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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The units used in the kitchen make sense, firstly because cups, spoons and shit are common things found in the kitchen, secondly because precision is not really a priority and thirdly because coocking is about proportions.

I usually take a piss on the american pathetic unit system anyway

Except I have cups in my kitchen that are double the size of other cups and I dont know which ones to use.

I legit can't tell:

You guys DO realize that "cup" is the specific name of a measurement and not, like, telling us to go use whatever mug we have in the kitchen, right?

The comments on this specific thread make me wonder

I would guess use the ones that are sized like most other cups. Like standard mug sized. Although i think its all relative. If you use a certain cup to measure flour, use the same cup to measure sugar.

Otherwise you can buy a set of cup and spoon measures for super cheapnon amazon. They fit in my cutlery drawer.

I think that an american cup holds something like 230 cm3. Thats a horribly small cup for me (mines range from 250 to 450). I tend to use the ones that have 250 cm3 capacity and thats my definition of cup... or i can always use half a metric pint instead.

All this gibberish about units makes me feel like an idiot, so i will confess: i use a scale and metric cups. 250 cm3 water, or milk are roughly 250g