Reply to S/O: What explains the Midwestern palate?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]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. [/quote]

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

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.  [/quote]
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 [i]lot[/i] 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. [/quote]

+1[/quote]

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