Taste is subjective, there’s no doubt about that. Controversial foods exist, that’s a fact too. Now combine them together, and you see some weird food combos landing in people’s stomachs.
This time, we will narrow down our investigation into American cuisine only (despite the fact all countries have their culinary quirks!) to find out what common eating habits and foods confuse non-Americans. Turns out there are many of them!
From super-size meaty breakfasts to cheese spread, these are the most eyebrow-raising American delicacies people in other countries just can’t fathom.
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Cookie Dough in a tube, which you guys apparently eat raw, according to the movies. Obviously I have no idea what this stuff tastes like (I can only assume it's awesome), but the concept just seems strange to my Scottish mind.
Having said that, we consume assorted animal innards, oats and spices in a tube allegedly made from a sheeps bladder (aka haggis), so I admit that we're on pretty shaky ground to be criticising anyone else's eating habits.
Sweet potato and marshmallow casserole. What the actual f**k?
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 twice for more.
Aerosol Cheese. Seriously America, what the f**k?
Hersheys chocolate. Honestly tastes like the smell of vomit.
Well, it does. it has Butyric acid in it (it was added to make the milk last longer in the olden days), and vomit also has butyric acid. Dairy farms in Europe were closer to the chocolate factories, so there it was not needed. And now they just keep it in as Americans are used to the taste.
Processed cheese. There are so many lovely actual cheese, why eat s***ty fake stuff?
American bread. I lived in the states for six months. At one point shortly after moving, I bought a loaf of bread and made a sandwich. To my surprise, the bread was so sweet. I told my housemates that I accidentally bought dessert bread, but nope — it was just regular bread in America.
The fact that I ordered one pound of corned beef hash, three eight-inch pancakes with butter and maple syrup, four scrambled eggs with ketchup, six strips of bacon, four sausage links, three pieces of toast, and endless coffee for $12 at a diner. That was my breakfast while visiting the states. I love America.
Lobster is not odd in itself, but seeing “lobster mac’n’cheese” was wierd. Where I’m from, lobster is expensive, exclusive, and considered fine dining, and mac’n’cheese does not exist as a dish you can order anywhere. I love pasta, I love cheese, so pasta with cheese is common in my own kitchen, but that is far away from that “fine dining” lobster.
My first time in the states was a trip to NYC. I was pregnant at the time, and that’s probably why I allowed myself to order lobster mac’n’cheese for lunch at a restaurant, against my husbands comments on how it was a shame for the lobster to be served like that ... it was bloody delicious. I still dream about it.
Lobster is a bit less fancy in north America than in Europe. Until last century, it was deemed a poor man's meal, because it was abundant along the east coast and not very healthy (due to poor understanding on how to preserve and cook it). That's why it has been kept in informal recipes like lobster sandwich or the above.
The way they eat apple sauce.
Over here in the UK you would have a very small portion of it with some pork. It's just a condiment.
In the US they would pretty much have an entire bowl of the stuff and would just put spoonful after spoonful of it into their mouthes. It's like a snack or a meal itself.
Boxed macaroni and cheese. My partner is Swiss, and he is appalled by Kraft Mac & Cheese. He could not believe I was looking forward to ingesting orange powder mixed with noodles.
Mac & Cheese is so easy to make from scratch, I could never understand why to buy it as a premade meal made with dubious powder that you need to cook the same amount of time as the original dish.
High fructose corn syrup.
It’s also slowly being removed from foods. I hate it, it ruined Coke when they replaced the sugar with high fructose corn syrup. That’s when I can I buy Mexican Coke, it still uses sugar.
Mexican Coke tastes so much different and nicer!
Load More Replies...Please don't get high fructose corn syrup confused with ordinary corn syrup. They are NOT the same thing. I got a bottle of corn syrup a few weeks ago to make some butter tarts (a Canadian thing). My friend had a heart attack thinking about all that nasty high fructose corn syrup. I informed her that to make HFCS, enzymes are added to corn syrup in order to convert some of the glucose to another simple sugar called fructose, also called “fruit sugar” because it occurs naturally in fruits and berries. HFCS is 'high' in fructose compared to the pure glucose that is in corn syrup.
corn syrup is godawful no matter what form it is.
Load More Replies...Cost cutting measure that tastes bad, is bad for us, but we have it anyway
It should be outlawed as detrimental to the public health. But the Corn Lobby.......... Outlaw and ban lobbying and a LOT of wonderful things would happen!
You can get the same products outside of the states without it, and it tastes better too :)
Americans do not voluntarily eat HFCS. No one buys it like syrup & puts it on/in food. Food companies use it to flavor foods in the cheapest way possible knowing it can kill us, and OUR GOVERNMENT ALLOWS IT. This is not an American taste issue; this is an American greed issue.
Well, gosh, we would all be revolted if it were served on a spoon like this!
