W4 - Our Fast Food Nation

Not surprisingly, growing up in a health-strict household, fast food was an extreme rarity – though not entirely nonexistent.  As a child, my dad traveled a great deal on business and my mother (a stay-at-home mom) took advantage of his time away as time to take a break from preparing dinner.  Thus, in his absence, my sisters and I were able to consume fast food.  However, as vegetarians, our options were limited and we most often opted for Taco Bell (we consumed bean burritos and nachos in ungodly quantities); and if it wasn’t Taco Bell, it was a McDonald’s cheeseburger sans meat (classy, I know).  We cherished each opportunity to consume fast food in that it provided a much needed relief from our staple vegetarian split pea soup and lentil loaf, yet the opportunities were rare.  

I firmly believe fast food has become so popular in America due to its convenience – as it was for my mother.  For Americans that may not have the time to prepare a full meal, fast food restaurants provide an excellent alternative.  Swinging by KFC on your way home from work could save you an hour of cooking.  Fast food restaurants also provide mothers and fathers who slave over a stove day in and day out a much-needed break from cooking.  Not to mention, the food is quite tasty – but unfortunately not healthy.

Fast food is American because it’s cheap, convenient, delicious and unhealthy.  While we Americans are extremely lazy, we are also seemingly always on the go.  To pull through a Burger King drive-through on your way home from work and spend $5 on a sizeable meal is always going to be the option of choice, as opposed to cooking at home after a long day at work.  We Americans have developed an unfortunate dependency on fast food – one which, I believe, will not diminish anytime in the near future. 

(Unfortunately, I have not traveled outside of the U.S., so I am not qualified to speak about the quality of fast food in other nations).

W3 - What is "American" Food?

Working in a number of restaurants over the course of the past few years has given me a strong background with food -- though serving is a skill I just can't quite master.  However, growing up as a vegetarian, I was limited in the food I could consume.  Thus, my concept of traditional American foods differs greatly from someone who grew up eating, let's say, steak and chicken.  But, I'll try my best by including one food option from each section you would typical find on a menu...

- Strawberry & Spinach Salad
While the consumption of fast food is at an all-time high, a health frenzy is also striking our society, thus, I feel it imperative to have a salad on the menu -- a spinach salad (for nutritional value). This salad is topped with fresh, sliced strawberries, candied walnuts, crumbled bleu cheese and a raspberry vinegarette dressing. You can also add grilled chicken.

- Shrimp & Scallops Pasta
Many Americans consider seafood a delicacy.  Thus, I wanted to include seafood in my pasta
feature.  The shrimp and scallops are marinated in a creamy alfredo sauce (also very indicative of America) and displayed upon a mound of angel hair pasta. 

- Ham & Swiss Sandwich
I feel this particular sandwich is extremely popular amongst Americans and one you most likely would not find in Germany.  This sandwich is served on warm on foccacia bread, topped with mayonnaise, mustard and lettuce.

- Flank Steak
Of course it wouldn't be an American restaurant if we didn't serve steak.  Cooked to your request and topped with bleu cheese (obviously my favorite addition to any food). Maybe, we'll throw a vegetable on the side...let's say broccoli sauteed in butter?

- Wild Grilled Salmon
Fish entrees are becoming increasingly popular as they are typically a healthy alternative to steak or pasta.  This salmon is blackened and served on a bed of wild rice.

- Banana Foster
What is an American meal without a high-calorie dessert.  I chose my all-time favorite dessert for this menu -- banana foster.  Chocolate shortcake and fresh, sliced bananas are sauteed in a brown sugar and bourbon and served with two scoops of vanilla bean ice cream.

Oma's German Pancakes

Being raised by vegetarian parents in a health-strict, junk food-free home, though positive for my long term health, was at times torturous.  Like any child I craved the salty promise of pretzels and the cream filling of Ho Hos -- all of which where prohibited in our home.  Thus, when given the opportunity to devour anything remotely unhealthy, I did so without hesitation and in unfathomable quantities. 

Undoubtedly, my favorite childhood "splurge" was my grandmother's, Oma (German for grandmother) who moved to America at 19, German pancakes.  Unlike her daughter, who typically adhered to abnormally healthy cooking, Oma's rich German cooking was made with much love, which was represented in the mass quantities of butter she added to every recipe.  For example, her German pancakes, more like crepes, contained butter, were cooked in butter and were further doused in butter prior to the drowning of each cake in warm syrup.

The smell of the pancakes being cooked was enough to send my taste buds into a frenzy.  Every bite of each butter and syrup-drenched piece (she cut each pancake into small pieces to prevent the cutting process from inhibiting her grandchildren's the seemingly pancake inhalation process) melted on my tongue.  My stomach begged for more -- so much more that at five-years-old, I was eating nearly three whole pancakes.    

Besides the texture of Oma's pancakes (not light and fluffy, as are traditional American pancakes), two additional feature's made this German recipe unique.  First, German pancakes are not meant to be eaten as a breakfast food.  Instead, Oma made pancakes for dinner -- and occasionally, though rarely ever, lunch -- but NEVER for breakfast.  Second, the pancakes can not be imitated.  Though my mother thoroughly attempted to master this savory recipe (but always accompanied by multiple servings of fruit and vegetables), only Oma can make the perfect German pancake.  Maybe it's the pan she uses.  Maybe it's the perfect dash of salt she adds to the batter.  Or maybe it's the butter.  Yeah, I think it's the butter.  

Oma's German Pancakes (a surprisingly simple recipe -- though each ingredient is not measured, but rather added cautiously so as to produce the perfect pancake batter, an acquired skill):

Flour
Milk
Butter
Salt (dash)
2 eggs

W1 - Growing Up Vegetarian

At 50-years-old, and prior to my birth, my grandfather suffered a fatal heart attack.  In addition to being a light smoker, my grandfather’s diet largely consisted of meat – specifically red meat.  In response to his death, my father and grandmother drastically altered their diets in an attempt to prolong their life and improve their overall health.  My father and grandmother immediately began eating a vegetarian diet.

My mother’s diet prior to marrying my father couldn’t have been more dissimilar – she grew up on junk and fast food, and still to this day, has a horrible sweet tooth (which I have sadly “inherited”) – and thus, my sisters’ and my diet growing up was an evident source of conflict.    

While my dad holds firm to the title “vegetarian,” he has lead more of a vegan lifestyle, which he pushed on us as children.  Milk and yogurt was strictly forbidden in our home growing up, as were sweets.  If we ate bread, it was to be 100% whole wheat.  Peanut butter must be natural, no sugar added.  No ice cream, no cookies, no doughnuts.  No chocolate, no candy, no soda.  And, most importantly, NO MEAT.

My mother, on the other hand, was intent on us leading a “normal” lifestyle.  In an attempt to culture us, she purchased and hid all the “unhealthy” food in the kitchen and around the house.  I unmistakably recall eating a chocolate-covered mini doughnut in the foyer closet for fear of my dad coming home early from work.  My sisters and I lived in constant fear of disappointing my father and violating his rules, however the reward of a warm, strawberry-filled, icing-topped with sprinkles Pop-Tar was well worth the risk.

However, as we grew older, my father grew less strict about what we ate.  Slowly, more processed foods were introduced to our diets.  We have since begun eating milk and yogurt, and even, on occasion, meat (though red meat is, and always will be, out of the question).  Though my dad is more lenient, I can’t help but feel as if I am letting him down when I eat an unhealthy meal, but then again, the taste is well worth the risk.