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30 Foods That Foreigners Consider To Be Delicacies But For Locals They’re Common, Shared In This Online Group
I guess we can all agree that now it’s easier to get whatever you can think of: accessories, clothing, shoes, electronics, books, magazines, etc., from all around the world. However, there are still some things that are hard to get in a certain country. Especially when we talk about food and drinks.
Reddit users were asked: “What common foods in your country are considered delicacies by foreigners?” The list of things that people love but find hard to get in their country goes on and on, from common things such as tap water or bread to caviar, rare meat, or maple syrup. These not only include products but also various dishes that are hard to make right. One of the things that some people named were French pastries. Even though you can find a baguette or croissant in almost every country, people still find these pastries to be best made by the French. And it seems that people who find them seize the opportunity to savor them as much as possible. So, if you are French, don’t be surprised to see a person with 12 or so baguettes going down the street. Also, some people were surprised to find that caviar is found as a delicacy, while for them, it’s a common food. The question that has almost 47k upvotes received many more funny yet understandable answers.
Do you have any foods that didn't make it to the list? Then don’t forget to leave them in the comments down below!
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Stroopwafel
I'm part Dutch, and I found a small market here (US, Michigan) that sells them. Michigan has a fairly large Dutch population, and I'm starting to see Stroopwafel more regularly. They're lovely.
French here so, a lot of our food. If there's one thing we know how to do, it's exporting our food as fancy delicacies.
The truth is, apart from pastries/desserts which can be pretty complicated to put together (the effort to make even just twelve croissants...), most French food is just peasant stuff spruced up for the modern times. The logic is almost always:
Take a cheap-ish cut of meat
Cook it either in wine or in broth for a few hours with a bunch of onions and whatever herbs grow nearby
Add carrots/potatoes, enjoy
That's the basis for bœuf bourguignon, coq au vin, gigot d'agneau, pot-au-feu, blanquette de veau, etc. If you want to get fancy you can wrap it in pastry, and that's another dozen French specialties right there.
There's not really a way to f**k it up, really. It's meat, cooked at low heat over several hours, with a bunch of aromatic herbs; as long as you've got a sturdy pot and you don't let it dry, you'll get something in the range from edible to delicious.
Water, our tap water is perfect and no local ever buys bottled (iceland)
A lot of people are mentioning the sulfur smell of the hot water, and that depends on the area. For example where I live the hot water comes directly from a nearby hot spring area so naturally its gonna have a smell. Locals dont smell it though.
For drinking water you just need to run the tap for a bit, that will get any hot water outta the pipes and bring you spring water.
i lived in Alaska for awhile and the tap was better than anything bottled
We had some Japanese exchange students at our university in the US, and when they saw the cubed melon on the salad bar (the standard watermelon/cantaloupe/honeydew mix), they thought we were living like royalty. Apparently melon is a really expensive, special occasion food over there.
Hmm, forest berries perhaps.
I live in Finland. We have a lot of forests, so lot of berries such as blueberries and lingonberries. Everyman's Rights mean that you can just go and pick as much as you can find. It's kinda one of those things where if you live near any forested area, and are willing to spent time there come late summer, you'll probably have enough to last until next year in your freezer.
We have so much berries that people from poorer countries (Thailand is a common one for some reason) are hired to pick them up, because doing berrypicking enough to actually profit monetarily is heavy work, and apparently the pay isn't worth it for most Finns.
At the same time, forest berries are considered a superfood around the world, very healthy and trendy. Dunno about actual delicacy status, but definitely a difference in how we think about them.
It is a delicay because they aren't abundant and only in certain climates. I lived in the area around Lake Superior (only u.s. ares with majority Finnish heritage) and tourists are surprised they can just almost wherever they want, and pick berries and mushrooms while they do it. (Though locals don't tell them all the spots, lol) Sigh... miss it.
a good baguette. I've seen american tourist walk out of a bakery with like 12 of them. Slow down dude, they are made all day long, you don't need that many
I have yet to find a local bakery that makes a good, crusty baguette. The last time I had truly good, crusty bread was in France almost 30 years ago.
Hawaii has somehow turned spam into a sought after food, especially by visitors from Japan.
I was amazed at this fact when I first learned it many, many years ago. I guess it's still popular. I'm still amazed. That stuff is foul.
You have to slice thin and fry. It is so good! I have met people that try it straight out of the can and hate it, of course they hate it straight out of the can. Not many people go around eating uncooked hot dogs. You have to fry/cook the spam.
