30 ‘American’ Foods That Are Nasty According To Non-Americans
Interview With Author
When it comes to food, it seems like pretty much everyone has a strong opinion. It’s difficult not to be picky about what goes in your mouth and stomach. And when it comes to other countries' cuisines and the quality of ingredients, you’ll find that many folks are incredibly vocal about their likes and dislikes. Mainly the latter.
Redditor u/ergoegthatis asked non-Americans to share what American foods, in their opinion, are the ‘nastiest.’ We’ve collected some of their posts to show you the range of opinions others have about US food. Scroll down and be sure to voice your own thoughts in the comments, Pandas. What American food do you love the most? What do you absolutely hate? There are a lot of options to choose from.
Oh, and just to be completely open and honest with you, Pandas: we absolutely looove having a cheeky American meal… from time to time. Pretty much every country has its culinary stars and kitchen disasters—and a lot depends on personal taste and the lifestyle you enjoy leading. So take everyone’s opinion with a grain of salt. Usually, the issue isn’t with the food item or dish itself, so much as the low quality of the ingredients, the portion size, and whether you gobble everything up or eat slowly. Enjoying. Every. Single. Bite.
Bored Panda reached out to redditor u/ergoegthatis, and we had a friendly chat about the wide range of American food, what dishes they did and didn't enjoy at home and abroad, and why they definitely recommend traveling and broadening one's horizons.
"I was traveling outside the US and tried the cheeses there and they were a world of difference from the cheese-like substitutes we have in the US, which look and taste disgusting now compared to authentic cheeses. I look at them and think, 'Am I the only one grossed out by these fake cheeses?' A few days later, I came across an old news story about a famous donut company that turned its signature glazed donut into a drink, which also sounds nasty and not just because of how horribly unhealthy it is," they explained what drove them to create the thread in the first place. (We have to agree, cheese elsewhere is far better!)
Remember: everything in moderation; even food critiques!
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In redditor u/ergoegthatis' experience, American cuisine is "radically different" from what they've seen around the world.
"The emphasis in American food is on taste and speed. This doesn't mean all of American food is like this," they pointed out.
"The US is huge with a lot of different foods such as jambalaya, chili, gumbo, Kentucky burgoo, shrimp and grits, Brunswick stew, and many other dishes with history. But there is definitely a characteristic that has been influencing a lot of American food which is speed and taste," the author of the thread shared with us.
"This also affected how we eat: quickly, in massive portions. In other countries I traveled to, I noticed many eat slowly and enjoy the food while making conversation. They also have much healthier food, more plant ingredients, and less sugar/flour/additives."
Those Midwestern "fruit salads" where half of the ingredients is marshmallow fluff or mini marshmallows, Jello, whipped cream... I have a high tolerance for American food, but I cannot handle these, or even comprehend why and how they exist.
I'm with you on that. I don't see it around much these days so hopefully people got the hint it's gross and that we shouldn't abuse fruit like that
However, it's not like everything is automatically delicious abroad. "Dishes I didn't like abroad were some super pungent cheeses in Europe, sheep tripe in the Middle East, and excessive use of coconut in Asian countries," they opened up to Bored Panda. "I'm used to this being part of desserts but there it's added to even savory dishes."
The redditor has a lot of favorite American dishes, too, and it's going to be very relatable to most of you Pandas. "My mom's cooking of course! Nothing greater in the whole world. Brown rice and seasoned chicken/lamb is her specialty. Other American dishes I love are Philly cheesesteak (with real cheese only), grits with butter, and Texas barbecue." There's absolutely nothing like a homemade meal, prepared with love.
"I'd like to add some advice to everyone, especially Americans: travel! Get a passport and travel. There's a whole world out there of culture, art, history, relaxation, and of course, food. The US is large and diverse but that is not enough. If you don't travel to many other countries, you have not lived," the OP urged.
Those cakes that have large amounts of fondant on them. The time and talent it would take to make one of these cakes is unreal but fondant is just nasty tasting in my opinion. That was not meant to offend anyone.
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.
I hate this soooooo much. Fortunately, they're putting out more products without high fructose corn syrup. I really wish we'd stop putting that cráp in everything
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.
I heard they tried to sell it abroad, but it was illegal to call it bread bc of the sugar content.
Denmark has banned American bread from being sold as bread. It has to be sold as cake as it has such a high sugar content.
I thought that was the bread at SubWay sandwiches. Not surprised if it's all the "white American bread" though.
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I lived in the US for some time. I bought "bread" and forgot about it. Found it 6 months later, still lookin' fresh. Learned my lesson and never bought "bread" again, I am not eating something that even mold wouldn't touch!
