slurping is polite

Japanese people slurp up noodles - ramen, udon, soba - all slurped. It's a very specific sound. I'm learning to make it. Anyways, I mention this because for lunch today we had spaghetti (with sauce and vegetables already mixed in), bread (that was possibly suppose to be Italian bread but it was really sweet), and salad made of pickled vegetables and tuna. We ate with forks but without the spoons for noodle twisting. While I was eating at my desk I noticed that ALL of the teachers were making the usual slurping noise as they ate their spaghetti! It was so funny, but I didn't laugh out loud.

Spaghetti seems to be considered one of the three main "American" foods. Pizza and hamburgers are the other two. Spaghetti and pizza are originally Italian! Anytime I mention that tidbit, people get reeeally confused. They are also flabbergasted that I don't like to eat pizza all the time and that Americans actually eat some Japanese dishes. Anyways, the only really American food that I can think of is a hamburger, hotdog, and maybe a casserole!? Help me think of more. I don't want to say fast food is American since we can't make that at home. When I introduce new foods, they ask me how to make them. They were confused that I had never physically made a cream puff or fried cheese curd. I was like, no, you just buy them.