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nothing wrong with a fried spam, egg, cheese sammich - somewhere in Tennessee
I don't get it... my inbox is full of that and I don't like it :(
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Lovely Spam! Wonderful Spam! Lovely Spam! Wonderful Spam Spa-a-a-a-a-a-a-am Spa-a-a-a-a-a-a-am Spa-a-a-a-a-a-a-am Spa-a-a-a-a-a-a-am Lovely Spam! (Lovely Spam!) Lovely Spam! (Lovely Spam!) Lovely Spam! Spam, Spam, Spam, Spam! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mBcY3W5WgNU
I know a lady who found a scribbled recipe in her great-grandmother's attic... she figured out what it was calling for... it sounded so good, she decided to try it... she took a lean pork shoulder & slow cooked it all day, then chilled in fridge overnight... the next day, trimmed the fat and separated the gelatin. She prepared a mix of a half-dozen spices & salt. She ground up chunks of the shoulder with the spice mix & gelatin. She had to grind it twice to get everything evenly mixed. Then she cooked it again in loaf pans. After it had cooled, she tried a slice. She made a face, shed a tear, and the said, "all that work for two days, and I HAVE JUST MADE SPAM!"
I love that they've incorporated a Monty Python lyric into their advertising!
Fried spam done up like an oversized sushi with rice and seaweed to hold it all together. Most amazing meal I had in Okinawa (which is essentially the Hawaii of Japan. And they have the American base there as the first popularization of spam in Okinawa at least
I think it's also because if you live somewhere really hot and humid, surrounded by insane amounts of ocean water with limited farmland, keeping perishables like meat fresh is gonna be a challenge. Necessity is the mother of invention. Fried spam is delicious. My Mom had a recipe for "spam casserole" that was basically a cheese souffle with fried spam and just talking about it is making me crave it.
Spam was brought to Hawaii by soldiers who were stationed there during and after WWII. It was considered a luxury then, and now it's a habit.
Don't downvote people for asking an honest question, kiddies.
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apparently, servicemen in hawai'i intoduced this to the islands and the locals loved it. now, it's seems a lot of islanders love it and the tourists think they are weird. can be prepped in so many good ways but my fav is sliced thin & fried crisp
It's appreciated when someone says they just don't like something rather than outright call it foul. Others who like it...are they foul? Or something else amiss? Also, too effing salty for dogs...even 70some years ago
Yeah. People are both self righteous about their choices and judgmental. It's so great. Lol.
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Spam is fancy in Hong Kong too. There are nice holiday baskets of it, etc.
This started out in WW2. The American soldiers shared it with people over in Hawaii. And it is considered a national food. It's pretty popular in Asia too.
Spam is a wonderful food for English people of a certain age. I haven't eaten it since I was 10. I won't eat it again in case I shatter the memory.
Never have eaten it. My grandparents always had it at their house, so I thought it was one of those things older people ate.
I love thinly sliced fried spam with creamy buttery grits and eggs. Heavenly
Spam is crazy expensive in Korea as well. I'll eat it but I won't BUY it!
My mum used to try and stuff it down me in England during WW2 (guess it was cheap). The dog loved it!
There used to be a slightly similar product in Australia called Camp Pie. it was vile.
I remember getting something spam like in c rations. No desire to eat it ever again.
Erk...I heard at some Hawaiian stores they limit how many CASES of Spam you can buy at once. My stomach turns at the mere mention of the stuff.
I worked for a charity in Iraq for a year and we'd buy a dozen lamb chops for the equivalent of $5. That's like $60 to buy in the US and it's worse quality.
UK here. I used to love eating cheap cuts of meat, oxtail etc. However, because TV chefs championed these cuts, it drove the prices up.
Good french pastries and stuff like croissant and "pain au chocolat", we call them "viennoiserie" in french, no idea if there is a specific word for it in english.
Obviously in France they are super easy to find in any bakery and they are cheaper. It's so common that honestly not a lot of people do go buy some croissants every day.
Macarons are also relatively easy to find, usually they are made in special shops but some bakery do make them.
Oh, and if you go to France or go to a (GOOD) french bakery in your country, try a Paris-Brest . You will not regret it.
Speculaas/Speculoos/Biscoff cookies. Delicacy might be a big word but people seem to loose their minds over these cookies.
They're originally from Belgium & the Netherlands.
Jamón serrano, here in Spain is really common and you can find very good product for a very affordable price.