Which bread are they talking about? We have multiple kinds...rye, wheat, Italian, white bread, dark rye, etc,
The white bread in a bag you get from the supermarket. It's incredibly, incredibly sweet,, like cake. The same cheap white bread in Australia isn't sweet at all.
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Buy real bread in a bakery and not from a plastic bag on a store shelf. Real bakeries sell baguettes and other delicious breads. Stay away from ALL prepackaged baked goods.
I always roll my eyes at these posts. Does this kind of bread exist in America? Yes. Does every American eat it? No. It is so easy to find well made, delicious bread in any major city. Maybe smaller cities it can be harder. But big cities sell legitimate bread in every grocery store. And the nicer grocery stores have proper bakery breads like sourdough or rye etc with high quality ingredients.
$7 for a loaf of Dave's killer bread or $13 for an artisan bread or $4 for "cheap" 2cups of sugar bread that will last 3 weeks. Minimum wage for a loaf of bread is ridiculous
What bread are you talking about? We have all kinds of bread not just sliced white bread in plastic. You can buy good bread even in grocery stores and Costco. The non white bread varieties are generally good like whole wheat, whole grain, 7 grains, bread with seeds, oat bread, etc.
Recently on holiday in Florida and was astonished that I couldn't find "normal" bread in Publix or Walmart - all just these bizarre, synthetic sweet loaves. Not at all pleasant for making sandwiches.
Sadly, this is starting to creep into the UK in the form of too many cooks in pubs and other outlets, thinking that serving a burger in a Brioche bun is acceptable - it is NOT !!!
I agree. Found it quite difficult to get plain burger buns when BBQing this summer, and not flipping brioche buns. I don't dislike brioche but I don't want to stick a burger in one.
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My late wife was from Scotland and hated American bread because it was too sweet. Finally found a recipe for our bread machine for British bread and it was the only one she would eat.
Massed produced white “bread” is just one of many bread types available in the US. Why is the worst type somehow the American bread? There are great breads that are sold everywhere.
American here, and nobody that I know eats the c**p plain white bread. Nobody. Unfortunately, those that do tend to purchase it are the ones buying it because it is so cheap and they can feed their kids longer with a 99 cent loaf of white bread then with a smaller more expensive $4+ loaf of wheat, whole grain, rye etc.
Call me a freak but I like butter on my bread. Therefore my bread has to be sturdy like a whole grain bread. Fortunately I live in Germany. P.S. I also have a Sandwich maker and sometimes I just love this 'American' bread with ham, salami, cheese and flavours. Delish! P.P.S. OK, I confess - it's also almost forbidden good with Nutella. Shout out to Italy for inventing it! You sneaky bastards! ;)
Subway bread is legally classed as a cake in Ireland because of its sugar content. There should be no sugar in bread. Not a single grain. Ever. Why?!
I used to be a wonder bread kid…. Now I’m a grown up and use Sara Lee Honey wheat bread. True has more sugar than it needs to be. But the sugar industry has leached sugar in all food products for over 60 years. Now most of us have a sugar addiction. The food industry is making bank off of our unhealthy eating habits. And the FDA doesn’t regulate it like it should. Now you know why were overweight.
There are bakeries that make decent bread, you just have to make a concerted effort to get it.
In Ireland, bread like this would literally be classified as cake due to the high amount of sugar in the bread.
My local Walmart has lots of fresh baked bread. You have to eat it within a few days, or it goes bad
Ooh wonder bread. Ate this for the first half of my life then my parents started buying better bread. I find myself craving a pb & j with this bread sometimes though
Of course, our export of fast-food restaurants has nothing to do with haute cuisine, but most young people around the world seem to prefer it to home cooking. And damned near every grocery store in Europe has a whole shelf of 'toast', from the cheap stuff to 'Bio'..
Mass grocery stores are not usually where you buy quality bread. House of Bread here locally is amazing. I make my own from time to time but it's super nice to have fantastic bread right down the street.
I liked the bread when I was in America, but it gave me indigestion.
Apropo bread, the most disgusting thing I've ever tasted is a European 'bagel'. For people that invented something, they no longer have any idea how to make them edible. A fresh bagel purchased in the US is probably the closest thing to the 'food of the gods'. That said, you may now withdraw all your ridiculous comments about American food.
Actually I find in the US there's a better selection than most any place I've been in the world, most places have their favorite bread and that's the only one available and that's the only one they eat
I'm going out on a limb here and guess you've not been to Germany yet...?
Load More Replies...Be honest, Pandas, are we the only ones craving artisanal cheeses with a side of junk food? It’s perfectly fine to have a cheat meal once in a while. But if your entire diet consists of sugary snacks, meals dripping with saturated fat, with no fiber to be seen anywhere, you’re probably wrecking your health.
