Personal experience: American habits that still amaze me. The waiters come up every three minutes and ask if you are comfortable, if the food is tasty, etc.

Everyone says that Russia is changing people, but how exactly? This was written by American Joanna Stein, who lived in Russia for some time. She listed habits that she never did before she started living in Mother-Russia. Moreover, some moved to America with her and became part of her daily life.

Her opinion caused a very heated discussion and, most importantly, many readers began to envy Joanne, considering some things really cool!

Now more about what she learned:

Wear slippers at home

Russia has a whole culture of slippers. All family members have their own slippers, which they change into when they come from the street. There is even a spare pair for guests. In America, I rarely took off my street shoes. Only in autumn and winter, when it's dirty outside, then I walk around the house either barefoot, if it's warm, or in socks. Now, upon returning to the USA, I can’t imagine how I used to live without slippers.

dance all night

In the US, all clubs close at twelve at night, and you have to go home. In Russia, bars and clubs are open until six in the morning. My friends and I had fun all night, and returned home around 7. Now I miss this kind of rest madly.

Buy everything with cash

In the US, credit cards and only credit cards rule the world. In Russia, cash rules. To be honest, I don’t even remember that at least once one of my acquaintances in America paid in cash. In Russia, it is more convenient, because cards are not accepted everywhere. The only negative was that they were also paid in cash - it was very strange to receive a handful of money twice a week and even more strange to drag it all home in your purse.

Take a cold shower

Every summer in Russia they turn off for a while hot water for prevention, however, not in all areas. And if you are too lazy to heat water and run with basins, then you have to take a cold shower. At first it was terrible, but then I even liked it! Now, in America, sometimes I wash myself cold in the heat. Helps to refresh and is said to be very beneficial.

Don't sleep in a real bed

Most apartments in Russia are quite small in size, so some pieces of furniture have many functions at the same time. For example, a sofa bed. Most of Russians sleep on sofas that unfold and turn into a bed. There are also couches, ottomans, etc. But it is very rare to find a real bed. Personally, I slept on the sofa. Comfortable, but still I like the bed better.

Eat at McDonald's

American McDonald's is just tons of fat and dripping oil! In Russia, McDonald's tastes noticeably different. The food here is more flavorful, and not so heavy and greasy. Therefore, I often snacked at McDonald's and even began to love it. But upon arrival in America, she was again disappointed.

To drink tea

Tea has been associated with England all my adult life. I didn’t even suspect that tea is so loved in Russia. Russians drink it by the liter. At work, at home, in a cafe. And of course with cookies or some dessert. At my job in Russia, tea parties were something of a social event, and I soon found myself drinking tea, cup after cup. Now in America the best break for me is a cup of tea with sweets.

Wash your hands every time you come home

I had never washed my hands so often before coming to Russia. I think this is due to the fact that the city is so dirty that when you return home, you feel a layer of dust on your hands. But now I go to the bathroom first and try not to touch anything until I wash my hands. It's a good habit, in my opinion.

The fact that they are or have been among the most influential people in the world does not mean that they lead the right way of life. Of course, they are the leaders of one of the strongest powers in the world, but American presidents are still people. And, like every average person, they have their bad habits. That they control the codes to nuclear weapons and the strongest army in the world doesn't mean they can control what goes into their mouths. This article will describe the most bad habits that were characteristic of American presidents. From Donald Trump's addiction to fast food to William Taft's huge steaks for breakfast, here you'll find both hard facts and unconfirmed stories about what ill-known American presidents have done for their health. Even if you want to become as successful as these people, the habits described in the article are not the ones that you should adopt from them.

Donald Trump

The 45th President of the United States is not shy about his love of fast food. Moreover, he posted social network photo of himself with a portion of fried chicken from KFC in August 2016. It's no surprise that this fatty chicken is detrimental to your health and leads to speed dial weight: just one piece of this chicken breast contains 390 calories and 21 grams of fat. Add to that two cookies and mashed potatoes, and you get 850 calories, 41 grams of fat and 71 grams of carbohydrates. And the current president's hobbies are not limited to fast food, he also loves carbonated drinks. He reportedly has a red button on his desk that he presses every time he wants a cola. And when Trump replaced Obama as president, the president's snack changed from healthy almonds to unhealthy chips.

