McDonald's and guns, puh-raise JEE-zuz-ah!
this post was submitted on 17 Aug 2026
755 points (97.1% liked)
Political Memes
12383 readers
2143 users here now
Welcome to politcal memes!
These are our rules:
1) Be civil
Jokes are okay, but don’t intentionally harass or disturb any member of our community. Sexism, racism and bigotry are not allowed. Good faith argumentation only. No posts discouraging people to vote or shaming people for voting.
2) No misinformation
Don’t post any intentional misinformation. When asked by mods, provide sources for any claims you make.
3) Posts should be memes
Random pictures do not qualify as memes. Relevance to politics is required.
4) No bots, spam or self-promotion
Follow instance rules, ask for your bot to be allowed on this community.
5) No AI generated content.
Content posted must not be created by AI with the intent to mimic the style of existing images
founded 3 years ago
MODERATORS
Italy doesn't have pizza. The modern dish, "Pizza", was invented in America. Hell, the deepdish was invented in Chicago at Pizzaria Uno.
So, pasta would be better attributable to Italy. But, if you're barring that route and looking for an inherently and uniquely American dish that doesn't ring of other countries' inspiration, the cheeseburger might answer the question. To make it easy though, you wanted something invented in America that is named after the American town it was invented in, go for the Philly cheesesteak.
Have you even read the article? The author did not bother to read the source that claims this. And since they argue about tomato sauce, it leads me to believe this is mostly about the pizza we eat today rather that pizza in general. And the fact that tomato sauce inly became a staple of pizza is not new either. Much like how mashed potatoes with Sauerkraut is very much of German origin, it only came about in the late 18th century. Similarily with pizza. The dish existed way before tomatoes were a thing in Italy. The romans already made dishes that were very close to pizza. And since many countries have something close to pizza, I'd wager it is the recipe for the dough that is unique to pizza, not the fact that there's tomatoe sauce on it.
Also, no where outside of the USA have I seen deepdish pizza. You can claim origin for that for all I care.
And since they argue about tomato sauce, it leads me to believe this is mostly about the pizza we eat today rather that pizza in general.
Did you not read the part where I said "the modern dish, 'Pizza'"?
Not going to argue, but people paying a fascist for their blue checkmark should maybe take a long look in the mirror.
"Your money. Nice check mark." was the appropriate answer. Well, an appropriate answer.
High fructose corn syrup.
American food is usually hybrid food based on other cultures, either with american ingredients (potatos, tomatos, peppers) or multiple cultures blending together.
Some that I would think should be considered good american food:
smoked/BBQ, Cajun food, generally Southern Cooking, American Chinese food, Tex Mex, Lobster and sorta all those northeastern cuisines, hamburgers and hotdogs.
I don't know why people think America does food bad, we're not one of the fattest countries because our food sucks.
America has a very wide range of cuisines and they are very good and mixing and matching.
I agree, but also - tomatoes and potatoes are from the Americas - so that pizza in Italy? It is ALSO 'fusion' food.
That's just how food works. People eat what's available, and more stuff has become available over the past few hundred years. heh.
I think the whole thing is silly. Enjoy good food! Who cares about the rest?
And sure, I make authentic creole dishes as well as southern, and some legit texmex. But if I didn't, if I made tasty food, who the hell cares? lol.
Tex mex is soooo good but the name makes it sound like "shitty American version of Mexican food" when that couldn't be further from the truth
Only if you have insufficient love and respect for Texas (ignore recent fascist bullshit). :D
But I think it works. It takes the best from both to come up with... well... in practice, you can take a few ingredients and make them into a lot of different things...... but they are all very tasty, so there's that. hehe
No no, no disrespect intended by that. It just sounds like a knockoff. Fool's gold, mocktail, texmex, etc.
To anyone unfamiliar, texmex is not some sort of "what if we combined X and Y?" Michelin star fusion. It's the natural evolution of cuisine trade between northern Mexicans and Texans (tejanos). A lot of things people think of as Mexican are actually texmex. Like fajitas. I think queso or nachos?
