Starch overload in America
As you may know, I am an American expat living in Switzerland, and I recently took my first trip back to the US in over a year and a half. For the most part, this trip found me alternately disappointed with and fascinated by American food - the portions bigger than my head, the bright orange color of “cheese”, the delusion that a bready sandwich became a complete meal with the addition of three starch-based side dishes. And this in a country that used to be obsessed with the “low-carb lifestyle”…
To be fair to the US, I should note that on this trip I was eating out for all meals, and often did not get to choose the restaurant. Swiss restaurant food is probably almost as unhealthy as what I was coming across in the eateries of New Orleans.
The saving culinary grace of this trip turned out to be a visit to Whole Foods. We have nothing like it in Switzerland, and I was in awe. So many aisles full of products I had long ago forgotten about, or never even seen before. And most importantly, so much of it was vegetarian!
Ignoring the wisdom of never shopping while hungry, I piled treat after treat into my basket as I explored the store. I made it back to Switzerland with treasures like Pirate’s Booty and tamari seaweed flavored rice cakes. Not all of my picks were the healthiest foods in the world, but a little variety every once in a while sure is nice. And it’s not like I eat this stuff every day…
Tags: american_food, dining-out, Restaurants, starch, vegetarian, whole_foodsRelated Stories
POSTED IN: Food, Restaurants, Traveling While Vegetarian
3 opinions for Starch overload in America
rachel
Mar 24, 2007 at 6:15 pm
Oh, Pirate’s Booty! I’d forgotten all about it. I left the US for Estonia 7 months ago, and there are so many foods I’m missing. Tofu and tempeh, for starters…
Jul
Mar 24, 2007 at 6:27 pm
Rachel - every time I go back to the US, I encounter foods I had totally forgotten about. I guess I should be thankful that I can at least find tofu in Switzerland! No tempeh, though…
Zandria
Mar 25, 2007 at 5:56 am
It’s funny how we take stores like this for granted here in the U.S., when so many of us see them all the time. It takes an expat to point them out and make us realize how good we have it. :)
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