Sandwiches

Americans have a reputation for preferring to eat with their hands, whether it be hamburgers or pizza etc. This is quite true but people in other countries probably don't realise just how far this goes. 

Americans consider hamburgers a type of sandwich (where I would reserve that word for something between slices of bread, 'Do you want a sandwich or a roll?') and it's sandwiches more generally that they worship. They prefer to eat with they're hands so they put all manner of nice things on rolls and pretend it's haute cuisine. It took a few years of living here to realise just how pervasive this phenomenon is - it's not just cheap lunch shops that sell fancy sandwiches, it's family restaurants (like Applebees and, my favourite, TGI Friday's) and even semi-fancy restaurants with nice décor. The other night when we were at an Italian restaurant Cindy was disappointed to see a kid at the next table eating his pizza with his hands, she thought it was too nice a place for that sort of behaviour. Then I pointed out that she had ordered a hamburger and I a fancy sandwich.

I don't know if it has more to do with the tough economic times of the last couple of years or just a willingness to consider sandwiches civilised but there's also a neglect of real food. I read an article a little while ago about a group of people who go around New York reviewing the hamburgers (this might be it). The thing is, if you're going to appoint yourself a connoisseur of beef, at least compare steaks!

Having spent some time in Philly, I've come to see their famous cheesesteak as a decent compromise. It's made with shaved or finely sliced steak (and they don't have döner kebabs here) and I've found that if you go somewhere decent (without a long queue of tourists), then a provolone cheesesteak with "sweet peppers" can be very nice.