Food is one of those things people might find themselves arguing over. Not because it’s akin to politics, religion and music, but because it’s a matter of taste—quite a literal one, in fact.
But sometimes, you have foods that you don’t even need tastebuds to understand that it’s just flat out horrible. Either that, or it begs the question of why? And how? And probably many others. Just like it did this time. Except, it was a question for non-Americans about disgusting American food.
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Whatever sick f**k decided we needed to batter and deep fry sticks of butter needs their mental health checked
A friend visited me from Italy and wanted to try krispy kreme donuts. He took one bite and said "now I understand why Americans are fat!" He made me take him back there twice. Not that I minded going :P
So, there was an AskReddit question asked of non-Americans about American food. Specifically, food that they thought was disgusting, whether visually, based on taste or didn’t roll well on a conceptual level.
While by Reddit standards the post got a modest amount of upvotes, clocking in at nearly 4,000 upvotes, it generated a conversation of over 6,600 comments, and that’s definitely something.
I'm sorry but those slices of American cheese have always tasted so fake and plastic to me personally.
Corn syrup everywhere.
u/yugosaki replied:
The prevalence of high fructose corn syrup in EVERYTHING. Unfortunately, being in Canada, it's bleeding over the border as a lot of products here are manufactured in the USA.
And, you gotta admit, some food is just flat out eww. No, it doesn’t have to be solely of any nationality. Everyone is guilty of it. With no disrespect to anyone, there ain’t many people who genuinely like haggis or surströmming or vėdarai. And these are honestly some of the milder options in the global cuisine.
The chocolate out there is FOUL.
u/mostlikelynotasnail replied:
Ghirardelli, Guittard, Dove, Scharffen Berger, and hundreds of smaller companies are fine. Pretty much just avoid anything you would find near the register at a grocery store.
u/TomomiimomoT replied:
I tried a big-name American chocolate brand once but couldn't eat it due to the vomit smell and taste.
Milk chocolate was independently developed by a few different people/companies and in the Hershey process the milk turns somewhat. Some blame the taste on stabilizing additives but the descriptor of "unique" is accurate
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Added because American chocolatiers were using sour milk in their chocolate for so long we got used to it.
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I unfortunately tried a hersey bar once. The taste of vomit hit me instantly. Utterly disgusting
Tried one of these famous Hershey bars once, was so bad that I had to throw it away after 1 bite. Why do you like them so much? They are vile tbh.
I never tried it, but how can a bad product like that keep existing? From what I've read, most Americans online also detest it. So who are the ones that like it? Or is it only bough as decoration and not for eating?
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Isn't this like with American cheese, beer etc? That there's plenty of good American versions of all of these but we only know the trashiest? Like saying British bread is awful based on cheap supermarket white sliced.
yes, i guess so. Theres many great food in the USA incl chocolate and cheese, but for some reason only the bad ones get publicity, to keep the hype going i guess
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American brands are slowly trickling to Europe, but chocolate isn't anywhere to be seen and that's completely understandable. I have tasted Hershey's once, and that was one time too many
Pretty sure it can't legally be sold as chocolate in the EU.
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sighhhh there is so much nice chocolate in America. Do you really think they only have one kind??? :-D just stay away from the Hurglsheys.
The only good chocolate in America has been imported. (Or from a boutique chocolatier but definitely not a major brand name)
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Hershey processes their chocolate with butyric acid, which is a version of stomach acid (ie vomit). Why they use it I have no idea, as it really does make their chocolate disgusting. I haven't touched any chocolate made by Hershey's for many MANY years, and I'm old as dirt now.
Has anybody ever tried Lindt chocolate? It’s far better than most chocolate you can get in the store.
This frightens me. Lind is considered cheap chocolate here. Slightly better than other cheap chocolate like Milka or Ritter Sport but still cheap chocolate, not exactly a better brand, just mass production. I'm sitting here and let my once a day Belgian chocolate, that you can still buy normally at the store for only slightly more than Lind, melt on my tongue and wonder how bad American chocolate must be that they think Lind is especially good 😳
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hershey is foul, but it is not all american chocolate...but, it is foul
hershey is objectively not great chocolate. however, the candy bars, even ones made by hershey brand, are wonderful.
I'm American and love just about all chocolate, including Hershey's. I don't know if it's an acquired taste. Seems like it must be because it tastes good to us, and the conversation of Hershey's tasting bad doesn't really happen here. Everyone generally likes it. Hershey's chocolate is incredibly popular here.
