would have to say that is not the case in my Family.  We are
English/Dutch/German I grew up in Denver, but parents are from Omaha,
grandparents from Champaine/Urbana Illinois, greatgrandparents from
Ohio.  Most of our cooking forms have an Eastern European or Scandanavian
influence.  Lots of Germans/Bohemians/Swedes and a few other pre-soviet
eastern europians.  Anchovies are pretty common in a lot of our cooking. 
I have recipes from the last 5 generations and they are used quite
often. 

Middle America, I would assume more than a few are going to have similar
experiences.  Chicago is the central immigration site for eastern Europe.
So lots of immigrants ended up there. 

Some of my favorite memories from childhood are the yearly pilgrimages to
"Joe Tess's" for Deep Fried Carp, and "The Bohemian Cafe" for a full
Heavy Eastern Europian Dinner<Kielbasa, Roast Pork with brown
gravy, bread dumplings, sweet kraut with caraway, fried cabbage with
apple>, and the whole weekend polish and german Polka music playing on
every radio station on the dial<g>.  Ah, to be a child again<sigh>

joy

Radei

  <snip> I'm not sure if there _is_ an American version, to be honest.
  I'd
  > say (and others may or may not agree) that for the most part, the
  > anchovy hasn't made much headway into American cookery, at least
  > not in this century. Plenty of anchovies get eaten in the form of
  > tapenade, Caesar Salads, Salades Nicoise, pissaladieres and
  > pizzas, and in other more-or-less Mediterranean venues (and Caesar
  > Salad in its original form has almost completely vanished in favor
  > of something _called_ Caesar Salad, but which is merely lettuce
  > with croutons, grated Parmigiano and a non-descript creamy "Caesar
  > Dressing" [pfooey! double-bleh pfooey!]).
  >
  > However, thinking about common Angliski uses of anchovy, such as
  > stirring a mashed fillet into a gravy, studding a roast with them,
  > or making little sandwiches for tea, we pretty much never do that.
  > More's the pity.
  >
  > What this all comes down to is that when we buy anchovy paste, it's
  > pretty much made from anchovies. There may be preservatives,
  > although with the oil present in the fish itself and the salt, it
  > scarcely seems necessary, but as far as I know, there's nothing
  > else in the way of bulk ingredients; no other fish, no salt (or at
  > least no more than would otherwise occur if you mashed up a tin of
  > anchovies with a fork), no sugar, etc.
  >
  > Essentially, it sounds like what you're describing as anchovy paste
  > is a prepared food, rather than what we'd think of as an
  > ingredient. Perhaps the difference is not on the same scale as the
  > difference between tinned tuna and prepared tuna salad, but there
  > will certainly be differences in relative properties.
  >
  > > (Generally, I'd say we probably don't go for huge amounts of
  > > preservatives in things).
  >
  > I wish we were better in that regard, although this particular
  > matter may be a reversal of prevailing conditions.
  >
  <snip> What, ME get into a long and endlessly detailed conversation
  about
  > food anthropology? Never!
  >
  > Adamantius (eyeing the one-pound jar of anchovy fillets in olive
  > oil and saying, "Hmmmmm...")
  >
  >
  >
  >
  > "S'ils n'ont pas de pain, vous fait-on dire, qu'ils mangent de la
  > brioche!" / "If there's no bread to be had, one has to say, let
  > them eat cake!"
  > -- attributed to an unnamed noblewoman by Jean-Jacques
  > Rousseau, "Confessions", 1782
  >
  > "Why don't they get new jobs if they're unhappy -- or go on
  Prozac?"
  > -- Susan Sheybani, assistant to Bush campaign spokesman Terry
  > Holt, 07/29/04
  >
  >
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  > http://www.ansteorra.org/mailman/listinfo/sca-cooks

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