The 4 foods that define America 

I think JJ's primary skill as a researcher is finding entire books on the history of extremely specific topics. I think he could assemble a really fun library that's just histories of every food.

One of my favorite examples of anglicization of Spanish words is the transformation from “Vaquero” to “buckaroo”.

JJ McCullough ✅ American culture ✅ Food culture ✅ 28 minutes long ✅ Peak evening viewing, great video as always!

The steak part of the video really hit close to home for me. My grandparents and great-grandparents immigrated from Sicily and all of our traditional family recipes are meatless. But within 2 generations, beef (and lots of it) have been added. My grandmother used to get upset that her grandchildren were changing things and explained that they didn't have beef because they were poor. One of my cousins expressed suprised and she shot back "Do you think we would have left that f*cking island if we had as much beef as you?!" I'll never forget that. It put my American meat/beef consumption into context.

This is yet another reason why JJ needs his own show on PBS. Great work I thoroughly enjoy your content.

Milk was a staple growing up as a poor Appalachian boy. Steaks were an occasional luxury, but Dad worked to provide and we got to have them on a fairly regular basis. Sandwiches are the ideal food to pack when working underground in the mines; their portability and the need to not have silverware to eat them.

Cool fact about longhorns! As the Spanish had their cow farms, naturally over time a handful of them escaped and went out into the wild. Over time, natural selection in the wild enabled those cows with the best defense against predators (aka longer horns) to survive, and that's where those massive horns came from!

I could definitely see the extra time put into this video! This is some of your best work JJ, and I wouldn't mind less uploads if it meant getting more videos of such quality. Either way, I love your stuff.

I am absolutely loving the low-poly PS1 floating food items. I would love to see more of that in your videos and generally in my life

Would love to see a series where you did this for various other countries

The four food groups are caffeine, sugar, alcohol and fat. Therefore, Irish Coffee is the perfect food.

You can really notice, that you took more time for this video. The "two weeks" truly paid off! 👏 Especially the switch to your kitchen and the real life showcase of the products, nicely broke up the video and made it into a really pleasent watch. Good job :)

Honestly, this has got to be one of the most entertaining and educational (edu-taining?) videos you’ve made, and it’s likely because of the extra few days you had to spend on it to make it so high-quality. This short-vid/long-vid cycle seems like a great idea! Keep up the good work

I was secretly hoping JJ would bake an apple pie from all of those apples he bought. Then the bleak kitchen reminded me that it will never happen

I liked the 3D animation thing of the steak

Your videos are always some of the best on RU-vid in terms of cultural education. Your usage of other peoples categorizations and groupings rather than your own has always stood out to me because it avoids the sort of bias which is all-to-frequent in cultural commentary videos of this kind where self-selection of what is even being discussed often causes such an issue. However, with how unbiased you are I would be shocked if even your own self-selected categories were skewed! Another amazing video

Love your videos J.J., especially the American Cultural Canon series! One topic I think would be really interesting would be the big seven American holidays (New Years, Valentines, Easter, Independence, Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas) or something related. Regardless, keep up the award-winning videos!