Unfortunately, the cold hard truth is that the people living in the United States have pretty awful dietary habits. Far from everyone; but most. The CDC found that 73.6% of all American adults over the age of 20 were either overweight or obese. Meanwhile, 41.9% of adults are considered to be obese. Nobody deserves to be body-shamed. However, obesity shouldn’t be celebrated, considering the health risks it poses.
Obesity leads to a far lower-quality life and increases one’s health risks. It can lead to serious health conditions such as high blood pressure, diabetes, heart disease, stroke, cancer, clinical depression, and others.
Though there are various other factors to consider when it comes to health and obesity (e.g. genetics, eating disorders), the general tendency is that Americans eat poorly, live more sedentary lives, and simply don’t exercise enough. However, this health crisis isn’t a purely American one. For example, the NHS reports that in the UK, two-thirds of adults are overweight or obese.
That Thanksgiving dish Americans love with marshmallows on top of sweet potatoes — it sounds and looks disgusting.
Some of the savoury Jello recipes from the 50s and 60s look grim.
the chocolate out there is FOUL
unfortunately true. I'm so glad I moved to Panamá and live on a chocolate farm. Totally serious; suck on cacao seeds all the time for a snack.
In the US, the FDA has a reactive approach to food standards inspections. What this means is that food additives are allowed, unless they’re proven to be harmful. Meanwhile, in Europe, the exact opposite happens: regulations are stricter. Additives must be proven to be unharmful before they’re allowed to be used in food items.
According to Politico, the FDA is pretty much a hot mess. “Food is not a high priority at the Food and Drug Administration. [...] Over the years, the food side of FDA has been so ignored and grown so dysfunctional that even former FDA commissioners readily acknowledged problems. There’s a long running joke among officials: The ‘F’ in FDA is silent,” writes Helena Bottemiller Evich.
Overall, this means that food grown and manufactured in the US is more likely to have growth hormones and chemical preservatives in them. This isn’t good news for someone who wants to lead a healthy and happy lifestyle! Compare the food that the US is known for with that from, say, Italy, Spain, or Japan. The cultural difference, when it comes to the culinary arts, is massive: quality local ingredients and smaller portion sizes (among other important factors!) result in a higher quality of life. And the life expectancy speaks for itself.
In the US, the average life expectancy is 74.5 years. Compare that to 81.6 years in Japan, 80.1 years in Italy, and 79.7 years in Spain. The difference is staggering. However much we might like that fake orange cheese, it really isn’t good for us.
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.
Boiled peanuts. My wife loves them and every time we drove through South Carolina we had to stop and buy them. The stench was so bad I would have to roll the windows down. Those peanuts and Lindsey Graham are on my top two hate list for that state.
I think I would eat boiled peanuts before I would eat Lindsey Graham.
Chinese Canadian. I'm going to provoke a lot of proud Southerners with this. Sweet tea is sugar water with a hint of tea.
My first experience of sweet tea was at a Floridian McDonald's. I ordered iced tea and I got the question of "sweet or unsweet?" I'm dying of the heat and humidity (Canadians don't do well in hot weather) and I wanted slightly sweetened tea and I didn't know the history of sweet tea (sugar was expensive so people showed off by mixing diabetes inducing amounts of the stuff into their tea) so I was expecting anything but a sugar syrup in a cup.
I went back and bought a bottle of water. If a 12 year old with no easy access to sugar thinks it's too sweet to drink, it is.
Also, any mayo based salad! Ewww.
I had a deep-fried Mars bar at a festival in America the first time I ever visited and I'm reasonably sure it's going to give a few of my ancestors diabetes
Twizzlers, I found some in a shop in London and decided to buy some, they were the nastiest things I'd ever tasted and for the price I paid for them, I'm disappointed
When they introduce me chicago pizza something in me died, that should not be called pizza is just a devil fat pie.
You know the expression “There’s no such thing as bad sex or bad pizza” your pizza is like sex with a corpse made of sandpaper. LET ME TELL YOU SOMETHING! THIS IS NOT PIZZA! THIS IS TOMATO SOUP IN A BREAD BOWL! THIS- IS AN ABOVE GROUND MARINARA SWIMMING POOL FOR RATS! Let me tell you something about your f**k!ng NOT PIZZA! I wanna know when I get drunk and pass out on my pizza that I’m not gonna drown. Let me tell you something! I look at this-! MMMARGH! YOU SONOFAB!TCH! I LOOK AT THIS! MEEEAUGH! GABBA-GOO! I look at this— When I look at your deep dish f**k!ng pizza I don’t know whether to eat it or throw a coin in it and make a wish. AND IF I MADE A WISH IT WOULD BE THAT I WISH FOR SOME REAAAL F**K!NG PIZZA!
