American Food and Culture

A big concern for many of our students is whether they will ‘survive’ the culture shock and miss their traditional food.

Rest assured that the US is a very diverse country and you are bound to find restaurants that cater for your local cuisine and/or get together with others from your countries and cook together.

However a big part of studying in the US is all about learning the culture and joining into the American way of life.
American food is more than just McDonalds, although this is probably the most famous!

Different regions have their own cuisine and styles of cooking.

Louisiana is known for Cajun and Creole, these being influenced by French, Acadian, and Haitian cooking, although the dishes themselves are original and unique.

Other dishes you may come across are Crawfish Etouffee, Red Beans and Rice, Seafood or Chicken Gumbo, Jambalaya, and Boudin.

Other influences include Italian, German, Hungarian and Chinese, traditional Native American, Caribbean, Mexican and Greek dishes.

America is ultimately a nation of immigrants and is populated by people from many different foreign countries but all Americans, in one way or another, trace their ancestry back to another culture, Irish, German, Italian or Scottish, for example.

You may already know a few things about the US people through TV. Some stereotypes are true, especially American friendliness and informality - others not so.

Most students learn to get together and cook in their years at university. This is by far the cheapest and most economical way to get through your studies. The universities we work with have a diverse range of nationalities and as such you are bound to find others from your country or region that you can get together with. Larger cities like Oregon, Tampa, Boston and New York have a good selection of Kenyan, Nigeria, Ghanaian and Pakistani food outlets and restaurants.