Blech! It’s a chemical…not corn syrup either. Cheaper than sugar, and delivered by hose like gasoline.
Not the food but the sheer size of the soft drinks is off putting and I'm from Canada.
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...wrong.
Grits. What the f**k even is grits? It sounds like the most unappetising thing ever. "I had grits for breakfast" WHY ARE YOU EATING TINY ROCKS?
It's like porridge but made with cornmeal. Very cheap and was a staple food fed to African slaves.
Taco Bell.
They tried to open one over here and it lasted about a week. Don't try to sell Taco Bell to Mexicans. Just don't.
Ranch dressing. Why don't you people want to taste the actual salad you're eating?
Mayonnaise on everything but French fries — use butter you savages.
Not exactly *a* food, but breakfasts in general.
When I was there they looked at me like I was a starving child from the woods with my coffee and toast. MY BODY CAN'T DIGEST CHILI CON CARNE IN THE MORNING, I'M SORRY I'M NOT THAT MAGICAL.
For me, it's not so much a particular 'American' food that I find bizarre, but rather the portion sizes. I'm Australian, and I was raised to eat everything on my plate. I brought that mentality to the US, and I put on 5 kg in over a month. The portion sizes are obscene. I could hardly finish a meal there without feeling ill from eating to much.
Many foreign visitors aren't aware of the doggy bag. It is completely common place to not finish your meal and ask the restaurant to box the leftovers for you to take home. When I visit family in the states one restaurant meal is really 2-3 meals.
I had a friend who would get physically sick at any mention of Hamburger Helper.
As an American, I think he's nuts.
This stuff looks exactly the same going in as coming out! Pure grossness
A friend of mine brought back loads of American sweets from holiday. The Hershey's chocolate kisses were one of the worst things I've ever eaten. I thought I was going to be sick.
Yeah, American chocolate has an acid added to it that is also found in vomit. Not even joking.
Chicago style deep-dish pizza. Great for the first two bites, but any more than that and I start to feel like my arteries are about to detonate.
Pop tarts, or God forbid microwaving your water when you have a cup of tea
Anything sandwiched between donuts or assembled and then fried to finish.
Luckily, Fair/Boardwalk Food isn’t a staple of anyone’s diet. It’s just a treat you have when you go to the State Fair or the beach.
My German brother-in-law lost his mind at the concept of American 'all you can eat' buffets. He was like, 'All of this...all one price? ALL of it?' He was amazed by it.
I don't know a country that doesn't have all you can eat buffets. Including Germany
Casseroles made with "cream of" anything soup. Green bean casserole, tuna casserole, mushroom casserole. I know what those Campbells soups are like, we get them over here, and the idea of using them as a constituent ingredient in a main meal makes me shudder just from the idea of the sodium bomb. Especially those casseroles that are suggested to be topped with crushed chips.
Peanut butter and jam (jelly) sandwiches I can get behind. Pumpkin pie was a revelation of awesomeness for a new dimension on what to me is normally a savoury veg. Chicken-fried steak and sausage gravy? Genius.
But the idea of those casseroles make my stomach turn every time.
Try the green bean casserole. You will change your mind. The others can be iffy
American desserts. I lived in the states for three years, and the amount of sugar Americans dump into their desserts is mind-blowing. They were beautiful to look at, but they were sweet as hell.
I have an American friend who complains that Australian's don't add sugar to whipped cream.
Pumpkin Spice Latte. It was just like REALLY sweet coffee, I didn't get the craze.
Granola as a "healthy" breakfast option. It's basically a dessert.
Those coated hot dogs on sticks. I've seen them in movies, they look really weird.
Corn dog. A hot dog covered in batter made with cornmeal, but thick so it's almost like corn bread. The UK batters sausages in greasy chip shop batter, the US batters hot dogs in a savoury/sweet corn batter and puts it on a stick.
Multiple Europeans I've met have been baffled by the popularity of root beer in America. As they say, it tastes like medicine.
They've clearly never tried the British Dandelion and Burdock soda. Tastes like some poisonous potion concocted in the 1800's by a group of hedge witches. Vile.
I have a British friend who nearly vomited at the smell of Smartfood White Cheddar popcorn.... you know, the kind that comes in the black bag? He said it smells like baby s**t.
Cheddar or parmesan on popcorn - smells like baby-sh1t and dirty feet - but tastes absolutely won-der-ful!!!
My japanese roommate screamed when she saw me eating carrots & celery dipped in peanut butter
The ancient Incas and Aztecs ground peanuts into a paste. Peanut butter as we now know it was created as a source of protein for people who couldn’t chew meat. That was around 1895. The rest is just peanut butter becoming more popular, and used in more innovative ways. TBH, giving your kids peanut butter and jelly (jam, not Jell-O) sandwiches can be a way to give them some protein (yes, sugar too, depending on the quality of the other ingredients). I’m 62 now, and grew up eating PB&J sandwiches. I turned out alright, normal weight, normal physical, mental, emotional, and intellectual development, so I can say with authority that it’s not detrimental to health and development in children.
