If you're hungry for it, you better make it yourself

Have you, as an American, read much of anything on American culture? Me neither; not until yesterday anyway. Here’s what I learned and what the rest of the world can learn about Americans at Everyculture.com

“Americans eat large amounts of processed, convenience, and fast foods. The average diet is high in salt, fat, and refined carbohydrates. It is estimated that 60 percent of Americans are obese. The preference for packaged and processed foods is culturally rooted. Americans as a whole enjoy the taste of hamburgers, hot dogs, and junk foods. Processed foods generally are perceived to be cleaner or more safe than unprocessed foods.”

Well. You can bet I was hot. This isn’t necessarily new information, or anything; the stereotype has long been established. Since our arrival in South Africa, several fast food=American comments have come up. In the early days of transplant, I was in a shopping center with a woman who asked me if I was hungry for some KFC, which we could see from the car. Um, not really? I mean, I know they have good biscuits but I can’t even tell you the last time I ate at KFC in the states. Since moving here I’ve had it once and that wasn’t because I picked it. We were carpooling on a long road trip with someone (who also asked if I wanted KFC) and that was the best option. To be fair, I had a grilled chicken wrap (ok, and some fries and Todd and I shared a Sprite) which was really very nice. I might try it again sometime. 

But that’s all beside the point. What this post is really all about is the delicious sausage biscuit pictured below, and a theme that has come up repeatedly in my ZA experience: If you’re hungry for it, you better make it yourself.

Pretoria is a big city, but it’s no Kingsport, TN., and by that I mean you can’t just find everything you want. Even if you can find it, sometimes it’s just more money than you want to pay. Since being here, we’ve made: tortillas, Bisquick, gnocci, biscuits, breakfast sausage, pizza sauce, pizza dough, salsa and chicken broth. Some of these things are non-existent (like Bisquick and breakfast sausage) and some are more than I care to spend, no more work than they are to make (like tortillas and pizza). Others, like gnocci, I just didn’t bother to hunt down. They may be out there somewhere. 

But back to the sausage biscuit. It’s amazing to me that here, in what could almost be called the "meat capital of the world," there’s no concept of breakfast sausage. You can buy a beef “sausage” that resembles a bratwurst and is often served at braais, but no Jimmy Dean specials floating around anywhere. It’s really unfortunate. So you can imagine my delight when I stumbled upon a homemade sausage recipe and was hit over the head with the realization that one can make one’s own sausage! I don’t know why I didn’t think of it before; it’s just a matter of blending meat with spices. Nothing too gourmet about that. 

While I’m thrilled to know it worked I will admit that I’m not quite happy with it yet. It was tasty, to be sure, but still just a tad off. This might be due to the fact that I didn’t have plain marjoram on hand, just marjoram in an Italian spice blend. It could also be due in part to the fact that the only ground pork I found at the first store (little sausages in casings called "porkies") was already lightly seasoned. I found some plain pork at another store, so I’ll try that next time. 

Todd whipped up the biscuits and they were ok, but not as fluffy and wonderful as I had dreamed. I hope to fix that next time as well. I’ve found Paula’s recipe, y’all; my hopes are high ;) 

As we sat down to eat this homemade breakfast-for-dinner, Todd and I had a little exchange that went something like this:

Me: *sigh* “It will be nice to be home and go to Wal-Mart and get all this stuff ready to go.”

Todd: “Well, Americans do love their processed food.”

Point taken. It appears that in this my thinking is just as American as Everyculture.com claims and I’m determined to change, at least a tiny bit. A few items on my list of future homemade conquests are: breadcrumbs, ravioli, and sausage gravy. Take that, processed food!

Um, also...it’s important to note (both for my readers and my mother-in-law, lest she think her son will become a member of the 60% obese American population at my hand) that Todd and I do not indulge in the typical fatty, junkfoodie American fare all the time. Roasted vegetables and seasoned chicken breasts grace our table often :)