Yes Michelle Obama has organic food in the White House and doing her part to reform school lunches which is cool. There are so many preservatives, chemicals, animal growth hormones, and antibiotics in meats and foods that are indirectly causing disease and poor health in people. I try to eat organic as much as I can, though expensive sometimes, it is very much worth it. And farmers markets and farming community co-operatives here are a really good source of organic produce and not as expensive. Health is truly wealth!

I remember eating a lot of unhealthy stuff in school lunches when I was a kid many eons ago.

StateofGreen, I don't know what you're talking about when you say UK food is rather unhealthy? What about the majority of American food. I've never been there myself but I know plenty who have and they all complain about how there's sugar or at least saturated fat in almost every kind of food! So different from Australia. I guess it comes down to cultural differences.

Apologies W4J!
I guess it was my vacation imagination and the unhealthy food stood out because I was on vacation, as of course when one is on vacation one tends to eat unhealthily for enjoyment's sake. I probably don't have a realistic view anyway of the UK as most of it has come from books, movies, and one sole vacation trip.

Didn't mean to offend any countries out in Narnia Web land If I did I apologize!

Yeah you're right, too much junk food here in America does make its way across to other countries and ruining their standard of health....McDonald's, KFC, Pizza Hut. When I went to visit my cousin in Thailand I was completely surprised that she would want to eat an A&W cheeseburger and KFC over lovely delicious more healthy Thai food, which I found to be a refreshing change (tired of U.S. fast food).

I probably should have grown up in the Scrubb household. Aunt Alberta would never let Eustace have sight of a bacon cheeseburger.

No worries, I'm not offended. It's just good to research things a little more. No harm done. I love Thai food, as long as it doesn't include coriander/cilantro (that stuff is nasty).
Haha! I don't think Aunt Alberta would've even let Eustace eat a veggie-patty! (no, that's an exaggeration, I just wanted to say that). But think of the dull meals Lucy and Edmund must have had whilst there? Poor them!

Ooh, someone mentioned Iron Bru. We have that at a store near my house!!!

Cafeteria food at my school is awesome. We have homemade pasta, pizza, soup, sausage rolls, garlic bread and cake all made by our lovely pantry ladies. We do have candy and soda admittedly, but hey, it all tastes good.

I had my first day back at school today, actually. Gosh, I missed the food. Too bad I had to take my own lunch. It was all good though, my friend shared some of hers with me.

Ooh, someone mentioned Iron Bru. We have that at a store near my house!!!

My dad had that once! I don't remember where he was: it was during a trip to the UK.

In Peru, the favorite drink (at least in Lima) was Inca Cola, an absolutely disgusting yellow colored pop. My sister brought bottles of it home for my family and according to my dad, it tasted very like Iron Bru.

Just a random tidbit of information.

My friend used to buy us them all the time from the store. It was really good. But on the cans it said they were from Sri Lanka or something. Wonder why it said that instead of the UK??

... he was explaining Yorkshire pudding to me (which basically sounds like a biscuit or dumpling of some type which sits under roasts in the oven and collects the gravy and drippings...YUM), as well as "bangers", which sound basically like bratwursts or sausages.

All of it. Good stuff.

Once one moves further South than Columbus, a very light southern accent (softer than a West Virginian accent and much different from a Northern Kentucky accent) develops ...

Having lived in that area, I can attest to this. I heard that accent and avoided letting myself slide.

The human body has an amazing capacity to fall asleep in pretty much any situation.

Even sitting up, wearing a helmet, and sitting in a helicopter in flight.

... I'm curious in just about everthing, but one thing is do you have any national or traditional foods ... a thing known as 'reenacment' popular in other countries ... I was wondering about other countries

Society for Creative Anachronism. A number of my coworkers are involved in this. There are some national loved foods like the hotdogs, or pizza. Regional foods include Cajun, and TexMex, to mention only two of many. Most take on the traditions of heritage and add a twist. I don't always like to use Wikipedia as a reference, but the links give a good idea. I am partial to the mix found here in Arizona. One of my favorite southwestern places to eat: La Salsitas in Phoenix, AZ. It is da bomb. It is a very small place, and has absolutely the best beef tongue (lengua) tacos!

