Why do Americans love casserole dishes with tons of potato, canned vegetables and processed chees? It seems like this is what they eat for dinner in the average middle class American family
>>7746784
It's a good meal, what's it to you.
>>7746784
because it's cheap and most americans are really poor.
>>7746908
I've been to poor countries like Vietnam, Ethiopia, Egypt. People eat fresh food and very creative dishes
>>7746784
>potatos and cheese
other than scalloped potatoes we really don't do this ever. the standard casarole uses pasta not potatos. and usually uses onions and celery, not canned vegetables, cheese is rare, normally you use a can of cream mushroom soup.
short answer, baby boomers.
long answer, baby boomer women were the first women not taught how to be home makers so threw together whatever slop they had laying around and their children who learned nothing from their parents did the same and now they are teaching their children the same poor eating habits and america is getting fatter and fatter and fatter
>>7746784
This may have been true half a century ago, but it no longer holds true today.
>>7746784
Because when made properly its fucking delicious. Also >not growing your own vegetables
>>7746784
why do yuropoors make constant generalizations about americans? is it because they have lost their countries to islam and are sick of prepping the BBC for their women?
>>7746932
this is a bunch of nonsense
>>7746921
America is backwards land. Fresh food is more expensive than packaged food.
>>7747037
No, it's not, although packaged food is cheaper here than in other places, fresh food is still cheaper unless you just live in a region where that food is not grown.
>>7746784
Looks like an classic 'go 'za to me
>>7746784
Cheap, easy to 'pad' with filler such as sawdust, HFCS, and lard.
You can spend some time preparing it, shove it in the oven/microwave, and go back to staring slack-jawed at the TV.
The oven beeps. You retrieve the food, ladle it onto plates, hand it out to your family, and go back to staring slack-jawed at the TV as you shovel it in with forks. Because it's a homogeneous mass, you don't need to use more than a fork to eat it, so your other hand is free to hold the plate to your mouth so you can shovel faster, and not stop staring at the TV.
The cheese means it solidifies fast when it cools, so it can be peeled off the furniture/carpet, and allow you more time staring slack-jawed at the TV.
You have to understand that American family life is based around 'family time' staring slack-jawed at a big TV screen being told what to buy, what to think, and what to eat. And most of what they're told is 'spend more time staring at the TV'.
>>7746784
because cheesy potatoes dishes taste good
>>7747063
Wait. What? Cheese and potatoes taste good?
>>7746784
Fuck this shit. Every single god damn church potluck had like 6 different people bring dishes of this. It is the most white-trash and lazy dish ever.
>>7747094
Could go for some tartiflette now... damn...
>>7746989
its true though.
>>7747061
>so it can be peeled off the furniture/carpet
yeah, that's not really a worry
>>7747100
if there's a potluck, this bullshit shows up. at work, we have potlucks at thanksgiving and christmas. one lady always makes the tot and cheese abomination. everyone else oohs and ahhs about it, but it's almost always barely touched. just like that awful sopapilla cheesecake, which is neither sopapilla nor cheesecake. it's just processed bullshit slopped together to make a big mound of cooked processed bullshit. it tastes awful compared to the freshly cooked stuff. even the badly cooked fresh stuff is better.
Oh look: another American pretending to be non-American in order to stir up shit.
Did you have a nice Memorial Day? I couldn't because thunderstorms and high winds, but I took a half day Tuesday and smoked the chickens I was intending to do for MD that day and shared them with neighbours* and neighbourhood friends that evening. It was nice.
>* not American, but live in America
Also, my country makes lots of casseroles, too and we don't use tinned ingredients nor processed cheeses or condensed X soup in ours. When I make American-style casseroles, I follow that same philosophy. Does anyone remember the thread last year with the tuna noodle casserole with homemade mushroom-stock bechamel? No? Well I do because that was me.
It was delicious.
>>7747127
autism
>>7747127
>tinned
Britbong?
>>7746921
>>7747037
The US was an early adopter of industrialized food production and distribution. Shelf stable foods were more profitable for grocers to stock than perishable ones, especially in remote areas. Even before the war there was a culture of home cooks using canned soup and various dry mixes as ingredients for dishes they'd make. After the war this increased, with the addition of frozen foods. Fresh vegetables were always available in season, but depending on where you lived that season could be pretty short. The rise of the supermarket relegated fresh vegetables to a salad on many American tables, with most of everything else being canned, frozen or dried by the middle of the 20th Century, particularly in places with low population density. That's when these kind of dishes became popular, and in some parts of the country they're still loved.
Toward the end of the 20th Century a variety of fresh veg became available year round. That was when more sophisticated Americans stopped eating dishes like this. But most of us still have relatives who consider them traditional at holiday times, and I'm pretty sure they're still served in jails and to the less prestigious branches of the military. And they definitely hang on as home cooking in the backwaters.
>>7746784
Is it white Americans, because I never had this shit. The only one that is good is macaroni and cheese, but you can use all different types of cheese for that and it's legit good.