That smell is a cultural touchstone. I forget the name of the chemical but it is also found in Parmesan cheese and it is from the milk in milk chocolate. It has something to do with the transportation of milk. In countries where milk chocolate comes from this milk that is processed for ravelling long distances, the residents never even notice the difference. It is only disgusting if you spent your life eating chocolate without it.
Most Americans don't know what real chocolate tastes like. Those of us that do but European or small batch chocolate.
It's because during the war they wanted chocolate that could survive for a decade or longer. Hersheys separated milk and added only the vomit flavored part of milk in chocolate so it would last forever and then used it's war profits to monopolize American chocolate. Even went as far to change US law so all imported chocolate also has to have vomit milk in it.
They actually added butyric acid to fresh milk, elongating the shelf life in order to bring down the cost of chocolate so that it cost less to produce and so was cheaper than the chocolate produced by their rivals. Adding butyric acid to milk is an older method of preserving it, and is pretty much only done by Hershey now as the taste is pretty signature to the chocolate.
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Orange circus peanuts. What are they? How do they have so much sugar but taste so horrible? What science experiments created them?
Looked it up. I knew they were Antique- but they're older than I guessed; going back into the 1800's somewhere. Very common, very popular, very cheap. They're a "firm marshmallow" and the flavor is artificial banana. Mostly people still eat them because they are a memory of childhood "Grandpa used to give us these" kind of thing.
Now, it’s hard to draw a definitive line of what food is universally considered disgusting. You can argue that anything with excessive amounts of [insert any ingredient here] or an extreme lack thereof could constitute disgust. Others might argue that if it looks like something you’d fish out of the Mariana Trench. And yet others think eating bugs and fire is probably not something you should do in general.
No, it’s mostly subjective, and there’s actually a test for that.
Sweet Potato Casserole recipe topped with pecans and marshmallows “traditional side at Thanksgiving table”
u/DonSmo replied:
Marshmallows on sweet potatoes is so gross and foreign to me.
Minnesota salads. like WTF America! crushed pineapples and marshmallows are not ingredients that belong near a salad.
Usually served in winter. A throw back to times people needed calories because they were working in the -30F weather. They would grab whatever was left in the pantry and mix it together. Noodles, rice, marshmallows, dried fruit, whatever... Snickers salad recipe here https://images.app.goo.gl/6nAVe29hyyLwjvZF8
When they introduced me to Chicago pizza, something in me died. That should not be called pizza — it's just a devil fat pie.
In fact, it’s not just necessarily personal experience—like mother forcing us to down fish oil because “it’s good for you” but it has the smell, taste and consistency of used and marinated bathwater—but also cultural.
If you grew up at the seaside, freshly-caught fish and seafood might be commonplace to you. If you were, however, raised vegan from the get-go, you might find raw meat stomach-churning. Maybe you didn’t grow up in a culture that fosters culinary traditions of fermentation and preservation.
I remember a lime jello tuna salad ring made in a bundt pan by a distant relative. We told her with her work schedule, she shouldn't bother with bringing food to potlucks.
Canned things that probably don't need to be canned.
Looking at you Whole White Potatos in Water.
Twinkies. Wtf is it even made of? In my mind it’s just pure sugar
It’s not to say it can’t be particular, mayhaps even more personal, instances where food left a bitter taste in your mouth. Everyone experiences flavors, dishes, and textures in their own unique way. As such, you just might not like how things taste.
And sometimes it’s even deeper than that, biologically speaking. We have a self-preservation mechanism, after all. Because of this, our brain might not let us enjoy food that might make us ill because it contains uncomfortable levels of bacteria, mold or flat out insects.
Mac and cheese where it does not belong. I’m looking at you pizza and burgers.
I don't see it listed and this is the closest section so ... Store bought macaroni salad, it has an extremely strong and vile bitter taste which is weird because homemade macaroni salad doesn't have that taste, also note I've heard some people can't taste the bitter.
Twizzlers, they look like plastic. And tv dinners.
Look like plastic Smell like plastic Tastes like plastic Is plastic
Americans tend to like their bacon crispier. As a Canadian, I say chewy bacon for the win.
Heck, neuroatypical people are often sensitive to certain sensory input. Eating food is no exception. Things like vegetables can even trigger this and ruin them forever.
