Т.В. Артеменко, Е.В. Кривощекова, Е.В. Кравченко, Н.Е. Николаева - Reader in Language and Culture - Part II, страница 7

That these studies are almost always funded by an interest groupwith an axe to grind does not seem to matter. For example when one studyfound that eating massive quantities of oat bran reduced cholesterol andthus might help prevent heart attacks, the price of oats skyrocketed andAmerican supermarkets were instantly flooded with products containing oatbran, including oat bran candy bars and oat bran beer.Health-conscious Americans will eat any substance however unpleasantor tasteless if they can be convinced it will keep them healthy or make themthin.

Restaurants put special symbols on their menus to indicate dishes thatare `heart healthy' (low in cholesterol and saturated fat) or `light' (anindefinite term that implies, but does not necessarily mean, low calorie orlow fat). Supermarkets have aisles of items marked `low salt', `low calorie',`low fat', `diet', 'cholesterol-free' or `imitation'. (The label `low flavour'would be superfluous.) Americans buy uniform strips of `bacon' extrudedfrom soyabeans, liquid fake eggs in little plastic cartons, fat-free cheese thatresembles recycled running shoes, carbonated sodas flavoured withchemicals they can't even pronounce, and high-fibre bread bulked out withwood pulp.The food itself isn't nearly as repellent as the food bore.

A food bore willpreach about the benefits of whatever regimen he or she is following, and(especially in California) is only too willing to explain just how a particular35diet is beneficial. Any culinary discussion is larded with comments like"Eating more vegetables prevents cancer, you know", or "It isn't fat thatmakes you fat, it's carbohydrates that make,you fat", or "Do you know howveal is raised?"Forbidden foods, particularly chocolate, arouse the same illicit thrill inAmericans that other cultures reserve for sex.

American diners feel adelicious quiver of guilt with every mouthful of chocolate mousse or bostoncream pie. Rich, `sinful' desserts have sinister names like Devil's FoodCake, Chocolate Madness, or Death By Chocolate. They're just explainingwhat every American already knows: eating may be hazardous to yourhealth.The American BreakfastBreakfast has an honoured place in the American diet. Restaurants postsigns advertising `Breakfast served until 11 a.m.' or, in the case of all-nightdiners, `Breakfast 24 hours a day'.

Breakfast food, which can be highlyregional, includes cold cereal with milk, bacon, coffee, oatmeal, sausage,ham, eggs, scrapple (made from the parts of the pig unfit for sausage),coffee, biscuits (like English scones), home-fried potatoes, toast, fried cornmeal mush, maple syrup, coffee, waffles, corned beef hash, pancakes,coffee and grits.Grits are a quintessentially American dish. They are made from maizethat has been soaked in water and treated with caustic lye to scientificallyremove every vestige of colour and flavour.

Grits look like white, lumpyoatmeal and have less taste than wallpaper paste unless and until they areliberally doused with butter, salt and gravy (especially red-eye gravy, whichis made with pan drippings and coffee). Southerners adore them.Northerners think they're the reason the South lost the Civil War. Startingsomewhere around Maryland an invisible line crosses the country: above itgrits are banned as being unfit for human consumption, while below it36they're considered essential for life.RestaurantsAmerican restaurants range from informal, where the counter attendantsays "Hi, what'll you have?", to formal, where the waiter says "Hello, I'mAlan and I'll be your server for this evening.

Shall I tell you about tonight'sspecials?" On occasion, the waiter or waitress may even sit down and chatfor a few moments to discuss the intricacies of the menu.In casual restaurants, Americans like intrusive service. Some restaurantsare famous for the surliness of their waiters and waitresses, using badmanners to attract masochistic munchers by the roomful. But the mosttypical American restaurants offer no service at all. In 1954, entrepreneurRay Kroc bought the rights to the McDonald brothers' hamburger stand inSan Bernardino, California, and began selling franchises. There are nowmore than 30,000 McDonald's in more than 122 countries serving 47million meals a day.

The McDonald's recipe for success involves providinga limited menu of popular foods, mainly hamburgers, French fries, andmilkshakes, minimising labour costs by breaking preparation down intoquantified routine tasks, using disposable packages to eliminate the cost ofdishwashing, pricing the product affordably, and maintaining strict qualitycontrol.Whatever else one could say about McDonald's food, it is eminentlypredictable.

A Big Mac bought in Boston is indistinguishable from the sameitem in Bangkok. It is so standardised that The Economist of Londonpublishes an annual Big Mac Index to demonstrate the relative purchasingpower of various currencies.However, some of the best and least expensive restaurants in the countryare the small, independent operations runby recent immigrants.Cambodians, Chinese, Japanese, El Salvadorians, and Ethiopians bring theirnative dishes to add to the United States' already heady culinary stew. The37great melting pot occasionally produces some odd restaurant bedfellows,such as CubanVietnamese, Mex-Italian, or Hungarian-Puerto Rican.Tea or CoffeeAmericans drink coffee.

Tea in most parts of the country means iced tea,specifically iced tea with sugar (the amount of sugar generally increases asone heads south). Otherwise tea service consists of a mug, paper cup, orlittle metal pot of hot water with a tea bag beside it. Sometimes a waiter willbring an elegant wooden box filled with different types of teas (mainlyherbal) from which to choose while the water is cooling. Ready-made hottea is never served; Americans believe that when a restaurant pours boilingwater directly over the tea in the kitchen it violates the customer'sconstitutional right to control the tea's strength.AlcoholThe amount of alcohol Americans drink has been declining steadily fordecades.

On average, they consume two gallons of liquor (Americangallons, naturally) a year per person. By comparison, soft drinkconsumption is 54 gallons per person.In most of the country (with the exception of Utah, which is full ofteetotalling Mormons), it is perfectly legal and acceptable to have a drink.How and where it is served is another matter, because the sale andconsumption of alcohol is regulated locally by individual states, counties,and towns. In some states one can drive up to a window and buy beer, eventhough drinking it in the car is illegal. In others heavily guarded, officiallysanctioned State Stores are only open during office hours and offer aminimal selection.Root beer, in spite of its name, is not alcoholic.

It's the Americanequivalent of ginger beer, but flavoured with sassafras and sarsparilla roots.Even Americans acknowledge that this may be an acquired taste.38Traditional American beer is unique. It is not particularly good, justdifferent from the beer the rest of the world drinks. One reason is theclimate: in the United States most beer is designed to be consumed in hugequantities, while watching sporting events, during weather hotter than 90°F(32°C). Hence the need for a high water content, to promote sweat, and avery low serving temperature, to prevent heatstroke.

Too bad that the coldkills what little taste the beer had in the first place. Dietary and safetyconcerns have married one another in the form of light beer, which is lowerin calories, lower in alcohol, and (a truly awesome achievement) even lowerin flavour than ordinary beer.In the past decade or so, however, a beer revolution has taken place.New 'micro-breweries', are springing up like mushrooms, local operationsthat produce relatively small quantities of darker, stronger, richer and moreflavourful European-style beers than the mass-produced canned stuff.Loosening of local alcohol laws has also allowed some restaurants to brewtheir own beers on the premises, and nearly every city with any pretensionshas at least one 'brewpub'.

It's a trend that encourages experimentation,which means it can lead to occasional lapses such as Christmas CranberryLager or Pumpkin Stout. But, hey, this is America.Government and BureaucracyGovernment in America is like a layered pyramid. Over everything is theFederal government, which has certain responsibilities specified in theConstitution. Then there are 50 individual state governments which handlematters that are not allocated by the Federal government, such as education,liquor regulation, and automobile registration.