In supermarkets, among other places here in Italy, I have noticed an amusing marketing trend used on some food products, in labeling them as "American style." This is amusing to me, mainly, because I wouldn't imagine this label to be big selling point here in Italy...I have noticed most Italians have, and are quick to voice, the opinion that American food is over-processed, oversized, and unhealthy to the extreme. My favorite example of this comes from a lesson during our teacher training course in which a male Italian student was asked to name some different food vocabulary words for cuisine of different countries...Italian, Chinese, Spanish, etc. When asked to name American foods, he gave his best eye-roll-of-disgust and produced two foods, "T-Bone steak. It-ah make-ah you ah-fat. McDonalds. It-ah make-ah you-ah even fatter." (That said, there are tons of McDonalds here, and they are always overrun with Italians). It is also amusing to note that the items which recieve the American-style marketing makeover are often completely random, and more times than not, laughably un-American. Basically, the process works like this: a company chooses a product, then slaps the label "American" in big letters across the front... decorates the packaging with some red,white, and blue stars and stripes, and hopes for a big seller. Here are two I've seen recently:
The "Big Americans" pizza: a combination of salami, prosciutto, peppers, mushrooms, and corn, lovingly displayed before an American flag. Also, a combination you're highly unlikely to ever find in the States. Corn on a pizza? I don't think so.
American sandwich bread. Also known as white bread, no different from any other loaf of white bread sitting in the bread isle, aside form the patriotic packaging of course. At least there is no corn inside the sandwich on this one.
