S/O: What explains the Midwestern palate?

[Anonymous]

Bland, bland, bland - and Old Bay is a BFD, OP. To answer your question.

Hint: if seafood is actually fresh, you don't need to SMOTHER it with the likes of Old Bay.

[Anonymous]

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).

This has been exactly my experience as a transplant to Michigan. The family I married into has very similar roots - Irish, German, Scottish, tiny bit French.

[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).

This has been exactly my experience as a transplant to Michigan. The family I married into has very similar roots - Irish, German, Scottish, tiny bit French.

Any other Michigan people eat jello salad, funeral potatoes, and Amish potato salad with hard boiled eggs molded to the top in a dome?

[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).

This has been exactly my experience as a transplant to Michigan. The family I married into has very similar roots - Irish, German, Scottish, tiny bit French.

You know - people ate like this in every state in the country. I'm not sure why people want to single out the midwest other than it's fashionable to sneer at the midwest for apparently having all the sins holding America back from sublime sophistication....

[Anonymous]

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).

Some of that is the generation though. I grew up in a Foreign Service family, living in Tenleytown when we were in the states, and this sounds pretty familiar, except my mother preferred frozen vegetables to canned.

[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).

This has been exactly my experience as a transplant to Michigan. The family I married into has very similar roots - Irish, German, Scottish, tiny bit French.

You know - people ate like this in every state in the country. I'm not sure why people want to single out the midwest other than it's fashionable to sneer at the midwest for apparently having all the sins holding America back from sublime sophistication....

+ 1

[Anonymous]

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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.

Says the fool who has never had the pleasure of eating fried walleye and potato pancakes with a Brandy Old Fashioned.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’ve lived all over the country and understand some of the threads of seen here about Midwestern in laws. But why? I understand that when our grandparents were raising their kids, canned vegetables were common, and then convenience foods exploded. But there are plenty of older folks and rural areas in the coasts. And plenty of money and wealthier enclaves in the Midwest. Yet with a couple of exceptions like maybe Chicago, the Midwest seems very different to me. And even in Chicago and near Chicago, most places heavily emphasize simple carbs and meat. I don’t think it’s a matter of money or education or age, because like I said, I’ve been to rural/urban/suburban areas all over with a mix of all ages. What do you think?

Chicago has a lot of nice restaurants but MOST of the restaurants and most of the food locals eat is typical boring Midwest fare. Those nice restaurants downtown are expense account swipes, not places local families or Big Ten graduate yuppies are going a couple times a month.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Don’t people garden and can there? Isn’t the Midwest more rural in overall. Sure there are cities…but more small towns.

Yes, we had a huge garden growing up.Tomatoes, cucumbers. Nothing too out of the ordinary.

I mean I know what the Midwestern palate is because I grew up with that (despite the term midwest covering a very large and diverse area). But let's be honest. My spouse's family from Maryland is also fairly unadventurous. We took them out for Indian food some 15 years ago and it was the first time any of them had ever eaten it. Including spouse's siblings. They said it was good but none of them have continued seeking it out.

[Anonymous]

This is one of the dumber threads on this board. And that says something.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’ve lived all over the country and understand some of the threads of seen here about Midwestern in laws. But why? I understand that when our grandparents were raising their kids, canned vegetables were common, and then convenience foods exploded. But there are plenty of older folks and rural areas in the coasts. And plenty of money and wealthier enclaves in the Midwest. Yet with a couple of exceptions like maybe Chicago, the Midwest seems very different to me. And even in Chicago and near Chicago, most places heavily emphasize simple carbs and meat. I don’t think it’s a matter of money or education or age, because like I said, I’ve been to rural/urban/suburban areas all over with a mix of all ages. What do you think?

Chicago has a lot of nice restaurants but MOST of the restaurants and most of the food locals eat is typical boring Midwest fare. Those nice restaurants downtown are expense account swipes, not places local families or Big Ten graduate yuppies are going a couple times a month.

This is just wrong. Chicago has it all from a culinary perspective. It more sounds like you are describing DC, expense account places and overpriced bland fare. Your average hole in the wall in Chicago beats the pants off of anything in the DMV.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’ve lived all over the country and understand some of the threads of seen here about Midwestern in laws. But why? I understand that when our grandparents were raising their kids, canned vegetables were common, and then convenience foods exploded. But there are plenty of older folks and rural areas in the coasts. And plenty of money and wealthier enclaves in the Midwest. Yet with a couple of exceptions like maybe Chicago, the Midwest seems very different to me. And even in Chicago and near Chicago, most places heavily emphasize simple carbs and meat. I don’t think it’s a matter of money or education or age, because like I said, I’ve been to rural/urban/suburban areas all over with a mix of all ages. What do you think?

Chicago has a lot of nice restaurants but MOST of the restaurants and most of the food locals eat is typical boring Midwest fare. Those nice restaurants downtown are expense account swipes, not places local families or Big Ten graduate yuppies are going a couple times a month.

Let me guess, you went to Chicago once for a paper pusher’s conference and you truly have no idea what real Chicagoans eat on a daily basis.

[Anonymous]

Hey, at least in most major Midwestern cities, you can find good Italian, Greek diners, pizza, bakeries, coffee shops, burgers, and delis. These are all things that they just can’t seem to master in the DMV.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Hey, at least in most major Midwestern cities, you can find good Italian, Greek diners, pizza, bakeries, coffee shops, burgers, and delis. These are all things that they just can’t seem to master in the DMV.

Indeed! It's funny that OP. seems to think DC folks live in a sophisticated food mecca. It is not.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’ve lived all over the country and understand some of the threads of seen here about Midwestern in laws. But why? I understand that when our grandparents were raising their kids, canned vegetables were common, and then convenience foods exploded. But there are plenty of older folks and rural areas in the coasts. And plenty of money and wealthier enclaves in the Midwest. Yet with a couple of exceptions like maybe Chicago, the Midwest seems very different to me. And even in Chicago and near Chicago, most places heavily emphasize simple carbs and meat. I don’t think it’s a matter of money or education or age, because like I said, I’ve been to rural/urban/suburban areas all over with a mix of all ages. What do you think?

Chicago has a lot of nice restaurants but MOST of the restaurants and most of the food locals eat is typical boring Midwest fare. Those nice restaurants downtown are expense account swipes, not places local families or Big Ten graduate yuppies are going a couple times a month.

You have no idea what you are talking about. Have you met a Chicagoan before? What inspired you to make this up?