Here’s a novel “take” on the history of the American sandwich. It is an extract from an article titled Hot Dogs by H.L. Mencken, originally a Newspaper column of November 4, 1929. It is reprinted in a couple of Mencken anthologies, one being “The Impossible H.L. Mencken.” “When I was a boy [around 1890] there were only three types of sandwiches in common use-the ham, the chicken, and the Swiss cheese. Others, to be sure, existed, but it was only as oddities. Even the club sandwich was a rarity, and in most eating houses it was unobtainable. The great majority of people stuck to the ham and the Swiss cheese, with the chicken for feast days and the anniversaries of historic battles. “Then came the invasion of the delicatessen business by Jews, and a complete reform of the sandwich. The Jewish mind was too restless and enterprising to be content with the old repertoire. It reached out for the novel, the dramatic, the unprecedented, as it does in all the arts. First it combined the ham sandwich and the cheese sandwich-and converted America to the combination instanter. Then it added lettuce, and after that mayonnaise-both borrowed from the club sandwich. Then it boldly struck out into the highest fields of fancy, and presently the lowly sandwich had been completely transformed and exalted. It became, as the announcements said, “a meal in itself.” It took on complicated and astonishing forms. It drew on the whole market for materials. And it leaped in price from a nickel to a dime , to a quarter, to fifty cents, even to a dollar. “The rise in price, far from hurting the business, helped it vastly. The delicatessen business, once monopolized by gloomy Germans, who barely made a living at it, became, in the hands of the Jewish reformers, one of the great American industries, and began to throw off millionaires. Today it is on a sound and high-toned basis, with a national association, a high-pressure executive secretary, a trade journal, and a staff of lobbyists in Washington. [He’s being facetious.] There are sandwich shops in New York which offer the nobility and gentry a choice of no less than a hundred different sandwiches, all of them alluring and some downright masterpieces. And even on the lowly level of the drug-store sandwich counter the sandwich has taken on a new variety and a new dignity. No one eats plain ham anymore. At its worst it at least has a dab of coleslaw to set it off. At its best it is hidden between turkey, Camembert and sprigs of endive, with anchovies and Russian dressing to dress it.”

First of all, Jazz apples fo' life. I'm a 70s kid, and I still remember having a milkman come. We had a galvanized steel box with a thermal lining outside the porch door, and he'd brave the spiders that liked to move into it to leave us our goods. It was a happy day when he'd accidentally (or "accidentally") include a bottle of chocolate milk.

Absolutely fantastic episode. Loved it.

I get so frustrated that these videos don't have a million views like they deserve. JJs videos are so well researched and produced, I look forward to every new one like I used to wait with baited breath for the next commercial TV episode :) Thank you JJ for taking the time to share these wonderful videos and essays with us. You are very much appreciated!

I still think Ace of Bass is good, and am not going to apologize even a little for that. Love your deep dives into U.S. and Canadian culture, man. Always a treat to watch! I wish kefir had become a thing much earlier in the US than it did. Would have been a much more wholesome way to get dairy goodness back then. Also enjoyed the "paste-ries" joke -- but some say grains were even more important as a beer source back in the day. After all, the ancient Egyptians used a weak but very nutritious form of beer as part of their staple diet (and payment for the _skilled artisans_ and the unskilled ones who built the Pyramids). Also the Ploughman's Sandwich is one of the greatest lowbrow culinary inventions ever conceived. AND FINALLY, the low-poly Amiga aesthetic of those cutscene animations sang to my oldskool computing heart so much. THANK YOU!

The difference between the apples I grew up with and the apples I eat today is why I love modernity so much

You are the only RU-vidr that I could watch talk about 4 basic foods for half an hour and still be entertained

I feel like you can combine them all to make the ultimate American-sounding meal: Apple crisp buttermilk steak sandwich (with fries)

JJ really went "balls to the wall" with the research for this clip. I love that the original aristocrat sandwiches resemble our modern low-end options. Well done!

You are an archaeologist of American memorabilia!

Love how JJ always makes his props a part of the story of the episode. Really is interesting to study things like canonical foods through actual, physical sets found in things like decorations, etc.

You comparing Cosmic Crisps to the Hope Diamond is really fitting. I remember what a craze those things were when they came out. How weird of a memory is that? Remembering when a new apple "came out."

Let me just say that I find it incredibly charming whenever you show some sort of factory footage and play that "clank clank clang" song

I had a chuckle when you said all the newfangled apples were all bred in the last decade. Only 2 of the 5 were, for the others it's been nearly 3 decades! This is a thing I noticed a lot lately, where somehow in our minds it's still just the turn of the century but it's already been 23 years...

