Why is "fast food" burgers, fries, and chicken?

Looking at the "big three" American fast foods.
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[@TheCatholicNerd]

You should do a video on 1950s-ish American dinners. Like fried chicken, meatloaf, Salisbury steak. You know what most Americans consider home cooking.

[@norwegianblue2017]

Almost impossible to find in many parts of the country now. In southern California, the old-school diners and coffee shop cafes are rapidly disappearing. The ones you see now are more like novelty venues. Like a theme park, with theme park prices.

[@jasonvaquero9739]

@@norwegianblue2017Being from New Jersey where there’s basically a diner on every corner, this is perhaps the worst part of living in LA. Most breakfast places are health conscious and overpriced

[@global2829]

Plus the phenomenon of diners having a menu the size of a phone book.

[@ehrenloudermilk1053]

I agree. As an American, those diners have been a part of my life for as long as I can remember. I hated them as a child.

[@JonRamsten]

Salisbury steak has an interesting story behind it.

[@FredoRockwell]

As an American living outside of America, I've always found it ironic that our culture is criticized for "imposing" these fast food classics to the rest of the world, as if they weren't incredibly popular everywhere.

[@courtneyjohnsonhaber4591]

Yeah it's a real cope for people upset that, yeah people like American cultural exports. McDonald's isn't successful cuz people hate it

[@EmpressMermaid]

I had that experience, too, when I lived in Europe. When hearing the usual accusations of America "imposing" these horrible fast food places on them, my answer was always "yeah, but who's buying it?" Because fact is, if local customers weren't purchasing them over there, they wouldn't be sold over there.

[@justinarzola4584]

The irony is that Burgers originate from Germany,French Fries are Belgian.

[@TaliyahP]

@@justinarzola4584 Burgers don't originate from Germany and J.J. even went over this in the video. The style of a ground beef steak/patty was imported and putting it on bread/buns started in the US. What we know of as a burger is quite American.

[@anap3333]

As a Mexican, we love them here keep em coming

[@danmacarro]

I love little linguistic shifts like {Hamburg}+{er} to {Ham}+{burger}, then just swap out that morpheme for chicken, bacon, salmon, veggie. Its fascinating

[@emmanarotzky6565]

It’s like how the word {alcohol}-{ic} spawned {choc}-{oholic} and other jokey words were “oholic” is added to the end of something to mean you’re addicted to it.

[@SayAhh]

This is why Big Dairy's war on soy MILK, oat MILK and almond MILK is insane and stupid. If anything it made me want to drink less cow milk. I think they might have lost (or it is ongoing?) but merchants like Costco didn't want to take a chance and repackaged and and have since labeled their soy-based drink as "soy non-dairy beverage" to get ahead of litigious people or corporation(s).

[@SayAhh]

Also: Watergate led to -gate becoming a suffix for scandal, e.g., Deflategate, Bridgegate.

[@judgesaturn507]

There are a lot of words like that which sort of get 'distorted' when people forget their origins.

[@randallcraft4071]

I know that there is arguments had in some areas about what should be called a burger, it seems like a lot of non-americans will add any meat plus a burgor to define a Sandwich on a hamburger bun, But most Americans would not define that as a chicken burger salmon burger what have you that would be a ex meat sand which the thing that defines it as the burger is the shape of it being a hamburger style Patty so ground up and formed. If you told somebody it was a chicken Burger they would assume it was ground chicken formed into a Patty instead of a chicken filet or a fish filet. I've seen that brought up in several food KZbin comments usually between non-americans calling something a burger and American saying there's no ground meat Patty on that it's not a burger.

[@LucasBenderChannel]

It's always funny, when tourists coming to Germany expect Hamburg to be the Hamburger capital of the world - and then are wildly disappointed when they find out, that Hamburg cuisine almost exclusively revolves around fish and crabs. 😜🐟

[@justinarzola4584]

The word Hamburger is derived from the city of Hamburg.

[@Ruiseal]

Hey Lucas Bender, I really like your videos.

[@coyotelong4349]

Didn’t the term “Hamburger” (meaning a slab of ground beef) come from the raw ground beef served in Labskaus?

[@JJMcCullough]

@@coyotelong4349I mention it in the video

[@mbenoni7397]

@@justinarzola4584 A chessboard has 64 squares.

[@michaelpsellos770]

Three suggestions: 1. Have you done the American "Breakfast Canon" yet. Pancakes, grits, eggs, bacon, breakfast sandwiches, etc. 2. I think the popularity of Tex-Mex should be explored. One thing I noticed oversees was you didn't really get to the American dominant areas until you saw a Mexican restaurant. Also is this a cultural divide between America and Canada? 3. A timeline of American Health Crazes and Fad diets. We seem to have a new one every decade or so, so going over the rise and fall of certain foods in response to health crises.

[@KayleyWhalen]

I like the fad diet one. Remember Snackwell's in those green boxes? That whole "fat is bad for you" thing that happened in the 1990s which I actually believed? Legitimately was trying to be a healthy eater and probably made it worse.