Their dessert. I lived there for 3 years and the amount of sugar they dump into their desserts are mindblowing. Beautiful to look at but holy s**t were they sweet as hell.
And that's the reason I learned how to bake. Everything you buy here is too freaking sweet and I can't handle it; sometimes it makes me gag when I try a dessert
The felt obsession with anything deep-fried is unnerving to me. There's a good few things that are excellent deep-fried, don't get me wrong, but putting literally anything in batter and frying it seems... self-destructive at best.
sometimes I think it's just curiosity! Like I see something I love that's deep fried... I wonder what it'll taste like ngl. Especially at fun events like festivals. It's not like we're eating it all the time
I tried a big-name American chocolate brand once but couldn’t eat it due to the vomit smell and taste.
At this end of the galaxy-scale: Belgian chocolate. At the other end: American chocolate.
I find biscuits and gravy to be absolutely disgusting. But I'd like to counter-balance that by adding how crazy delicious corn bread is and why on earth hasn't it become a staple here in Europe? It's SO yummy!
I love fresh homemade biscuits and gravy. I do find that in restaurants the gravy is usually too salty, has too much flour or is a congealed glop so I'll only have it if I make it. Also, cornbread with a little maple butter is heavenly
I hate scrapple. There's a reason the word 'crap' is in the middle of it.
American here, absolutely DESPISE pre-packaged frosting. It’s either as hard as a rock or a liquid. Don’t know what they put in that stuff but it’s just awful.
My son and I may be considered weird here but we're ok with it. We both despise frosting/icing. Nope, not gonna eat it on cake, not gonna like the frosting knife or stick our finger in the bowl to taste. It's mostly lard/shortening and a touch of flavor with food coloring. Fondant? Oh, hell no. We will scrape a cake until it crumbles to get it off so we can eat it. If I make cake or cupcakes at home I leave about half unfrosted for us to enjoy. We do actually like the frosting made with whipped cream (real, not the Cool Whip c**p in a bowl) but we eat it in a thin layer. I also will sometimes bake cakes with chocolate or caramel chips, different fruits, or even pudding in the mix if we want a little more flavor at times. To each their own, I suppose!😉
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
dove chocolate - 10/10. Their dark chocolate is perfect if you don't want something too sweet
Corn dog
Note: this post originally had 33 images. It’s been shortened to the top 30 images based on user votes.
At the risk of having Americans, & perhaps others, grab tar, feathers & pitchforks, oreos are highly overrated!
I'm an American and fully agree that they're nasty.
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Im an American and j think the only thing I've had on this list is pancakes, pop tarts, and maybe one more i forgot lol, ive never met a sane American whos touched one of the more vile items on thjs list (canned whole chicken)
we've had a lot of these here in south africa due to watching americans eat it on TV. we always regret it. lol.
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For people calling out the "America bashing" on BP. I love these posts. I don't think the inability to take a step back and laugh at the country as a whole (or even regionally) is a healthy way to go about life. Overblown "patriotism" or the whole "America is the best" concept doesn't make you cool or edgy, it just furthers the stereotype that Americans are stupid and self obsessed. Personally, these types of posts are a humorous little escape from the current state of the country. Also, of all the posts to complain about, why are you choosing to complain about the one based on food? SMH.
I loved reading this topic, and it doesn't irk me personally, but I think what gets some people, maybe, judging by the comments, is that BP frequently celebrates this country or that country, but when it comes to bashing what's bad about a country, it always seems to be The US. While this isn't really always true (I've seen other countries get bashed), it's not completely untrue either (since, yeah, it's usually the US).
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Good root beer is amazing but I grew up on it. Good root beer float (root beer + vanilla ice cream) is amazing. But to me Vegamite is foul while Aussies love it. It's what you're used to.
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I would like to downvote this entire post. I'm bloody fed up with US bashing.
It would be far more effective to not comment altogether. if we all stopped commenting and completely ignored these lists then Bored Panda would get the message far more quickly. They rely on comments and clicks to sell the advertising. The problem is that it generates a LOT of attention and comments normally and it doesn't matter very much from the advertising point of view if they're all condemning the article. Even my writing this comment adds to it all.
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Why does bored panda continue to call out Americans on different subjects? I’m British and there are some gross foods eaten in our country.
yes, you do have haggis and blood pudding, but that's the scots.