Great video. Just forgot to mention that the term "brand" also comes from the great cattle companies as a brand was the burned-in logo on the cattle hide that let you know what ranch that cow came from.

JJ -- Of course this was well researched and thought out as always. But man, your production values on this video -- particularly the animation, was off the chain. I cannot imagine the hours of work you put into this. It paid off for me. Well done!

Hey JJ! I’m the one who called you the other day about finding your property down by the ocean! Hope you found your notebook unharmed! Keep up the great content!

JJ, you don’t need me to tell you this, but you are so incredibly talented at creating this type of content. The work you put into it is so clear when viewing. I particularly love these “sets” of cultural items that you review. Probably my favorite type of content you make. So unique and you always teach me something. Thanks!

JJ was very dedicated for this video! It’s a half hour long and he welcomed us into his kitchen. Also he bought a bunch of food not to eat of course but to use as a cultural reference! Which seems very JJ

This video was incredible - the fact you read multiple books just to provide additional sources and stories just proves just how good your videos are. Also shocking to see JJ outside his desk environment lol.

I remember in Kindergarten we had apple day where we'd bring in our favorite apples, I brought in Honey Crisps and I didn't realize how new they were in the 90s because a number of parents never saw them before

I will always admire JJs ability to turn a simple topic like food into an in depth analysis of American history.

I’m glad you’re spending more time on each video, you can really notice the difference. This video was really well made and I can’t wait for more like it

Kind of random, but I love the way your kitchen looks. Very modern without looking cold. You could do a video on the history of kitchen design one day.

JJ got that Sopranos fit

As someone who is really into cider and cider brewing. It is quite sad to hear about the fate of the American cider culture. We could have had our own rich cider culture to equal Somerset or Normandy, but no, we’re just now seeing a comeback. I hope to do my part.

These types of videos are my favorite of yours! Concepts like these are household names and embedded in the minds of so many people, yet hardly anyone has given much thought as to why that is the case! Then you come along and give fun, interesting deep dives into their history and I am so grateful for it! Keep it up, JJ!

The content in this video was definitely a step above! The info and discussion of culture was great and the production quality was really nice. The animations were especially interesting, which I'm assuming was thanks to your collaborators, Isaac and madebyabra. Worth the wait for sure.

My kindergarten in Kansas featured a unit on apples. We learned about wholesome Mr. Johnny Appleseed, drew pictures of him dropping seeds throughout the countryside, and we held a tasting of red delicious, yellow delicious, and granny smith apples. This video is the first time I've learned of the more adult side of John Chapman 😂

Two thoughts. 1. What about the tomato? Surely it’s a key fruit in North American culture, even if McDonalds didn’t make a tomato toy. 2. These four foods are not just staples in North America, but in Western Europe too. For example, growing up in Ireland, I never understood the saying “as American as apple pie” because apple pie, apple cake, apple sauce and tasty edible apples were everyday foods there. My uncle was a milkman and every morning left 3 pints of milk at our door. And a half pint of cream on Saturday, to serve whipped cream with Mom’s apple pie (made with Bramley apples) that we had for dessert on Sunday.

I love the videos about the American cultural canon, I think it's one of the most fascinating topics I've seen covered. The sandwiches in particular made me think of a potential idea for some sort of American canon for bread types. I've found that most places offer a handful of standardized breads (White, whole wheat, rye, Italian, etc.) and then if more than 5-6 breads are offered they typically vary heavily. No idea if there's enough content for a video about that but I thought it was interesting

I absolutely adore all ur graphics and drawings u do, even the labels for the sandwich items, great work as always !