[@michaelpsellos770]

@KayleyWhalen yeah there really isn't anything more American than reinventing your entire diet every 10-25 years through a mix of science and lobbying.

[@ecstasycalculus]

I've always found #2 particularly interesting because my mother grew up in 1960s Massachusetts and she says there was zero Tex-Mex food, in fact the only thing remotely close to Hispanic food at the time was Campbell's black bean soup (which came from Cuba, not Mexico). In fact, my mother tells me the only ethnic food available at the time was Italian and Chinese. So this seems like a topic that'd be fun to explore, how different immigration patterns affected the American food scene. When I was growing up in the 1990s, Vietnamese and Korean food was extremely rare outside of California. Now, there are pho and Korean BBQ places everywhere. What will the ethnic food scene in the US look a generation from now? Are we going to see a surge in Middle Eastern food due to immigration from Afghanistan, Syria, etc? I would welcome that.

[@KaitouKaiju]

​@@ecstasycalculusWe're already seeing a surge in middle eastern food like hummus and shawarma

[@ecstasycalculus]

@KaitouKaiju hummus and shawarma barely scratches the surface of Middle Eastern cuisine

[@Jersh.]

Growing up as a first gen child of Portuguese immigrants in the sizeable Portuguese community of Toronto, we used to get Portuguese take out a lot, which always came with this orange rice that I always thought was distinctly Portuguese. Every Portuguese rotisserie place sold the exact same sides of Parisienne potatoes and parboiled orange rice. However, when I’d go to Portugal on family trips and have rice there, it was a dry white rice (Carolino is the type of grain, I believe) with a different texture. And it was the same everywhere there too! Years later, when I wanted to make the orange rice at home from scratch, I searched ‘Portuguese style rice’ and got the kind that I would have in Portugal, not at all the takeout spots in Toronto. I had also bought this style of rice at hot foods counters in supermarkets like Metro and Sobey’s, where it’s sometimes sold as ‘deli rice’, other times Mexican rice. I search for Mexican rice and immediately find Spanish rice, which all look very similar to the “Portuguese” rice in Toronto. Overwhelmed, I closed the tab and never really went back to researching it beyond that but your line about how immigrants just cooked whatever was available in their own style rings true, they probably just decided to make a flavoured rice from an affordable recipe and this was the one that stuck.

[@benjaminwatt2436]

I had a similar experience when visiting Iquitos Peru. The locals took us out to eat (chinese) It was rotisserie chicken with a yellow/orange rice. obviously, being american, I was baffled as to why they called it chinese food, so i asked. They replied "because of the yellow rice of course". Peruvians eat white rice btw. I asked why they thought yellow rice was Chinese, but they were under the impression that is what Chinese eat in China.

[@PedroMata]

I don't know if this will help, but besides the traditional white rice we often will also have rice in a tomato sauce. It's called Arroz Malandro (or Arroz à Grega in Brazil) and the tomato sauce does give it that orange color you were talking about. Again, don't know if this will help or not haha

[@Jersh.]

@@benjaminwatt2436 interesting! This phenomenon seems to repeat endlessly everywhere in the world. We assign nationalities to food almost at random, it seems haha. Portugal’s signature sandwich is called francesinha, which means little french girl but in a pet name kind of way. I’ve often seen it translated as little frenchie, which matches the sentiment. But yeah, this is all so interesting and fun to talk about. So many examples!

[@Jersh.]

@@PedroMata True, I’ve had arroz malandro but I wasn’t thinking about it when I wrote my comment. That’s another good example of the fragmentation of orange rice in the lusosphere! I know arroz malandro is more of a wet rice and man, it’s hella good. Brazilian cuisine has so many additions/variations on Portuguese cuisine, and I love rodízio whenever I can afford it 😂

[@BenFitter]

I've always thought that garage sales/yard sales are a uniquely American cultural phenomenon that could be an interesting video.

[@tutscifriscale]

in the uk, we have organised “car boot sales” where the kind of things people might sell out of their gardens in america are sold out the backs of their cars in a big car park. i wonder if we tried to import the tradition of the yard sale but had to do this instead because most people do not have much front garden space at all.

[@dsxa918]

Motherfalkers standing in their driveways saying "this stuff is old!"

[@nade7242]

​@@tutscifriscalelike a mini farmers market?

[@JW-eq3vj]

​@@tutscifriscalelately I've seen a lot of communities here in my US city organize something similar. Usually in a parking lot (car park) an organization will organize a large sale. People wanting to sell will pay a fee (maybe $25-$35) for the space. Usually you will sell off of a table and not out of your trunk (boot). Despite being sold at a park, it will still be called a community garage or yard sale.

[@arcxjo]

​@tutscifriscale we have flea markets like that. One around here is run at a drive-in movie theatre during the day so there's already plenty of parking

[@crash6442]

I don't know why I found 12:24 so funny, it just felt like such a departure from the very clean and structured presentation style of JJ. Having fries thrown at the screen is something truly worthy of an award winning video. 10/10 JJ You've done it again!

[@arlen_95]

What I love so much about JJ is his straightforward honesty. Tons of channels just state things as if they are 100% certain. But JJ talks about how we don’t really know, and maybe this thing is true but maybe it’s not. It feels like he treats us like adults, who can handle nuance and uncertainty, instead of like children.

