S/O: What explains the Midwestern palate?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:And not just meat and potatoes and bread, but the lack of spice. Why? Isn’t Penzey’s originally from the Midwest? Yet most people I know from the Midwest have significant food aversions compared to people from the coasts.

Spice is traditionally used in hot climates with rotten meat. Good fresh meat like beef and chicken doesn't need spice.

As a relatively recent immigrant to US from the lands of "bland" foods, it's very interesting to me that American definition of flavor only includes the more "Southern" spices. Our food traditionally doesn't use hot peppers or cumin, but with long winters and relatively short agricultural season, there was lots of brining, pickling, salting and smoking various stuff.

I live in Minnesota and am primarily a descendant of German, Scandinavian and Dutch ancestors. A lot of German cooking then (and now, if my memory from a visit eons ago) is pretty spiced. When I listen to my dad describe what his from-Germany grandparents ate, it’s a lot more spiced than what my dad and his siblings like to eat (although they do enjoy things like Thai, Mexican and Chinese). Once the old foodways faded with time and distance (and in the case of the Germans, hostility during WWI and WWII; Norwegians were also targeted to a lesser degree by those not so smart who couldn’t tell the difference), the Depression changed palates.

Frankly, OP sounds like she doesn’t get out much. Small towns frequently have very limited restaurant options but there are a metric ton of immigrants from various countries in various regions who weren’t there even 20 years ago in any significant number. And lumping big cities in the Midwest and assuming they’re all bland - well, I guess someone needed a little attention today.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:And not just meat and potatoes and bread, but the lack of spice. Why? Isn’t Penzey’s originally from the Midwest? Yet most people I know from the Midwest have significant food aversions compared to people from the coasts.

Spice is traditionally used in hot climates with rotten meat. Good fresh meat like beef and chicken doesn't need spice.

As a relatively recent immigrant to US from the lands of "bland" foods, it's very interesting to me that American definition of flavor only includes the more "Southern" spices. Our food traditionally doesn't use hot peppers or cumin, but with long winters and relatively short agricultural season, there was lots of brining, pickling, salting and smoking various stuff.

I live in Minnesota and am primarily a descendant of German, Scandinavian and Dutch ancestors. A lot of German cooking then (and now, if my memory from a visit eons ago) is pretty spiced. When I listen to my dad describe what his from-Germany grandparents ate, it’s a lot more spiced than what my dad and his siblings like to eat (although they do enjoy things like Thai, Mexican and Chinese). Once the old foodways faded with time and distance (and in the case of the Germans, hostility during WWI and WWII; Norwegians were also targeted to a lesser degree by those not so smart who couldn’t tell the difference), the Depression changed palates.

Frankly, OP sounds like she doesn’t get out much. Small towns frequently have very limited restaurant options but there are a metric ton of immigrants from various countries in various regions who weren’t there even 20 years ago in any significant number. And lumping big cities in the Midwest and assuming they’re all bland - well, I guess someone needed a little attention today.

+1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:And not just meat and potatoes and bread, but the lack of spice. Why? Isn’t Penzey’s originally from the Midwest? Yet most people I know from the Midwest have significant food aversions compared to people from the coasts.

Spice is traditionally used in hot climates with rotten meat. Good fresh meat like beef and chicken doesn't need spice.

As a relatively recent immigrant to US from the lands of "bland" foods, it's very interesting to me that American definition of flavor only includes the more "Southern" spices. Our food traditionally doesn't use hot peppers or cumin, but with long winters and relatively short agricultural season, there was lots of brining, pickling, salting and smoking various stuff.

I actually think that stuff like sauerkraut, pickles, sausage, smoked meats, etc are pretty common in the Midwest.
Eating fish isn’t as common because catfish are gross and anything else has to be flown in.

PP. That’s my point. The food is not really bland if it includes the pickled and smoked stuff.

[Anonymous]

I am a Milwaukee native and am back living here now after years in Arlington, and as someone who actually knows what they are talking about (unlike most people on this thread who are just spouting hateful stereotypes), I can tell you that there is just about every type and ethnicity of food imaginable here and it is actually awesome! Actually the blandest food I ever had was in NOVA. Blech! So you snobs can get off of your high horses. And yes, you can thank my hometown for Penzeys and a variety of other food and beverage businesses that provide things that people all over the country enjoy. This thread is just dumb and is nothing more than an excuse to crap all over the Midwest and wield some nonexistent superiority.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:And not just meat and potatoes and bread, but the lack of spice. Why? Isn’t Penzey’s originally from the Midwest? Yet most people I know from the Midwest have significant food aversions compared to people from the coasts.

