Top products from r/AskAnAmerican

I mean, honestly it's hard to take your question seriously. You very clearly simply haven't looked at what's available, but still wanna come here to laugh at the stupid americans that don't know bread.

You're just wrong. Crusty bread is everywhere in the US.

Walmart sells rye flour: https://www.walmart.com/search/?query=rye%20flour&cat_id=976759&typeahead=rye%20fl and spelt flour: https://www.walmart.com/search/?query=spelt%20flour&cat_id=976759&typeahead=spelt

They also sell baguettes and some other rustic style loafs, though in general for more artisan style bread you'd be better going off going to someplace other than walmart. Walmart is all about cheap and high volume stuff.

This is one of the most popular bread cookbooks in the US: https://www.amazon.com/Flour-Water-Salt-Yeast-Fundamentals/dp/160774273X

I've been to Ken's bakery many times, and can assure you they have nice very crusty bread: https://kensartisan.com/bakery

Here's another regional chain that's popular up here: https://www.instagram.com/grandcentralbakery/

As you can see, plenty of crusty breads of all styles.

You'll be able to find similar bakeries in any city larger than about 50k people, and pretty often even in smaller towns.

Sliced sandwich bread exists for that exact purpose: it's easy to toast, and is a great for making some styles of sandwiches. Crusty rustic loaves are not somehow universally better, that's just *your* preference.

Class: A guide through the American Status System by Paul Fussell is a good (and humorous) book on the subject. Our American class system is tricky to navigate and is sometimes invisible, but it's definitely there. One of the silliest national lies we keep telling ourselves is that we're a class free society and it's easy to become rich and make money.

My husband got this one. Until this question I did not know the damn thing was a thousand bucks.

I really don't have the need but can see that a guy might like it.

It is in his bathroom but I have used it just for the warm seat. That feature is pretty sweet!

Honestly, I think most foreign students will be all right; college campuses are their own unique environment, and in most major cities (which is where I'm sure you'd probably want to study), foreign students are pretty common so there'd be nothing to really worry about. I could see Arab students having some worries, but even then I think it would be a bit of a stretch in most parts of the country.

----
Favorite cookbooks:

• The Food Lab by J. Kenji Lopez-Alt
  
• How to Cook Everything by Mark Bittman
  
• Flour Water Salt Yeast by Ken Forkish
  
  Those are the three I use pretty regularly. I have a few more but I use them for specific dishes or as reference for flavors (Ratio being a fine example of this).
  
  Favorite dishes (I'm restricting this to ones I can cook myself):
  
  
• Spinach ricotta gnocchi with pesto
  
• Tomato-sauce poached cod with roasted green beans
  
• Pulled pork shoulder
  
• Roasted chicken with rice and toum
  
• Acorn squash soup
  
• Arancini
  
• Shepherd's Pie
  
• Mussels with garlic and white wine

This is a huge question, if I were you, I would do a combination of reading the book "American Nations"

And to get a better political understanding(which does in general inform culture quite a bit), read this report https://hiddentribes.us/

It's well regarded, long, but very very good. I think the report is fascinating.

A lot of people mentioned the show, but there is an excellent book that I read a few years on the topic.

It goes quite a bit more into depth than the TV show does with a chapter for each state. There are some really interesting stories about how various borders got there, especially in the Eastern States, where you had a mix of overlapping colonial charters.

> but it's important to remember that in a very real sense, pre-revolution British history is also American history. We may not emphasize that part of the narrative in many history classes (I think that's a mistake), but the transference of fundamental ideas and attitudes in politics and culture is undeniable.

The best book on this is Albion's Seed by David Hackett Fischer.

> Even the bulk of the popular culture that Britain enjoys now, in music for example, arose in the melting pot of the US, not Britain

I'm not sure what's popular in GB now, but if this is true, it doesn't disprove my point. Over the years, the US has established its own culture, and has become its own country, both literally and figuratively. And that culture has definitely been influenced by many different others--the 'melting pot'--but it still was borne, originally, of GB.

If you're not convinced but you're interested in this topic, check out this awesome book, Albion's Seed.

Here's a book you might be interested in.

While states haven't changed yet, most of them look pretty different from their original background as a colony or territory.

Different regions of America were settled by different groups with different values, and those haven't gone away. I highly recommend the book American Nations, which is an accessible overview of the differing histories of the 11 major cultural regions.

I study colonial history and even as early as the 1600s, New England cares about education and community welfare more than anywhere else, New York City is diverse and driven by finance, the Southern backcountry is violent and fiercely independent, and the Southern tidewater is driven by inequality and reputation/personal honor.

This book is a good one on the subject, it's called American Nations: A History of the Eleven Rival Regional Cultures of North America by Colin Woodard. It's about the distinct regions of the US, and the differences between them in terms of culture, identity, and to some extent, values. Some are more liberal, others more conservative. Some are more dominated by religion, others are more of a melting pot of different views. Some areas are "white utopias" and others are culturally diverse.

It obviously varies by individual, but in terms of media, it is usually an amplified reflection of the setting, if the writers are good and depending on the genre.

For a deeper look at how this came to be, and the more regional nuances than just north and south, I suggest reading American Nations: A History of the Eleven Rival Regional Cultures of North America. It's a fascinating, easy, read.

If I had not lived in the UK for a while I would not know that electric kettles existed. We do have them here and I got one because I do pour over coffee in a Chemex instead of in a standard coffee machine, but they are not remotely as common as in the UK.

