(Keep in mind that my nation is infamous for having crap food, and boiling everything to death. Which isn't fair these days, I think, if it ever was, but that's our reputation.)

My family went on vacation to London about ten years ago, and my mother still complains that English people put peas in everything. (She, for some reason, really hates peas, and got increasingly aggravated when every dish brought to her -- including, she insists, oatmeal -- had peas in it.)

My impression of English food up until then was mostly gleaned from children's books, so it was mostly various sorts of candy and desserts. I saw treacle pudding on a restaurant menu and just had to try it because I'd seen it in so many books, and have a very sort of "Huh. That's it?" reaction. And I never did find any Turkish Delight.

You think of salad bars as American? Interesting. I'd never considered that.

I think that what I think of as American food is really New England food -- clam chowder, corn chowder, lobster, cornbread, maple sugar candy, Indian pudding, pumpkin pie, turkey, and stuff like that. (And then once I'm thinking in that direction anyway, I start thinking of Toll House pie, which I think is also just a New England thing -- Toll House cookie dough put into a pie crust and baked, and then topped with chocolate syrup if you really want the sugar rush.) Once I think about it, I remember barbecue and Tex-Mex and stuff from other regions, but that's not my first thought when I think of "American" food.

Cornbread isn't, strictly speaking, just New England. Hordes of people from South of the Mason-Dixon will be most upset with you about that one.

Very true, sumi.

My family went on vacation to London about ten years ago, and my mother still complains that English people put peas in everything. (She, for some reason, really hates peas, and got increasingly aggravated when every dish brought to her -- including, she insists, oatmeal -- had peas in it.)

???

...ooookaay.

You think of salad bars as American?

afaik, they are an American phenomenon. A very nice one.

The American food cliché is, I would agree, fast and/or junk food, including the food that it's absorbed from other cultures (pizza, the hamburger and frankfurter) and made its own.

Here, also, if you want a good burger, spare ribs or, in particular, a good steak, you can visit an upmarket American diner, steakhouse or Tex-Mex place. So it's not all negative, but you definitely get what you pay for.

Hil, I don't know where you went to eat when you were in the UK, but I have never, ever had peas in anything I've eaten there unless specifically ordered.

So, my question for unAmericans is, what do you think of when you think of "American food"?

I'd generally think of junk food, though perhaps at least to the level of the family restaurant such as Chili's rather than KFC or Maccas. I will note, there's good food to be had in America, but it's not distinctly American. Likewise, Ireland is not known for its innovative cuisine, but I had fantastic meals in Ireland - in Swedish restaurants, Indian restaurants, Turkish restaurants, anything but Irish food.

With the peas, I do not at all remember the peas in the oatmeal, but my mother insists it happened. Mostly it was that, whatever she ordered in a restaurant, there were peas on the side, or sometimes mixed in with the rice or something. I think it may have just been coincidence.

(I found that English restaurants tended to be a bit more accommadating of my vegetarianism than American restaurants tended to be, especially at the lower end -- like, little sandwich stands selling premade sandwiches would generally have some cheese sandwiches, while the equivalent type places in the US would generally only have meat. When I went to Ireland a few years later, everywhere had a bunch of vegetarian options -- way more than I'd expected. I commented on it, and someone said that a lot more people were eating vegetarian because of Mad Cow.)

Likewise, Ireland is not known for its innovative cuisine, but I had fantastic meals in Ireland - in Swedish restaurants, Indian restaurants, Turkish restaurants, anything but Irish food.

When I went to Ireland, the guidebook I had mentioned an Irish restaurant in Dublin with something like, "If you really want to try traditional Irish food, this is probably your best bet." I went there and got a sort of potato crepe wrapped around a vegetable filling, which was OK, I guess.

Now that I live in the American South - which was pretty much a foreign country to me before I moved here! - I have learned a lot of foods that most people not from the US have probably never had. Shrimp and grits, barbecue (with its various regional styles - when I say barbecue I tend to mean Carolina style pulled pork in a vinegar based sauce), fried green tomatoes, fried pickles (which are good!), hoppin' john, hush puppies, greens. And that's just one region of the south - New Orleans, for example, has a whole different range of good, American dishes.

Oooh, fried green tomatoes. I had those once, at JazzFest, and loved them.

And you're right about New Orleans food -- a New Orleans-style restaurant opened in NYC a few years ago, and most of the reviews treated it as if it were a foreign cuisine.