Barack Obama

While US First Lady Michelle Obama led a campaign promoting healthy eating And physical culture Barack Obama continued to harm his lungs and his overall health by smoking. Although he admitted to smoking when he became president, and also said that he was trying to quit, in 2015 he said that he managed to do this five years ago. He said he promised himself that once the health bill went into effect, he would never touch cigarettes again. And he kept his promise. Throughout his presidency, he chewed nicotine gum to fight his cravings.

George Bush

George W. Bush developed a reputation for drinking that wasn't much different from the stories he was in his younger days. His wife said that he was very abusing alcohol in his youth, drinking large quantities of beer, bourbon and other spirits. In 1976, he was arrested for drunk driving. But he stopped succumbing to alcohol in his forties, well before he came to power in 2000. Not only is alcohol inflammatory and damaging to your liver, but each alcoholic drink contains between 100 and 200 calories per serving, which speeds up the set. excess weight. As to how exactly he gave up bad habit, it is reported that one day he just woke up and realized that he wanted to quit. And he was able to do it, he gave up alcohol. Many people don't make it. Many people need help to stop drinking. But he just took it and stopped. And while there are photos of Bush drinking a glass of wine or other alcoholic drink while he was president, such portions are nothing compared to how much he drank in his youth.

Bill Clinton

Although Bill Clinton has adopted healthier eating habits since he left the presidency, and even now follows a vegan diet when he was still in charge, his diet was not healthy. In 1992, an article was published that revealed the president's love of fatty foods, as well as the frequency with which he visited restaurants that serve it. His favorite foods were cheeseburgers, chicken enchiladas, cinnamon buns, and pies. Then his wife Hillary took over his diet and eliminated many of his favorite foods from it, reducing portions as well, thanks to which he lost 13 kilograms by the time he was elected president in 1993. However, he had problems with overweight during all eight years spent as head of the country.

Ronald Reagan

In addition to the fact that he smoked a lot (his photos were even on advertising posters cigarettes in the forties and fifties), Reagan liked to spend a lot of time on outdoors. As a child in California, he played a lot of outdoor sports, so it is not surprising that ultraviolet radiation got him. In 1986 and 1987, basal cell carcinomas were removed from his nose. And although now people know much more about the danger sunlight, it will not be superfluous to recall that every time you go out in the summer, you should apply sunscreen, even if the sun has disappeared behind the clouds. And if you go swimming or sweat a lot, reapply the cream. This The best way protect skin from cancer and premature aging.

Gerald Ford

Tobacco smoking was common among people of Ford's generation, since the first full-fledged report on the dangers of tobacco was released only in 1964, ten years before Ford became president. He smoked up to eight pipes of tobacco a day. And the tube may be more harmful to your lungs and general condition health, since two or three times more tobacco is placed in one pipe than in one cigarette. The biggest danger associated with smoking is cancer of the lungs, throat and mouth, but it is also associated with diseases of the cardiovascular system.

William Howard Taft

William Howard Taft is best known for his size, as he was the president who got stuck in the tub. Although there is no confirmation of this story, it is known for certain that Taft did not follow a diet and ate unhealthy and fatty foods. In addition, he ate huge portions. For example, for breakfast, he liked to eat a 350-gram steak. This steak contains 920 calories and 65 grams of fat. Therefore, it is not surprising that Taft weighed 150 kilograms.

Grover Cleveland

This president also suffered from obesity and could not cope with being overweight throughout his life. He also hated physical exercise and said that bodily movements in themselves are one of the most unpleasant and unsatisfactory things in life. And in addition to the lack of diet and dietary restrictions, he was also a drinker. When he tried to lower the dose, he limited himself to four beers a day, which still adds a few hundred calories to your body and is one beer away from the initial stages of alcoholism. Cleveland weighed 115 kilograms and was the second heaviest president in US history.

Martin van Buuren

Drinking alcohol is not unusual or rare among American presidents. Van Buuren loved whiskey so much that it even became part of his nickname, but it also caused him to develop gout and later heart problems.

John Adams

Adams not only enjoyed alcoholic beverages, he always started his day with alcohol. Forget coffee: the founding father always drank strong cider in the morning. It's far from the smartest way to start the day, and besides, each serving contains about 130 calories and over ten grams of sugar.

Faktrum talks about very strange habits and traditions of the inhabitants of the United States that can drive anyone crazy!

Restaurants always serve ice water, no matter the weather. Cold or hot outside, it doesn't matter. But what is really strange is when there is much more ice in a glass than water itself.

Air conditioners are always and everywhere at full capacity

Portions in restaurants are astronomically huge. One dish meant for the average American is enough for a whole family of foreigners

The waiters come up every three minutes and ask if you are comfortable, if the food is tasty, etc. Every three minutes!