What are the stereotypes (if any) surrounding us in your country?

The most popular one is probably the loud American tourist

I tried hard not to be loud. It was not a problem, or at least no one said anything.

Despite what Bart Simpson might tell everyone, the water does not flush down the drain anti-clockwise in Australia. It flows down the drain the same direction as everywhere else.

... I was taught to use as a child was 'serviette'. I wonder if that term has vanished altogether.

D'oh. *is totally devastated by the truth* Water restrictions are becoming more commonplace in the US southwest. It is only going to get tighter. 'Serviette' is still found on labels regularly in this part of the US.

I live in Adelaide. We have dry heat, it's rarely humid but often very hot during Summer.

Northwest Arizona is where I live and work. Dry and hot in summer. Peak temperatures will run 50C (125F). Ditto, W4J. Sunscreen is a must for me too.

I love clotted cream on digestive biscuits. Irn Bru rocks. Elizabeth Shaw chocolate is great.

Noticed the mechanical clothes dryer absence from homes in the UK. I grew up with clothes dried outdoors when the weather permitted. Miss Rachel threatened to divorce me if I set up a clothesline outside - clothing tends to be softer and more pliable after being dried in a machine.

My English doppleganger: Brad Friedel. The resemblance has been stated as "spooky." He is in fact born and raised in the US, not at all far from where I was born and lived a number of years.

Blood pudding. Blech. When I visited England I wondered why so many high cholesterol foods were favourites there. Every country has theirs of course, but there were an awful lot of rich tasting foods I saw and ate while on vacation in England.

I had REAL great tasting fish and chips with REAL tartar sauce (something very hard to find in America, at least where I live). I tried a cream tea once when we stopped over in Bristol, but it didn't seem to be of the authentic Devon/Cornwall kind.

And is the Sunday roast and pudding still a traditional meal there? I guess I remember all the times I read the James Herriot books and someone was having a roast, bacon, chips, or a slice of cheese. And with that, I'm making myself awfully hungry now....

A lot of our traditional food is quite stodgy (probably because people used to need it when food was scarce and they to fill themselves up), but the thing is you aren't meant to eat it all the time

How nice that you visted Bristol (I live there now)! But yes, I'm not surprised you didn't find great cream tea there. It's too bad you didn't try any in Bath (which is 10 minutes away by train), they have loads of traditional tea shops there with the proper ingredients.

Sunday roast's are still very popular, we used to have it every week back home, and now I live with friends we still like to make sure we have it at least once a month. It's also popular to go to a local pub for Sunday roast.

When I've visited the US I've found that while it's true that there's a lot of fast food and generally unhealthy stuff, it wasn't too hard to eat healthily if you actually made the effort. One thing I did notice was in some places I found it quite hard to eat out as a vegetarian.

Not that we don't have fast food over here, in fact I recall when I first visited Ireland as a child I knew it was going to be very different the moment I realised there wasn't a McDonalds in sight

Hehe, don't worry Cep. Like I said, it's a stereotype, not the truth. I've met plenty of American tourists who were of normal volume

It's funny that we hardly ever use dryers and stick to drying outdoors, since the weather makes this a precarious process

How nice that you visted Bristol (I live there now)! But yes, I'm not surprised you didn't find great cream tea there. It's too bad you didn't try any in Bath (which is 10 minutes away by train), they have loads of traditional tea shops there with the proper ingredients.

I loved Bristol. I was on a tour bus so we didn't get to spend very long in each place, but next time I go I'll try to stay longer in Bath. When we stopped by there on tour it was only for 2-1/2 hours so I only got to walk through the Pump Room and watch everyone else having tea (didn't have time for tea then).
Had my first Cornish pasty on that trip too, it was yummy.
I'm such a foodie.

I tried hard not to be loud. It was not a problem, or at least no one said anything.