[@JJMcCullough]

Thank you so much! This is something I try hard to do

[@randomations11]

I absolutely love having JJ's perspective on these quintessential American lore highlights. As an American myself, I feel like I am too close to really see things from the outside like this. Thanks for another award winning video, JJ!

[@kevincronk7981]

He's Canadian, he sees stuff about America from pretty much the inside too

[@JJMcCullough]

Yeah I don’t conceptualize myself as some outsider documenting an exotic foreign land, I see myself as describing my own culture.

[@randomations11]

@@JJMcCullough Sorry, i didn't mean to insinuate you're a total outsider or anything, I guess I'm just saying you have a perspective that is at least slightly different from my own, I guess.

[@heisensaul5538]

@@friendlyneighbourhoodanarc3039 Russia has its own version of McDonald's now

[@RomanBelisarius]

IIRC J.J. had a video on Canadian left-nationalism where he described himself in pan-American terms contrasting to said left-nationalism: he thinks Canadians (including himself) are *culturally* Americans and foresees/hopes for some sort of tightly knit union of Canada and the US (or Canada "joining" the US) in the future.

[@tomleonard830]

It is worth noting that in USA, burger currently refers to a ground meat patty on a bun. Even though many other countries call chicken (or other meat) on a bun a burger, a bun with filets of meat in the USA is usually referred to as a sandwich.

[@SayAhh]

Did they settle on whether hotdogs are sandwiches or not?

[@generaldissaray4109]

you're doing god's work. bless you, child.

[@arcxjo]

​@@SayAhhclearly.

[@nostaldec4705]

Kind of ironic how Americans actually refer to fewer things as burgers.

[@thedragonadvances]

​@decismuchjuvenile4705 Makes sense actually. The country that invents a new food usually has more reverence for it and will insist on certain particularities. Other countries won't be so concerned with such details and can just use the general concept. Perfect example is pizza in Italy versus the rest of the world.

[@meowsielee]

i would love a video on the history of the “standard” soda flavors (cola, lemon lime, ginger ale, orange, grape, root beer)

[@pablocasas5906]

That could be interesting, here in Argentina the standard soft drink flavors are: cola, lemon-lime, orange and grapefruit (pomelo)

[@benjaminwatt2436]

@@pablocasas5906 Yeah the flavors differ a lot, country to country. In Mexico besides the aforementioned flavors you have, ponche, tamarindo, Sangria, Manzana, among others

[@stevethepocket]

@@pablocasas5906 Grapefruit _used_ to be a fairly popular flavor in the US too, I think, since both Coca-Cola and the 7-Up company (whose name has changed five times since I was in seventh grade) have their own uniquely-branded versions of it-Fresca and Squirt-rather than just lumping it in with their "miscellaneous fruit flavors" brands.

[@roseflavoredbat5571]

I would love a video on how French cuisine came to be seen as the quintessential "fancy" food in America

[@SenhorKoringa]

French conquered england before modern colonization. They were always the “fancy folk”

[@malaquiasalfaro81]

I’d be more interested in why Americans thinks of Italian food as fancy when it was historically a “low class” food in the country

[@stripybread3715]

JJ may not be pregnant but he never fails to deliver

[@TheDanishGuyReviews]

That's a doula.

[@Cosmic-P.-Lotl]

Why would you say this

[@user-su8wo4cc4u]

yet

[@spacemanapeinc7202]

I can't get that image out of my head now, thanks bro.

[@AdenMcIsaac]

Miscarriages left the chat.

[@zbynek.gazdik]

I think you could easily expand upon the dipping sauce segment and make an entire video on the history of the great American condiments. Like how did ketchup and mayo earn the status of being the salt and pepper of the condiment world? I demand to know!

[@onewingedangel9189]

Weird, I always thought of ketchup and mustard as the "big two" with mayo in a close third.

[@devenscience8894]

@@onewingedangel9189 I suspect you're both right. It seems to me that on the West Coast, it's ketchup and mayo, and on the East Coast, ketchup and mustard. Either way, I would agree that those are the ""big three" condiments, and a video on how that came to be would be good.

[@Jaunty_Jeff]

we need a condiment video

[@arcxjo]

Mayo is the devil's own fluid.

[@Atticore]

I second this! We need a condiment video; it'd go great with the chip flavor one and this one.

[@lostcauselancer333]

I think Russia and Ukraine both have a McDonalds. That might have been the first war to break the Macers Peace Pact.

[@technetium9653]

It would actually be one before with the Russo-Georgian war, unless you count the 2006 Lebanon war being Israel v Lebanon

[@balpreetsingh6834]

​@@technetium9653I see your 2006 Lebanon Israel conflict, and raise it with India-Pakistan 1999 Kargil skirmish

[@annuitcoeptis9997]

McDonalds stopped operations in Russia in 2022 and sold their stores to a local investor. He reopened some of them under a new name, the food is supposedly pretty much the same.