To top it all off, associative experience might also kick in, and if you got dumped while eating at McDonald’s, then that particular thing might just ruin the McDouble with a large coke and fries for you. Or if you got the kids meal, it’s good-bye to Angry Birds.
American bread. I'm sure you can get good bread somewhere in the US, but the generally available, sugary, long-shelf-life bread is so appalling.
Now, of course, your export of fast-food restaurants has nothing to do with haute cuisine, but any burger would be so much better if at least you used acceptable bread.
That one is tough for me cause i live in a country where you can find great bread at every corner. If there is sugar or Milk inside that's not bread... a cake why not.
Coffee creamer. It’s wild that’s even a thing. Just pour some milk in there.
I couldn't figure out why flavoured creamers are so big over there till I tried the coffee. I get it now.
Apparently foreigners aren't aware of our truly weird s**t, like chitlins and raccoon. Also, the amount of dishes that involve a can of Campbell's Cream o' Something.
Now, having a heritage or experience that dictates taste, preference, what you have is all fine and dandy. What is not cool, however, is gatekeeping and judging. No doubt, whenever the topic of disgusting foods arises, you’re likely to find folks who go at it in the comments, saying “how can you eat this?” and “you’re disgusting.”
Sure, having the right mindset in terms of food—especially if it’s washing and cooking it properly, avoiding cross-contamination and whatnot, but bashing someone for honoring their culture (and maybe genuinely liking rotten salted fish) leaves a bad taste.
My parents are immigrants, they always say the desserts (grocery store cupcakes and stuff) has so much sugar it feels too gritty and uncooked to them.
Also soft baked things, like chewy chocolate chip cookies they thought were weird in the beginning, like the cookie was undercooked. I love soft baked cookies though so I baked them all the time, they’ve come around to liking them haha.
Another one I hear a lot is the food coloring. My mom is often perplexed and grossed out by very saturated unnaturally colored foods. (Usually frosting or candy) She tells me it just LOOKS unhealthy and is unappetizing.
Also, my mom is low key traumatized from twizzlers LOL. She said the first time she saw it she wondered why people were chewing on plastic. She then tried it and said it also tasted like plastic. Haha.
Twizzlers are super gross. They're like eating plastic. I'll take Red Vines or Australian licorice. The Aussies got it figured out.
Pb&j had me confused for a while but when i took a bite i loved it. Not judging any other non-americans for not trying this because peanutbutter and jelly aren't put together in most countries outside of america.
I’m American. But I have one. I grew up along the “Bible belt” and I’ve always wondered what is up with Americans and putting raisins in places they don’t belong.
Now, much to your delight—or disgust—there’s a Disgusting Food Museum in Malmö, Sweden. It exhibits 80 dishes that are by many considered some of the most disgusting in the world. This includes cuy, roasted guinea pigs from Peru, casu marzu, maggot-infested cheese from Sardinia, hákarl, well-aged shark from Iceland, among all of the other iconic classics.
grits. tried it a few times and I don't hate it anymore but it's weird. very weird.
Grits are "hominy", ground into polenta sized bits, served as a gruel; but it is NOT polenta. Hominy is Native American- dried maize is soaked in wood ash water overnight- this causes the kernels to swell and the outer seed coat split so that it can be removed. Hominy is the the swollen inner kernel The soaking wood ash exposes the grain to Potassium hydroxide, lye; in Mexican cooking the same effect is often achieved using burnt limestone; so Calcium hydroxide This in fact increases the nutritional value of the maize- . If you like Mexican food- it's all over the place: masa based dough is all via this process.
Ranch dressing. I once had a pizza in America, and it had ranch dressing on it. Ranch dressing doesn't really exist in Europe, and it's this weird, salty, fatty, mayo-like sauce — and it certainly does not belong on a pizza...or inside a human body for that matter.
Like everything good in America, a large corporation swallowed something good and pooped out an empty version of it. (Looking at you bolthouse, Angie's, Henry's shave, Indiana popcorn, subway, granola, coffee, chocolate, environmentalism...). Ranch was fresh herbs mixed with fresh dairy. Kraft turned it into plastic goop.
As an Australian, I would like to know what in the flying firetruck a "Bloomin' Onion" has to do with anything, let alone the rest of Outback Steakhouse's menu.
