Salon: Chinese guests requested "quintessentially American" meal...here's what they were served

[Amerigo Vespucci]

Wednesday, Jan 19, 2011 18:20 ET
Francis Lam
Hey, Obama, pass the spice!
After their Chinese guests requested a "quintessentially American" meal, the White House came up with this?
By Francis Lam

http://www.salon.com/news/white_house/index.html?story=/food/francis_lam/2011/01/19/white_house_state_dinner_menu



1st course: D'Anjou pear salad with farmstead goat cheese, fennel, black walnuts and white balsamic

2nd course: Poached Maine lobster, orange glaze carrots and black trumpet mushrooms

Intermezzo: Lemon sorbet

3rd course: Dry aged rib eye with buttermilk crisp onions, double-stuffed potatoes and creamed spinach

Dessert: Old-fashioned apple pie with vanilla ice cream

[roody]

1. overload on the protein

[Skink]

2. I eat that twice a week.

[Ineeda]

3. Looks like a perfect meal to me! And very 'American.' Yum. n/t

[OneTenthofOnePercent]

4. "quintessentially American"? ... I think a bowl full of HFCS would have been appropriate.

[notadmblnd]

5. I'd clean my plate!

[Ian David]

6. He should have just taken them in the limo for McDonald's Drive-thru. n/t

[Angry Dragon]

7. I must live in a different America

[dkf]

8. Dang that sounds good.

[TheMadMonk]

9. I wonder how many realise where sorbet comes from? EOM

[Amerigo Vespucci]

10. The author's comments:

"Sorbet! That's a French word! Damnit, it's lemon freedom ice. Wait wait wait, sorry. French words are allowed again. My bad."

[TheMadMonk]

20. It's roots are Persian actually. And it's a toss up between the Turks...

...and the Romans for the invention of the actual foodstuff.

I lean towards the Turks myself.

[Hello_Kitty]

11. Sounds yummy! Except for the goat cheese.

Goat cheese makes me :puke:

[eShirl]

12. everyone around here knows you serve lobster with drawn butter, corn on the cob,

maybe a side of steamed clams, and strawberry shortcake for dessert

but POACHED?

c'mon

[Maine_Nurse]

27. Boiled or steamed in seaweed with lots of salty butter.

[BlueJazz]

13. If they were older Chinese, they could have eaten what some older Americans eat.

[Art_from_Ark]

14. The quintessential American meal is

Hamburger, fries and a coke.

[PADemD]

17. Don't forget pizza!

[Art_from_Ark]

19. Yeah, I guess I shouldn't leave out pizza

After all, as Sonny and Cher once sang:

"You've got a lot to give
And pizza's got a lot to give..."

:rofl:

[Maine_Nurse]

29. Leftover casserole.

[Ganja Ninja]

37. Grilled Cheese, Potato Chips and Koolaid.

That's an American meal.

[eShirl]

15. ha! Contrast that with what FDR served the King & Queen of England

MENU FOR PICNIC AT HYDE PARK
Sunday, June 11, 1939

Virginia Ham
Hot Dogs (if weather permits)
Smoked Turkey
Cranberry Jelly
Green Salad
Rolls
Strawberry Shortcake
Coffee, Beer, Soft Drinks

http://docs.fdrlibrary.marist.edu/royalv.html

[flvegan]

16. Obviously, the quitessential American is an extremely wealthy individual/family.

That's why the rest of us don't matter.

[Amerigo Vespucci]

23. The article is a pretty good one...

...I only posted the menu items because I have been spanked a couple of times by the mods lately for "going over 4 paragraphs" in my posts and am trying to behave. TRYING, dammit!

:-)

Francis Lam writes:

What kills me about this "quintessentially American" menu is how it looks compared to the first-ever Obama White House State Dinner. (Yes, the one with the infamous party crashers.)

***

a mix of Indian and American favorites, including some African-American standards. Collard greens and curried prawns, chickpeas and okra, nan and cornbread were served to the 320 guests, who started off with arugula from the White House garden and finished up with pumpkin pie tart.

Nothing wrong with surf & turf. Nothing at all. It's just that 99.9% of the "quintessential Americans" I know can't afford to enjoy it right now, and haven't enjoyed it for quite some time.

[housewolf]

18. What's her beef with the menu?

Looks pretty "quintessentially American" to me!

I mean, it's not turkey or burgers, but ... it all seems quite representative of American cooking/eating to me, much more so than the "hot 'n spicy" that she seems to be looking for, which is definitely not quintessentially American but rather imports from Mexico and the East (places like... well, you know, China :-) )

I'd be so happy with that meal...

[catnhatnh]

22. Almost EVERY one of us would...

...if we could afford it. "Quintessentially American" now runs the gamut from seniors meals featuring Purina thru the fast food burgers of the homeless, and then rises to Hamburger Helper with extra starch or frozen veggies for filler. Then at the "middle class" we hit the profligates with at least some chicken and pork most nights and occasional actual beef cuts. Sometimes they even get seafood! To get to state dinner level, it looks like you'ld have to support the upper levels of the last tax cut...

[Amerigo Vespucci]

24. "Shaved his legs and then he was a she"...Francis Lam, the author, is a "him," not a "her."

:rofl:

[grasswire]

21. hooray! finally American food is served to a state dinner

I have been bitching for years about the trend of serving a dignitary food in the manner of his/her own country. I was wondering what kind of Chinese food the WH would be stirring up for the soiree.

I think this is a LOVELY menu. I would like to see some sourcing on the cheese and beef and read about the wines.

Very classy.

[Historic NY]

25. What no hot dogs or hamburgers.

[EC]

26. Surf and Turf

and onion rings, with 2X baked potato? That's American..sounds really good, but too much for me to eat in one sitting.

[BetsysGhost]

28. but of course

he wouldn't want to eat any of that stuff the chinese add to our food product. Don't see any wheat listed...

:hurts:

[RufusTFirefly]

30. Quel coincidence! That's exactly what I had for dinner tonight!

Of course, it was all in a TV Dinner, but no matter.

[mwrguy]

31. sweet baby jesus

that sounds delicious.

[glinda]

32. The salad appears to be French.

[Kablooie]

35. A pear salad is pretty American I'd say. The pear name is what sounds French.

Should'a had mayonaise with grated cheese on it though.

[glinda]

38. The combination of the ingredients are similar to a French inspired salad. Sub Apples.

[patrice]

33. An appropriately upscale version of an American "holiday" dinner. Not that pretentious, IMO. Yummy!!

[Art_from_Ark]

34. That's a "quintessential" American meal

if you're Thurston Howell the Third, I guess.

[Jester Messiah]

36. Heh, why not get some take-out?

Maybe Hu would enjoy some General Tso's Chicken.