[@annafirnen4815]

They both DID have McDonald's but after war broke out and sanctions came into work McDonald's "officially" left Russian market and all their restaurants were rebranded into something else. But as far as I'm aware they still do belong to McDonald's lol.

[@alielkhoumsi4376]

@@annuitcoeptis9997It was the same at first but that was because they were using leftovers from McDonalds. After a while the quality of the food declined.

[@MrMultiPat]

Yeah when I was 16-18 and worker at McDonald's I was shocked to discover that many customers ordered honey with nuggets. But that got me to try it, and it wasnt that bad tbh.😊

[@BradyPostma]

I prefer BBQ, but honey is my second choice. McDonalds nuggs go better with honey the most other chains'.

[@Sorcerers_Apprentice]

I find McDonald's chicken nuggets to be way more salty than other brands of frozen/fast food chicken nuggets, they're the only brand I will eat with honey to offset the salt.

[@simplicitylost]

Yep, I’ve been eating mine with honey since the late 80s as a child. So yummy.

[@juliegolick]

I eat my nuggets with honey. I quite like it! (Then again, I dip my Wendy's fries in chocolate frosty, so perhaps I'm not the most reliable judge of what's tasty lol.)

[@BradyPostma]

@@juliegolick - Nope! Fries in a Frosty is an American classic. Your good taste is confirmed.

[@KhAnubis]

Something I’ve always found interesting about American burger culture is how Hamburg-er morphed into ham-burger, even though Bürger is already the German word for ‘citizen’ Also your first point is exemplified by Checkpoint Charlie proudly standing between a McDonald’s and a KFC

[@ScottBorder]

I would look seriously into the evolution of soda flavors more, as there are basically three big companies that each produce their own version of a number of basic "canonical" soda flavors. Seeing how each of these evolved and how caffeination factors into the distinctions between them would be really interesting I think.

[@nade7242]

yes

[@bubbles581]

Do you mean cola, lemon-lime and orange?

[@CoasterCrest]

@@bubbles581 Also vague caffeine-heavy citrus (mountain dew, mello yello, etc.), root beer, ginger ale, cream soda, dr. pepper and its knock-offs, and purple drink.

[@bubbles581]

@CoasterCrest a lot of those are pretty much US only though like root beer and Dr pepper hardly exist outside the US and a couple other places.

[@raiisleep]

@@bubbles581 and these videos are about the american cultural canon.

[@aaronmetzler7409]

J.J. really has got to be the only KZbinr who alternates between tactful, skilled geopolitical analyses and equally thorough explanations of our food culture THAT quickly and successfully... Bravo!

[@t_ylr]

You should do a video on traditional Fair/Fall Festival foods: funnel cakes, corn dogs, fried x, turkey legs etc.

[@northdakotagamer]

Some potential ideas, as a pseudo-Canadian I’ll preemptively apologize in case you’ve already done some of them: • pop/soda- Cola, Root Beer, Lemon-Lime are what I would think of as big three, but I don’t drink much pop • canned soups - tomato, chicken noodle, cream of mushroom/chicken/celery • sports - football, baseball, basketball, hockey - you did the ball video which is related but these are often called the big four for a reason • condiments - ketchup, mustard, mayo, BBQ, ranch • “ethnic” restaurants - Italian, Chinese and Mexican represent the classic big three but Thai, Indian, Japanese and more have increasing presence over past years, I believe the government in Thailand has specifically allocated money to opening restaurants overseas too

[@luke_cohen1]

Don’t forget Orange Soda and Ginger Ale on the soda front. Those seem to be a major part of the classics.

[@dylancurle614]

I also want to see JJ do a soda video.

[@MSterling27]

It's interesting how as someone living in the UK, these things are all the same but different - root beer doesn't enter our soda lexicon at all except for those weird American candy stores that sell imported American goods. Ranch also isn't a thing at all here, and I only learned it existed for the first time when I went to the US as a teenager. In terms of ethnic restaurants, I'd say Chinese and Indian are the big two - but if you want to get really meta about it you could say American is #1 with the import of McDonalds, Burger King etc. Obviously with sports, football (soccer) reigns supreme with everything else being several rungs below. I've never met anyone who watches baseball, it's about as niche as you can get.

[@crazybananagurl1999]

i was thinking condiments too!

[@KanyeTheGayFish69]

Also Dr Pepper

[@gerrit2409]

As a somewhat new BC resident (going on three years now) that is an active BC Ferries user for work, I've always pondered why 'White Spot'. Thank you for clarifying in that little tangent - very useful! Now, everyone in the unfortunate position of being near me when passing a White Spot will hear this anecdote.

[@connorapurcell]

An episode regarding the fluctuation of portion sizes (and the relationship between the size/quantity of foods to the cost) over time would be cool

[@RussianBot69420]

JJ you are my best friend. I love that you can go from giving a rational opinion on geopolitical conflicts and then talk about chicken nuggies and fries

[@TheRedBaron1917]

JJ is everyone's best friend

[@Monkeysiwowiw]

W youtuber,fr

[@coyotelong4349]

It’s probably worth pointing out that burgers and fries weren’t CREATED by the advent of fast food, but were already popularized as food items by the American Diner before fast food created a way for them to be quickly mass produced

[@mierardi88]

Fascinating and entertaining as always, and I do have a suggestion: have you done a video on the origin of the Peanut butter sandwich and its various incarnations?

