Well, I've had many foreign exchange students so it's always fun to have them try new things when they come here. For some reason I always seem to make lasagna as their first meal. I don't know why, it's something most of them like and kind of a comfort food? I am expecting two more next month. I asked my daughter what I should make for their first meal since I wanted to try something different than lasagna. I was thinking chicken soft tacos, she thought some kind of roast with mashed potatoes. She said I should pick something very American and it made me think of hot dogs and hamburgers, not a roast. I mean, what is American? Anything really since we are a melting pot. My most asked for meal from my students is spaghetti.

My favorite breakfast to make them is my mom's egg, rice, cheese and cabbage. She was Japanese but it has bacon and American cheese in it...so I think she just made it up herself with sugar/soy sauce scrambled egg mixture after she came to the U.S. I've never found it anywhere or known anyone else who makes it. I also make my omelettes the way she did with sugar and soy sauce in the eggs.

I also like making them funnel cakes. Fun and delicious.

Lunch, probably chicken soft tacos. Or what I grew up eating for lunch a lot: soup and a sandwich. My favorite sandwich is white bread, Miracle Whip, Monterey Jack cheese and dry salami...first had it over one of my mom's Japanese friend's homes. Grilled cheese and tomato soup is so good.

Another is burgers made on a grill. Sooo good. I make lots of soup and stew also so it can be eaten over several days when I'm working and all they have to do is warm it up. Vegetable beef soup is the most American one I can think of. Eaten with corn bread muffins.

This is hard! Southern California

Snacks

Sunflower seeds

Pre-cleaned sugarsnap peas and/or baby carrots

Guacamole

Breakfast

Oatmeal

Cantaloupe

Strawberries

Scrambled eggs or eggwhite omelette

Dessert

Ice Cream or frozen yoghurt

Cookies

Fruit salad

Regional

Burritos

Hamburgers with mayonnaise or thousand island, lettuce, tomato, onion, pickle, and avocado (i.e., salad inside the bun)

Gardenburgers dressed similarly, except maybe the pickle and avocado

Cobb Salad

Recent addition, kale on everything. :)

For an actual plate, a choice of any of the above (even the Cobb), salad of dark leafy greens decorated with little bits of interesting produce, orange slice, sweet potato or green bean fries or crudités.

BUT that's a sort of public intersection.

A typical home regional dinner main might be sushi, pho, chicken mole, roast beef and mashed potatoes, field roast, fish en papillote, etc. Pretty much anything from anywhere because the people are from anywhere.

So I don't know that any of these are interesting and different enough to be react worthy, however. Though if they don't know melon, a really good piece of cantaloupe could do it.

I'm a transplant, and so I have influences from both Texas and California.

Snacks

Toasted almonds
Tortilla chips with guacamole or bean dip
Flatbread or sliced baguette with Brie
Hummus with lavash

Breakfast

Okonomiyaki
Omelet with spinach, mushrooms, and cheese
Grits with sausage, red bell pepper, cheese, egg, and Cajun seasoning
Potato frittata with red bell pepper and cheese
Spinach quiche

Desserts

Fresh fruit sorbet, such as cherimoya or mango
Lemon curd tart with berries
Chocolate crinkle cookies with ice cream

Regional

Quesadillas or empanadas
Tamales
Fajitas
Sushi

I was raised in the south. If I were offering regional cooking to a foreigner:

Snacks

Texas Caviar (made with black-eyed peas)

Pimento Cheese

Cheetos, crunchy

Snickers

Fried Pork Rinds (if you are driving past a convenience store 🙄)

Barq’s Root Beer

Meats

Fried chicken

Fried pork chops

Baked ham

Barbecued pork ribs

Shrimp

Smoked Pork Butt, pulled or chopped (plate or sandwich)

Vegetables

What my mother called “fried corn,” cut corn off the cob raw, “milk” the cob, cook in a cast iron skillet with a little fat to keep it from sticking. Momma probably used bacon drippings; I use butter.

Spinach Madeline

Butter Beans (only the tiniest)

Yellow, crookneck squash, preferably sautéed with onions, but a casserole is okay too

Desserts

Banana Pudding - only made with real custard and baked meringue.

