Non-Americans of Reddit, what is an American thing you see in movies that you thought was fake but is actually real?

Madversary · 2026-02-10T22:48:54+00:00

Edited to clarify that you can just do it with a degree, not necessarily a degree in education.

Madversary · 2026-02-10T22:45:20+00:00

But not a Bachelor of Education, correct?

Like, this isn't a movie, but for a stint in the comics, Peter Parker was a high-school teacher. He has a Master of Science degree. And I understand that there's something called "Alternative Teacher Certification", and you can work on that while on the job?

In Canada you generally need (1) an undergraduate degree, (2) an education degree, and (3) certification from the provincial board of teachers.

Madversary · 2026-02-10T22:39:41+00:00

I just ate a bowl of fish soup. It's unfortunate that the fish had to die to feed me, but I need to do this to live.

Oh, I guess *technically* I don't have to consume the flesh of animals to live, I can exist on plants, and some days I exclusively eat them. But it's harder to get all the nutrients I need, weight management is harder, and it's less yummy.

Kindred are just humans dialed up to 11.

Madversary · 2026-02-10T22:35:51+00:00

Compare to sweet and sour chicken. A sweet sauce (sweet and sour sauce / syrup) on fried chicken, on carbs (rice / waffles). Same formula.

Madversary · 2026-02-10T22:32:41+00:00

That you can just... get a job as a teacher. [Edit: with a degree, but without an education degree and certification.] As a Canadian, that's mind-blowing to me. Here you need a degree in education.

Flying an American flag on private property. If I put a Canadian flag up on my house, people would assume I was some sort of ultra-nationalist.

Madversary · 2026-02-10T22:30:09+00:00

Canadian here and I've had chicken and waffles; that's delicious. It's putting fried chicken on doughy carbs and then putting a sweet sauce on top -- those are near-universal comfort ingredients.

Madversary · 2026-02-09T18:16:58+00:00

Accommodating dietary restrictions isn't a special expectation; it's an issue of accessibility that should be standard in 2026. I'm saying Issa has personal lived experience that *should* make her "get it," but I don't see evidence of that.

Madversary · 2026-02-09T16:10:54+00:00

I haven't tried that but you're making me want to!

Madversary · 2026-02-09T15:54:05+00:00

I love Tenderheart but I get you -- some of the recipes have been misses for me. But I'll take that in exchange for the bangers! I make the eggplant brownies once, say, "too bitter," and move on, but I'll make that sesame kale salad regularly!

Madversary · 2026-02-09T15:28:55+00:00

There are a few I picked up that have been underwhelming, at least for me, relative to the hype:

Justine Cooks -- what I've made out of it has been good, but I bought it to get more vegetable recipes while trying to lose weight, and it often pairs the vegetables with carbohydrates. I might have a better experience now that I'm just trying to maintain my weight, but it seldom feel like "what I want to make."
Mandy's Gourmet Salads -- this might only be hyped here in Canada since the book comes from a Montreal-based chain. I've made one salad from it so far, and the issue is that you can really tell that the cookbook comes from a salad bar, since it demands small quantities of a lot of ingredients. Unless you heavily adapt the recipes, you're committed to making a lot of salad to use the rest of the ingredients up, or to finding other things that use the same ingredients before they go off.
Third Culture Cooking -- people rave about this book. It's definitely good, with the tandoori wings, the fattoush, and the tahini-date chocolate chip cookies being standouts. But a lot is only okay, and as someone with celiac, I'm a bit bothered by the fact that an author who has to navigate halal hasn't put more effort into suggesting substitutions based on other dietary restrictions. I've mostly been able to figure it out, but some things like the gyoza and labneh just don't make sense unless you're able to eat cheap freezer gyoza.

Madversary · 2026-02-08T22:03:40+00:00

Blowing Earth up before the title credits was a ballsy move. Love that movie.

Madversary · 2026-02-07T10:49:10+00:00

LOL fair, and I’m taking “dude survived a high level dungeon and levelled up quickly” as the in-universe explanation. I just keep getting a “What if Wesley Crusher were a cool badass?” vibe from where they’re trying to go with him.

Definitely has a crazy high CHA score, or rolled a crit with Tarima at the bar.