[@zacnizib]

you should do a video on fair food, like corndogs, funnel cake, kettle corn, etc. I've always felt like those were an important part of Americana, and are always expected at fairs and festivals. I've also seen other foods start to join the rotation such as gyros and kebab. And there is also some considerable regional variety like hush puppies and fried dough.

[@aaronzimny8201]

I'd gladly watch JJ do a video on "Why is continental breakfast what it is today?" A pretty specific kind of breakfast served in American hotels, but the term continental usually refers to Europe, where that kind of breakfast isn't served. I don't know if he's already covered that. Also, somewhat related, the rise and fall of roadside restaurants associated with motels, like Howard Johnson's.

[@ecstasycalculus]

From what I understand from traveling through Europe, the term "continental breakfast" came from the fact that in much of continental Europe, the typical breakfast is very light and consists of basic staples like bread, butter, jam, coffee, tea, juice, etc. as opposed to the UK and Ireland where eating meat, eggs, potatoes, etc. is considered the norm. So traditionally, if you went to a hotel in the US with a "continental breakfast", the implication was that it was a light breakfast (pastries, cereal, etc.) and you shouldn't expect there to be any meat, eggs, or potatoes (though this has changed in recent years as I'm seeing a lot more hotel breakfasts that offer all those things).

[@ALuimes]

@@ecstasycalculus A "continental breakfast" sounds impressive but its next-to-nothing.

[@danieltyce7406]

I absolutely love your food cannon series. If there is one thing that all people across the globe can come together over, it would be food.

[@LonelyOutlaw]

I love this series thank you for making it

[@SpiralSine6]

Another great JJ video, another interesting book to catalogue in my growing list of books I want to eventually read. Not even joking, these past few weeks I’ve made it a hobby to note down every book that JJ has referenced in videos that I’ve watched. I’m up to like fifty books haha.

[@liamomahoneu4909]

I always wondered about American Condiments! I think that would a great addition to this series. Between Ketchup, Mustard, barbecue, Mayo, and even relish. They is a lot to explore!

[@ShawnRavenfire]

I was recently trying to figure out the difference between ketchup and catsup. Half the sources I find say they're the same thing, and the other half say there's a difference.

[@lyricusthelame9395]

I hope in the future cheese curds can be added to this list, because I've noticed a gradual and continuous increase in their popularity over the years.

[@evilded2]

?

[@WillTheBassPlayer]

Cheese curds are great, and I think their spread is mainly via Culver's & fairs. Culver's being the regional chain in the midwest, it only makes sense that they'd serve the quintessentially Midwestern cheese curds, and they are steadily expanding across the country. Fairs, too, with their obsession with all thinks fried, it's almost inevitable that they get ahold of cheese curds

[@jljordan1]

@@WillTheBassPlayerFreddy’s has them

[@scoobydoobers23]

​@@WillTheBassPlayerZaxby's sells them too, they just call them cheddar bites. Which I assume is just because they think their customers are uncultured.

[@3p1cand3rs0n]

i'm from tennessee and i don't think i've ever seen cheese curds sold in a restaurant. someone mentioned Culver's, but we don't have many (any?) of them around here. 🙂

[@BinglesP]

Gee, J.J., who knew there was so much history behind just basic eco-'nom-nom'-nomics!

[@neatoman5367]

Thanks JJ! Always love your videos, especially when you release a new one, it gives me another excuse to binge watch all your stuff again lol.

[@dstinnettmusic]

Finally. JJ drops the modesty and admits this series truly is award winning.

[@miltonbates6425]

Someone needs to start a petition for McDonald's to bring back their original formula for french fries. The decades of lies about saturated animal fat have been thoroughly debunked at this point. Bring back the OG McDonald's fries.

[@randenpederson4784]

amen

[@JoffesThoughts]

I agree, but nowadays there's a huge commercial advantage to using vegetable oil - making your business available to vegans and vegetarians.

[@trevia9941]

i’ve never had the og fries but personally i think mcdonald’s has the best fries than anywhere else, besides maybe arbys curly fries

[@miltonbates6425]

@@trevia9941 You haven't lived, my good man.

[@SayAhh]

What kind of fats did beef tallow contain before they were phased out (in 1990 or something)?

[@chrisbeynon8700]

I do love your food canon videos! Always a treat.

[@beachboysandrew]

Would be fascinating to see a video like this on the history of soda and the main soda brands

[@thethreerailwayengines825]

I feel like I am legally obliged to say fun fact: did you know that the original French Fries weren't cooked in France? They were cooked in Grease!

[@bugchallin]

Booooo!!!

[@JhowieNitnek]

No in Belgium in modern day Dinant.

[@eddiewillers1]

Ba-boom, tish!