Lighthearted exhortation - I still love a lot about Texas, but there's a lot going wrong there. Was basically playing with you a little very very very indirectly alluding to the "Don't Mess With Texas" slogan :)
Very well explained, I think. Don't discount the Native American contributions, too!
Some of the dishes of Tex-Mex:
- Chili con carne
- Fajitas
- Nachos
- Hard-shell tacos
- yellow chile con queso (Mexican uses white cheese, Tex-Mex uses yellow cheese)
Also, interestingly, the entree-with-rice-and-beans is also Tex-Mex.
It's wild that people dismiss the cuisine as some sort of lesser thing. It's just how food works - ideas spread, ingredients spread, people create new things that stick around and BAM you have a new cuisine. :)
See, even I didn't know that about the rice.
I think a lot of cuisines south of the mason dixon get a bad reputation because of the people.
I agree, and I think it's unfair. lol. There's a definitely divide betwen urban people and rural people, and I'm not talking politics here.
Urban people all have to get along in a shared space. They don't wave and say "howdy' every time they pass on the street because they'd go hoarse within an hour. Rural people tend not to encounter as many people.
Rural people recognize that strangers being around is much more likely to be bad news. Help is also farther away. So there's a tendency for a culture of self-reliance, and suspicion of outsiders.
If you know someone rural, there's a good chance they'd give you the shirt off their back if you needed help and they were able to help. People have to help each other, there's nobody else that can.
In an urban environment, we're more used to being able to have social safety nets - even if we largely don't in the US - and being able to call someone to help someone in need.
So I think a lot of the reputation is undeserved. Good people and bad people everywhere.
I do think the fascist figured out that the rural folks were easier to manipulate, although they do try to manipulate everyone.
But anyway. lol.
Certainly the food of the South is generally fantastic. And it should count toward honest US cuisine. People don't consider it to be haute cuisine, so they downplay it - but consistently people outside the US who come and try it love it. lol.
And then you get into places like Louisiana and Cajun and Creole, for example, and there's a whole other little world of delightful things.
It's wild to me because as Americans we tend to take pride in far too many things we shouldn't, and yet we are down on ourselves about our food that is legitimately awesome.
I mean, take pizza and burgers - the ideas came from elsewhere, but we made both of those things our own. They are fully American in the way they're presented to the point that it is generally our version of those things that has spread back around the world (and then locally enhanced and changed in places). lol.
But that's just how it goes. Curry went from India to Britain, and then when it went fro Britain to Japan, they call it "English curry". And now I buy "Japanese curry" (S&B brand) because I love it and love the Japanese "English" curry that came from India. lol.
I really should have clarified "the popular depictions of the people" but yeah, half of my family is from Georgia so I spent a lot of time in the south over the years. There's certainly no shortage of good people but stereotype unfortunately exists for a reason. That said, those same people are in rural Michigan, Indiana, Wyoming, New York...but I guess they don't have the slavery connotations
Funny you bring up Indian food....literally 10 minutes ago I was explaining the cuisine to a coworker who had never tried it and suggested she give Tikka Masala a spin. And then explained how it's Indian food but also probably British.
Oh man, I would love to be able to go down the journey of discovery on Indian food. Although I guess for that matter, I haven't had a whole bunch. More of the "packets" you can buy (although at least those are generally made in India and shipped heh), only because most Indian places I've encountered are..... not cheap. heh. I wish more cuisines had buffets so you can try more stuff :) I have to be careful because I can't do onions or bell peppers unless they're cooked to smithereens like in gumbo. heh.
And yeah, plenty of asshats in rural, but also urban. :) But I do think, bringing politics back into it....... we definitely have a huge rural/urban divide as far as things like social safety nets and, y'know, human rights. lol.
I had to block most of my family over the years for that shit. It gets old. heh
load more comments
(2 replies)
I don't know why people think America does food bad, we're not one of the fattest countries because our food sucks.
I would guess this has more to do with your food having tons of sugar and giant portions. Plenty of countries have amazing food. Not all of them struggle with obesity so much.
This. The sugar in everything probably does more than larger portions.
ehh its a lot more complicated than it seems.