Lemon Ice Box Pie using recipe from Eagle Brand sweetened condensed milk

Coconut Cake

Caramel Cake

Strawberry Shortcake with real biscuit-like shortcakes

Plate:

fried catfish, turnip greens (cooked with bacon drippings, of course), and fried okra

or

chicken fried steak with white cream gravy, mashed potatoes, and collard greens

Both accompanied by a large glass of sweet tea (1 gallon of tea sweetened with at least 1 cup of sugar while still warm)

Other

Shrimp and Grits

Red Beans and Rice

Brunswick Stew

We entertained a small group from a Chinese NGO several years ago. We had dinner in our home, thinking that would be more interesting to them than going to another restaurant. I hired a chef to come in and prepare the meal. Did we serve any of the dishes I listed above? No. We had a grilled shrimp appetizer. Followed by a spinach salad with strawberries. The entree was filets. The only side dish I recall was Gruyere cheese grits. And for the life of me, I can’t tell you what dessert was. When the chef and I were trying to construct the menu, he suggested braised pork belly as the entree. DH nixed that. He’s a steak guy.

I love that grandma!!! I have been watching emmymadeinjapan who confusingly seems to be a Chinese American lady living in Rhode Island.

I was raised in rural Maine but my parents are from NY and NJ respectively. They brought with them a comfort with trying a wide variety of cuisines that I have.

Guilty pleasures....

Many of my fellow second generation back to the landers have fond memories of access to certain ‘normal’ foods - chief among them is pb and fluff sandwiches. Fluff being gooey marshmallow spread. The bread of course being the super soft squishy bread that was most definitely not made at home.

Those honey sesame candy sticks that I have brought to multiple jobs and everyone remembers from their childhood be they Ukrainian, Laotian, Mexican or American hippie kids.

Breakfast

Lox and Bagels - these are my mom’s roots.

Somethng with Maple Syrup

Lunch/Dinner -

Fiddleheads (in season)

Pizza

Lobster

Dessert

Strawberry Shortcake with biscuits and real whipped cream

Just a quick post and run!

All I can add atm is, mmmmmmm Twiglets, how I miss you!

I grew up in Michigan, we moved to Ohio just as I was getting ready to start college and I lived there until retirement, then moved to Alabama. Married to a true WV Hillbilly!! So ...

Appetizers:

If I could get them fresh - fried smelt (I know, a lot of folks consider them a meal but I think a little goes a long way!)

Mozzerella sticks with my own dipping sauce

Marinated/grilled chicken wings

Breakfast:

Herbed scrambled eggs & cheese

Waffles

Blueberry Pancakes

Bob Evans sausage (can't find it down here and boy howdy do I miss it!)

Bacon

Cream of Wheat

Oatmeal

Lunch:

BLT's

Vegetable soup

PBJ - homemade jam, of course!

Perfection Salad (citrus jello with finely grated cabbage and carrots and crushed pineapple with homemade mayo on top)

Supper:

Bratwurst on the grill

BBQ chicken

Frosted Meatloaf

Lake Erie Walleye, grilled

Hot Rolls

Broccoli/Cheese Casserole

Sweet corn on the cob

Glazed Baby Carrots

Dessert:

Coconut Cream Pie

Black Magic Cake - recipe from Hershey's Cocoa box

The Ubiquitous Toll House Cookies

Hot Fudge Sundaes

Snacks/Other:

Lance's Cheese Crackers with PB

Conn's Potato Chips with lots of different dips

Potato Skins loaded with cheese, bacon & sour cream

Stollen ... Yes, generally found only at Christmas but if you go to Frankenmuth, MI, you can get it pretty much every day. Soooo good.

Drinks:

Sweet tea - I use the same proportions as BBSTX

Freshly squeezed lemon/lime-ade

Faygo Pop

Vernor's Ginger Ale

I had lots of fun thinking about my list and reading what everyone else would make. Thanks for starting this thread!

edie^^^ My Michigan list would look mostly like your's. I do enjoy a Vernor's too, but with a pasty. My walleye comes from inland lakes. Just lovely and delicate.

I do not like sweetened drinks at all but I see sweet tea everywhere now.

Some of these will likely be a repeat of what others have said.