Yeah, gonna vehemently disagree with this. A well seasoned blooming onion is quite delicious. Desperately unhealthy and ruins your cooking oil, but mighty fine!
The museum takes visitors on a bit of an experience, allowing folks to sample some of the “finer” foods out there—and hopefully providing a vomit bucket because a journalist took an adventure there and had to upchuck multiple times.
Currently, there’s also a temporary dangerous food exhibit that includes meals made from naturally toxic organs, containing chemicals like cyanide and which are naturally dangerous to eat unless you let it cook properly. Nobody wants an octopus to come alive whilst ingesting it.
Four loko. It’s banned here in Canada and I can understand why.
I find biscuits and gravy to be absolutely disgusting.
But I'd like to counterbalance that by adding how delicious cornbread is and why on earth hasn't it become a staple here in Europe? It's SO yummy!
Sloppy joes. The thing I find least appealing about burgers is when the filling falls off.
Doesn't the filling fall off every burger? I always make a mess of myself when I eat one.
So, what are your thoughts on any of this? What are some of your disgusting food takes? Share your opinions and stories in the comment section below!
And if you feel like grossing yourself out even more, then bon appétit!
Same post will be repeated next week as "American Foods Everyone Else Wants to Try".
As an American I can't understand a Full English breakfast. So much fat and calories. It is also huge. So that is why I don't understand why they are floored by our portion sizes.
A full English isn't something most people would eat every morning. It's usually for the weekends or when you're hungover. And if you have a full English for breakfast you probably won't eat lunch.
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I guess every country has their share of questionable food for foreigners. I mean, I am pretty open to taste a lot of stuff other people eat on daily basis - but e.g. fried scorpion on a stick would be a no for me.
I get that. When I first moved to Scotland almost 30 years ago, my mil had me try haggis and black pudding. That was my once and only time. Never again. But then I had them over for dinner and had my revenge lol. I made a typical American thanksgiving. She got the message lol.
Load More Replies... I've tried maybe 2 of these in my 29 years in the US. I think foreigners fixate on really weird, niche regional foods and expect it to be on every table in America. It would be the same as assuming every Brit loves jellied eel. I would love to see BP do something like "Foods from SE Asia for brave Gastronauts" instead of recycling the same 30 weird American dishes that we've seen a dozen times already. "Writers" on this site are getting lazy and 70% of what I see here now is celebrity headlines most of us don't care about. Do better BP
Yes!! Exactly. I’m almost 50 and I don’t eat this stuff, never have, and don’t know anyone who does
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Thanks for reposting this. I was worried that the writers here had forgotten how to hit Ctl-C, then Ctl-V.
Y'all can turn your noses up if you like, but a huge number of these are eaten in the US not for taste, but because they're cheap and readily available. And all the stuff with hugh-fructose corn syrup? Yeah, that stuff's in EVERYTHING thanks to the corn lobbyists. Unless you have enough money to buy the good healthy stuff, you don't have a choice. So yeah, it'd be awesome if we had the option for better stuff, but we don't. Climb down off your high horses.
I've been to many other countries. I have found trash food in every one of them.
Yep, very true. You need to find the good food (or make it yourself).
Load More Replies... As an American I clearly don't live enough because I have never had, only heard of, most of these!
People left the UK and started a new country in North America because the food was so bad. That’s my theory. Hint: it is totally ok for people to like different things. Try to be an adult about it.
In the spirit of sharing an Australian weird food in solidarity - the meat pie floater. A meat pie (small, personal serving size) in a bowl, covered in pea soup and topped with tomato sauce (ketchup).
I had to stop reading. I am SO INCREDIBLY SICK of non-Americans acting like all Americans eat this cr*p, when I don’t know a single person who does. Not one. WE ARE NOT A MONOLITH. We have good bread and good chocolate and good cheese available almost everywhere. Can we please stop with this BS? Please?
I didn't think people were trying to say every american eats these. That's not what I think anyway. Also I figured people were more blaming the food companies than american individuals.
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BoredPanda: All Americans live off a diet of deep fried butter, lard, Pop-tarts, and processed cheese-food product.
My american food I do not understand is Cool Whip. Wtf even is that? seems to be mostly corn syrup, oil, and chemicals.
I think the same way. I make homemade whipped cream it is so good!