Canadian here... American soda. You can taste the corn syrup. All of my American friends drink Mexican Coke or that 'throwback' pop with sugar instead of corn syrup.
As an American, I agree. I always try to source non-corn syrup soda when i have it. It tastes so much better.
Marshmallows somehow being a spreadable substance.
Just wait until find out about Fluffer Nutters. Peanut butter and marshmallow fluff sandwich.
Met some Swiss guys at a house party after a mutual friends wedding. They couldn't believe that we were all actually drinking out of red Solo cups, it blew their minds. They kept on taking pictures and saying "It's just like the movies!
What's wrong with that? We also use single use cups in Greece, only they're white. It saves a lot of washing up after parties!
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.
Waffles with chicken. It just seems so wrong.
I went to the Red Dog Saloon in Liverpool recently and tried "chicken tenders, fried toast and syrup"... It was amaaaaaazzzzzzzziiiinnnggggggg!
That super-sweet iced Tea. Maybe that's just a southern thing though.
Sweet tea is southern, but usually they ask if you want normal iced tea or sweet iced tea.
The cereal selection. It's my favorite dessert in America.
An overwhelming percentage of espresso-based beverages I have been served in the US have tasted like bitter, burnt a*****e. Commonly at Starbucks but also at smaller coffee houses. I love that Americans are big on drip coffee, I feel like it's underrated and not widely available here.. but you guys need to work on the espresso thing.
Also, last time this thread came up, I listed pumpkin pie and had literally hundreds of angry Americans in my inbox with everything from death threats to their grandmother's secret pie recipe. As an Australian, where we use pumpkin as a vegetable, I've since tried it but it's just weird to me.
So, were all going to just ignore the OP saying they know what "bitter, burnt a*****e" tastes like?
My European family and friends are horrified by Southern grits. I can't even get anyone to try it.
Maybe stupid but honest question: What is the difference between grits and polenta? Isn’t it cooked ground corn? I’ve never eaten grits but I like polenta - why is grits disgusting?
Even the basic foods like bread, fruits, spreadable butter and cream taste so.. blargh. So artificial and unfresh.
I’ve heard this time and again from non-Americans, and have tasted the difference myself. The complaint is that the fruits and veggies and meat are all huge in size, but are tasteless. I discovered the difference abroad when I ate pork chops, and asked my husband if they were off, I was so suprised by the unusual flavor. No, they weren’t off, he replied, that is literally how pork tastes. In America, your pork has no flavor.
When I first moved here a few years back, biscuits and gravy weirded me out the most, but I have grown to enjoy it. Still looks like vomit, though.
rocky mountain oysters
Round the Bend Steakhouse in Nebraska has a t___ festival every year during fathers day weekend. They used to have bull, pig, and lamb ballz but now just bull. Lamb were the best. The souvenir T-shirts are not safe for work, lol
Not only the unusual combination of peanut butter and jelly, but also the sheer amount of peanut butter that Americans eat.
At an old job, a German exchange intern asked me "why I drank beer during lunch", told me root beer tasted like cough medicine after I bought him his first one, and then I didn't talk to him ever again because I realized we would never truly understand one another.
Root beer isn’t beer, it’s a soda made from the root of the sassafras tree. Sarsaparilla is too, and tastes similar, but not the same. I remember when we were kids, my friends and I would cut off the more tender twigs of sassafras trees (which I remember as being more like large bushes than trees), strip the bark off, and chew on the pith of the twig. Because it’s the source of the soft drinks, of course it tasted like something between root beer and sarsaparilla.
Any kind of cheese in a can
Mint-flavored candies, like York Peppermint Patties. I live in Japan now, and most people I've met here hate mint-flavored things. I gave one to a friend, and he said it was the grossest thing he's ever had...tasted like eating toothpaste.
I can't get over all those weird fusion foods that are so popular in America, like burgers topped with deep-fried mac and cheese for buns, sushi burritos, taco pizza, etc.
The amount of sugar in American cereal. I could never tell if it was a layer of mold or solid sugar on those Froot Loops.
Cupcakes. I love the idea of having a cute little muffin-like cake, but then you slap ridiculous amounts of sweet cream on top, that is sticky, way too sweet and is of wierd texture. And on top of that, there is often more cream then cake. That's not a good ratio and it starts sticking to your gums. Very difficult to eat and overall not a pleasent experiance.
Cornflakes — I'm not a farm animal, damn it. Quit feeding me corn and sugar mulch.