Breakfast:

Omelette with bacon, spinach, cheese, peppers, mushrooms

Scrambled egg cup with sausage and cheese

Grits, plain with a dab of butter

Plates:

Garlic Shrimp with pasta

My Southern plate would include fried okra, corn on the cob, peas, fresh tomatoes, cantaloupe and cornbread

Shrimp and Grits (including chopped andouille sausage)

Grilled grouper with a side of asparagus and maybe risotto

Fresh tomato sandwich or BLT

Deviled eggs with something

Fajitas with grilled chicken

Snack

Brie drizzled with honey and topped with walnuts, crackers

hummus and veggies

Fresh peach in season

Guacamole

Dessert:

Creme Brûlée

key lime pie

peaches or peach cobbler with ice cream

I'm confused by this thread (easy to do). You're all naming what you're defining as regional things and yet I eat or have available 90% of what is on all the lists and I'm on the west coast of Canada. The only things I see that we don't have are catfish and grits

amylou - I love Cheeto Puffs

And Lars - It would be interesting and fun to put your California sushi against my BC sushi.

Edie

Have you tried Steve Evans sausage? He is Bob's brother and his sausage is delicious! My local Walmart sells it but, I'm only a few miles from the Bob Evans farm. I highly recommend it if you liked the old BE recipe.

mollycats, down here in Alabama it's Jimmy Deans, Tennessee Pride or Deans. Not a fan of any of them. I make do with the TN Pride if I really need sausage. It's funny the things you miss!

Kathsgarden, may I ask where your exchange students are coming from?

Blfenton, you're right. My own list is typical local food, but it's just food. OTOH, much of it might be less normal to someone from a very different food culture. Anywhere in North America you're going to be able to find most of what we're listing, but is it typical and representative of where you live? We have a lot of grits eating people in SoCal, but it's as much a “foreign” food as crepes or empanadas. Which are just as well known and made in people's homes and popular restaurants. ScCal culture post WWII made the hamburger what it is today, but I'm told by people from elsewhere that the whole salad with dressing is specific and typical of us, but even that has been exported all over the world. Burritos are as typical and popular, though a lot of people buy the home style ones frozen nowadays rather than rolling their own (non-restaurant style is a flour tortilla in one hand, a scoop of chili con carne or refried beans (hot) on top to fill your hand, sides folded in, ends rolled over, ready to eat, warms and fills you.)

Breakfast—cantaloupe with cream gravy ,grits with sausage, always cured our ham and sausage. Lunch— pimento cheese sandwich, cheese doodles, watermelon. Supper —-fried chicken, biscuits, rice with cream gravy, sweet tea, fried okra, homemade ice cream. Snack- boiled peanuts

I didn’t know we supposed to remain regional either, but most of mine probably were.

I forgot a couple of other favorites. With tomatoes almost ready to ripen, how could I forget fried green tomatoes! I make them once or twice during the summer, too with homemade remoulade and a few pieces of crispy bacon. It’s a meal.

As for snacks, I also forgot pimento cheese on celery. Peanut butter (or almond butter) is a good too.

"ScCal culture post WWII made the hamburger what it is today, but I'm told by people from elsewhere that the whole salad with dressing is specific and typical of us,"

Having lived and spent time (and continue to do so) in both NorCal and SoCal, I don't think the popularity of eating salads is all that different between the two areas. I'll remind you that the "Salad Bowl of the World", the Salinas Valley, is in NorCal. Before the availability of widespread refrigerated transportation, people ate what was grown locally and for NorCal areas, that included leafy greens from the Salinas area. I know that some of this is grown in coastal adjacent areas in SoCal (I'm thinking some parts of Oxnard and San Diego as examples) but the output is small in comparison.

Mid-Atlantic Region/ Philly suburb

Breakfast: eggs with bacon, sausage, ham, pork roll or scrapple ( i don't eat scrapple), bagels with cream cheese, bagel & egg sandwich, oatmeal, cream of wheat, pancakes or waffles

Lunch: lunchmeat sandwich, peanut butter and jelly, various fruit, Herr's chips, tuna fish, chicken salad.

Dinner: cheesesteak of course - dinner or lunch, chicken cutlets, stews, stuffed peppers, eggplant parmigiana, soups, big salad with choice of protein, roast pork sandwiches with broccoli rabe,

snack; nuts, cheese, cottage cheese with fruit, greek yogurt with fruit, fruit, lance's crackers with peanut butter...

Sjerin, South Korea and Japan. The one coming from Germany is delaying a year due to the pandemic. A good thing, since I'm pretty sure there are still travel restrictions from Europe in place. I am wondering if it is going to go on as planned, though. Are their families really going to send them into our country the way we are dealing the Covid 19?