Halloumi cheese. It's a huge staple in Cyprus and we eat it all the times but in the US I only ever see it as Barbaques and sometimes at exotic cheese plates.
For the halloumi lovers out there try white bread, halloumi and strawberry jam. You are welcome
Try halloumi with watermelon. A groundbreaking combo that is the staple of many summer evenings
It was supposed to be caviar, but now it's also unaffordable for us. cries in Russian
A friend of mine went to Russia probably 15 years ago--they stuffed themselves with caviar, and they said it was cheap, cheap, cheap, cheap. I'm sorry to hear this has changed.
Fried Chicken, it's actually become a special holiday meal in countries like japan where you have to reserve your bucket weeks in advance! (mainly because of clever marketing)
But here, people would laugh so hard at that, cause it's just fried chicken!
Not exactly true it isn't really a special occasion meal, you can get Karaage chicken or KFC at any time any place in Japan, but it is true that for some reason it has become a popular tradition to have Fried Chicken (often KFC) at christmas time, and yes, people do order and reserve their buckets well in advance. xP
I'm from Russia and I had an acquaintance who was going to marry an Irish guy. They lived in Russia for some time the guy went completely bonkers for caviar of capelin fish. It's not really a delicacy, it's not rare or expensive at all (probably approx $2.5-3 a can) but he liked it so much he wanted to bring a crate of it for their wedding in Europe. Needless to say his soon to be wife wife was not amused (imagine wanting to bring a crate of peanut butter or something to your wedding).
Russians used to ask me to bring peanut butter from the states all the time before it was available in stores
Do maple syrup or poutine count? I know at the least, in university I had a friend who came up from the US and thought poutine was the greatest thing ever. Honestly, I'm kind of surprised more of the US hasn't adopted it. Fries, cheese curds, and gravy, sounds more like an American thing. Not sure what other country's opinions on it are.
Reindeer meat, wild blueberries and cloudberries.
Finland, I presume? I've had venison before, but not had reindeer meat/venison until visiting finland, oddly enough the first time I had it was on a pizza at Kotipizza in Helsinki, the first time I flew over there to meet my now-fiance.
Barbecue.
I live in Texas and any time anyone comes from out of state we HAVE to go get barbecue.
I live in Japan but I’m from the US. Whenever I go back home I buy a few bags of Lindt chocolates from the drugstore as souvenirs. They’re dirt cheap in the US, but for whatever reason they’re a luxury chocolate in Japan, and the same bags would cost $30 here.
As Italian living in Germany I can say that basically every food from my culture is considered fancy here.
A couple of days ago I saw an Arancino ( cheap fried rice cake ) sold for 5€
In Italy a good Arancino is 1€
Butter Chicken.
As an Indian staying in Europe, I hate butter chicken because it has taken over Indian cuisine in Europe and noone wants to try the real stuff.
Depends on how you define "the real stuff". The version of Butter Chicken you are eating in Europe has existed almost as long as the ones in India. The dish has only existed since the 1950s. It isn't like it is some sort of traditional food that pre-dates European contact.
Depending on where in the US you live, lobster, king crab, Dungeness crab, abalone, spotted prawns, geoduck, etc. can be pretty cheap, normal food but for foreigners they go nuts over these things because they are so expensive elsewhere.
Right? When i lived in Alaska, things like crab/salmon were dirt cheap. we used to just go to the docks and buy it for literally nothing. but elsewhere....$$$$$
Krainer wurst or carniolan sausage, protected by EU for being slovenian speciality that can only be made here but loved and eaten by milions of germans and austrians.
It's the name that can't be used if made outside of Slovenia and sold commercialy not the actual sausage.
An indian prepared bajji on master chef Australia
Bajji is available at every 5 blocks or so.
The whole recipe is cut onion/potato, coat it with gramflour and spice and fry. Indians who saw that surely laughed
(In south indian states bhaji is called bajji)
We used to do the same but with wheat flour. Called them scallops. Yes we were poor and inland. But bhaji and pakiras are good stuff. Though I usually grate the potatoes.
Pheasant. I grew up in South Dakota and we hunted pheasants every day during the season. In college it was a cheap source of food and ate it all the time. In Central and South American countries it is a delicacy and people could not believe I ate it every day.
Once upon a time, the same could be said for the UK - pheasants are still everywhere, but it seems like it's not exactly a popular dish unless you're one of those "uppity" rich country folk like that...
