Why do Americans measure everything in cups?

Chris@feddit.uk to No Stupid Questions@lemmy.world – 198 points –

Used a couple of US recipes recently and most of the ingredients are in cups, or spoons, not by weight. This is a nightmare to convert. Do Americans not own scales or something? What's the reason for measuring everything by volume?

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Cups, teaspoons, and tablespoons in this context are standardized units of measure. It is very common to find at least one set of measuring cups and spoons in a US kitchen. Scales are uncommon.

I use both. For flour, scales are far, far superior. For sugar, it does not really seem to matter. For small amounts, I suspect my tea/tablespoons might be more accurate than my scale...

Not that accuracy matters that much in a recipe using eggs. Chickens aren't necessarily known for precision...

Off topic:

I have learned that hens were laying eggs, chicken were the offspring.

Is this a british-american thing or just a common mistake?

Chicks are baby chickens. All hens and roosters are chickens. Does that answer your question?