I have recently had a bit of the old culture shock on this activity in the past week. Two specific items came up, one food related, one utensil related and both brought home to me there is a long way to go on this path of "reintegration" into American culture.
Let's start with the food item. Last week someone was over for dinner. I made pork, pasta and mediterranean vegetables. The vegetables were red onion, bell peppers and zucchini, roasted in paprika and olive oil. During the course of the meal, it became apparent that the peppers were not my friends favorite. Since there were more veggies in the pan, I offered, more "courgettes". Her reaction was, "what are courgettes?". Ah, yes, I made that mistake of calling a zucchini a courgette. A usual term in the UK with no meaning here in the US. Some foods have completely different names. Examples;
- eggplant - aubergine
- french fries - chips
- cookies - biscuits
- chips - crisps (not to be further confused with fries)
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| US Style |
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| UK/European style |
The second issue was how utensils are used. This started not directly with me but what we observed someone else doing at a restaurant. We saw someone eating, with a fork, in a very european way. There was a brief, and humorous conversation on this type of eating and how someone might have been taught this way. I confessed that I too, have eaten like this but it was not the way I was raised. I learned to use a fork in a "normal" US manner, but living in the UK and in Switzerland, I developed the habit of eating with the fork in an inverted position typical of the european style.
Most importantly though, was the discovery the other day it was National Margarita Day and the nearest mexican place was doing $5 margaritas!!!!
CHEERS!!!!
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| With salt. |