That other shit is gross and I don't eat it and I don't know anyone else who does? My mom only made it when she heard about these recipes from her white coworkers. Like ambrosia?
>canned fruit cocktail
>cool whip
Nastiest shit in the world. Who eats that? Also, why you fuck up fruit with cool whip? Why are you eating canned fruit in all that syrup?! Eat some real fucking fruit.
>>7747037
That's not true, Americans are, however, uncultured and somewhat of a lab rat for the corporations to test new products on.
>>7746989
it's true.
>>7747127
Reading this post made me glad that I am not gay.
>>7746987
Why do Americans always assume something don't understand?
I'm American, and I know most of the lower-middle class eats this and worse trash every single day.
>>7747156
>not wanting to be fit, hot and fashionable
>not wanting to be able to have sex literally whenever you want
>>7747060
I'm a 'pert on all 'ssic 'go 'za.
10/10 on OP's varity
>>7747152
Because America is trash, and always will be.
>>7747152
This stuff was popularized in magazines targeted to middle and working class homemakers in the mid 20th Century. The makers of awful products like Cool Whip, Miracle Whip, Campbell's soup, Lipton onion soup mix, Betty Crocker anything, Bisquick and the like realized that by putting recipes in women's magazines and on the labels of these products they could increase sales. They'd even publish recipe books and hold competitions for best recipes using their products.
And housewives were easily taken in by it. I'm old enough to remember the 1970's, and there were far more awful recipes floating around than good ones. My mother was a pretty good cook, and even she would get taken in every now and again wanting to try "something new" she read in Good Housekeeping. This would be met by protests at the table from my father and brother, and by the 80's she learned not to make bullshit from the crappy magazines or labels of dicey products. But this shit still hangs on in our culture. Fucking Rachel Ray made a career out of it relatively recently.
>>7747195
>rachel ray
Are you sure? She doesn't go around telling people to buy packets of instant X soup and cartons of condensed cream of Y soup and shit like that, does she?
>>7747195
Don't you mean that Semi-Homemade with Sandra Lee. That was the biggest bullshit show ever.
>>7747061
muh sides
>>7747383
>herp derp if it wasn't for feminism women would still be cooking meals the way they did before the Great Depression and WWII transformed American culture
This entire thread needs to go back to /pol/.
>>7747383
>>>/tumblr/
>>7746989
KEK
>>7747060
for u...
i am not sure how to respond to this yet.
>>7747474
nah because then it would just get spammed by the trump supporters complaining about minorities and refuting every point they disagree with with accusations of being "sjw" or "cuck"
we're actually discussing the history of american food here.
>>7747550
You don't.
Newfags don't know that responding only propagates shitty forced memes.
>>7747577
so it's not even a fun meme, just a few summerfags that are learning the ropes about soaking almonds in water? or do they even know?
>>7747479
Is there a tumblr where I can discuss food and cooking without teenagers throwing buzzwords thinking they know fuck all about geopolitics? Link me please.
>>7747667
Nope, that is all you tumblrinas do, that and get triggered.
>>7747672
Ah m8 you're going to feel so embarrassed when you remember how retarded you were with all your internet wars and hot opinions. I hope you are young.
>>7747152
>ambrosia
We serve that at the deli I work at, it's fucking gross. Just sits there all day and eventually the top dries out and there's a layer of translucent sugar water on the bottom of it.
>Who eats that?
I wondered the same thing until I found out that old women will order 4+ pounds of it (basically an entire large deli tray) at a time.
We also have "watergate salad" which is pistachio pudding, fruit cocktail, cool whip, and marshmallows.
People under the age of 70 are no more than 10% of the "cold counter" customers. I guess it's just something that was more popular back in the day.
>>7747152
White American middle-class dude, never had a casserole that looks like the one in OP, and my family only had casseroles a couple times a year. Mostly hated them myself and stuck to eating fresh or cooked vegetables, meat, and bread.
>>7747061
>America according to Europeans
Middle class American here living in a suburb of NYC never had any of that casserole shit and my family always ate dinner together away from the television
>>7747847
>Blame 50s housewives
Nothing to "blame." They used what was readily available, because it was easier and faster than having to drag kids around to get fresh food all the time. Say what you will about the industrialization of food, but it made everyone's lives easier. Unhealthier also, but easier. And that's something that has been prevalent in US culture since then. We're always seeking ways to streamline everything, so we can work more and relax less. We're wildly unhealthy for more reasons than just casseroles.
>>7747813
Yeah your experience is anecdotal as fuck and has no bearing on reality.
>>7746932
>baby boomers
50's housewives were not baby boomers, mong. Back to /r9k/.
>>7747879
my anecdotal evidence doesn't count but a caricature of what euros think American trailer trash lived like is accurate?
No one I knew growing up ate their family dinner in front of the tv
>>7747916
That's not even a Euro caricature; it's an American one of themselves—from The Simpsons to Matilda, families eating in front of the TV is a normal sight in shows and movies.
It depends largely on your parents and socioeconomic status. A few of my friends and co-workers have told me they always ate as a family and talked about their days and shit. Personally, my family ate together but the TV was on during dinner.