Watching this while eating an apple “salad”-pink lady, ambrosia, gala, honey crisp-all mixed up. So delicious! How did I even tolerate Red Delicious apples-a misnomer if there ever was one-as a kid? When I got those Red Delicious apples while trick or treatin’-it was an immediate toss across the street! 😂 Now they hand out Honey and Cosmic Crisps! These kids don’t know how good they got it! 😂

Living all my life in the main apple producing state in the union has given me a special love for and appreciation of this particular fruit. Some of my fondest childhood memories are going with my family to Cloud Mountain Farms, a local orchard, for their annual tasting day, where we would sample dozens of different cultivars of apple, among other fruits. The different varieties of apple would be served in slices on little plates, with a small placard next to each one describing where and when it was first cultivated. Obviously, this included a lot of extremely sweet novelties like the Honeycrisp, but also some surprisingly delicious varieties that were said to have originated in the early 19th or even late 18th Century; naturally, these were a lot closer in flavor and appearance to crab apples. Incidentally, I also have a particular fondness for those "aggressively Anglophile" high teas you mentioned, because an old family friend--who was like an aunt or grandmother to me--would on occasion treat me to tea at a local tea shop. She passed her appreciation for such things onto me, which has shaped my personality to a significant degree.

The boyish smile he had after throwing the apples made me smile

I would love an exploration of chicken, its become a staple food of America almost as big as these 4. Anyways keep up the good work!

Steak, milk, sandwich, apple. Long ago, the 4 lunch foods live together in harmony

Great video! Thanks! Cosmic apples are definitely a fave for me. Also, living in Texas after being a displaced Midwesterner, I pretty much exist on sandwiches during the summer due to not wanting to cook in the heat!

I love the low-poly foods introducing each segment. Nice touch!

Great video, JJ! It's easy to take for granted the amount of research that goes into your videos, so thanks for spending an extra week on this to make sure it is complete. It is a simple premise, but each of these foods have their own fun backstories to learn about. I also appreciate the brief mention of the ethical and health concerns of dairy and its production, as I think it is becoming a more relevant and necessary issue to confront.

I love the production quality of this video! You have truly created such a nice aesthetic with your visual style, J.J.

Great video, I can tell you put a lot of effort into it. I'm glad I watched it instead of just listening to the audio.

Could you do a video on the most popular modern dinosaurs? e.g. tyrannosaurus, stegosaurus, triceratops, brachiosaurus, and pterodactyls (not actually dinosaurs). Why did those in particular end up in the plastic-toy bucket?

Hey JJ! Love from Raleigh! Take care bro!

That was very thorough video! While I knew about the existence of alcoholic cider, I didn’t know anything about the importance of alcohol in the history of apples. Love the graphics! I live in a dairy rich area of the US and I think that dairies get an unfair bad rap based in many ways on the deserved bad reputation of the 19th century urban dairies. According to childhood history classes, milk played a pivotal, if not happy, historical role in the development of my state’s most celebrated resident, Abe Lincoln, whose mother died from milk sickness.

yet another award winning video from jj!

I know you've said before that you dont like to cook JJ, but my god man, that kitchen needs some love 😂

Sandwiches are super fun because every single component is endlessly variable, but the result is still "a sandwich". That said, if a sub/hoagie/grinder/etc. can be considered a sandwich, so can a hot dog.

I can definitely tell you spent more time on this video. Well done, J.J. That is one well-traveled little cow you've got in that first segment!

i love these styles of videos, genuinely a topic i hardly would talk about. its very interesting to learn about who popularises foods in certain areas, reminds me of the donair being popularised in the maritimes by a greek immigrant in the 1970s

Only a minute in, and JJ already throws in an Ace of Base jump-scare

Not me rocking to "The Sign" by Ace of Base at this exact moment

Very well made video, many little details in how they're made that make me enjoy these videos just a bit more :)

Thank you JJ! The ending of the video made me quite emotional, I never put much thought in the fact that regardless of where you are in America, everyone is able to enjoy and experience the joys of these four types of food. Made me proud of this place I call home!

Really, thanks, JJ… you always give your “friends” a great context to culture. It amazes me how you use old obscure toys, etc. to challenge us to think about how/why we got here as a “society writ large”. God bless you this Labour/Labor Day… and always!

