"Do I contradict myself?
Very well, I contradict myself
(I am large; I contain multitudes)"
                      —Walt Whitman

Not all American beer tastes like gerbil urine. If you want the good stuff, you have to get it from the micro-breweries. Most well stocked grocery stores have it. There are some pretty good beers from Red Hook and Pyramid. The trick is to look for the off-brand beers, usually with whimsical names. One of my favorites is "Moose Drool," from a Montana micro-brewery.

As for judging a country's cuisine by one order of fish and chips—well, let me put it this way:   all Indians walk in single file. At least the one I saw did.

Don Firth