Especially in my region its called "blutwurst" roughly translated as "blood sausage" or "black pudding" and i hate it
Black Pudding or blood sausages are common in the UK too, I think it's common all over Europe and some asian countries, such as Korea with it's "Sundae" have equivalents, I personally love it!
are quail eggs delicacies? because I could just buy them at a grocery store here like normal eggs but I rarely ever hear of them anywhere else
Can buy them cheap in grocery stores in Russia too. In the US I think they are expensive
Note: this post originally had 50 images. It’s been shortened to the top 30 images based on user votes.
I gave up reading this list. Why would you leave a comment about "here" without telling us where "here" is? It's not a guessing game. I'd be interested in your entry if you just told me which freaking country you're talking about. Basic writing 101. WHOOOSH!
Every time I travel to North Europe I'm shocked how expensive are the tomatoes the cucumbers the potatoes and this staff... in Greece these are really cheap!! Same with feta cheese which I'm expecting it would be more expensive but in some countries is extreme i think...
Among many other things, I think it would be wine for us. I live in a region in northern Italy where you can get a glass of wine for 1 euro. And it is very common and usual to have wine during dinner in normal households, it's just part of the culture and not a special treat.
Where is this magical place and how do I get there
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no mention of haggis? its banned in america but thats their loss. and vegetarian haggis just isn't haggis
Really? It's not banned in Canada, I can't imagine why it would be.
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Sacher cake from Vienna, the real one from the Hotel Sacher. As far as I know, no one from Vienna eats it. It's dry, crumbly, and expensive. It's only the tourists that go nuts over it.
Wow, I thought that local people liked it that way. I tasted the original one in Vienna years ago. But honestly I prefer the "false Sacher" they made in my usual supermarket in Italy because they use much more apricot jam. I love the version with extra jam
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In Maine it's Lobster. "Out of staters" come here and spend like $100 for two people when us "locals" get them for free because we all know someone with a lobster boat.
exact same scenario here in alaska (except fish not lobster).
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My mother use to tell me that growing up in Prince Edward Island, Canada; if you went to school with lobster sandwiches you were considered poor and laughed at.
I worked in Burundi a few times. One of the worlds poorest countries but super fertile. The local crew always found it hilarious how much the uk people paid for a pitifully small avocado while their huge ones grew with abundance.
Salmon. It is expensive in Texas and a delicacy on the level of a beef steak. I think I just paid $10 a lb at the local grocery for it. When we went to Whistler, BC they had it on hamburger buns real cheap.
Artichokes are in Germany delicatessen, but here in Greece its a common cheap meal..
I didn't know they were a delicatessen somewhere. I love them but they're almost considered a "poor" thing, because you left on the plate more than you eat.
Load More Replies... Decent steak in China. Imported from the U.S., Australia and South America it can cost a fortune.
The Australian Coat of Arms has two animals on it ... a Kangaroo and an Emu...We eat both of them.... and so can you. 96cib1_1-6...5ae0ad.jpg 
A bucket of Kentucky Fried Emu drumsticks must be something to behold.
Load More Replies... Can I just say that the delicious bottle of Serah that I bought in Paris for $5 would be $30 here.
Tomato jam. Once in a while someone will make it in one of the American or British cooking shows and everyone will ooh and aah like it's ever so creative, but it's such a staple here in Portugal you'd be hard pressed to find a brand of jams that doesn't sell tomato jam.
SALMIAKKI! A very special black licorice type of treat from Finland. Totally different than salted licorice- I'm obsessed with it- one of my Finnish friends and I do a snack exchange- I send hot sauce from Arizona, and he sends Salmiak! Winning!
Throughout Scandinavia it's just known as bog-standard salt liquorice.
Load More Replies... In the UK, "craft beers" have been a thing since forever. Tell me what bitter you drink and I can tell you where in the country you come from, sometimes which exact town. This is not a rare skill. Very ordinary pubs will usually stock a selection of local brews and at least one or two "guest ales". Then it got trendy in the rest of the world, and we were like...great, my grandad's a hipster now. Nobody tell him about flat caps and rimless glasses, ok?
My neck of the woods is spoiled for choice : Abalone and Local Oysters... Award winning Fresh farmers and aged cheese, mead made from herbal honeys from local farms... Farmstand eggs where you can watch the Great Pyrenees act as chicken security guards as they graze freely, and line caught smoked fishes(trout and salmon) ... Dungeness crabs... My stomach loves Northern California...Best suggestion for the culinarily curious : Favorite Avocado's EVER :Reed, huge rock hard softballs in a gorgeous green that turn black and buttery when ripe... Only available a few months of the year and get very expensive but worth every penny!