American cars are just gigantic. Especially compared to European brands. By the way, the highways are also huge.

Stores sell three-liter bottles of wine. And sometimes even six-liter

You are always asked for ID at the bar or in the store if you buy beer, although it is quite obvious that you are over 40 years old

Banknotes are very similar to each other. It is difficult to distinguish, for example, one dollar and five dollar bills, because they are all the same size and color.

You can pay with a credit card without using a pin code, but simply by putting your signature. It doesn't look too safe

Pharmacies sell candy, soda, cigarettes and beer. Although many Russians dream about it!

Strangers constantly smile at you. On the street, in supermarkets, in public toilets - everywhere

Many walk around in fitness clothes, even though they are not in the gym. And in shales - not on the beach

It is not uncommon to see people in pajamas in supermarkets. 'Cause they don't care deeply to be honest

Commercial breaks on TV are awfully long. For example, a 40-minute episode of a series, along with advertising, takes an entire hour.

And now, I finally got my hands on a post about American food. The topic, as it turned out, is of interest to many of my friends and readers at first glance seems quite simple and unpretentious. All of us, residents of the post-Soviet space, who grew up on American films, we believe that Americans do not take a steam bath and just eat tons of fast food, for example, the ninja turtles from the cartoon of the same name of my youth were crazy about pizza, the policemen in the cinema passionately devoured donuts with coffee, and cinematic children constantly tossed each other some food for fun dirty trick in hamburgers in the school cafeteria. When I first came to the North American continent, went several times to dinner with different American families, I realized that the culture of the United States for us is like another planet and the eating habits of Americans are only confirmation of this. The information we got from the films about life in America is clearly not enough to even approximately understand the local way of life and customs. I suspect that Hollywood makes films mostly for domestic American consumption, so the film product that reaches us, especially modified by translation and dubbing, seriously distorts our understanding of Americans. In many films, they make fun of themselves and their food habits, so often, many of the strange and funny habits of Americans that have shaped our understanding of them are greatly exaggerated. I began to notice this especially clearly when I started watching films in English without dubbing, but with subtitles - the adaptability of the translation for the Russian-speaking population immediately becomes clearly visible. I am not saying that this is a lie or a deliberate distortion on the part of translators, on the contrary, this is a very competent move from them - to adapt jokes and expressions for carriers of the post-Soviet Russian-speaking culture, because many of our people do not know English at all and would not understand many things if the translation would be literal. However, people who study English language and those interested in American or English culture, I would recommend watching movies with Russian subtitles. For me personally, it opened up a whole new world, having plunged into which first through films, now I know from the inside, smoothly getting used to it and becoming a part of it ...

I will try to debunk some of the myths about fast food and the scarcity of American food habits in this post by describing how vast and varied the topic is.

« 1) What is considered traditional American cuisine?

Traditional American cuisine mainly focuses on baked meat (chicken, beef, pork, etc.), side dishes (often potatoes or pasta), and vegetables.
On the other hand, there are quite a lot of people living in America different people and our dishes began to include all their products. Spaghetti, meatballs, or lasagna are not considered American dishes because they are all Italian cuisine, but they are quite popular with Americans nonetheless. For example, my mother used to make typical casseroles of potatoes and other foods on Sundays for the whole week ahead, and then we ate variations of this dish on the rest of the week, usually baked on a baking sheet with meat.

Seafood dishes are the most popular in New England due to the proximity of the ocean. In the summer, in cities located on the coast, most restaurants offer their visitors baked fish and fried seafood (usually scallops, mussels, shrimp (although shrimp are not from New England) and lobsters (lobster). Lobster can be cooked different ways, but they are usually served boiled or steamed with a small saucer of melted butter, in which pieces of lobster meat are dipped. Personally, my favorite summer dish is the Lobster roll, which consists of lobster meat mixed with mayonnaise, pickles and celery or other greens, and then all this is put into a lightly grilled bun. Real jam!

Scallops:


Shellfish (Clams):

3) What do average Americans eat on weekdays?

