The Ugly American

Playing in the kitchen is the most fun. My kids got me some great kitchen appliances for Christmas. A blender, a food processor and a red mixer. Most of my concoctions have been yummy. The homemade peanut butter? Well, I'll have to keep trying. I buy natural peanut butter at my local healthy store. They make it there and sell it in little tubs. I looked at the ingredients and found one word: peanuts. I looked at some recipes online and made some peanut butter which turned out to be more like ground peanuts than peanut butter.

I know a young woman from Peru who said she doesn't understand the American fascination with peanut butter. She doesn't like it. I asked her if she had it growing up, and she told me she had not. The first time she tasted it was when she moved to the United States. I shared with her my theory, that whatever our parents put on our high chair tray translates as deliciousness to us, which is why many of us in America love peanut butter and she does not.

Rachel Pannett wrote a piece in The Wall Street Journal about Vegemite and its decline in popularity with Australian toddlers and their young parents. Vegemite has been for generations, the peanut butter of Australia. Folks spread it on their bread. Just imagine beef boullion in a pasty, spreadable form and that's the best way to describe it. I was blessed to visit Australia, and the first morning at breakfast in our hotel, I ordered some hot tea instead of coffee. Tea is the breakfast drink of choice in Australia, no doubt due to that country's British influence. I spread some Vegemite on my toast, and the waitress smiled kindly at me as I tried not to grimace as I chewed and swallowed. I am an adventurous eater, and part of the reason to try native foods when we travel is to show respect and regard for the place we are visiting. She told me that some Americans would not even try it. This is one of the reasons we get the reputation of the "ugly American" when we travel. We resist new foods or new ways of doing things, and I have even seen other Americans poke fun.

Years ago, I was a travel agent. I would try to gently educate my clients before they traveled somewhere unfamiliar. I look at visiting another place as being a guest there. I am sure when I have traveled, I have made a misstep here and there, but I hope I would never behave like a cranky toddler, knocking the Vegemite off her high chair tray in a fit of petulance.

Susan