I think for me I would point to the fact that cheap sugary shit tends to be well, cheap.
For example I had a pack of gummy lifesavers (hard as a rock, rip me) and it was the cheapest thing in my lunch today despite being like, 8 servings of candy? it was cheaper than the water I got??? What the heck is up with that???
Honestly portion size isnt what I would point to, I feel like its custom here to take home leftovers and stuff, even when you visit someone's house for dinner and they make way too much. I'm sure there's some psychological stuff here with portion size, just in my experience I've never felt the need to eat everything and Ive been reasonably healthy all my life.
And yeah shout out to (in no particular order) Mexico, Italy, Germany, Brazil, Canada, Spain, China, South Korea, Ethiopia, Eritrea, India, Vietnam, Thailand, The Dutch, Singapore, Poland, and anyone I forgot y'all are real ones I love your food.
You've got to give some credit that gluttony is somewhere in the causal mix.
I dunno I've visited a lot of places and seen a lot of people and it's not like Americans are unique in how much food we eat?
I'd point to the fact that sugary/bad for you stuff tends to be cheap first and foremost. It's really easy to fill up on empty calories if you're stuffing your face with candy and fast food.
Secondarily I would point how hard it is to avoid ultra-processed garbage. It's really everywhere and everything here, even things that are "healthy" are pretty terrible usually. Unless you're eating/making everything fresh it's not easy to avoid some of this garbage and it's basically all empty calories.
I also think, far more important than gluttony, there's very little actual food education in the US. Unless you're kinda into fitness and watching what you eat, you don't really know what macros and stuff do and why things are important.
There's also food deserts, the fact that American cities are meant to be driven and basically cannot be walked/biked, and just generally sedentary lifestyles across all of America.
Genuinely I don't think that the fat countries around the world are "extra gluttons" compared to the rest of the world. It's anecdotal of course, but I often hear of Europeans visiting and gaining weight. I doubt they're suddenly becoming gluttons the moment they land in America. I think that's like maybe the 10th most important reason at best. We're all humans and while culture is different and could lead to different eating habits, I don't think that matters that much. I think Canada for example, is quite culturally similar to the US but they have an obesity rate of only 27.1% compared to America's 41.8%
I think one place where portion size might actually be a factor in retrospect is with soda. Our larges are huge and people will down those things like crazy.
So, no credit at all to human behaviour? I agree with most of what you are saying but you at least have to allow that some of it is gluttony. Even one out of one hundred?
Oh yeah I'm sure there's some % of people that are gluttons that would be fat wherever they are assuming they could afford to be, but thats not unique to Americans was my main point.
The giant portions thing is a cultural left over in a lot of ways, food used to be cooked in a far more communal method and often combined supper and lunch then a snack later at night. For example apparently my 2x great grandfather ensured a small feast for him, my great grandfather, his wife (remarried technically not my ancestor), and all the temp workers during harvest. That's not even getting into things like potlucks.
As for sugar I blame the post war period, arguably the amount of sugar in shit has been decreasing slowly since the 90s but it's a slow generational thing.
As American I agree. However, judging by all the Europeans visiting during the World Cup and then being enamored by our food and culture makes me think this person has never visited.
All CIA psyops. The real ones boykotted obvs. /j
I don't get it, you agree with the person who never visited? As an American, you should know the food here is diverse and incredible
load more comments
(1 replies)
For those fumbling for the standard answer: it is hamburgers. The USA has hamburgers.
Named after the German city of Hamburg.
Hamburgers are named after the Hamburg Steak, which was named after the city of Hamburg
load more comments
(2 replies)
Heart disease.
In an effort to only be a little annoying, some wines in the US have ranked higher in blind tests when compared with French wines. Albeit it’s an old story nowadays, but France doesn’t have a monopoly on good wine, nor Italy on good ‘pizza’.
Something we, the people in the US, do right, is integrating different cultural foods and ingredients. There’s a mountain of things that can be said about just how long something of higher quality actually lasts here, but many of us are eager to try new things and see the local places near us as part of our home.
BBQ
Is shitting in your diaper considered shitting yourself?
Coors Light and Diabetus.
view more: next ›