(I didn't know about the regional thing either. I just kind of rambled in my post from early this morning. I basically picked things from my house. lol)

1st post--Hamburgers with mayonnaise or thousand island, lettuce, tomato, onion, pickle, and avocado (i.e., salad inside the bun).

2nd post--SoCal culture post WWII made the hamburger what it is today, but I'm told by people from elsewhere that the whole salad with dressing is specific and typical of us, but even that has been exported all over the world.

Second was referring to the first. I get it that the antecedent wasn't obvious, but I wasn't claiming that we had some kind of magic ownership of salad (though the Cobb salad, which has very little green (and why a small green salad served with it isn't silly), is a Hollywood native and most common IME within 150 miles of the Brown Derby). East coast natives I've known get positively angry at mayonnaise (or mayo based "sauce") slathered willynilly on hamburger buns. Some locals don't like it either, but they just ask for hold the mayo without the drama.

It is true, though, that in any part of California, a green salad is a staple food like grits are in the South. :)

I didn’t address breakfast, mainly because I’m a late adopter of breakfast. However, here are things I watched my father and my grandparents eat for breakfast.

Breakfast

Plate: Country ham (or bacon or sausage patties), eggs, grits, biscuits, red-eye gravy, and in the summer, sliced tomatoes

Biscuits with sorghum molasses or muscadine jelly

Waffles

Daddy said when he was a child, they often had fried chicken for breakfast. We didn’t.

In the summer, meals revolve around fruits de mer since we live on Cape Cod and fresh tomatoes, corn, all kinds of backyard grown vegetables and herbs. We don't eat much beef or pork in the summertime. Breakfast is usually granola with Greek yogurt and fruit, Lunch is often a big salad. Dinners are fish/shellfish or sometime poultry with pasta or rice and vegetables. Our desserts might involve fresh blueberries or peaches - cobblers or pies.

Okay, that wasn't clear. I've never heard of the vegetable stuff put on a hamburger or any other sandwich referred to as "salad". Sometimes it's "what do you want on it", or "what veggies do you want", or "what produce do you want". Not "salad" though, that's a new one.

Are you a SoCal native as I am? Maybe the terminology varies around the area.

And yes, of course mayo is required. And if you like ketchup with the mayo too, that's what thousand island dressing is, a la Bob's Big Boy from Burbank originally and such dressing is still available (made under license) in stores. Thankfully.

Elmer, I grew up in the Midwest. When we wanted lettuce, tomato, & onion we asked for a burger "through the garden."

Oh, I forgot to include:

"though the Cobb salad, which has very little green (and why a small green salad served with it isn't silly), is a Hollywood native and most common IME within 150 miles of the Brown Derby"

You should venture out and about more. Cobb salads are very known and popular in the Bay Area, well beyond your arbitrary 150 mile range from Hollywood. And, I suspect, in many other places far and wide.

blfenton,

I've had sushi in Vancouver, and it was good, but not better than what I get in L.A. I think Los Angeles has the largest Japanese population in North America, but not as large as Hawaii, which is where I've had the best sushi.

One sushi restaurant in Beverly Hills is popular with people in Japan, who will fly to Los Angeles to visit this restaurant. There are quite a few sushi restaurants in BH. I've not been to Vancouver since 1992😱 and so I guess I'm overdue!

There are some very good izakaya restaurants in L.A. as well, and I'm sure you have those in B.C. now also.

I live close to a lot of Japanese markets, and so I frequently make Japanese food. I'm a lot further from Chinese and Latin markets in L.A. The best Chinese food is in Monterey Park, an hour east of where I live. The closest restaurant to my house is Ethiopian, and I like it very much but have had trouble making authentic injera bread myself. I have teff flour in my freezer, however, I think. When I have visitor, I take them to the Ethiopian restaurant or the Persian restaurant that is also close.

lars, next time you frequent mid-range (not top tier) sushi and "Japanese" restaurants, pay close attention. Most these days are owned and run by ethnic Korean folks. Their joke on us, most Americans can't tell the difference.

There has not been significant numbers of Japanese immigrants to the US (and the West Coast, a favorite destination) for decades. Running restaurants is a solid starting point for first generation immigrants (with some means) to any country to get an economic toehold for themselves and families. Members of subsequent generations can move up the economic food chain through education and a better head start. Few stay in the occupations their immigrant ancestors had.

