So one thing I have a habit of doing in India is keep mental collections of certain kinds of things. Sometimes they become a material collection: like my photos of funny sign names, a la Engrish. One collection that's in my head but certainly alive and well is of "american" things that Indians love and I have never heard of. Yesterday I encountered completely foreign beast dressed up in an American outfit: domino's pizza with boiled corn on top. Surprisingly delicious, like really good. Add some cayenne and salt and it would be love, cheesy cheesy love. The whole phenomenon of boiled corn here is something that I love. At movie theaters or malls you can get "American corn", which is corn off the cob, usually in a little cup. My favorite thing about that is the contrast to pop corn, which is clearly not American
Love,
Violet (who's as American as American corn)
What other American things are on the list? Is it like French toast, French fries, French kiss, etc.?
ReplyDeleteBack again after another unaccountable gap. All that talk of "American" makes me wonder whether there's any simple way of describing what's left of the Raj. But that must be multiple and complex (or multiplex and comple!). Still perhaps there's been something residually British that's struck you (besides the language and the railways).
ReplyDeleteto Jessica, the other weird one is American Chopsuey, which I swear is totally unidentifiable as any food item I have ever seen anywhere else.
ReplyDeleteto G-pa, the question of left overs from the raj are indeed more complex, but also have faded into the background in a very interesting way as American culture has become more fashionable. For one thing schools, especially government ones, still teach like British schools did in the 40s. I'll think of more and write you a post.
That's funny. American Chop Suey was a school-lunch staple when we were children. It was macaroni, ground beef, and tomato sauce.
ReplyDeleteWell there is no way this is ground beef. In fact, none of those things seem right. Also 90 percent of the time it's called Choupsuy.. hehe
ReplyDelete