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This was fun, and with amazingly little blood spilt. :-) General information- one of my history teachers pointed out that when nationalism gets ugly- food- often becomes a focus of insults. That the French eat frogs, and the British eat too much beef, both found reprehensible, and said so loudly. 100 years ago. Similar statements of disgust crop up regularly and too easily become excuses to kill each other. So we're doing well here, I think. :-)
seems like the word Salad in American means something entirely different to the word Salad in English
"Fench dressing". Nothing French about it. Root beer. Tastes like mouthwash to me.
Interesting- in Japan about 50% of folks absolutely loathe root beer- seems a real taste bud variation.
Load More Replies... Same post will be repeated next week as "American Foods Everyone Else Wants to Try".
As an American I can't understand a Full English breakfast. So much fat and calories. It is also huge. So that is why I don't understand why they are floored by our portion sizes.
A full English isn't something most people would eat every morning. It's usually for the weekends or when you're hungover. And if you have a full English for breakfast you probably won't eat lunch.
Load More Replies... I guess every country has their share of questionable food for foreigners. I mean, I am pretty open to taste a lot of stuff other people eat on daily basis - but e.g. fried scorpion on a stick would be a no for me.
I get that. When I first moved to Scotland almost 30 years ago, my mil had me try haggis and black pudding. That was my once and only time. Never again. But then I had them over for dinner and had my revenge lol. I made a typical American thanksgiving. She got the message lol.
Load More Replies... I've tried maybe 2 of these in my 29 years in the US. I think foreigners fixate on really weird, niche regional foods and expect it to be on every table in America. It would be the same as assuming every Brit loves jellied eel. I would love to see BP do something like "Foods from SE Asia for brave Gastronauts" instead of recycling the same 30 weird American dishes that we've seen a dozen times already. "Writers" on this site are getting lazy and 70% of what I see here now is celebrity headlines most of us don't care about. Do better BP
Yes!! Exactly. I’m almost 50 and I don’t eat this stuff, never have, and don’t know anyone who does
Load More Replies... Thanks for reposting this. I was worried that the writers here had forgotten how to hit Ctl-C, then Ctl-V.
Y'all can turn your noses up if you like, but a huge number of these are eaten in the US not for taste, but because they're cheap and readily available. And all the stuff with hugh-fructose corn syrup? Yeah, that stuff's in EVERYTHING thanks to the corn lobbyists. Unless you have enough money to buy the good healthy stuff, you don't have a choice. So yeah, it'd be awesome if we had the option for better stuff, but we don't. Climb down off your high horses.
I've been to many other countries. I have found trash food in every one of them.
Yep, very true. You need to find the good food (or make it yourself).
Load More Replies... As an American I clearly don't live enough because I have never had, only heard of, most of these!
People left the UK and started a new country in North America because the food was so bad. That’s my theory. Hint: it is totally ok for people to like different things. Try to be an adult about it.
In the spirit of sharing an Australian weird food in solidarity - the meat pie floater. A meat pie (small, personal serving size) in a bowl, covered in pea soup and topped with tomato sauce (ketchup).
I had to stop reading. I am SO INCREDIBLY SICK of non-Americans acting like all Americans eat this cr*p, when I don’t know a single person who does. Not one. WE ARE NOT A MONOLITH. We have good bread and good chocolate and good cheese available almost everywhere. Can we please stop with this BS? Please?
I didn't think people were trying to say every american eats these. That's not what I think anyway. Also I figured people were more blaming the food companies than american individuals.
Load More Replies... BoredPanda: All Americans live off a diet of deep fried butter, lard, Pop-tarts, and processed cheese-food product.
My american food I do not understand is Cool Whip. Wtf even is that? seems to be mostly corn syrup, oil, and chemicals.
I think the same way. I make homemade whipped cream it is so good!
Load More Replies... This was fun, and with amazingly little blood spilt. :-) General information- one of my history teachers pointed out that when nationalism gets ugly- food- often becomes a focus of insults. That the French eat frogs, and the British eat too much beef, both found reprehensible, and said so loudly. 100 years ago. Similar statements of disgust crop up regularly and too easily become excuses to kill each other. So we're doing well here, I think. :-)
seems like the word Salad in American means something entirely different to the word Salad in English
"Fench dressing". Nothing French about it. Root beer. Tastes like mouthwash to me.
Interesting- in Japan about 50% of folks absolutely loathe root beer- seems a real taste bud variation.
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