The thing is America is so large and full of different cultures that it's impossible to define "American food". I said that I'm from NYC in order to point out that I'm American. I've never had boxed Mac and cheese growing up and neither did the majority of my friends as we are mostly from immigrant households where everything is cooked fresh or even straight from the garden. Even my friends who have been here for generations do not eat boxed or processed food each and every day when cooking.

I do understand that this does come from a place of privilege as the social groups I now hang out in are mostly white collar with high incomes so we have the time and money to either order takeout for every meal or go down to the supermarket and buy whatever ingredients we want to work with. There are definitely people and places in the US that do not have the luxuries that my friends and I have as they live in food deserts where there is no place to buy fresh produce and the people have not been educated on cooking or do not have the time to cook while juggling multiple jobs. I don't think it's right to judge these people for only eating canned fruits and vegetables or fast food.

Those food videos on social media are meant to be over there top, ridiculous, calorie laden, and generally unhealthy in order to drum up views and reactions. That's probably the worst possible way to learn about another country's food culture. There's so much more than what you see online such as Southern Barbecue, Cajun, Tex-Mex, Soul etc. The country is literally a melting pot of the food and cultures of the people who immigrated there and I believe that what people cook at home tends to reflect what culture they are from and not the crazy 3 box Betty crocker cake with funfetti and 2 different colored frosting that you would see on Instagram or TikTok.