Spice is traditionally used in hot climates with rotten meat. Good fresh meat like beef and chicken doesn't need spice.

As a relatively recent immigrant to US from the lands of "bland" foods, it's very interesting to me that American definition of flavor only includes the more "Southern" spices. Our food traditionally doesn't use hot peppers or cumin, but with long winters and relatively short agricultural season, there was lots of brining, pickling, salting and smoking various stuff.

I actually think that stuff like sauerkraut, pickles, sausage, smoked meats, etc are pretty common in the Midwest.
Eating fish isn’t as common because catfish are gross and anything else has to be flown in.

Please tell me that you are not this clueless! Ever heard of the Midwestern Friday fish fry where people eat walleye, bluegill and lake perch that is from the Great Lakes? If you don’t know that, then you really have no business commenting and you can just sit down.

[Anonymous]

Wow! What a bunch of nonsense drivel is in this thread. You people actually think that you know anything? Lol.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:And not just meat and potatoes and bread, but the lack of spice. Why? Isn’t Penzey’s originally from the Midwest? Yet most people I know from the Midwest have significant food aversions compared to people from the coasts.

Spice is traditionally used in hot climates with rotten meat. Good fresh meat like beef and chicken doesn't need spice.

As a relatively recent immigrant to US from the lands of "bland" foods, it's very interesting to me that American definition of flavor only includes the more "Southern" spices. Our food traditionally doesn't use hot peppers or cumin, but with long winters and relatively short agricultural season, there was lots of brining, pickling, salting and smoking various stuff.

I actually think that stuff like sauerkraut, pickles, sausage, smoked meats, etc are pretty common in the Midwest.
Eating fish isn’t as common because catfish are gross and anything else has to be flown in.

Please tell me that you are not this clueless! Ever heard of the Midwestern Friday fish fry where people eat walleye, bluegill and lake perch that is from the Great Lakes? If you don’t know that, then you really have no business commenting and you can just sit down.

I'm from Michigan. Grew up in a town about an hour from Lake Michigan. My entire family was averse to the idea of eating fish, which I have always thought of as cultural and directly related to being from the Midwest. And never in my life did I ever hear anything about a fish fry, let alone attend one and eat fish.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:And not just meat and potatoes and bread, but the lack of spice. Why? Isn’t Penzey’s originally from the Midwest? Yet most people I know from the Midwest have significant food aversions compared to people from the coasts.

Spice is traditionally used in hot climates with rotten meat. Good fresh meat like beef and chicken doesn't need spice.

As a relatively recent immigrant to US from the lands of "bland" foods, it's very interesting to me that American definition of flavor only includes the more "Southern" spices. Our food traditionally doesn't use hot peppers or cumin, but with long winters and relatively short agricultural season, there was lots of brining, pickling, salting and smoking various stuff.

I actually think that stuff like sauerkraut, pickles, sausage, smoked meats, etc are pretty common in the Midwest.
Eating fish isn’t as common because catfish are gross and anything else has to be flown in.

Please tell me that you are not this clueless! Ever heard of the Midwestern Friday fish fry where people eat walleye, bluegill and lake perch that is from the Great Lakes? If you don’t know that, then you really have no business commenting and you can just sit down.

I'm from Michigan. Grew up in a town about an hour from Lake Michigan. My entire family was averse to the idea of eating fish, which I have always thought of as cultural and directly related to being from the Midwest. And never in my life did I ever hear anything about a fish fry, let alone attend one and eat fish.

Too bad. Go to Wisconsin sometime and see for yourself. Have an old fashioned with it!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:And not just meat and potatoes and bread, but the lack of spice. Why? Isn’t Penzey’s originally from the Midwest? Yet most people I know from the Midwest have significant food aversions compared to people from the coasts.

Spice is traditionally used in hot climates with rotten meat. Good fresh meat like beef and chicken doesn't need spice.