Growing up, we did have something called a Hot Shot. It's essentially the same thing except it's less water, like just a cup, and it's meant for dispensing straight into a mug such as for hot cocoa or instant oatmeal or something.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000C3QSPQ/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_OUVTDb26Q1VVA

Too lazy to install it on my toilet.

With that being said, a bidet is super easy to install and is only $24.95 on Amazon.

Life Everywhere (Darling, David) is a primer on exobiology - the study of the possibilities of non-terrestrial life. A bit outdated but informative and very funny.

A Demon-Haunted World (Sagan, Carl) outlines epistemology, the nature of knowledge.

Yes. One of the attachment ones, not a separate unit.

I have one on each of the toilets in my home. They're only $35 people!

https://www.amazon.com/Luxe-Bidet-Neo-120-Non-Electric/dp/B00A0RHSJO/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1526312435&sr=8-2&keywords=luxe+bidet

Seems like you might like this book

There are several good books on this, including The Lawn: A History of an American Obsession

by Virginia Scharf, and American Green: The Obsessive Quest for the Perfect Lawn by Ted Steinberg.

There are several driving factors in the US, but among the major ones are the development of an industry around lawn care (in the late 19th century) and the association of a well-kept lawn with affluence. After all, if you didn't have to sow crops on your land you were clearly better off than those who did.

Me? I live on 3/4 acre and have as little lawn as possible. In fact, we removed about 25% of what was in turf when we moved in a decade ago. The only reason we maintain any at all is to avoid bothering the neighbors, who all tend to their lawns with much more gusto than we do our patch of clover and dandelions. I hate chemical-laden, high-maintenence, monocultural grass. Most of our lot is in native plantings, brush, marsh, or gardens that produce food and habitat.

The Book by Mark Stein is one of the most fascinating books I've ever read.

Yeah, I had this game as a kid so I've know all of them and their locations since I was like 8. It doesn't lie, you learn all the locations of the states and remember them forever. State capitals on the other hand I sometimes have to look up, but I remember most of them.

https://www.amazon.com/American-Nations-History-Regional-Cultures/dp/0143122029

Really interesting book if you want to learn more about this

Ever read through Mapping Decline? It explains St. Louis better than any other book I've read.

> It goes with our affectation of a society without class distinctions. Whether we really lack class distinctions is another matter.

Affectation is the right word. I highly recommend Paul Fussell's book Class to any that think the US doesn't have defined and inferred status systems. It gives a funny and irreverent look to the topic of the social classes in the US.

Here's the one I bought about about a year ago Amazon link

It's easy to install and does it's job.

I can because my classroom used this wonderful board game.

https://www.amazon.com/Magnetic-State-to-Game/dp/B00005C11J

You let your kid play with that for a month and Bam! Lifelong knowledge of where every state is located.

If you like (completely unsweetened) iced green tea, try Ito En.

American on Purpose: The Improbable Adventures of an Unlikely Patriot

https://www.amazon.com/Sunbeam-Water-Dispenser-Black-006131/dp/B000C3QSPQ/

Sort of like a personal electronic kettle, which heats a large mug-full of water in a minute or so.

They last about 3-5 years worth of daily use and Sunbeam can't seem to figure out that it needs an extra inch or so of clearance for today's larger mugs.

> Never Allow a Crisis To Go To Waste

Hey, I'd like to read the book. Is this it? http://www.amazon.com/Never-Allow-Crisis-Waste-Evolution/dp/0615537871

https://www.amazon.com/Lawn-History-American-Obsession/dp/1560984066/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1500922518&sr=8-2&keywords=lawn+history If you want to buy a book on it... the short of it was originally based on English Estates.

Amzn -> B0077E77KS.

https://www.amazon.com/TOTO-SW584-01-Electronic-Sanitization/dp/B009IJ2NBI/ref=sr_1_4_acs_kn_product_lines_B009IJ2NBI_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1526315163&sr=8-4-acs&keywords=toto+washlet

?

http://imgur.com/xM08SJe

EDIT: https://www.amazon.com/NASCAR-Dale-Earnhardt-WCR63171012-Sided/dp/B0077E77KS

So it is. :O Although obviously not everyone in the South is into NASCAR, so you've gotta know you're making a spurious suggestion.

The one I have is from LUXE Bidet, looks to be $34 usd now.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B00A0RHSJO?psc=1&ref=ppx_pop_mob_b_pd_title

Why won't linking work?

Here is the mobile version of your link

How States Got Their Shapes

North STL and East STL (yes, I know it's not technically the same city) are very similar to sections of Detroit. Both cities, Detroit and STL, had similar problems with white flight and both are at the top of the list for overall population loss (by percentage from peak). I think STL had a good head start on Detroit, though. Detroit has just recently started to spruce up downtown, whereas STL was working on that twenty years ago.

By no means. A guy literally wrote a book about it

https://www.amazon.com/Blacklisted-History-Senator-McCarthy-Americas/dp/1400081068

It's hard to get people to pick up a book. Most of these geniuses don't even know HUAC and the Red Scare predate McCarthy.

You mean the senator who was absolutely correct about communist infiltration of our government and media?

https://www.amazon.com/Blacklisted-History-Senator-McCarthy-Americas/dp/1400081068

Edit: apparently you hate history and reality, too.

>Does it use cold water?

This one does. This other one uses both hot and cold.

>If so, is that unpleasant when it's cold out?

Not if your bathroom is warm.

>How do you dry your butt afterwards?

TP, I guess. I don't know for sure.

>Is it sufficient pressure for really nasty poops?

Probably, but I don't know for sure.