4th of
July went by and we saw a flock of flags appearing everywhere from TV adds to
outdoor 4th of July events, such as ‘the Works’-a 4th of
July fest in Raleigh which decorated their flyer-schedule-fan with a large US
Flag and a replica of uncle Sam). Besides 4th of July, at public
administration and immigration venues, I do not encounter the US flag as often
as one would think, given the fact that I live in the country with the flag of
stars and stripes. Surprisingly enough, I came across the American flag a lot
more often in German grocery stores when looking up ‘American foods’ in Germany.
On my recent trip to
Germany, I went to the grocery store and noticed that the packaging of
something called ‘American style cookies’ with the US flag garnishing the
entire box. I wondered and sought out other ‘American’ products. I found the
same flag embellishing the hotdog, burger and peanut butter packaging. My
husband was less irritated by the flag than the title which had a comical meaning
to him. He could not place the significance to put ‘American’ in front of the
title of the cookies. His reaction then reminded me of a neighbor who had asked
me about a restaurant in Raleigh and gave me a puzzled look when I said that
the restaurant had just ‘American’ food. I suppose all food at home seems
‘regular’ until one leaves the country and encounters difficulties finding
foods one is used to. I remember an American friend who was living in Germany and
was glad to return home to America in order to drink a ‘regular’ milkshake
again and not be bothered with the McDonalds one, which is actually very
American with very American fast-food products!
Back to the grocery
store: the point of placing the American flag on food packaging is to simplify our
search for certain items, to categorize them in our brain and shorten the
decision making process while at the grocery store with a limited amount of
time to shop and infinite products to choose from. Nevertheless, living in
America has showed me the vast variety of American foods but in Germany,
however, or German food labeling and marketing firms, food considered American
is clearly restricted to cookies, burgers and hot dog buns.
Here are some pictures of
American products from a German grocery store:
Have you every encountered a similar experience when abroad or home? How was your experience with food in a foreign countries?