As a relatively recent immigrant to US from the lands of "bland" foods, it's very interesting to me that American definition of flavor only includes the more "Southern" spices. Our food traditionally doesn't use hot peppers or cumin, but with long winters and relatively short agricultural season, there was lots of brining, pickling, salting and smoking various stuff.

I actually think that stuff like sauerkraut, pickles, sausage, smoked meats, etc are pretty common in the Midwest.
Eating fish isn’t as common because catfish are gross and anything else has to be flown in.

Please tell me that you are not this clueless! Ever heard of the Midwestern Friday fish fry where people eat walleye, bluegill and lake perch that is from the Great Lakes? If you don’t know that, then you really have no business commenting and you can just sit down.

I'm from Michigan. Grew up in a town about an hour from Lake Michigan. My entire family was averse to the idea of eating fish, which I have always thought of as cultural and directly related to being from the Midwest. And never in my life did I ever hear anything about a fish fry, let alone attend one and eat fish.

That’s really weird.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:And not just meat and potatoes and bread, but the lack of spice. Why? Isn’t Penzey’s originally from the Midwest? Yet most people I know from the Midwest have significant food aversions compared to people from the coasts.

Spice is traditionally used in hot climates with rotten meat. Good fresh meat like beef and chicken doesn't need spice.

As a relatively recent immigrant to US from the lands of "bland" foods, it's very interesting to me that American definition of flavor only includes the more "Southern" spices. Our food traditionally doesn't use hot peppers or cumin, but with long winters and relatively short agricultural season, there was lots of brining, pickling, salting and smoking various stuff.

I actually think that stuff like sauerkraut, pickles, sausage, smoked meats, etc are pretty common in the Midwest.
Eating fish isn’t as common because catfish are gross and anything else has to be flown in.

Please tell me that you are not this clueless! Ever heard of the Midwestern Friday fish fry where people eat walleye, bluegill and lake perch that is from the Great Lakes? If you don’t know that, then you really have no business commenting and you can just sit down.

I'm from Michigan. Grew up in a town about an hour from Lake Michigan. My entire family was averse to the idea of eating fish, which I have always thought of as cultural and directly related to being from the Midwest. And never in my life did I ever hear anything about a fish fry, let alone attend one and eat fish.

That’s really weird.

That’s probably just PP’s family. Most upper Midwesterners like their fish and shrimp.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I grew up in Michigan. We ate a lot of food that had no taste. Very little seasoning was used. Generally nothing beyond salt and pepper. Every dinner had an iceberg lettuce salad with bottled dressing; canned vegetables (usually green beans, corn, or peas) and/or a starch (usually fried potatoes or boiled new potatoes); and a meat -- meatloaf, cubed steak, steak on the grill, ground beef cooked in a pan with onions, chicken pieces tossed in flour w/ deminimis salt and pepper. Once in a while we veered off and had tacos (with hard corn shells from a "kit") or spaghetti with bottled sauce and garlic bread from the frozen foods section of the store. My entire family wouldn't eat fish because it tastes "fishy." They were disgusted when a hibachi restaurant came to town and I ordered some sushi. Potlucks meant a 7 layer salad (iceberg lettuce, peas, red onion, bacon bits, shredded cheese, and all of this sealed with a layer of mayo). I don't know why this is how we ate, but the midwestern palate is definitely a thing; fwiw my family were many generations removed from immigration (most of my ancestors are Scots, English, Irish, or, to a lesser extent, German).

.

I could have written this word for word. I’d add hot dog night with rippled potato chips and canned beans with fried onions sprinkled on top.

I am from Nebraska and I grew up in the 60s and 70s. But here’s the thing my relatives who also grew up eating that and still live in Nebraska are very adventuresome eaters now in their 40s and 50s because life has changed and globalization, you know? it would’ve been a big ask to expect my parents to feed us South Indian food and sushi in 1973 in Nebraska but my family certainly eats that now.