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From an European point of view, none of the American food is considered as food.
what the f**k is your guys problem with Americans? I get that some of our stuff is weird to other people but you dont see entire articles dedicated to dunking on other nationalities like the Chinese or Brazilians or anyone else!
And let’s not forget the Chinese have a festival where they eat DOGS!!!! You can watch the whole process on YouTube if you can stomach it.
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American colon cancer survivor here. Pretty sure the food here caused my cancer. 5 years in remission. Just had my 5th reconstructive abdominal surgery (I'm literally stuck in bed on my back healing rn) Planning to move out of the US asap. I'd like to survive to old age thanks. Eff the FDA.
try france. They smoke and don't get as much cancer.
Load More Replies... I’m American, and I agree with this list, except for 32, 33, and whatever number ranch was. There’s too much c**p in our food that shouldn’t be there in the first place, and nearly everything has added sugar. This is a decent chunk why the majority of the population is overweight.
A lot of this stuff is a matter of taste. The main exception is the savoury jello
No one is saying that no-one likes them. It's just the rest of the world is disbelieving that ANYONE likes them. But we all like things that we grew up with no matter how terrible. People in the US do seem to like sweet things more than most, or at least their palates have been normalised to more sugar/sweetness.
Load More Replies... The issue with lists like these is that they ignore the deeper sociopolitical factors that contribute to the existence and creation of these foods; namely poverty and ignorance. It’s sad to make fun of these foods while making sweeping generalizations about Americans, ignoring that a lot of these are eaten out of necessity, accessibility, and lack of education—factors that are out of many people’s control. High quality foods exist throughout America, especially in big cities where you can get pretty much any kind of food from any cuisine around the world.
Let’s not also forget some people live in food deserts and fresh produce for a family of four is wildly expensive with inflation.
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The straw man is strong in this one. Most Americans think this stuff is trash too, with a few exceptions that require cultural context. Stop conflating novelties, generic knockoffs, carnival confections and cheap c**p foisted upon Americans with stuff we actually want or value.
Good grief... again. Some American stuff is gross. This just in- there is gross stuff from around the world! Also, there is lost of amazing food in the US just as there is in... Every. Country. On. Earth. Most of us American don't like most of the stuff on this list. Some of this items are just not true, some are extremely uncommon while others are subjective. My wife loves biscuits and gravy while I don't care for it. Why not have this list for I dunno, every country on earth. FFS BP...
I wouldn't exactly call this an interview with "the writer", unless you're using buzzfeed standards (writer is someone who can copy and paste). Also, you've published this same article dozens of times - why again?
I think there is really just one post of things non-Americans think are gross and they just rearrange the order
And to think I had the impression that BP was done with US bashing posts. Oh well.
Most people in the US are great. But then SOME people say "The US is number one! We are the greatest!" and we have had US tv show propaganda, all the way from the black and white Lone Ranger telling us how great the US is. So occasionally we push back.
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I think we're picking on the Yanks too much! In the name of fairness we should make a list like this for every country. Every country has / does c**p that other countries don't like. Except the Swiss.
Yeah, most of us don’t eat this stuff either. Except biscuits & gravy, I love biscuits & gravy. But look, every country has foods that foreigners think are gross.
Is it funny that biscuits and gravy are great but poutine isn't? It's almost the same thing, gravy on a carb, but instead of biscuits it's fries.
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It was a trip to Germany that I discovered this myself. Thank goodness for Aldi!
While I agree many "American foods" are "nasty", I can say the same of foods I've had on other continents. And that counts Europe. Examples just from Europe: Nutella; liverwurst; any blood soup; eels (jellied or otherwise). (Examples from USA: orange-colored anything that isn't in the produce section; some hate peanut butter; breakfast cereals that are designed to create a market for insulin). From outside my native US, also poutine (sorry, Quebec, but no); and queen ants. ( I did try those. Oh. My. No.) The idea, however, that the US is the only center of c**p food is silly. Plenty of high-fat/sugar/etc. all around, and often as "snacks". So, please, relax and stop the judging.
I can't understand why Americans take perfectly good food and absolutely ruin it for example cheese, chocolate, coffee, bread and meat to name a few
Rens, I've never cooked for you. I can assure you that I serve good cheese, chocolate coffee and bread. You would be happy with what I served you. You are making sweeping generalizations. I'm Greek American and while I love Greek food, in Greece they put instant coffee and sugar on cold water, stir it up and call it a frappe... and people love it while to me it tastes like bad instant coffee from the 1960s! But I would never try to pin "disgusting coffee" on the Greeks... because they also have amazing coffee just like we have amazing, cheese, chocolate, bread, etc.
Load More Replies... I think towards the end it's more of "you haven't had the right one". Like the sweet tea. Who f*****g judges all sweet tea from McDonald's??? Someone who doesn't understand sweet tea I'd say.
