By Susan Schneider, NurseZone contributor
While the demographics of the American population show a dynamic melting pot
of people from every background and ethnicity, there are shared eating habits
and traditions that greet newcomers to the country.
Don't be surprised if you find that:
At Home
- Very few Americans eat a hearty breakfast. Coffee, donuts and/or cereal
usually suffice and are often eaten on the run.
- Dinner is the main meal of the day, but family members don't always eat
together due to busy work schedules and after-school activities.
- Lunch is usually not a hot meal and consists of a sandwich or salad.
- Dinner is served much earlier than in other countries, normally between 6
p.m. and 8 p.m.
- Entertaining in one's home is usually informal and often includes barbecues
during the summer and potlucks (guests each contribute a dish) the rest of the
year.
- Americans love to snack, especially while watching television.
- Potato chips are the favorite munchable.
- Home delivered pizza is a popular meal; according to pizzaware.com, about
three billion pizzas are sold in the United States per year.
- Adult guests in your home will expect your beverage offerings to include
coffee, tea or sodas during the day and coffee, wine and/or beer in the
evening.
- Meals are not a leisurely affair nor are they served formally unless it is a
holiday celebration.
- Ice cream is the overall favorite dessert and can be found in most
refrigerators in a variety of flavors.
- A wide variety of ethnic foods, ingredients and spices are commonly found in
every household.
- Macaroni and cheese is the preferred dish of most children under 8 years of
age.
At Work:
- The majority of employees bring lunch from home because most companies do
not have cafeterias or on-site food facilities.
- An hour is usually allotted for lunch breaks.
- It is not unusual for employees to eat at their desks while they continue to
work through their lunch breaks.
- Nowadays, business lunches reflect economy-minded thriftiness with meals
ordered for the conference room more often than at pricey restaurants.
- Most businesses provide coffee, tea and purified water for employees to
enjoy throughout the day.
- Employees commonly celebrate birthdays, promotions, holidays and other
special events by arranging potlucks in the office.
- Conversations around the water cooler are inevitably about diets.
- Participating in "happy hour" after work at a wine bar or
pub-style restaurant shows team spirit and camaraderie among many employees.
At Play:
- Foods most commonly served at sporting events (or when at home watching them
on television) include: beer, hamburgers, hot dogs and chips.
- More and more sports venues are serving ethnic food such as burritos, tacos,
sushi and falafels.
- Picnics are very popular in parks and at the beach with most hampers filled
with sandwiches, chips, fruit, cookies, sodas and lemonade.
- Barbecues are a favorite in the summer with everything from hamburgers to
fish kebobs thrown on the grill.
- "Tail-gating" at sports events means picnics are served on the
open tail gates of trucks or from the trunks of cars before events begin.
- Bottled water, often in logo-laden plastic containers, is ubiquitous and
somewhat of a status symbol.
In Restaurants:
All cold beverages are served with ice unless you specify otherwise.
It is not necessary to order bottled water; all tap water is potable in
America.
Fancier (i.e. more expensive) restaurants serve more courses than
family-style restaurants. These side dishes are usually ordered and priced
separately from the entrees.
The order in which courses are served is: soup or salad, entree, dessert.
Cheese and fruit courses are not common in American establishments.
Bread is not served automatically at every meal; you must ask for it.
People do not linger over meals; a restaurant is considered to have good
service when you are in and out in a timely manner.
Foodservers bring you the bill without you asking for it and sometimes
before you finish your meal.
Tipping is expected; 15 percent is the norm and 20 percent is common for
excellent service.
Most restaurants stop serving dinner by 10 p.m.
Reservations are usually only accepted for parties of four or more.
For Holidays:
- New Year's Day finds most Americans in front of the television watching
endless football games; parties at home are common and consist of informal
meals and snacks.
- Valentine's Day is celebrated on Feb. 14 and is a big restaurant day
particularly at romantic venues; heart shaped boxes of chocolate are the
traditional gift.
- Many restaurants serve green beer and corn beef and cabbage on St. Patrick's
Day on March 17.
- A traditional Easter breakfast includes hot cross buns while Easter dinner,
served earlier in the day than normal, usually consists of ham or leg of lamb
Children search for chocolate and marshmallow eggs hidden throughout their
homes and gardens by the Easter Bunny.
- Mother's Day in May is the busiest restaurant night of the year for obvious
reasons.
- Father's Day in June is a time for barbecues, picnics and other meals that
allow men to stay in their shorts and T-shirts.
- The Fourth of July usually spurs outdoor eating festivities with traditional
fare including hot dogs, hamburgers, potato salad and flag-shaped cakes with
ice cream.
- Labor Day celebrates not only American workers but the end of summer;
barbecues and picnics continue to keep everyone enjoying meals outdoor
- Halloween is celebrated on Oct. 31 and is a favorite with kids of all ages.
Approximately 82 percent of children and 67 percent of adults join in the fun,
spending an estimated $1.93 billion on candy and other sweets.
- Americans approximate the Pilgrim's fare on Thanksgiving by serving up
traditional feasts, usually at home, which include turkey, stuffing, potatoes,
yams and pumpkin or pecan pie.
- The ingredients for traditional Hanukkah dishes such as brisket, latkes,
cheese blintzes and sufganyot are easy to find in grocery stores everywhere in
December.
- Americans celebrating Kwanzaa typically share a table laden with symbolic
fruits, vegetables, black cake and ginger beer with family and friends in
their homes.
New Year's Eve celebrations are unique from family to family and range from
festive, formal dinners at fancy restaurants to casual, at-home meals. Champagne
is the traditional beverage for adults to share at the stroke of midnight
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