This is why I am sort of irritated when ultra sophisticated people on DCUM from worldly places like Paramus New Jersey and Merion PA mock the Midwestern palate of 1955. You were eating that, too, if you were Euro-American. Even in LA. Please stop pretending that locally sources artichokes and freshly made pesto graced your table as you watched Electric Company

Well, because it did vary based on the immigrant populations in that region! I grew up in the 80s in upstate NY, in a town with lots of "eastern and southern Europeans" and the food was actually awesome -- Italian food, Greek food and polish foods mostly, spicy and delicious. All while watching Electric Company. We never ate sushi or Thai food, but the flavors were not bland.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I grew up in Michigan. We ate a lot of food that had no taste. Very little seasoning was used. Generally nothing beyond salt and pepper. Every dinner had an iceberg lettuce salad with bottled dressing; canned vegetables (usually green beans, corn, or peas) and/or a starch (usually fried potatoes or boiled new potatoes); and a meat -- meatloaf, cubed steak, steak on the grill, ground beef cooked in a pan with onions, chicken pieces tossed in flour w/ deminimis salt and pepper. Once in a while we veered off and had tacos (with hard corn shells from a "kit") or spaghetti with bottled sauce and garlic bread from the frozen foods section of the store. My entire family wouldn't eat fish because it tastes "fishy." They were disgusted when a hibachi restaurant came to town and I ordered some sushi. Potlucks meant a 7 layer salad (iceberg lettuce, peas, red onion, bacon bits, shredded cheese, and all of this sealed with a layer of mayo). I don't know why this is how we ate, but the midwestern palate is definitely a thing; fwiw my family were many generations removed from immigration (most of my ancestors are Scots, English, Irish, or, to a lesser extent, German).

.

I could have written this word for word. I’d add hot dog night with rippled potato chips and canned beans with fried onions sprinkled on top.

I am from Nebraska and I grew up in the 60s and 70s. But here’s the thing my relatives who also grew up eating that and still live in Nebraska are very adventuresome eaters now in their 40s and 50s because life has changed and globalization, you know? it would’ve been a big ask to expect my parents to feed us South Indian food and sushi in 1973 in Nebraska but my family certainly eats that now.

This is why I am sort of irritated when ultra sophisticated people on DCUM from worldly places like Paramus New Jersey and Merion PA mock the Midwestern palate of 1955. You were eating that, too, if you were Euro-American. Even in LA. Please stop pretending that locally sources artichokes and freshly made pesto graced your table as you watched Electric Company

Well, because it did vary based on the immigrant populations in that region! I grew up in the 80s in upstate NY, in a town with lots of "eastern and southern Europeans" and the food was actually awesome -- Italian food, Greek food and polish foods mostly, spicy and delicious. All while watching Electric Company. We never ate sushi or Thai food, but the flavors were not bland.

Lots of Greek and Italian immigrants and their foods in Chicago and Milwaukee too, and even great Mexican food back in the 70s and 80s. Just saying. The Midwest is not one big homogeneous place.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:And not just meat and potatoes and bread, but the lack of spice. Why? Isn’t Penzey’s originally from the Midwest? Yet most people I know from the Midwest have significant food aversions compared to people from the coasts.

Spice is traditionally used in hot climates with rotten meat. Good fresh meat like beef and chicken doesn't need spice.

As a relatively recent immigrant to US from the lands of "bland" foods, it's very interesting to me that American definition of flavor only includes the more "Southern" spices. Our food traditionally doesn't use hot peppers or cumin, but with long winters and relatively short agricultural season, there was lots of brining, pickling, salting and smoking various stuff.

I actually think that stuff like sauerkraut, pickles, sausage, smoked meats, etc are pretty common in the Midwest.
Eating fish isn’t as common because catfish are gross and anything else has to be flown in.

Please tell me that you are not this clueless! Ever heard of the Midwestern Friday fish fry where people eat walleye, bluegill and lake perch that is from the Great Lakes? If you don’t know that, then you really have no business commenting and you can just sit down.

I'm from Michigan. Grew up in a town about an hour from Lake Michigan. My entire family was averse to the idea of eating fish, which I have always thought of as cultural and directly related to being from the Midwest. And never in my life did I ever hear anything about a fish fry, let alone attend one and eat fish.