The dry cleaners we use is owned and run by a (now elderly) Korean couple. They've been there 30 years or more, >12 hours a day 6 days a week. They have two sons - one is a physician, the other is a dentist. They're of course quite proud of them and it's quite a success for two immigrants (who still don't speak English all that well) but they continue to work into their 70s because that's the life they know.

A funny side story to the side story - I speak to the husband in German - he was converted to Christianity by a German speaking missionary group in Korea ages ago and learned the language before learning English. His German is rather better still. He has German religious passages on the walls and asking about them is how I found out. "Gott im Himmel,,,,,"

I agree with you Elmer, 99% of the Japanese restaurants here are owned by Korean or Chinese, or mixed race people. I only know of one in Lexington that is owned by Japanese people and the only time I went in there with my daughter and our Korean exchange student we were completely ignored so we left and I haven't been back since.

Elmer...Red Robin is a chain restaurant, they have a cobb salad. It has a bed of lettuce. Is this not authentic?

Huh?

My comment was to the person who suggested that Cobb salads were most common, in HER experience, within 150 miles of Hollywood, CA.

To which I said - No, I don't think so. I knew by legend it was first concocted at the Hollywood Brown Derby sometime in the 1930s, and maybe so. A few years have passed since then and others have had it and spread it.

I don't know Red Robin, I generally don't eat at restaurant chains.

I am adding fried pickles to my list. With ranch to dip em in and I would also insist on Krispy Kreme. Both the original and my favorites, the chocolate filled and the kreme filled.

A truck driver,who said he is originally from Nigeria, told me today he just discovered Krispy Kreme and now he cant get enough. He had 3 dozen in his truck and offered me one. He was trying to spread the word of the doughnut I guess. 😄

He's been coming in here for months. And has been in America for several years. I cant believe it took him that long,which is why it's going on my list.

Nicole, an authentic Brown Derby Cobb salad had iceberg, romaine, endive and watercress, but no dark greens, and nowadays, both in restaurants and people's homes you're lucky to get much lettuce at all. If chain restaurants are serving it, it's getting more popular. For many years, people from outside of SoCal (yes, I'm a native) whom I encountered over salads had never heard of it, though it was a very popular thing many years ago. I concede to Elmer that where L.A. transplants live in large numbers, there might be a more lasting Cobb salad scene. Considering it's named after the owner of the Brown Derby, I feel confident that it originated there, as the annals attest. The argument is whether it was Cobb or the chef who invented it. What is true, is that it's been enduringly popular here, though some adjust the ingredients to fit what they have or can afford, like substituting blue cheese for roquefort.

"I concede to Elmer that where L.A. transplants live in large numbers, there might be a more lasting Cobb salad scene. "

That isn't what I said and that isn't the reason. Nice try.

I remember having a good Cobb salad in NY City once. Why do I remember? My travel experiences around the US are that I need to compromise my love of good salads (and until the last 15 years or so, and except in fancy restaurants, good wine) when I leave home. Was that NYC restaurant owned by Angelenos?

I wouldn't serve a salad as a snapshot of American cuisine...........

But that's just me.

Plllog, I don’t know what experience you have had in the south, but the everyday, at home breakfast ’staple’ in the south is not necessarily grits. Sure it is highly popular dish in southern restaurants for breakfast, as grits are easily available in the south. I would say grits are almost as popular in a restaurant here for breakfast as a green salad is on a dinner menu.

And oh my goodness, I have been eating Cobb salads for around 50 years in the south. Who knew!?

Outside, that's only because there are so many LA transplants living in the South.

;-)

The participant above skipped over and didn't answer my question about whether she was a SoCal local or not, when I asked about her saying "salad" to describe veggies typically put on a hamburger in these parts. I hadn't heard that usage before and so misunderstood. Absent a response, I'll take that as a No answer and that she's from another state. No problem, we're a state of immigrants and migrants.

Even in the Midwest itself I think there are regional differences. Here a burger with lettuce/tomato/mayo is known as "deluxe". If you want "everything", it's really just catsup/mustard/pickles/onions and "everything but" means no onions, just catsup/mustard/pickles. Sometimes pickle relish replaces the pickles.