The two-week format seems good. I liked the animations. The shrimp and sardine sandwich construction segment had me cracking up. It looked very....tidy....and British. lol

I really enjoyed the new way you took to approaching this video the cut to your kitchen threw me off (in a good way) I’m so use to just looking at your face and the background. Great video as always!

Your videos are the absolute best j.j thanks for making some of my favorite entertainment

Such a avid viewer of your amazing content often the first JJ.

I remember in elementary school if you forgot or didn't have money for lunch they gave you an apple, a glass of milk, and a sandwich. I assume it was paid for by the teachers or the lunch ladies.

The bit on apples makes me interested in seeing a dissection of the whole American fruit canon. Apples, pears, bananas, melons, pineapple, ect being these ubiquitous items which most people expect to be able to find anywhere despite being highly seasonal or grown halfway across the world

Love the editing in this video!

"Milk...it does a body good" the old slogan. Great in-depth dive into these 4 foods! I definitely remember my lunchbox often having pretty much all four at a time, except my "steak" was bologna. Ironically, now I'm 99% vegan. I loved the parts in the kitchen, too! 😁 Thanks for another award-winning video, J.J!🤩

Speaking of food, have you ever done a video on GMO'S? That would be an interesting video due to its controversy and how much its been used etc. Awesome content, keep it up. 🙂👍

When i was a baby in the early 2000s, we still had a milkman because three small children consumed tremendous amounts of whole milk, and the local dairy still would do deliveries, so we got a milk man several times a week. Years later, i worked selling fruit and vegetables for a farm stand. The farm had a close relationship with the University of Minnesota, which developed the Honey Crisp apple, and we got the earliest commercial crop of a new apple breed, First Kiss, which are similar to honey crisp, but are ripe in early September

This is one of your best videos in recent times, JJ! Thank you for teaching us about the foods we take for granted in such a fun way.

As an American, it always struck me as strange that Americans would spend such absurd amounts of money on a relatively simple and inexpensive food (steak) just because it made them feel like they were giving appropriate weight to a "special occasion"

McIntosh apples are not "literal puke", they are delicious.

I love this type of niche information content. Symbols I took for granted my whole life being explained and broken down.

Incredible, JJ! This video is so well-done! I enjoyed every second of this; you are so talented and thank you so much for sharing your gift with the world.

As an American, I can confirm that tasty food is our greatest weakness. That and being taxed, we hate that.

I'll have to try an Ambosia apple from your home province. I could never stand store bought red delicious. They always tasted like apple flavored styrofoam to me. My uncle had a few red delicious trees and you can't compare the taste of an apple bought in the store to the taste of one you picked from the tree and ate right then. But maybe they've improved the taste and texture.

Great video, JJ! All that extra time really shows

thanks for your transmission

Does anyone here have recommendations as to other channels which “cultural education” RU-vid channels like this? JJ is absolutely brilliant, but I can watch much faster than one man can produce.

As a corn-fed Midwesterner, I'm a bit surprised that corn didn't feature more prominently in this video. After all, corn is a "New World" commodity. Corn, and products derived from corn, is rife throughout the American diet. It got some mention as cattle feed, but it feeds plenty of people, too.

Hiya JJ! Thanks for the preview. So glad to be here!

Another excellent video JJ.

Of course another factor in American milk culture is that many Europeans evolved the ability to digest lactose into adulthood, making it possible for them to drink milk in larger amounts than people from other parts of the world.

This is the first time I've heard someone refer to bread as "hardened goo," and I'm so glad it was JJ who said it. 11/10 video as usual, certainly award winning!

I like this shift into longer more in depth videos about topics, it's looking like a good idea so far. Kinda sucks theres fewer videos overall but oh well.

All the sandwiches you were throwing around gave me a laugh. I appreciated the commitment to showing all the foods on camera

I think we should all take a minute to give JJ credit for his amazing cartoons and illustrations.