I also have family in Michigan and only one person of an entire clan and extended clan eats fish. And that’s because he will eat anything, even someone else’s messily eaten leftovers with dirty napkins piled on top. I have seen signs for a fish fry, but I mean, it’s fried. Eating fried fish and fried shrimp don’t really mean much to me. You could fry the inside of a shoe and people would it eat. It’s fried.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I grew up in Michigan. We ate a lot of food that had no taste. Very little seasoning was used. Generally nothing beyond salt and pepper. Every dinner had an iceberg lettuce salad with bottled dressing; canned vegetables (usually green beans, corn, or peas) and/or a starch (usually fried potatoes or boiled new potatoes); and a meat -- meatloaf, cubed steak, steak on the grill, ground beef cooked in a pan with onions, chicken pieces tossed in flour w/ deminimis salt and pepper. Once in a while we veered off and had tacos (with hard corn shells from a "kit") or spaghetti with bottled sauce and garlic bread from the frozen foods section of the store. My entire family wouldn't eat fish because it tastes "fishy." They were disgusted when a hibachi restaurant came to town and I ordered some sushi. Potlucks meant a 7 layer salad (iceberg lettuce, peas, red onion, bacon bits, shredded cheese, and all of this sealed with a layer of mayo). I don't know why this is how we ate, but the midwestern palate is definitely a thing; fwiw my family were many generations removed from immigration (most of my ancestors are Scots, English, Irish, or, to a lesser extent, German).

.

I could have written this word for word. I’d add hot dog night with rippled potato chips and canned beans with fried onions sprinkled on top.

I am from Nebraska and I grew up in the 60s and 70s. But here’s the thing my relatives who also grew up eating that and still live in Nebraska are very adventuresome eaters now in their 40s and 50s because life has changed and globalization, you know? it would’ve been a big ask to expect my parents to feed us South Indian food and sushi in 1973 in Nebraska but my family certainly eats that now.

This is why I am sort of irritated when ultra sophisticated people on DCUM from worldly places like Paramus New Jersey and Merion PA mock the Midwestern palate of 1955. You were eating that, too, if you were Euro-American. Even in LA. Please stop pretending that locally sources artichokes and freshly made pesto graced your table as you watched Electric Company

Well, because it did vary based on the immigrant populations in that region! I grew up in the 80s in upstate NY, in a town with lots of "eastern and southern Europeans" and the food was actually awesome -- Italian food, Greek food and polish foods mostly, spicy and delicious. All while watching Electric Company. We never ate sushi or Thai food, but the flavors were not bland.

Lots of Greek and Italian immigrants and their foods in Chicago and Milwaukee too, and even great Mexican food back in the 70s and 80s. Just saying. The Midwest is not one big homogeneous place.

Those are cities. What about podunk CA or podunk MA vs podunk MI? I’ve lived in all those places and podunk MI wins hands down in terms of number of guns and bland food/picky eaters. I will say rural MI folk have been friendly enough to me even as a racial minority. But vegetables have been very limited and having a vegetarian family member has been much harder in MI.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:And not just meat and potatoes and bread, but the lack of spice. Why? Isn’t Penzey’s originally from the Midwest? Yet most people I know from the Midwest have significant food aversions compared to people from the coasts.

Spice is traditionally used in hot climates with rotten meat. Good fresh meat like beef and chicken doesn't need spice.

As a relatively recent immigrant to US from the lands of "bland" foods, it's very interesting to me that American definition of flavor only includes the more "Southern" spices. Our food traditionally doesn't use hot peppers or cumin, but with long winters and relatively short agricultural season, there was lots of brining, pickling, salting and smoking various stuff.

I actually think that stuff like sauerkraut, pickles, sausage, smoked meats, etc are pretty common in the Midwest.
Eating fish isn’t as common because catfish are gross and anything else has to be flown in.

Please tell me that you are not this clueless! Ever heard of the Midwestern Friday fish fry where people eat walleye, bluegill and lake perch that is from the Great Lakes? If you don’t know that, then you really have no business commenting and you can just sit down.

I'm from Michigan. Grew up in a town about an hour from Lake Michigan. My entire family was averse to the idea of eating fish, which I have always thought of as cultural and directly related to being from the Midwest. And never in my life did I ever hear anything about a fish fry, let alone attend one and eat fish.

That’s really weird.

That’s probably just PP’s family. Most upper Midwesterners like their fish and shrimp.

My spouse is a fourth or fifth generation Michigander and only one person in the entire family will eat fish, and he is seen as a weirdo.