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#watergate salad
bi-accident · 5 months
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Watergate salad - 1976
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OBSESSED with the fact that the infamous “gross American food” poll is fully just poor people food that people still make/buy either because it was passed through their family or because they’re still poor. Allow me to elaborate. Here’s the poll if you’ve managed to avoid the discourse:
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American Chocolate tastes different because of two factors: the majority of our cacao comes from South America unlike Europe which generally imports from Africa (moving product farther costs more money). Also, American chocolate is only required to have 10% cacao as opposed to Europe’s 20% (using less cacao and supplementing with readily available sweeteners like corn syrup costs less money). In fact, the very first American Chocolate company (Baker Chocolate Company) was so aware of how much less wealthy the early US was than Europe’s established market for chocolate, that their bars came with a money back guarantee for anyone who was disappointed with the sweets. The current financial situation in the US is well known to the rest of the world- of course we still make and eat cheap chocolate, the bones of our country are exploitation. Also, the dairy content is lower in American chocolates which makes them more shelf stable. Shelf stable foods are important for communities living paycheck to paycheck who have money for a chocolate bar right now but won’t for their kid’s birthday in a week.
Bologna feels self explanatory to me. It’s made of literal scraps from the meat production industry that are then turned into a “sausage” and cured to give the product more longevity. I like fried bologna because it was cheaper for my dad’s parents when he was a kid. My dad likes bologna for the same reason.
Watergate Salad is made of shelf stable ingredients. Many desserts require eggs or dairy that can be expensive and expire quickly. Those desserts then get stale if they aren’t eaten immediately. Canned fruits, pistachio pudding mix, and cool whip (which is hydrogenated oil and very little dairy) will all keep for a while. You can buy them in bulk and put them in your cabinets or freezer until you want to use them and then the salad itself will keep in the fridge. See again the importance of shelf stable foods to impoverished communities.
Twinkies are cheap and go stale slowly. See again the importance of shelf stable foods in impoverished communities.
Grits, Boiled Peanuts, and Biscuits and Gravy are all southern comfort food staples. I was born and raised in north Georgia, it’s very important to me to note that almost all southern food was co-opted from freed slaves by poor rural white folk in the south. Plain grits can be deeply unappetizing but they are cheap and self stable. You can add butter and salt or even seasoned meat and veggies. Grits are rarely a whole meal all to themselves and when they are you add some cheese or salt at the very least. George Washington Carver (a black man many people outside of Georgia should acquaint themselves with at least a little better) turned peanuts into a massive cash crop in Georgia because they are nitrogen fixing! They replace the nitrogen other cash crops (like cotton and tobacco) take out of the soil. In order for your fields to stay viable, you have to plant something like this every once in a while, so most farmers had peanuts themselves or had a neighbor growing peanuts. Boiling them is a quick, easy way to get salt on the nuts themselves. The water soaks through the shells and seasons and softens the nuts. Water is free and peanuts will keep until the fats start to go south, no wonder they picked up popularity among rural folk and travelers alike. Biscuits and gravy are another scrap food. A good sausage gravy is made of leftover sausage and southern biscuits are a savory, buttery carb that is filling and gives you energy you need somewhere like a farm. The negative stereotypes of the south are pervasive and often rooted in racism. Find someone whose grandma has been making these foods her whole life before you form an opinion.
Meatloaf is seasoned more often than not. Like. Sorry you ate meatloaf that wasn’t salted. Anyway, meatloaf is another scrap food! Meat scraps are ground up and then formed into a loaf. Most people put tomato sauce or ketchup on it. Canned tomato products are, you guessed it, shelf stable, and can also be canned at home fairly safely.
The United States at large is not ignorant of the world around it. We are aware that other foods exist. Either we are choosing to eat these or our financial situations are backing us into corners. This is all without even touching upon the prevalence of food deserts in low-income, minority communities in the US. If you’re aware of all this and you really just want to critique the wealth disparity in the US, punch up. Go after the guys with money, not the food that the rest of us find joy in making out of the scraps. Also, making fun of the British is always punching up. Maybe if you had caused fewer wealth disparities that directly impacted the food eaten in other countries, we would be nicer about yours.
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linkware · 5 months
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mintysneezes · 4 months
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I will defend Watergate salad
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Recipe for Family Tradition Watergate Salad Five ingredients are all you need for a fluffy and traditional Watergate salad for any occasion.
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wtvox · 5 months
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Hawaiian-Inspired Watergate Salad Complete your summer party or gathering with this retro Hawaiian-inspired Watergate salad, full of sweet, fruity flavor. 1 can crushed pineapple in juice, 3 cups miniature marshmallows, 1 container frozen whipped topping thawed, 2 teaspoons instant banana pudding mix or to taste, 1 banana sliced or more to taste, 1/4 cup instant vanilla pudding mix
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joeymccormick · 6 months
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Hawaiian-Inspired Watergate Salad Recipe Complete your summer party or gathering with this retro Hawaiian-inspired Watergate salad, full of sweet, fruity flavor.
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ncfan-1 · 1 year
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I really did not expect to find so many people being weird about Watergate salad...
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inechoingsilence · 1 year
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Behold Watergate Salad. The Original Jello Thing.
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It looks like something from the 50s. Do people still eat this? No judgement, just curious.
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Watergate salad and a decaf Americano. I love desserts that pair and contrast well with a cup of coffee.
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humaanam2022 · 1 year
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Watergate Salad #shorts #trending #youtubeshorts
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jo-harrington · 1 month
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Some people forget that Eddie is from the Midwest. I haven’t seen a single “ope” in any of these fucking fanfictions (to my best recollection) and that’s a damn shame.
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st5lker · 1 year
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am i crazy the literal majority of these are just cheap food or southern food or food popular among black communities i hate europeans so much oh my god just kill yourself this isnt a joke
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n1ghtwarden · 4 months
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suffering more than jesus for my fruit salad sins. :(
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mintysneezes · 4 months
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In honor of making Watergate salad for my friends here’s a poll
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all I’m saying is that if John J. Sheridan were really midwestern, he would have brought a potluck-style salad to Delenn's quarters
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