Everything mentioned here is available in Toronto, except for the crayfish, and I could be wrong about that.
I gave up reading this list. Why would you leave a comment about "here" without telling us where "here" is? It's not a guessing game. I'd be interested in your entry if you just told me which freaking country you're talking about. Basic writing 101. WHOOOSH!
Every time I travel to North Europe I'm shocked how expensive are the tomatoes the cucumbers the potatoes and this staff... in Greece these are really cheap!! Same with feta cheese which I'm expecting it would be more expensive but in some countries is extreme i think...
Among many other things, I think it would be wine for us. I live in a region in northern Italy where you can get a glass of wine for 1 euro. And it is very common and usual to have wine during dinner in normal households, it's just part of the culture and not a special treat.
Where is this magical place and how do I get there
Load More Replies... no mention of haggis? its banned in america but thats their loss. and vegetarian haggis just isn't haggis
Really? It's not banned in Canada, I can't imagine why it would be.
Load More Replies... Sacher cake from Vienna, the real one from the Hotel Sacher. As far as I know, no one from Vienna eats it. It's dry, crumbly, and expensive. It's only the tourists that go nuts over it.
Wow, I thought that local people liked it that way. I tasted the original one in Vienna years ago. But honestly I prefer the "false Sacher" they made in my usual supermarket in Italy because they use much more apricot jam. I love the version with extra jam
Load More Replies... In Maine it's Lobster. "Out of staters" come here and spend like $100 for two people when us "locals" get them for free because we all know someone with a lobster boat.
exact same scenario here in alaska (except fish not lobster).
Load More Replies... My mother use to tell me that growing up in Prince Edward Island, Canada; if you went to school with lobster sandwiches you were considered poor and laughed at.
I worked in Burundi a few times. One of the worlds poorest countries but super fertile. The local crew always found it hilarious how much the uk people paid for a pitifully small avocado while their huge ones grew with abundance.
Salmon. It is expensive in Texas and a delicacy on the level of a beef steak. I think I just paid $10 a lb at the local grocery for it. When we went to Whistler, BC they had it on hamburger buns real cheap.
Artichokes are in Germany delicatessen, but here in Greece its a common cheap meal..
I didn't know they were a delicatessen somewhere. I love them but they're almost considered a "poor" thing, because you left on the plate more than you eat.
Load More Replies... Decent steak in China. Imported from the U.S., Australia and South America it can cost a fortune.
The Australian Coat of Arms has two animals on it ... a Kangaroo and an Emu...We eat both of them.... and so can you. 96cib1_1-6...5ae0ad.jpg
A bucket of Kentucky Fried Emu drumsticks must be something to behold.
Load More Replies... Can I just say that the delicious bottle of Serah that I bought in Paris for $5 would be $30 here.
Tomato jam. Once in a while someone will make it in one of the American or British cooking shows and everyone will ooh and aah like it's ever so creative, but it's such a staple here in Portugal you'd be hard pressed to find a brand of jams that doesn't sell tomato jam.
SALMIAKKI! A very special black licorice type of treat from Finland. Totally different than salted licorice- I'm obsessed with it- one of my Finnish friends and I do a snack exchange- I send hot sauce from Arizona, and he sends Salmiak! Winning!
Throughout Scandinavia it's just known as bog-standard salt liquorice.
Load More Replies... In the UK, "craft beers" have been a thing since forever. Tell me what bitter you drink and I can tell you where in the country you come from, sometimes which exact town. This is not a rare skill. Very ordinary pubs will usually stock a selection of local brews and at least one or two "guest ales". Then it got trendy in the rest of the world, and we were like...great, my grandad's a hipster now. Nobody tell him about flat caps and rimless glasses, ok?
My neck of the woods is spoiled for choice : Abalone and Local Oysters... Award winning Fresh farmers and aged cheese, mead made from herbal honeys from local farms... Farmstand eggs where you can watch the Great Pyrenees act as chicken security guards as they graze freely, and line caught smoked fishes(trout and salmon) ... Dungeness crabs... My stomach loves Northern California...Best suggestion for the culinarily curious : Favorite Avocado's EVER :Reed, huge rock hard softballs in a gorgeous green that turn black and buttery when ripe... Only available a few months of the year and get very expensive but worth every penny!
Everything mentioned here is available in Toronto, except for the crayfish, and I could be wrong about that.