Me either. Anytime we were preparing to go TDY we were all sat down and had explained to us that we were "ambassadors" of our country and that even small missteps could damage a good relationship if we weren't careful. And if you go overseas with that mindset you'll find that the natives won't mind you and may even come to like you personally after a while. I always made it a personal point to speak to folks overseas (if we spoke the same language at least ) and openly praise aspects of their country to them. I still love my memories of Kenya. The Kenyans were the nicest people I've ever come across and I sincerely admire them and the society I saw and always took time to let them know that. Beautiful country and a beautiful people.

When I've visited the US I've found that while it's true that there's a lot of fast food and generally unhealthy stuff, it wasn't too hard to eat healthily if you actually made the effort. One thing I did notice was in some places I found it quite hard to eat out as a vegetarian.

Sadly true on all counts . So much of the modern mindset here is based on the concept of convenience now, and I'm quite as guilty as the rest. To make a healthy meal (say pork chops or chicken and some steamed or boiled vegetable) requires a trip to the grocery store, a lot of time for preparation depending on how fancy I want to get with it, cooking time, and then finally serving. It can take over two hours for all this. Or I can simply run down to McDonald's or Taco Bell and eat inside of 10-15 minutes and be done with it. It's cheap and it tastes good, but it's rather unhealthy to eat everyday as you say. When I was young eating fast food was considered something of a "treat". Now it's become a staple for many, and that's just not good.

I had a short overnight stay at Ascension Island, which is a UK owned piece of real estate off of the west coast of Africa. The chow hall there had two halves set up. One was the American side which had the usual US foodstuffs like burgers and pizza. I was there with my friends and was looking for hot sauce as I recall and my buddies told me to go over to the British side and see if they had any. So I wander over and am greeted with the unmistakable and wonderful smell of malt vinegar and I see a bunch of Brits sitting at tables pounding away the most impressive amount of fish and chips I have ever laid eyes on (a couple of them looked at me like I had two heads and you could almost see the "What's this Yank doing over here?" thought balloons over their heads) . Had I walked over there first I would have grabbed a plate of that. I love to practically soak mine in malt vinegar, it really makes the fish have an extra kick.

StateofGreen, wow, you guys don't have Cornish pasties in the US? They're the best! So much better than normal pasties. I actually made some earlier this week - so good!

They do have them here, just that they don't taste as authentic as when you're eating them in the country of origin.

I've always wondered if 42 Wallaby Way Sydney was a real place (from Finding Nemo, P.Sherman 42 Wallaby Way, Sydney)

No, it isn't a real place in Sydney. There are streets called 'Wallaby Way' in other parts of Australia though. Two in Queensland, two in Victoria and one in New South Wales.

Pixar lied! Hmmm, I wonder how many tourists go searching for that address

Pixar'd have a job finding any address in Sydney without a street directory, and without knowing what the actual suburb is called. Apart from the entire metropolis, from the Blue Mountains to Watson's Bay in the East, it is only the CBD that is called Sydney, and it is not common to actually live there. We do have an actual North Sydney, on the other side of the Harbour Bridge. East and South Sydney are football clubs and general areas. The rest of the place, Greater Western Sydney, stretches over 50 km from the Central Business District to the Nepean River in the West, and is generally called something else, depending where you are. Much like New York City has Queens, the Bronx, Manhattan and Haarlem.

I've been to London and Paris. These are major world cities, and yet, in area, they don't seem anywhere as big as I'd imagined they would be. Though I still wouldn't drive in either of them, even if you paid me. Why drive in London when they have buses everywhere, anyway, and you can buy day tickets for all your travel needs? Parking in Paris is bumper to bumper, and heaven help the erring pedestrian who wanders onto the road.

My children used to have a book by Paula Danziger called Remember me to Harold Square, about 3 children, systematically exploring the wonders of New York, another major world city, like London and Paris. They were to try every means of transport, all the different sorts of foods available there, visit museums, places of interest and even a TV studio. I promised myself that if I ever go to New York City I'd take the book with me for reference. But it occurs to me that the author could have been writing a similar story about any large city in the world, not only New York City.

What is New York really like? And what would you say are the things a tourist should look out for around your way?