance of cheap sugar for 200 years. It crept into just about all aspects of our food and can be difficult for those unfamiliar. But it would be like going to Thailand and complaining that the food was spicy. Not everything is, but a majority is spicier than other countries.

[Yvaine]

Every time I go to Europe, I'm reminded that although in the US many people think of Europe as one place, there are major cultural differences between countries. The US, while one country is quite large and quite diverse.  The differences are not based on a national boundary, but by regions, but the food and tastes of New England are markedly different from say the Southwest. 

There is also--and I'm generalizing a little--something of a generational component. Food has fads just like anything else, and the conventional wisdom about what's "healthy" also changes over time, and so people of different ages have grown up with different assumptions about what's yummy and what's healthy (and what's both, or neither). And sometimes your tastes don't change even when the food fashions do, and that's where a lot of "comfort food" comes in--it's food that reminds people of their childhood but that, in most cases, is considered unhealthy and out of fashion now.

[Margo]

For me, it's, not so much offensive, but definitely annoying when people in other countries make assumptions about the entire US based on one American food they've tried, or one American city they visited or one American person they met. And for my money, go ahead and change "one" to "two" or "six" or "12" even, in the previous sentence.

I would never post here that I visited London and ate a fish & chips dinner that was too salty so all fish & chips in England must be too salty. Or that I visited Paris and asked someone for directions and that person was rude so all people in France must be rude. It's just plain silly. The existence of bad food, rude people, etc. in a particular location doesn't preclude the existence of great food and gracious people in the same location.

So a statement like the following is nothing but sweeping generalization of all bread in the US. And based on what? Certainly not based on what is readily available to me at several locations in a very small radius, right here in Houston.

I can't eat the bread. Too sweet, nasty texture. I find a lot of their food too sweet for my taste.

I get it that there's plenty of stuff here that people, both in the US and outside of it, don't like. To each his own. But to then somehow project that experience to say that all bread in the US is sweet with a nasty texture, I mean, that's quite a leap, isn't it?

So, it's not so much that I don't accept the criticism or am defensive or get offended if someone says they don't like something or feel that  "Rest of the world: Why don't you like what we like? Everything here is better than what you have, and if you say you don't like it we're going to be offended".

It's ok to say, "I didn't like the bread I ate when I visited the US", it's not ok (IMO) to say, "and therefore I don't like any bread in the US."

Because that comes off as the flip side of the italicized quote above. It comes off feeling like the person is saying, "Everything in the US is bad and since you live there and like it, a) you have bad taste and b) you don't know what you're missing."

I know that's not the intent of 99% of the people posting! But it can sure sound that way.

I think possibly there is an element of miscommunication in what is meant - for instance, in the comments about bread, I didn't read it as "all bread in the USA" I read it as "American packaged breads which aren't found elsewhere" - I guess because that's the bread which I would think of as being distinctively  'American', whereas the wide variety of other breads which are available are not something which I would think of as being distinctively American, it's the sort of thing I would expect to have available in most countries. In the same way, I would think of Baguettes as being distinctively French, and Pumpernickel as German,  even though they are both widely and readily available here (and I assume in the US).

In the same way, I might say I don't like American chocolate because there is a very distinctive type of flavour which you only seem to get in American confectionary, which I do not like. It doesn't mean that I don't know, and accept, there there are lots of places in America which make/sell nice chocolate, just that the kind of chocolate which is distinctively American doesn't appeal to me personally. Since I only ever come across that particular flavour in American confectionery I think of it as 'American Chocolate'. I have to admit that until I read your comments it would not have occurred to me to think that that might be read as 'all the chocolate in America'.

I do agree that huge generalisations are often annoying, but I'm not sure that the generalisations being made were intended quite as broad as you appear to be reading them as being (if that makes sense)

I also think that there is a big difference between "All French people are rude" and "I noticed a lot more rudeness in France than in other countries" (for example. Personally, although I've met rude people who were French, I've never found french people in general to be noticably any more or less rude than anyone else. )

I think we get the equivalent of both at times in the forum.

[Cricket]

We had a cool whip type product here in Australia. I think it first came on the market in the 70s or 80s. It was called either Dessert Whip or Dairy Whip - I can't remember which one ... possibly both from different manufacturers.

I agree it doesn't taste at all like whipped cream or chantilly cream. It was a substance unto itself and delicious!!! It had a really light texture and didn't melt as fast on a slice of hot apple pie. I could also eat it straight from the tub. I don't know when it disappeared from Australian freezers, but I haven't seen it for many a year.

I make do with fresh cream and whip it myself, or ice-cream, and very rarely canned cream.