>>7747932
And television and movies very accurately depict reality right? That's why ever dad in America is a fat stupid drunk who beats their kid and is entirely incompetent
>but but it was in the Simpsons!!
I do agree that there is most likely a difference when it comes to different socioeconomic statuses and it is entirely possible and probably more likely that poorer Americans tend to do this more. I'm just sick of reading "all middle class Americans shovel slop casserole into their pie holes while staring blankly at a screen" cause it's just not true
One bad apple ruins the bunch someone hears that some Americans do this and it shocks them so they think wow that's what it's really like all over America
>>7747953
>cause it's just not true
And yet, you're fat, uneducated slobs with tastebuds ruined by oversweetened HFCS-stuffed TV dinners.
>>7747953
I think you're just taking it personally. I'm a middle-class American as well, and some people grew up eating casserole in front of a TV.
If someone is dumb enough to think all everywhere do it, that's their problem and not yours.
>>7747451
Lots of our people are poor because they think ordering a pizza or getting frozen dinners is a good way to save money, and that's also why they're fat. People are so bad at managing their money and their health here. It's almost as if the education system wants them to stay poor and dependent . . .
>>7747879
>and a random yuropoor's vision of Americans is more realistic
>>7747953
>One bad apple ruins the bunch someone hears that some Americans do this and it shocks them so they think wow that's what it's really like all over America
To be fair there are lots of people in the US, so it isn't just one bad apple - it's one segment of the population. Are there really Americans who eat the kind of stuff found in wifey material threads? Yes there are, even though to most Americans those pics are laughably bad. Are there really Americans who dunk their pizza in ranch dressing? Sadly yes, there are, though to many of us that's disgusting beyond comprehension. Are there American men who think eating vegetables with the lightest bit of enthusiasm makes you a faggot? Sure there are. It's a big country, and even a tiny minority of us could be hundreds of thousands (or even millions) of people.
>>7748056
>taking a saying so literally you thought I meant it was actually just one person
Cmon anon your better than that also a nice drizzle of ranch of your pizza tastes pretty good. Just don't be a fat ass who uses an entire family sized bottle on a pizza
>>7746784
Parents during the nuclear family age who grew up during the Great Depression through WWII used casseroles like this as an easy way to make a lot of food cheaply and quickly when they had a lot of mouths to feed. Then came the boomers they gave birth to and so on who reused the recipes, but with the added familiarity and nostalgia.
The cheese is a bonus, a way to cover up suboptimal ingredients and get kids to eat it and their serving of vegetables without complaint.
>>7746932
fucking genius. I had this same discussion with my mom, and it really came down to this. It's just what they learned and what their children learned. It was about convince, and it's why Julia Child was made popular and wanted to do what she did.
Good cooking was seen for male chefs in fancy restaurant, and everyone else had to eat boiled mash and burnt pork chops until then.
Because no one was asking to cook better, because one was allowed to ask. It kinda goes into the whole Jude Clever thing too. Domestic abuse.
They're addicted. For a lot of people food and cheese is their only addiction, and they think they are better if for that fact!
>>7746922
>normally you use a can of cream mushroom soup.
This. In the 60s and 70s my mom kept Campbells in business solely through Cream of mushroom soup purchases
>>7747164
Well played anon
>>7747916
>No one I knew growing up ate their family dinner in front of the tv
I did but tv was still a relatively new thing. We didn't get a color set until I was in high school
>>7748765
They really make a good base if you're lazy. I like to use a can of broccoli & cheese soup, a can of milk, a handful of broccoli florets, a bit of instant mash to bulk it up.
>>7748765
>tfw my mom still does this in 2016
I dread college breaks.
>>7747854
If you're going to blame anyone, I mean.
Casseroles are a holdover from WWII rationing and 50's marketing. I guess you can consider them comfort food. Just cheap, easy and filling food. A lot of them are really good too. Big fan of tator tot hotdish.
>>7746784
Mommy tried very hard. She worked all day and Campbell's soup mix made things a little easier for her.
>>7746784
Why are Euros so incapable of grasping that America is comprised of different regions, all of which have different types of foods and customs?
>born and raised in NYC
>marry woman raised in the Midwest
I never had a casserole until I was 30. I never will again. I've banned them from our home.
>>7746784
HOURLY YUROPOOR OBSESSION THREAD
>>7749616
If you don't like green bean casserole, I'll fucking fight you.
Asian from the PNW and I love the shit out of those.
>>7749627
Not him, but I've had it once, made with tinned green beans, tinned condensed cream of mushroom soup and tinned crispy onions. I didn't like it at all.
I imagine, however, that were it made with better stuff (save the onion topping, which was fine as it was), it would be pretty good.
>>7749659
Oh yeah, that would make not like it either. I've only had it made with good ingredients.
>>7747061
>slack-jawed
>>7749512
10/10 would berry
>>7746908
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CJoQOQHQ8oA
>>7749627
>green bean casserole
Yeah, maybe if the cold war was on...
