What are we?

The discussion over whether we are a melting pot or a salad bowl got me thinking the other day. The whole concept of calling our country one or the other is a good idea. We are in fact a bunch of different cultures thrown together, but I dont understand why people get so offended by the term melting pot. The idea of us all coming together and blending together is a good visual. People get so offended by melting pot analogy because your individuality is lost in a melting pot due to the melding of flavor. I thought the whole idea is for us all to be who we are inside the context of the whole melting pot being America. Regardless of which analogy is used, we all should be tolerant to the point where these analogies aren't needed, but that probably won't happen.