[@emmanarotzky6565]

Blind people using voice to text don’t know even this is a dad joke

[@judgesaturn507]

Hi Dad

[@ethanmackler1892]

Would be interesting to go through what national cuisines have lent themselves to commercialization and mass appeal, and how/why. The Filipino American community is historically as large and deeply rooted as the Chinese American community but obviously nowhere near the same cuisine popularity.

[@anonymoususer8895]

Nah. Filipinos and Chinese are NOT Americans. They’re in Canada and they’re Canadians. You’re confusing the two countries of Canada, where they actually are, with the US.

[@anonymoususer8895]

Chinese and Filipinos are too P00R to come to the US.

[@anonymoususer8895]

You need to stop confusing Canada, with the US.

[@onewingedangel9189]

​@@anonymoususer8895what the hell are you talking about? As an American, Chinese Americans are one of the most famous ethnic groups in the country and there are a lot of Filipino Americans given that we held that country as a colony for half a century.

[@MaxRamos8]

Well El Pollo Loco is also fast food but they have rice, beans, quesedillas, tacos, and of course grilled chicken 🐔

[@johndavenport2847]

Your food and flavor history videos are always fantastic

[@RickyRicardo0282]

Love how you say “about” ❤ Oh, and great I for by the way! Great info!

[@utterdisaster603]

Something I’ve been curious about regarding fast food is how onion rings became such a popular alternative to fries as a side dish and how come some of the biggest players in fast food (McDonald’s, Wendy’s) don’t offer them on a national level?

[@dilbert719]

One thing I've wondered about from watching this award-winning series: are there items that have fallen out of the American Food Canon, and if so, why? Were they replaced by something more popular, or is there essentially a hole in the modern diet where that food once was?

[@ztl2505]

Mock turtle soup might be a contender. It was considered a very popular comfort food around the turn of the century.

[@jacksauce]

I would love to see you expand on this series and make videos talking about influential companies that were the “first” to create or do things that are commonplace in America. I’m an economics guy so understanding how corporations altered modern America is fascinating to me.

[@kiaer.s]

A couple things - I love this series of yours ♡ I think looking at the staple meals across different parts of the US and history would be cool. Or even foods that certain cities assume everyone has, but they don't. Unique foods of america? Yeah. Good luck. I also think an analysis on the idea of the "american dream" has evolved would be nice to get some perspective on. Really value your words buddy Keep it up, doin great You seemed kind of tired and worn down in your last video, so it made me smile a bit to hear some of that pep back

[@theletters9623]

I was a HUGE honey on chicken nuggets kid and I was FURIOUS when a nearby fast food place (couldnt tell you which one) replaced their honey dip with honey mustard, a completely different sauce

[@generaldissaray4109]

if it was mcdonalds, they're lying to you. they still have honey.

[@ChessedGamon]

20 year old me reading the menu before choosing the chicken tenders and fries:

[@mich_mash]

Love J.J.'s usage of the FF 6 Magitek Research Facility music for anything factory-related in his videos- always makes me smile

[@thatonenerd98]

Another amazing video! I think a later one should be on the standard American condiments (Ketchup, Mustard, Relish, Mayonnaise, and sometimes Barbecue or ranch).

[@alexcolon3630]

You should start doing the food canons or iconic foods of specific U.S. states or Canadian provinces

[@ethanclark85]

You should consider American salad dressing cannon because we have a very rigid idea in North America what is and is not a salad dressing and I think the origin of where they come from would be very interesting

[@awogbob]

My wife introduced me to plain honey for dipping. Thought she was insane at first but its actually amazing. Its because honey is quite acidic which you often might not think of and the sweet acidity cuts through the grease basically perfectly

[@judgesaturn507]

I will never get tired of videos like this. You really can teach some fascinating history using just objects as a base.

[@underratedbub]

JJ, I enjoy basically any video you make, but for ideas, I always really enjoy your Canada/America theory videos and deep dives into ideas (like premodern, modern, postmodern) underlying our American/Western society that we all take for granted. I think there is a lot left to be said for causes that you feel passionately about that doesn't get any (positive) press otherwise. Do you have takes on issues or debates that you don't think get enough attention? I do also enjoy your current event videos (like your recent ones on Canada/India and Israel/Palestine) and your travel videos incl. the state tourism video, but I realize these ones would have to be intermittent. I also appreciate your animator's help, but I enjoy your hand-drawn cartoons more than the photo-realistic animations which can be a little grotesque at times. By the way I just want to say that I consider you the best advocate I have ever encountered for America, the West, and conservatism. You fundamentally shaped my thinking in regards to these major topics.

[@albertmiller2electricbooga897]

I'd love more of those call-and-response videos, for example asking viewers about the staple fast food dishes in their country. Australia has plain and whole chickens as a large part of fast food, often served with pineapple fritters, and another popular dish is meat pies from service stations

[@StephanieJeanne]

I love the Frialator! 😄 Another great video, J.J.! ✌️

[@trevorstewart1308]

it should be an award winning series! could you do something on independent fast food places like diners and lunch counters? back in the (mid-late ?) 60s, my mom's parents had a lunch counter called Jumbo's and the had a specialty called the Crazy Dog. It was a grilled hotdog wrapped in grilled salami and on a grilled bun, Cony Island style

[@stolenzephyr]

I would be interested to know about the history of American-Mexican blend of food. Its a food unique to the Americas and usually not found in other countries. It also has a lot of variations, like Cali-Mex and Tex-Mex. Probably a New York variant as well (I'm guessing but I don't know for sure). Tacos are pretty ubiquitous in North America. I've had Mexican friends question the authenticity of any such food north of the border, but I think thats what makes it interesting. Especially with places like taco bell essentially creating a new genre of food that isn't really Mexican but not a classic fast food style either, but a weird blend.