Although I'm from Michigan and my family has been here for several generations, some of Great-Grandma's regional/native foods still appear. She was from Buckhorn, Canada, and Grandpa's favorite breakfast food was pie, but more commonly breakfast consisted of fried fish and frybread. Peameal bacon was more common than ham and although we sometimes had bacon it was more likely to be side pork, which is just unsmoked pork belly, sliced like bacon. And "porridge", usually corn meal mush (ugh), drizzled with maple syrup.

Lunch? Pasties, of course, and lunch was more commonly referred to as "dinner". It was the biggest meal of the day and always included boiled potatoes and various types of wild game, from rabbit or squirrel (in the form of stew) to venison and bear and game birds like pheasant, partridge, ducks, geese. Wild turkeys were not prevalent when I was a child, although they have been "re-introduced" and are everywhere now. We were heavy on vegetables, fresh from the garden in the summer and from the root cellar in the winter. Summer would be tomatoes, cucumbers, fresh lettuce, green beans, corn, melons of various types. Winter was turnips, rutabaga, carrots, parsnips, beets, cabbage and sauerkraut. Homemade bread, always white and soft, sometimes including leftover mashed potato.

Supper was the smaller meal at the end of the day and was sometimes just soup and a sandwich, or soup and bread. Sandwiches could be beef tongue, headcheese or a piece of meat leftover from "dinner". It was never larger than a serving of meat, boiled potatoes and a vegetable.

Now, "times" are different, so my menu of typical foods would probably be:

Breakfast:

Peameal Bacon

Eggs

Frybread

Cornmeal mush, refrigerated and sliced, then fried and drizzled with maple syrup

Lunch:

Pasties, the traditional ones, made with minced beef, onions, potatoes and rutabaga

Supper

Cream of asparagus soup

Venison tenderloin with morels and ramps

Lake Michigan perch or salmon

Baked potatoes (not just boiled, sorry Grandma)

White dinner rolls, sweet, soft, yeasty and full of butter, like Grandma's

Dessert:

Cherry pie (or rhubarb)

Wild blackberry dumplings

Molasses Cookies

Snacks:

Faygo pop or Vernor's Gingerale

Ice Cream with Sanders topping

Mackinac Island Fudge

Better Made potato chips

Various meat jerkies from local smokehouses

Edie, we've always eaten smelt, although I'm "weird" and like mine dipped in cocktail sauce. I've also found that they make a passable fish taco, definitely not something that's common here, LOL.

Annie

Annie ... last time you made that, I swear we 'smelt it' all the way down here in Iowa ...

*grin*

Lack of a response indicates one has other things to do but answer silly questions. Lack of information is the poorest proof ever, and is in fact proof of nothing at all. The answers are already existent up topic.

I already acknowledged that my second use of the word "salad" for hamburger toppings without repetition of the context was my fault. It's actually people from Boston who said, "I don't want no stinkin' salad on my hamburger" and worse things about mayonnaise.

Outside Playing, we have grits in California. You can buy them in the grocery store, and there are also restaurants that serve them. The South is a big place and I don't claim to know much about the cuisine there. I have been told by Southerners that grits were a staple and might be served at any meal, the way potatoes are in other parts of the country. If this isn't true, I apologize. Here, green salad is often eaten instead of a starch, though less likely at breakfast. No one would ever think that grits were typical fare here. Pho is more common, I think.

Plllog, I think your comment about grits being served at any meal in the South is absolutely accurate, at least in my experience. I commented that we served Gruyere Grits to our Chinese guests as a side dish for filet mignon. I also listed Shrimp and Grits as a dish that I would serve as representative of my region. Just this morning, I was thinking that I needed to make up a batch of Gruyere Grits to freeze in meal size portions.

P, your comment about salad on a burger reminded me of our trip to Australia. On a couple of occasions DH or DD ordered a burger. It was listed as coming with salad. We expected a small side salad. We finally learned that “salad” meant lettuce on the burger. I regret that we never chose to have a slice of beet on our burger. When we returned, a woman who worked for me who was married to an Aussie told me that it was pretty classic.

I also agree with Outside Playing, that grits are not served every day at breakfast in the South. My momma never served them, but my daddy would eat them every chance he got. Nevertheless, I would say that grits are often served at breakfast in the south, see pic below of instant grits in individual packets. Just for fun, I googled “Southern Living grits.” Boy, are there lots of ways to cook grits! I’m not sure, but I think grits became less regional when Jimmy Carter went into the White House. I have a vague recollection of people trying to figure out the singular of grits.