It depends on your schedule.
- For breakfast I usually have either scrambled eggs and toast or cereal with cold milk. My son, for example, eats waffles cooked in a toaster (from the freezer) and special breakfast sausages (usually sweet) heated in the microwave. The husband eats ready-made protein shakes (which he freezes and then eats with a spoon, like ice cream) and bananas. My daughter usually gets up late and doesn't eat anything for breakfast! In fact, she might grab cookies and coffee and eat it all on her way to work.
- For lunch we eat sandwiches or salad (lunch or lunch is always light for Americans).
- Dinner can be anything from a casserole or crock-pot food on a slow setting to grilled sandwiches and various soups. When there is no time, we order food delivery from restaurants. We often eat "breakfast for lunch" (eggs, bacon and toast) and sometimes even ice cream, usually in the summer when it's too hot to cook!

Multicooker Crock pot (slow cooker):


Breakfasts:

4) What are the traditional holiday foods in the US?

The various religious holidays have their own characteristic dishes, depending on one or another religion, and I do not think it is worth dwelling on the peculiarities of the diet of their adherents. I can only speak from my own experience cooking festive dishes. For example:

For Easter, usually prepared: baked pork (such as boiled pork) or a leg of lamb;
Baked pork (baked ham):


Lamb leg (leg of lamb):

In the warm season, on such holidays as: Memorial Day, Independence Day and Labor Day, we barbecue on the street: we grill almost any kind of meat or sausages, steaks, hot dogs and hamburgers. If these are sausages, then I usually first boil them lightly (bring to a boil for a few minutes, but do not cook to the end) in beer. This adds an incomparable flavor to sausages! Typical side dishes in this case are cold salads such as potato salad (like Russian salad, but without meat and peas), pasta salad or slaw salad.

Thanksgiving: roast turkey, although many people in Lately fry it in oil. Some also pre-marinate the turkey for several days in sweet-salt water and then roast it. Sometimes a turkey is stuffed with bread and minced meat, but I have never done this. It is difficult to make sure that the filling is completely cooked through, and the turkey meat itself does not become too dry.

Christmas: the same turkey, or baked ham. I used to cook beef ribs roast beef, but when we lived in Florida, where Christmas is always warm, we used to grill steaks.

Side dishes for holidays like Easter, Thanksgiving and Christmas tend to be similar: Corn pudding (same as bread pudding but cornbread based), mashed potatoes, green bean casserole, baked yams or sweet potatoes, sweet casserole potatoes with a layer of marshmallows on top. Most of these side dishes may sound strange to you, but we find them delicious! Especially if you add butter and cream - it's very tasty!
Corn pudding:

5) What desserts are especially popular among Americans?

In fact, there are quite a few desserts that are not popular in America ;). Americans are very fond of eating dessert in large quantities. At home, we usually make brownies or brownies and eat them with tea in the afternoon. By special occasions we usually eat layered cake with frosting, cheesecake, or it could be a fruit salad with ice cream.

6) Fast food or home kitchen? Has the dominance of fast food in American eating habits changed in recent years?

I think Americans are often too busy to cook on weekday evenings. Most women work or have to take their children to school, sport sections or to music lessons and back, and therefore they are not able to prepare elaborate meals for dinner. For example, in my family, the husband comes home around 6:30 pm and at least two evenings during the week, one of us or both of us have some business and meetings at 7:00 pm. Two of our 4 children who still live with us either work in the evenings (2-3 times a week) or play sports and go out with friends, which does not allow us to have dinner together. It would be stupid to cook a lot of food for 2 people, although I still do it on weekends :). So all that's left is fast food: ready-made meals that you can get at the grocery store, frozen dinners, or, as some families do, meals prepared on the weekend a week in advance are simply reheated during the week in the microwave. However, fast food has changed a lot in the last 10 years. Food that is already ready to eat from the grocery store and only needs to be warmed up has become quite tasty and many times cheaper and healthier than the same pizza, sandwiches and hamburgers (the most typical fast food). If we order takeout, it's usually a Greek salad (with feta cheese, grilled chicken, and olives) because I don't really like making salad - it's easier to order it from a restaurant! Today is Saturday and my husband Anthony ordered sushi for dinner and Chinese food in a cafe and went himself to bring her home.
Greek salad (Greek salad):