[@jljordan1]

As a person currently living in Wichita, Kansas, we do not have White Castle anymore. But we do have Freddy’s.

[@JJMcCullough]

How many nights do you spend there?

[@d_dizzie_druck5753]

Love your videos!😍🤩😍 entertaining, & SO SO much information. I would still love to see you do a video about the Moose war of 2019, between Saskatchewan Canada, & Norway.

[@AduckButSpain]

9:43 Not only they are usually called "Luxembourgers", but also saying LuxemBoURGER, fits better for this video.

[@JackRackam]

"Hamburg, which was a German city" oh no, what happened to Hamburg‽

[@SmashhoofTheOriginal]

Interesting that you say "chicken burger". My experience is that in the US, this is always called a chicken "sandwich", not a chicken "burger". But I've noticed in other countries that they call it a chicken "burger".

[@tomleonard830]

Agreed. In the USA, it needs to be a ground meat patty in the middle for it to be a burger. Otherwise it’s a sandwich. Other countries don’t necessarily follow that naming convention.

[@pushslice]

@@tomleonard830 Yes, and that probably explains why “Turkey burger” is an accepted term while “chicken burger” is not

[@E2theBizzle]

“Today, it’s impossible to imagine burgers being sold without fries.” *the hipster bar that charges extra for fries starts to sweat profusely*

[@radar12564]

I used to eat my nugs with plain honey when I was a kid! The honey’s mostly intended for tea and things I think, but it’s honestly really good.

[@mind-of-neo]

I couldn't imagine having such a sweet tooth that i'd want to dip my chicken nuggets in honey. This is as strange to me as the donut-bunned burger thing.

[@generaldissaray4109]

nuggets get dipped in honey and fries get dipped in milkshake. whats the problem? it's savory and sweet.

[@Grimmbros1214]

savory and sweet is a good combo. a lot of sauces that you dip nuggets or fries into are also sweet like honey mustard, barbecue, sweet and sour, chick fil a polynesian sauce.

[@silverharloe]

In the third section on fries, I have to wonder about the stereotypically British dish: fish and chips. (actually, come to think of it, all the big American chains have fish sandwiches) and the breading of nuggets technology you mentioned seems related to "fish sticks" which, if not fast food staples, were super common in school lunches and there's a bag of frozen fish sticks in half of US freezers (half is probably an exaggeration)

[@Wavebeam64]

so what are you, a gay fish?

[@pushslice]

While it doesn’t explain 100% of the preponderance, inclusion of fish in many fast food outlets came from trying to appeal to Catholic customers during Lent.

[@j.sneaux]

you should do a video on cajun food, seeing as it has canadian connections. im a cajun from the bayous of south LA, i grew up almost exclusively eating cajun food when i wasnt eating fast food. id love to hear your thoughts on how the flavors of the south combined with french cooking techniques helped to create the cajun food we love today.

[@TheRedBaron1917]

Ohhhh another great American food canon video!! My favourite!

[@pjschmid2251]

It’s interesting to hear that Canadians call chicken sandwiches, chicken burgers, too. I’ve heard Brits use that term and it always just is a little disconcerting. Americans don’t use chicken burger to describe a chicken sandwich. Typically to be a burger at has to have some form of ground meat.

[@RenegadeContext]

We differentiate between a sandwich and a burger in the UK and Ireland. A burger is burger shaped and a sandwich is either a whole breast bread crumbed or it's longer. Don't ask me why

[@pjschmid2251]

@@RenegadeContext i’ve seen lots of Brits call chicken sandwiches that are made from whole breaded, chicken, breasts burgers.

[@RenegadeContext]

@@pjschmid2251 were they in America?

[@pjschmid2251]

@@RenegadeContext yes, I’ve heard it when Brits were in America.

[@RenegadeContext]

@@pjschmid2251 I wonder if there was a bit bit of adaption there. or it might be what part of Britain they're from. Accents and dialects vary wildly here

[@TheStickCollector]

Prediction Easy to cook (and popular)

[@blackkakari]

Yay! Another J.J. video! : D I really like this one. : )

[@WSWC_]

Hope youll be doing well this next week JJ. Heres to tomorrow being even more kick ass!

[@zugabdu1]

Another American food canon idea - how sushi made the journey from being a seen by Americans as this exotic, vaguely unnerving, and extremely foreign food to something that is sold in gas stations in only a few decades. In the 90s, the Nickelodeon cartoon show Doug treated sushi like this: kzbin.info/www/bejne/lZLKYqeul8t-apY. Nowadays, portraying sushi this way would seem very weird.