A message to BP from America... Eh hem. Go f*** yourselves. That will be all. Thank you.
I have noticed that in American recipes for savoury dishes, there is sugar in EVERYTHING! A tiny pinch a tomato dish to cut through the acidity, sure. But 4 tablespoons in a curry? (legit recipe I made a couple of weeks ago from the Food Network site) WHY!?! NO!
Bookmarking Rannveig Ess's (don't / care) Reply: Yes, Andrew...wouldn't that be interesting? I'd love to hear what everyone ELSE in the world also finds disguting in their countries. Wouldn't it be great if this was just put out there as a topic for everyone to contribute to, instead of the usual US bashing? There are entire YT sites showing people from other countries eating the foods from other countries and the wild disgust of it. But nooooo. BP has to cut and paste it about food now? How about : Shirako in Japan. Dried pig blood tofu in China. Kangaroo in Australia. Tuna eyeballs in Japan. Balut, developing duck embryo boiled in its shell, in the Philippines. Fried tarantulas in Cambodia.White ant eggs soup in Laos. Jellied moose nose in Canada. Boshintang in Korea.Gummy salmiak candy flavored with ammonium chloride in Finland (lived there..this stuff is horrible) Mimolette cheese in France that has cheese mites on it. How about Goose Blood Soup (Juka) from Lithuania? but no ... it's Americans.
These things are available, but no one I know eats them. I cook every single day. Make my own sauces. Make my own stocks. Of course I'm an American, so I must eat disgusting things because I simply have no class.
Didn't see chipped beef on toast on the list. Grew up watching my parents eat that. Nicknamed it sh!t on a shingle.
The only thing I’ve had on this list is pancakes. I know of less than half of them. These aren’t staples of American food anymore than Haggis is if the UK. TBH, as someone who’s 1/2 Dutch & 1/2 American, having lived in both places, I’m equally as appalled by both nations’ unique dishes. Having lived in Hawai’i for the better part of 30 years, I’m even more grossed out by some of the traditional food here no matter how much o respect it’s history.
Haggis is definitely not UK, that is Scottish. A considerable amount of traditional food came about because of people being poor.
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you can buy canned creamed possum in gravy in the US... MEGA-REVOLTING!!! canned-pos...b149ef.jpg 
You can also buy jelly belly jelly beans that taste like skunk - again a gag gift.
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I lived in the USA for a year as an exchange student. Some things I could not stomach: American chocolate. Ice cream. Yoghurt. Frosted cakes. Bread. Most fast food places. Some things I loved: donuts, bagels (a good alternative to bread!), Chai tea (perhaps it was a fad in those years...), diner food, and lots of regional New Mexican cuisine.
I'm really glad I have low standards. I love most of this stuff ... though, I don't know, maybe it's because I haven't lived in the US for over 20 years and most of it has changed? Or maybe it's because I grew up poor, and we didn't always have a lot of food, or a lot of choice, so we learned to like what we got. Either way, I think I'd much rather have low standards and be happy with what I eat.
as an American I agree with most of these, except biscuits and gravy, which is amazing when made well, with lots of pepper and butter, and the sweet potatoes with marshmallows has to have pecans on top. Or no marshmallows and just pecans. Pancakes with just butter are fine
You have the marshmallows and sweet potatoes, as part of the meal, not as a dessert?
Load More Replies... you can buy cooked canned possum in the US.... mega-revolting!!!! canned-pos...29abcb.jpg 
At the risk of having Americans, & perhaps others, grab tar, feathers & pitchforks, oreos are highly overrated!
I'm an American and fully agree that they're nasty.
Load More Replies... Im an American and j think the only thing I've had on this list is pancakes, pop tarts, and maybe one more i forgot lol, ive never met a sane American whos touched one of the more vile items on thjs list (canned whole chicken)
we've had a lot of these here in south africa due to watching americans eat it on TV. we always regret it. lol.
Load More Replies... For people calling out the "America bashing" on BP. I love these posts. I don't think the inability to take a step back and laugh at the country as a whole (or even regionally) is a healthy way to go about life. Overblown "patriotism" or the whole "America is the best" concept doesn't make you cool or edgy, it just furthers the stereotype that Americans are stupid and self obsessed. Personally, these types of posts are a humorous little escape from the current state of the country. Also, of all the posts to complain about, why are you choosing to complain about the one based on food? SMH.
I loved reading this topic, and it doesn't irk me personally, but I think what gets some people, maybe, judging by the comments, is that BP frequently celebrates this country or that country, but when it comes to bashing what's bad about a country, it always seems to be The US. While this isn't really always true (I've seen other countries get bashed), it's not completely untrue either (since, yeah, it's usually the US).
