Living In USA

The terms used in ordering or buying food can lead to fulfilled expectations or surprises. Use the wrong words and your coffee may turn into liquid candy or your entrée burned beyond recognition.

Meat
If you order steaks, roast beef, hamburgers, prime rib, and so on, the waiter may say, "How would you like it?" meaning whether you want your meat rare, medium, or well done. If you order it rare, the meat will be red inside; if medium, it will be pink; if well done, it will be completely cooked (and sometimes dry).

"Rare" is likely to be cooked just a little; "well done" to be very well cooked. If you prefer, you can indicate something in the middle by saying "medium rare" or "medium well."

Coffee
If you order coffee or tea, the waiter will sometimes ask, "Would you like cream?" If you would not, answer "Just black, please," meaning no cream or sugar. Sugar is generally already on the table, and often milk or cream is also, and the waiter brings the coffee black. Many people now ask for "decaf," meaning decaffeinated coffee. In New York City, "regular" coffee means liberal amounts of both cream and sugar. Elsewhere, it merely refers to coffee that hasn't been decaffeinated.

Coffee is a popular American drink at all hours of the day. It varies enormously in quality; you will just have to experiment to find places that make it the way you like it. Espresso and other specialties are often available, but you have to ask for them. Coffee-house chain stores, such as Starbuck's, Peet's, and Seattle Coffee Roasters, have sprung up in nearly every American city. These offer heartier, darker coffee than traditional American coffee, and a dizzying array of "specialty" coffee drinks as well as pastries and other food. A variety of kinds of tea is also available in these shops.

Tea
Tea is much less popular than coffee in the United States. It is often quite tasteless; perhaps we make it poorly because we don't drink it as much as other nationalities do. In public places tea is usually a shock to the new - comer. A cup of hot water (no longer boiling if it ever was) is brought in with a tea bag in the saucer. You are supposed to put the bag into the water and leave it there until the tea is as strong as you like it. In private homes you will sometimes find it brewed. Herb teas have also become popular in the United States.

Other Drinks
Next after coffee, Americans are likely to drink Coke or other soft drinks, milk, or fruit juices. Iced tea is usually good and is very popular in summer, as is iced coffee. Both can be served either sweetened or unsweetened, although unfortunately not often at the same place. If you want to drink water, you may have to ask for it, except in the more expensive restaurants. Tap water is safe anywhere, but you can request bottled water if you prefer the taste.

Eggs
The waiter at a restaurant will ask you, "How do you want your eggs?" Your answer can include any one of a wide range of possibilities: boiled, fried, scrambled, or poached; with or without ham or bacon or sausage. You also indicate the number of eggs you want. Most Americans consider one or two eggs normal. Boiled eggs are emptied into a cup — rarely, if ever, eaten out of the shell. Fried eggs may be "sunny-side up," meaning fried on one side only (with the yellow face showing);"over," meaning well fried on both sides; or "over easy," meaning fried lightly on both sides.

The addition of one or two slices of bacon, ham, or sausage may be quite expensive. Take a look at the price on the menu before ordering. Usually a listed breakfast is less expensive than ordering side dishes.

French Fries and Coleslaw
French fries are fried potatoes — usually sliced thinly like Belgian fritte, but sometimes they are sliced into wedges more like British "chips." You often get them with a meal whether you order them or not. The same is true of coleslaw — sliced cabbage and mayonnaise. If these are served with the meal, there is no extra charge for them.

Hot Dogs and Hamburgers
Usually hot dogs (frankfurters) are eaten in a long bread roll. The meat can be either beef or pork. You have your choice of adding tomato ketchup (spiced tomato sauce), mustard, pickle, relish, or onion (chopped and raw). Some people put all of these on at once! There is no charge for such condiments.

Hamburgers are one of the few purely American dishes. They are the staple of the fast-food chains (McDonald's, for example) and vary significantly in quality from restaurant to restaurant. They are supposed to be made of pure beef, with varying percentages of fat, though sometimes soybeans are mixed in with the meat. In both restaurants and fast-food places, unless you specify what you don't want, your burger usually comes with lettuce, tomato, onion, pickle, and a mayonnaise-type sauce.