Annie, my mom must have been kin to your grandpa. She thought the finest breakfast was a piece of chocolate pie! I just looked up “peameal bacon.” I found it is what the North American Meat Institute calls “Canadian bacon.” I’ve had plenty of Canadian bacon, except I’ve never seen Canadian bacon rolled in cornmeal. Interesting. Thanks for sending me on the quest to figure it out!

Elmer, bless you little trollish heart, you’re just not happy until you’ve insulted someone, are you?

Do you think so? Bless your heart.

insulted

Here in the South there are times when if one perceives an insult, an appropriate reply might be to invite the insulter to 'Kiss one's Grits'...

I've never had gruyere grits, would love to see a recipe please.

A story about "salad" as toppings. Twenty years ago, DH, DD and I took a vacation to England. We landed in London, exhausted, worn out, and jet lagged. Dropped luggage at hotel but couldn't check in for a couple hours. Hungry. T.I.R.E.D. And, did I say jet lagged? We walked around to keep from falling asleep on a park bench, saw a convenient sandwich shop. My brain had barely enough juice to ask for the roast beef sandwich. Then the man politely asked, "Do you want salad on that". Whuuut? Brain not working. Did.... I... want... salad... .??? ... my sandwich? Massive jet lag. Stood there maybe with mouth open, I don't know. Man said "ok then" and named some price and started helping his next customer. Brain still trying to get mouth to say "no salad thank you but how about some lettuce and tomato on the sandwich". DH and I looked at weird money, brains still operating s.l.o.w.l.y. That's when it registered that "salad" referred to lettuce, tomato, and maybe other fixings but it was too late to try for a 'correction' of our purchase. Lord only knows what that shopkeeper thought of me!

Thank you it looks delicious!

bbstyx, peameal bacon isn't Canadian Bacon, because it's not smoked. It's made with pork loin, like Canadian Bacon, and it's cured in brine, but it's never smoked. It's rolled in cornmeal, used to be peameal but that's almost never found now. Slice it thinly and fry it and serve it for breakfast. It's very regional, I've never seen it outside the Toronto area, even in other parts of Canada.

I asked Grandpa once about pie for breakfast. He asked me how it was so different from pancakes and fruit sauce, or toast and jelly. He was right, of course, Grandpa was always right!

Yeah, Bragu, I turned on the fan, just so it would blow your way. (grin)

Annie

I made gruyere grits for dinner. So extremely wonderful!

In my particular neighborhood, the Japanese far outnumber the Koreans, and West L.A. is also known as Little Osaka, although it has been renamed Sawtelle, for its main street. There are a handful of Korean restaurants here, but they advertise as being Korean, including the one Korean sushi restaurant in Culver City that I know of. There is a particularly good Korean restaurant in Marina Del Rey. I don't know of anyone in my neighborhood who confuses Japanese and Korean food, although that might happen in your neighborhood. Here, Japanese is dominant, whereas in Koreatown, Korean is dominant. My next door neighbor is Japanese, as are quite a few others in my neighborhood.

I generally get sushi at a Japanese market, such as Mitsuwa or Marukai, however, as I do not feel the need to go to restaurants. I cannot vouch for the ethnicity of the sushi chefs at Gelson's and Bristol Farms, but what they produce is indistinguishable from what I get at Japanese markets. I have to go much further to a Korean market, and even further for a Chinese market. There is an Indonesian market in Culver City that is fairly close, however. If I want Thai groceries, I go to Hollywood.

lars, I lived in that area in the 60s and have had friends and family there since. I know it well.

Yes, there is a small Japanese-American (not Japanese) community there, south of the VA with Sawtelle as the major street. There used to be a number of Japanese-American owned nurseries thereabouts too. And yes, there are plenty of Japanese markets in that area and to the south.

My comment stands, which you read either too hastily or discarded. My experience is that the majority of mid-range sushi and "Japanese" restaurants in coastal California (SF Bay area and SoCal) are owned and operated by people who are ethnically Korean. Call them Korean-Americans. A few are Chinese owned and operated too.

Of course Korean food and Japanese food are very different. That's not a factor for what I was suggesting.