General > General Technical Chat
why is the US not Metric
<< < (130/291) > >>
Cerebus:

--- Quote from: tooki on November 26, 2019, 07:25:06 pm ---What surprised me is that a few years ago, one grocery store here started carrying measuring cups that also have US cups graduations on them. (Other than the US-designed Oxo Good Grips products, and the IKEA stuff that’s made for the whole world, one practically never sees US cups measurements on cookware here.)

--- End quote ---

Not quite so surprising to me. I remember someone telling me that there is a roaring export trade in American cookery books. Given that US recipes use cups for measuring almost every dry or liquid ingredient (and, weird for the rest of the world, 'sticks' of butter - a strictly Norteamericano unit) it wouldn't be surprising that home cooks would perhaps present a demand for US cup measures.
KL27x:

--- Quote ---(weird for the rest of the world, 'sticks' of butter - a strictly Norteamericano unit)
--- End quote ---
  ^-^

For anyone not aware, we have a dish just for the butter. It's really convenient! But it has to be real butter, and you can't be too stingy with the AC. Because it has a cover, and you can leave it unrefrigerated. 

What do you do for your butter? Squeeze it out of a bottle, these days?  >:D I grew up with tubs of margarine. Life was tough, back then. And I actually remember when squeezing liquid margarine out of a plastic bottle was a thing advertised on the tele and then in our fridge the next week for a failed trial.  :wtf:
SilverSolder:

--- Quote from: Cerebus on November 26, 2019, 09:51:54 pm ---[...] (and, weird for the rest of the world, 'sticks' of butter - a strictly Norteamericano unit) [...]

--- End quote ---

It is how the manufacturers (sub) package them.  A standard "stick" has 1/2 cup, or 8 tbsp. of butter, with nice lines on the wrapper to cut off the chunk you need.  What's not to like? Even a metric user can chop off chunks of 15ml at a time!

It is easier to cut smallish chunks from a stick of butter accurately than it is to cut the larger blocks of butter typically used in European countries. 

For usability, the US wins this one!
 
Cerebus:

--- Quote from: KL27x on November 26, 2019, 10:18:07 pm ---
--- Quote ---(weird for the rest of the world, 'sticks' of butter - a strictly Norteamericano unit)
--- End quote ---
  ^-^

For anyone not aware, we have a dish just for the butter. It's really convenient! But it has to be real butter, and you can't be too stingy with the AC. Because it has a cover, and you can leave it unrefrigerated. 

What do you do for your butter? Squeeze it out of a bottle, these days?  >:D I grew up with tubs of margarine. Life was tough, back then. And I actually remember when squeezing liquid margarine out of a plastic bottle was a thing advertised on the tele and then in our fridge the next week for a failed trial.  :wtf:

--- End quote ---

Ah,  the parochial Norteamericano male who's never opened a cookbook. American cookbooks use the 'stick' as a unit of butter, neglecting the fact that butter is not sold the world over in 1/2 US cup 'sticks'.
SilverSolder:

--- Quote from: Cerebus on November 26, 2019, 10:26:41 pm ---[...]
Ah,  the parochial Norteamericano male who's never opened a cookbook. American cookbooks use the 'stick' as a unit of butter, neglecting the fact that butter is not sold the world over in 1/2 US cup 'sticks'.

--- End quote ---

Yes, but even worse, their cookbooks are generally written in English -  despite the fact that most of the world does not speak English!  There should be a law against it...
Navigation
Message Index
Next page
Previous page
There was an error while thanking
Thanking...

Go to full version
Powered by SMFPacks Advanced Attachments Uploader Mod