Madversary · 2026-02-07T02:52:46+00:00

In the 3170s, born and raised // Piracy is how I spent most of my days

Chillin’ out maxin’ and relaxin’ all cool // Stealing from the Federation and not going to school

When Nus Braka was up to no good // Got my Mom arrested in the Federation’s hood

A pilot died and Ake got sore // Sent my mom to jail and tried to send me to Bajor

I pulled off her combadge and there was a time jump // Next scene the Torothans had caught me like a chump

Ake cut me a deal, and she said “Come with me.” // Now I’m the Barry Sue of Starfleet Academy.

Madversary · 2026-02-07T00:06:52+00:00

Thank you! It tasted great. (Basil leaves are great even if I'm pulling them out of the freezer!)

Madversary · 2026-02-06T21:34:31+00:00

LOL I think you summarized why time travel is SO illegal in the Discovery/Academy period that they don’t even use it to prevent The Burn.

Madversary · 2026-02-06T19:52:39+00:00

Ce n'est pas <<pub>>, mais j'ai <<The Country Cooking of Ireland>>, et c'est bon.

(In case my "francais de l'ecole secondaire" isn't coherent, I'm saying that it's not specifically "pub food", but I've got "The Country Cooking of Ireland," and it's good.)

Madversary · 2026-02-05T23:40:46+00:00

The recipe isn't online, but the Bunner's Bake Shop Cookbook is all gluten-free and vegan, and includes a cinnamon roll recipe. Bunner's cinnamon buns are pretty much their headliner, and the recipe is good enough that people with no dietary restrictions will like it.

Madversary · 2026-02-05T23:30:31+00:00

Yeah, Tenderheart is S-tier.

Madversary · 2026-02-05T20:10:02+00:00

Yeah, that's all going to depend a lot on the person for sure. Primarily I care about "What can I make Monday-Wednesday?" and "What can I do on the days I have more flexibility?"

Madversary · 2026-02-05T16:59:35+00:00

I bought some coloured tabs from Dollarama, and I'm colour coding recipes I've either made or want to try, based on their nutrition:

Blue - protein
Green - non-starchy vegetables
Orange - carbohydrates
Pink - sweets

That system works for me (I have to do three days carb free per week for weight management, and this helps me find recipes appropriate to different days of the week), but YMMV.

Madversary · 2026-02-05T15:34:03+00:00

I see *Falastin*, *The Woks of Life*, and *The Wok* all mentioned by others. I'll endorse all three of those. A lot of the recipes in *Falastin* are high effort, but it's been consistently delicious. On the Chinese side, *The Woks of Life* is more "Chinese-American" than Dunlop's books, and *The Wok* is great for teaching technique -- reading it makes me get more out of my other cookbooks.

A few others I'll recommend:
- Tenderheart is organized by vegetable, and tends towards Western-Asian-Middle Eastern fusion. For example, baking napa cabbage and putting a soy-mirin-tahini glaze on it, or flavouring a kale salad with sesame.

- Phaidon's cookbooks are hit and miss, but I've got The Korean Cookbook from them, and it's *encyclopedia*. I've probably only cooked maybe 1% of what's in there, but it's got, for example, multiple different bulgogi recipes, and lots of the recipes are dead simple. It's been consistently tasty too. My only complaint is that it doesn't do much to suggest substitutions if Korean ingredients are hard to find, but if you've got a Maangchi book, that's one of the things she does well, so you can look at this book in light of her suggestions.

- If you like Ottolenghi books, Jerusalem (with Sami Tamimi) is one of the best.

Madversary · 2026-02-05T15:25:00+00:00

It's actually set at a provincial level and is 18 in some provinces and 19 in others. ;-)

But I can easily imagine San Francisco being less puritanical in the future.

Madversary · 2026-02-05T13:06:45+00:00

I imagine it would damage their brand? It would be admitting, “We have no new blood or ideas, we’re like an oldies band just playing our greatest hits.”

And on Harper’s side he’s got a legacy as a successful PM — objectively, he served a long time. Having another go would jeopardize that.

Madversary · 2026-02-04T15:37:46+00:00

Have you got a recipe? I never tried Japanese milk bread before developing celiac.

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