Load More Replies... Good root beer is amazing but I grew up on it. Good root beer float (root beer + vanilla ice cream) is amazing. But to me Vegamite is foul while Aussies love it. It's what you're used to.
Load More Replies... I would like to downvote this entire post. I'm bloody fed up with US bashing.
It would be far more effective to not comment altogether. if we all stopped commenting and completely ignored these lists then Bored Panda would get the message far more quickly. They rely on comments and clicks to sell the advertising. The problem is that it generates a LOT of attention and comments normally and it doesn't matter very much from the advertising point of view if they're all condemning the article. Even my writing this comment adds to it all.
Load More Replies... Why does bored panda continue to call out Americans on different subjects? I’m British and there are some gross foods eaten in our country.
yes, you do have haggis and blood pudding, but that's the scots.
Load More Replies... From an European point of view, none of the American food is considered as food.
what the f**k is your guys problem with Americans? I get that some of our stuff is weird to other people but you dont see entire articles dedicated to dunking on other nationalities like the Chinese or Brazilians or anyone else!
And let’s not forget the Chinese have a festival where they eat DOGS!!!! You can watch the whole process on YouTube if you can stomach it.
Load More Replies... American colon cancer survivor here. Pretty sure the food here caused my cancer. 5 years in remission. Just had my 5th reconstructive abdominal surgery (I'm literally stuck in bed on my back healing rn) Planning to move out of the US asap. I'd like to survive to old age thanks. Eff the FDA.
try france. They smoke and don't get as much cancer.
Load More Replies... I’m American, and I agree with this list, except for 32, 33, and whatever number ranch was. There’s too much c**p in our food that shouldn’t be there in the first place, and nearly everything has added sugar. This is a decent chunk why the majority of the population is overweight.
A lot of this stuff is a matter of taste. The main exception is the savoury jello
No one is saying that no-one likes them. It's just the rest of the world is disbelieving that ANYONE likes them. But we all like things that we grew up with no matter how terrible. People in the US do seem to like sweet things more than most, or at least their palates have been normalised to more sugar/sweetness.
Load More Replies... The issue with lists like these is that they ignore the deeper sociopolitical factors that contribute to the existence and creation of these foods; namely poverty and ignorance. It’s sad to make fun of these foods while making sweeping generalizations about Americans, ignoring that a lot of these are eaten out of necessity, accessibility, and lack of education—factors that are out of many people’s control. High quality foods exist throughout America, especially in big cities where you can get pretty much any kind of food from any cuisine around the world.
Let’s not also forget some people live in food deserts and fresh produce for a family of four is wildly expensive with inflation.
Load More Replies... The straw man is strong in this one. Most Americans think this stuff is trash too, with a few exceptions that require cultural context. Stop conflating novelties, generic knockoffs, carnival confections and cheap c**p foisted upon Americans with stuff we actually want or value.
Good grief... again. Some American stuff is gross. This just in- there is gross stuff from around the world! Also, there is lost of amazing food in the US just as there is in... Every. Country. On. Earth. Most of us American don't like most of the stuff on this list. Some of this items are just not true, some are extremely uncommon while others are subjective. My wife loves biscuits and gravy while I don't care for it. Why not have this list for I dunno, every country on earth. FFS BP...
I wouldn't exactly call this an interview with "the writer", unless you're using buzzfeed standards (writer is someone who can copy and paste). Also, you've published this same article dozens of times - why again?
I think there is really just one post of things non-Americans think are gross and they just rearrange the order
And to think I had the impression that BP was done with US bashing posts. Oh well.
Most people in the US are great. But then SOME people say "The US is number one! We are the greatest!" and we have had US tv show propaganda, all the way from the black and white Lone Ranger telling us how great the US is. So occasionally we push back.
Load More Replies... I think we're picking on the Yanks too much! In the name of fairness we should make a list like this for every country. Every country has / does c**p that other countries don't like. Except the Swiss.
Yeah, most of us don’t eat this stuff either. Except biscuits & gravy, I love biscuits & gravy. But look, every country has foods that foreigners think are gross.
Is it funny that biscuits and gravy are great but poutine isn't? It's almost the same thing, gravy on a carb, but instead of biscuits it's fries.
Load More Replies... It was a trip to Germany that I discovered this myself. Thank goodness for Aldi!