[@JJMcCullough]

There is an early episode of the simpsons that’s similar

[@zugabdu1]

@@JJMcCullough There's also an early episode of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles where Splinter tries to serve it to April and pronounces it "suSHI" with the stress on the last syllable - a token of how unfamiliar it was to Americans at the time.

[@naponroy]

Oh, and the Ukraine and Russia both had McDOnald's... but now the McDonald's in Russia are called "Tasty Period" (yeah, really) allowing the war to continue.

[@ingobernoble2678]

I LOVE honey on my nuggets. I always forget it's an option though. But it's something my sister and I used to get with every order of nuggets as a kid. And when I'm feeling nostalgic I get honey and sweet and sour sauce as my dips lol

[@DaGreatOzzie]

JJ I love all the SNES music you use and I can’t believe I heard music from the Adam’s Family SNES game

[@j-prins61]

Excellent video JJ! Another award winning video! Video idea: History of americanized mexican food? - burritos and the bracero program for ex - tex mex

[@benglennon6812]

What about a video talking about the different styles of pop. Like how a cola, a root beer, a lemon lime drink and an orange drink have become the standard

[@sarahdriedger4386]

I have to admit JJ, I am one of the ones who uses honey as chicken dipping sauce. It is my second choice to sweet and sour or plum sauce. I am a bit shocked that I can't hate on McD's as much now, because they are responsible for mass producing one of my favourite foods and are probably the reason I got to eat so many throughout my life(commercialization) Food is an inherent part of our culture and I absolutely love these videos where you explore the who/what/when/where/why of it. JJ is always here to answer those questions your mom or dad couldn't!

[@Katiebartl]

Because of this video, I ordered honey with my McDonald's nuggies today. I used to always use honey on chicken nuggets when I was young, at school or fast food. It's a good salty sweet combo, thanks for reminding me of it!

[@WickedMapping]

You should make a video over soul food, or comfort food. Meatloaf, fried chicken, mac and cheese, cornbread, etc.

[@ryan-sh9bm]

maybe the history of thanksgiving meal like dressing/stuffing and eating turkey in general? christmas meals too would be a good one if thanksgiving is too soon.

[@siennab20]

Maybe for the next episode of this series, all the typical American thanksgiving foods? Mashed potatoes and gravy, turkey, stuffing, cranberry sauce, etc

[@MrMultiPat]

Another in the American food canon is the different types of pizzas that energed in cities (Detroit style, New York style, Chicago style).

[@CortanaFeet]

I love how he speaks and looks like a "umm.. actually" stereotype but the content and video are just fun good times. Keep up the awesome work!

[@jonathanwhite8904]

IDEA FOR FOOD CANNON VIDEO! You should do a video on failed American food cannon. Food that almost made it into the American cultural cannon, but fell out of fashion or just didn't catch on on a national base. This could be food that is still cannon regionally like Maryland crab or new Orleans Cajun food. It could be food that did catch on nationally but then fell out of style like the massive gelatin craze of the 50s and 60s. Frontier food that we don't eat anymore, ECT. You could probably get 4-6 videos out of this if it catches on.

[@johnburk6564]

Pasties might be a good subject for your food research series: They spread with Cornish miners to a number of places in the world, each having it’s own variations. Please don’t neglect the Upper Peninsula of Michigan if you take up this study. Thanks for considering it.

[@steventong2030]

Glad I caught an upload! I'd love to hear your thoughts on the rise of brunch culture/foods. You've done breakfast and you've done lunch before (sammies), time to bring it together?!

[@Slugcent]

I would kill if you could make up a followup video to the potato chip canon video. Specifically mentioning Flamin' Hot, Tortilla chips, and Kettle Chips. As, imo, recently they seem even more popular compared to their potato chip counterparts. Or movie theater popcorn !! There's so much to explore !

[@LaShumbraBates]

As an American, I loved watching this video while also trying to stop my eye from twitching everytime I heard "chicken burger" instead of "chicken sandwich". 😂😂😂

[@fossighter9723]

I didn't expect to see the White Diamond in Clark, it's pretty close to me, but I haven't gone there yet. I didn't realize the connection between the White Diamond and White Castle, but it makes sense.

[@gregh816]

Good video man. Keep it up!

[@therethere508]

My mom is from Hamburg. We make Frickadellen at home -- they're just big meatballs: ground beef, some ground pork, chopped onions, bread crumbs soaked in milk, crack an egg in for binding. In contemporary Hamburg Frickadellen are usually served with a roll (Broetchen) on the side to absorb juices. The meatballs are round but they're big enough (fist size) that you end up with two distinct 'sides' because you need to fry them until they're cooked all the way through. You can see how the large-meatball-with-bread can easily slide into patty-in-bread.

[@eljestLiv]

Here in Sweden, bearnaise sauce is seen as the “default” dip for chicken nuggets at McDonald’s or Burger King, at least as far as I can tell.

[@JustArt0]

good vid =) I'd like to see some topics about many places too

[@Orangeninja5000]

Please make more food content; it sounds weird but it is 100% why I come here