English radio and television journalist Robert Robinson (1927-2011) wasn’t too impressed with American food. On the BBC-TV show Robinson’s Travels (August 1977), he said:
“The national dish of America is menus.”
The remark has been published in several books.
Wikipedia: Robert Robinson (broadcaster)
Robert Henry Robinson (17 December 1927 – 12 August 2011) was an English radio and television presenter, game show host, journalist and author.
11 September 1977, The Observer (London, UK), “The mind-grind” by Clive James, pg. 27, cols. 8-9:
Meanwhile Robert Robinson has started his American tour from the other end. Robinson’s Travels (BBC1) followed the trail of the Mormons on the journey to the Promised Land, alias Salt Lake City.
(...)
As we were already aware, he also knows how to write a thoughtful script. ‘Drowned in rhetoric, the flavour died,’ he announced after sampling an over-billed hamburger. ‘The national dish of America is menus.’
Google Books
America in Quotations
By Bahman Dehgan
Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Company, Inc.
2003
Pg. 202:
The national dish of America is menus. —Robert Robinson: “Robinson’s Travels,” BBC-TV program, August 1977
Google Books
The Mammoth Book of Insults
Edited by Geoff Tibballs
London, UK: Constable & Robinson
2011
Pg. ?:
The national dish of America is menus. – Robert Robinson
Google Books
The Most Low-down, Lousiest, Loathsome Things Ever Said
Edited by Steven Price
Guilford, CT: Lyons Press
2017
Pg. 131:
The national dish of America is menus. — ARCHITECT ROBERT ROBINSON
Twitter
Rejean Levesque
@levek
The national dish of America is menus.(Robert Robinson) #quotes
11:33 PM - 2 Dec 2016 from Canada
Above, a 1934 plaque from the Big Apple Night Club at West 135th Street and Seventh Avenue in Harlem. Discarded as trash in 2006. Now a Popeyes fast food restaurant on Google Maps.
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Above, Big Apple Corner at 54th Street and Broadway in Manhattan. Google Maps. Stolen and missing, 2021-2024.
Above, John J. Fitz Gerald, from the Aug. 15, 1931, Binghamton (NY) Press, pg. 14.
Listen to Robert Emmerich introduce "The Big Apple," a hit song from 1937. Music written by Bob and performed by Tommy Dorsey's Clambake Seven with Bob on piano. Lyrics written by Buddy Bernier and sung by Edythe Wright. Audio provided by Dorothy Emmerich.
Also listen to a 1937 "The Big Apple" song by Ozzie Nelson and his Orchestra. See a 1929 photo of John J. Fitz Gerald and a 1931 photo of John J. Fitz Gerald.
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