While I agree many "American foods" are "nasty", I can say the same of foods I've had on other continents. And that counts Europe. Examples just from Europe: Nutella; liverwurst; any blood soup; eels (jellied or otherwise). (Examples from USA: orange-colored anything that isn't in the produce section; some hate peanut butter; breakfast cereals that are designed to create a market for insulin). From outside my native US, also poutine (sorry, Quebec, but no); and queen ants. ( I did try those. Oh. My. No.) The idea, however, that the US is the only center of c**p food is silly. Plenty of high-fat/sugar/etc. all around, and often as "snacks". So, please, relax and stop the judging.
I can't understand why Americans take perfectly good food and absolutely ruin it for example cheese, chocolate, coffee, bread and meat to name a few
Rens, I've never cooked for you. I can assure you that I serve good cheese, chocolate coffee and bread. You would be happy with what I served you. You are making sweeping generalizations. I'm Greek American and while I love Greek food, in Greece they put instant coffee and sugar on cold water, stir it up and call it a frappe... and people love it while to me it tastes like bad instant coffee from the 1960s! But I would never try to pin "disgusting coffee" on the Greeks... because they also have amazing coffee just like we have amazing, cheese, chocolate, bread, etc.
Load More Replies... I think towards the end it's more of "you haven't had the right one". Like the sweet tea. Who f*****g judges all sweet tea from McDonald's??? Someone who doesn't understand sweet tea I'd say.
A message to BP from America... Eh hem. Go f*** yourselves. That will be all. Thank you.
I have noticed that in American recipes for savoury dishes, there is sugar in EVERYTHING! A tiny pinch a tomato dish to cut through the acidity, sure. But 4 tablespoons in a curry? (legit recipe I made a couple of weeks ago from the Food Network site) WHY!?! NO!
Bookmarking Rannveig Ess's (don't / care) Reply: Yes, Andrew...wouldn't that be interesting? I'd love to hear what everyone ELSE in the world also finds disguting in their countries. Wouldn't it be great if this was just put out there as a topic for everyone to contribute to, instead of the usual US bashing? There are entire YT sites showing people from other countries eating the foods from other countries and the wild disgust of it. But nooooo. BP has to cut and paste it about food now? How about : Shirako in Japan. Dried pig blood tofu in China. Kangaroo in Australia. Tuna eyeballs in Japan. Balut, developing duck embryo boiled in its shell, in the Philippines. Fried tarantulas in Cambodia.White ant eggs soup in Laos. Jellied moose nose in Canada. Boshintang in Korea.Gummy salmiak candy flavored with ammonium chloride in Finland (lived there..this stuff is horrible) Mimolette cheese in France that has cheese mites on it. How about Goose Blood Soup (Juka) from Lithuania? but no ... it's Americans.
These things are available, but no one I know eats them. I cook every single day. Make my own sauces. Make my own stocks. Of course I'm an American, so I must eat disgusting things because I simply have no class.
Didn't see chipped beef on toast on the list. Grew up watching my parents eat that. Nicknamed it sh!t on a shingle.
The only thing I’ve had on this list is pancakes. I know of less than half of them. These aren’t staples of American food anymore than Haggis is if the UK. TBH, as someone who’s 1/2 Dutch & 1/2 American, having lived in both places, I’m equally as appalled by both nations’ unique dishes. Having lived in Hawai’i for the better part of 30 years, I’m even more grossed out by some of the traditional food here no matter how much o respect it’s history.
Haggis is definitely not UK, that is Scottish. A considerable amount of traditional food came about because of people being poor.
Load More Replies... you can buy canned creamed possum in gravy in the US... MEGA-REVOLTING!!! canned-pos...b149ef.jpg
You can also buy jelly belly jelly beans that taste like skunk - again a gag gift.
Load More Replies... I lived in the USA for a year as an exchange student. Some things I could not stomach: American chocolate. Ice cream. Yoghurt. Frosted cakes. Bread. Most fast food places. Some things I loved: donuts, bagels (a good alternative to bread!), Chai tea (perhaps it was a fad in those years...), diner food, and lots of regional New Mexican cuisine.
I'm really glad I have low standards. I love most of this stuff ... though, I don't know, maybe it's because I haven't lived in the US for over 20 years and most of it has changed? Or maybe it's because I grew up poor, and we didn't always have a lot of food, or a lot of choice, so we learned to like what we got. Either way, I think I'd much rather have low standards and be happy with what I eat.
as an American I agree with most of these, except biscuits and gravy, which is amazing when made well, with lots of pepper and butter, and the sweet potatoes with marshmallows has to have pecans on top. Or no marshmallows and just pecans. Pancakes with just butter are fine
You have the marshmallows and sweet potatoes, as part of the meal, not as a dessert?
Load More Replies... you can buy cooked canned possum in the US.... mega-revolting!!!! canned-pos...29abcb.jpg
