Max had this lovely old photo in his kitchen and one day, we struck up a conversation about it. It ended up inspiring this shoot. American food is slowly pushing itself to the forefront of our gastronomic consciousness. America is starting to seek its credit in the world of food. For a culture that revolves around big…big size, big taste and big satisfaction, it never quite worked for the modern mindset…until recently. Now, American food is shaking off its processed, mass-produced, fast food reputation and is showing us that it actually has a huge amount to offer the rest of the world in terms of style, originality and produce. And it is all still intrinsically American, lots of fried, huge portions and fusion flavour influences from all over the world. If you’re honest with yourself, could American food be the first port of call for a Friday/Saturday night in or a gutsy weekend brunch with a hangover.
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Max hatte dieses hübsche alte Foto in seiner Küche hängen und eines Tages wurde es zum Aufhänger für ein kleines Gespräch zwischen mir und ihm. Am Ende inspirierte es uns sogar zu diesem Shooting. Langsam aber sicher rückt die amerikanische Küche in den Vordergrund. Amerika sucht sozusagen nach Anerkennung in der weiten Welt des Essens. Bis vor kurzem war es schwierig für amerikanisches Essen, modern und leicht zu erscheinen, dreht sich in der amerikanischen Kultur doch alles um „big“, größer, leckerer und besser… Inzwischen löst sich das Essen mehr und mehr von seinem fast-food-massenproduktion-Image und zeigt, dass es eigentlich ein großes Repertoire in Sachen Style und Originalität bietet. Und trotzdem bleibt es dabei amerikanisch: viel Frittiertes, große Portionen und ein Mix von Geschmäckern aus der ganzen Welt. Mal ehrlich, american food ist doch der ideale Freitags-/Samstagseinstieg oder auch ein super Kater-Essen.
After visiting an all American breakfast joint here in Berlin and having my first experience of American style pancakes…(which was the most delicious breakfast I have had in ages, 3 huge pancakes the size of sirloin steaks arrived with fresh strawberries and mint actually incorporated into the batter!). I looked around at my colleagues earnestly devouring their various meals. I realized, what American food might lack in finesse, it makes up for in almost every other way. It has no airs and graces, just the desire to fulfill and satisfy.
I am currently thinking a lot about the next food trend and I am looking towards the USA. I have an idea to do something bigger than this, an American theme, with American styling…maybe a book. But for the time being, I am giving you these pancakes while I am still thinking about it…enjoy. x
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Letztens habe ich hier in Berlin ein amerikanisches Frühstück genossen, american style pancakes (das leckerste Frühstück seit langem mal wieder, drei riesige pancakes mit frischen Erdbeeren und Minze, die im Teig verarbeitet war!). Beim Betrachten der Frühstücke der anderen Esser am Tisch musste ich feststellen, dass es amerikanischem Essen vielleicht an Finesse mangelt, dass es aber in allem anderen weit voraus ist. Keine Grazie aber die komplette Erfüllung deiner Wünsche.
Zur Zeit mache ich mir viele Gedanken über den kommenden food-Trend und ich denke, die USA sind im Kommen. In meinem Kopf schwirrt eine ‚größere‘ Idee, eine amerikanische Produktion mit amerikanischem Styling, vielleicht ein Buch… Aber jetzt bieten wir Euch erstmal diese pancakes an, die Ideen schwirren weiter… Viel Spaß!
Nicky&Max 
As an American, it’s fun to hear your viewpoint, especially since most comments from international food experts tend to be on the negative side. I happen to really appreciate our food, and some of my reasons are the same as yours. My brother his wife are chefs as well in South Carolina, and it’s beautiful what he’s able to do with American, and (regionally) Southern cuisine. And those orange pancakes look fantastic.
…glad you liked it. I am talking almost completely from the viewpoint of reputation and representation of American food in our media…which I have no doubt is not particuarly broad. But what I am most interested in is how it is changing, and how what was once negative is slowly becoming positive. Its similar for the UK and Germany too, where we do have excellent produce and good classic cooking, but our reputations sit very much in the shadow of other european cuisines. But the great thing about being the underdog is the ability to move forward, develop and reeducate. I am a part of the Jamie Oliver generation that taught the UK how to cook. This is now changing and not only will I be educating my children in the Kitchen, I will be in instilling in them that cooking and eating is something to be cherished and enjoyed and for some people is that brief chance to be creative at the end of each day (and absolutely not a chore!!). Some of the most interesting styling is coming out of America at the moment and its not just the food, its the whole ethos surrounding it. The world financial crisis is changing everyones mindset…here to. Money is no longer the goal, less material living is. Homegrown, homecooked, enjoyed with friends, family, keep it cheap, support local producers, get a more wholesome hobby, learn a craft, make it yourself, old and secondhand, heritage and vintage, back to basics, experimentation and re learning and got to be cheap. And America is subscribing, even leading perhaps this change in mindset. I promise in the futrue when I watch “Man V’s Food” I will take it with a pinch of salt! thanks for comments….Nicky x
honestly right now: I wish I could just eat my macbook! this looks..uhm how do I say this? Amazing wouldn’t be right, I guess it looks too tasty to be true.
I always enjoy reading your stories and of course looking at these amazing pictures!
Since I discovered your blog, I check it nearly daily and look at all those beautiful pictures again because even though I know them by heart they always, always give me new inspiration. And I guess you somehow pushed me to cook more often, which I am very thankful for.
Best wishes, Joy
Wonderful pictures! ♥♥♥♥
I really love your wonderful blog! ♥♥
Love,
Emm▲ ♥
very nice !!
They look like delicious