P.S. From myself I want to add that despite the traditions, all people still have different tastes, food allergies and hostility. For example, my father-in-law, although he grew up in New England in close proximity to the ocean, still categorically does not eat fish and other seafood (I didn’t eat until the age of 20-23 either, then I gradually began to get involved). Since we still live with my wife's parents, real Americans, it makes sense to mention a little about their diet. Peter and Luen (parents of Amy, my wife) are quite conservative and have a typical American way of thinking. They are very afraid of cholesterol and try to drink only skimmed milk and eat only foods low in fat and cholesterol. They are also obsessed with various vitamins and nutritional supplements. In the morning they eat cereal, drink orange juice and coffee, which is quite traditional for Americans, for lunch (or lunch, yes, yes, lunch is lunch, not second breakfast as we are taught at school, and dinner is dinner. They don't use a word like "supper" for dinner here), they eat a peanut butter sandwich if they're at work, and if they're at home, a vegetable salad. And for dinner, most often they eat frozen convenience foods or order pizza, but they still cook once or twice a week. For example:
- potatoes, onions, carrots, mushrooms and smoked Polish sausage (kielbasa) cut into pieces are baked in the oven;
- make various Italian pastas, tetrazini, etc.;
- they cook meat stew from beef, goulash or something like that in a slow cooker.
And of course, all Americans are very fond of going to restaurants, cafes or ordering food at home from the same restaurants (take out) on weekends, but I'm going to talk about this in the next post...

Recently I came across an article about the habits of our people through the eyes of Americans. It was a somewhat controversial list, made up of post-Soviet people's habits that seem strange to Americans. I immediately remembered my best friend Oleg, who has been living in Los Angeles for quite some time. He graciously agreed to talk about the most iconic American habits, many of which I also encountered during my trip to California. Oleg responded promptly and literally the next day I received a letter in the mail in which he offhand listed 21 Americans.

So, in the presentation of Oleg (pictured) - 21 habits of Americans that may seem strange to many.

These Americans are strange people:

1. They can throw out the Christmas tree before the New Year. Many do so, some the day after Western Christmas. Probably because the tree here is not New Year's, but Christmas (Christmas Tree).

2. But they put up the Christmas tree much earlier - often right after Thanksgiving, which falls on the last Thursday of November.

3. These barbarians don't eat olivier salad on New Year, which confirms the common stereotype about the stupidity of the local population. They don't even know what an Olivier salad is.

4. They usually do not take off their shoes when they come to visit - unless the hosts ask them to do so.

5. The hosts will be more surprised than delighted if the guests start to take off their shoes - what if they do not stop and continue to undress?

6. Don't be surprised if your guests ask permission to take off their shoes - they may be hot, but they don't want to embarrass their hosts with their socks.

7. Do not rejoice if you have no money, and you were invited to dinner at an expensive restaurant - the inviting party is by no means going to pay for you. Everyone pays for himself, except if you are a woman and you were invited on a romantic date (dinner with colleagues does not count) or you were told in advance that you were treated.

8. If you go to a restaurant to celebrate a friend's birthday, again, do not count on a freebie - friends treat the birthday man, not he them.

9. Tips of 15-20% in restaurants with waiters are not prescribed by law, but are in fact mandatory. They don't pay them if they were frankly rude or had a bowl of soup thrown on their heads. Eateries like McDonald's don't tip.

10. They drink but don't eat. They do not understand at all what a snack is and what it is for.

11. If they eat, they drink wine or beer. If they drink something stronger, then, as a rule, they do not eat.

12. Vodka is poured warm. Three hundred grams in a decanter is impossible to order. They don't have decanters.

13. They don't eat fat. Some might get sick of it.

14. They don't eat buckwheat. Many do not know what it is.

15. If you are a man and go to the beach in swimming trunks, and not in Bermuda shorts, then you will be considered gay or a tourist from Europe who looks or is gay.

16. They do not forbid children to drink cold juice from the refrigerator. They drink everything cold from the refrigerator (except for vodka, whiskey, gin, rum, tequila and red wine, which they do not give to children). Until they died.

17. They order soda glasses from McDonald's big size despite the fact that you can pour soda into a glass of any size for free. Probably just very lazy and do not want to go to the machine once again.

18. Therefore, they are thick. Fat people are mostly those who are poor. See item 17. The rich are generally not fat - they do not go to McDonald's.

19.After reaching the age of 18, they can get married, elect a president, fight the Taliban in Afghanistan, decide the fate of the accused in court as a jury, but cannot buy a bottle of beer until they are 21 years old.

20. If you go to the doctor and they give you a thermometer to measure the temperature, do not rush to put it under your arm - they will look at you with great surprise. They take it in their mouth.

21. They do not know how to play the fool, neither in the throw-in, nor in the transfer. It's almost impossible to teach.

The list is not a dogma; it can and should be supplemented. Surely not all of them are here.

On Monday we will again go to the castles of Transylvania. :)