Coke as breakfast drink
My Japanese teacher in high school always has her Japanese exchange students try root beer and they always hate it. Made one cry once because of how awful she thought it was
I'm convinced that the KFC Double-down is the biggest reason people hate America
one time in NYC we couldnt agree on where to eat, we got more and more hungry and eventually ended up at KFC. We forgot we were in the States and accidentally ordered SO MUCH FOOD but the chicken was so nice and crispy! Though we've seen them all over Europe, they now came to our small town and we went twice, but it was not nice at all. :-(
Not me but we have very good family friends in/from Botswana. My mom tells me that the idea of eating lobster, to them, is disgusting and scary, because they look like scorpions.
Deep dish pizza. This creation is not pizza. It is disrespectful to the Italian culture, especially Neapolitans. Deep-dish completely ruins what pizza is meant to be.
The way Americans take coffee to-go. My partner's Italian mother absolutely can't get over the idea of seeing people walk around holding coffees. Americans are the only ones who don't enjoy their coffee while seated at a café.
Beef jerky is too chewy and gives me rotten indigestion.
uuuuuhhhhh jerky is just how food used to be preserved everywhere before refrigeration it is not an american thing at all or even close or even kind of. Jerky has been around since the start of history. probably before.
Mixing sweet and salty foods, like honey-baked ham, pineapple on pizza, frosty fries, corn bread, and then pouring super-sweet soda over all your meals as you eat them... Even after 17 years in the states I still can't do it, f***ers drink some kind of flavored soda with everything, but when I order club soda (soda without flavoring) with my meals they all look at me like I just took a p**s in my cup before drinking it....
The combination of sweet and salty foods is great, depending on which kind of food you're combining. Honey and fruits with meat is around for centuries - there are plenty of ancient recipes.
American jam (jelly) doughnuts are filled with strawberry, Aussie ones are filled with Raspberry.
Every thing there is sort of the same, but slightly wrong, like uncanny valley.
? All the ones i get are raspberry or custard. Never seen a strawberry one.
Your Yellow f**ken cheese, that's not cheese!!! you f*****s put it on everything. Im sure i have seen it offered on top of ice cream. of and your coffee sucks as well.... but i love America, its real diverse and a great place for travelling.
California cheese ist awful. Visconsin cheese is very good, though.
Here we go again. There are a lot of ridiculous foods in the US. There are a lot of amazing foods in the US. If you feed yourself here only by going to gas stations, fast food joints, country fairs, Walmart and Aunt Millie's for dinner, this is what you'll see FFS. The generalizations are just dumb.
Ah yes. The BP "how to bash Americans today" post. Can we at least get something NEW?
Agree. Not an American but I am a bit fed up of all the "Look, Americans are weird and awful" lists on BP.
Load More Replies...American here and I hate nearly all of the foods listed. Too much sugar. Too much grease. Too many artificial colors and so forth. The three things I am guilty about are the applesauce, mint flavored things, and rootbeer.
I miss real root beer. Can't stand the stuff they make today
Load More Replies...I'm so tired of these anti American lists. Most fellow Americans I know don't indulge in most of this c**p. It's just a bunch of snobbish people trying to make themselves look better than us. You just sound stupid. And way to buy into stereotypes. I'm sure ever country has it's fair share of s****y food. I would just never think to post a list of everything I hate about another country. Get over yourselves and find something else to talk about. And I bet the people on this list are the shittiest tourists ever.
And Brits are evil colonising slavers with appalling cuisine and terrible teeth. Welcome to the "this country sucks" club.☹️
Load More Replies...What a bummer. At first I thought it was something about Non USA for a change
A friend of mine went to the US for business reasons like two years ago, and she said the servings you'd get in a restaurant were so big that she could split one plate with her assistant and they'd both be full.
The original idea was to get your money's worth and have enough for a meal there and then one to take home to eat later. However, in this day and age people just eat it all. Part of the reason why most americans (me included) are all shaped like spheres.
Load More Replies...Cute, but that’s not meant to cover and justify junk food.
Load More Replies...I can definitely appreciate that some American foods seem strange to visitors from other countries.... but that definitely goes both ways... I have traveled abroad quite a bit and can say with earnest people are eating some weird and nasty sh** in other regions of the globe! I guess it's all just what your used to. Italy is the best though. Can never go wrong with Italian food :-)
But never forget that tomatoes are indigenous to the Americas
Load More Replies...This topic is SOOOOOOOOO old and been done ad nauseum. Can we make fun of English and Irish food now?
There are ridiculous foods everywhere. Also gross ones. Humans, y'know? So how about "ridiculous foods of the world"? I'll start: Kinder Surprise/Eggs. Plsatic inside chocolate.... And I can't recall where, but in one country you can get a sheep head (or is it a goat?) as a take-out food. Soooo.... what's ridiculous to one is normal to another.
I love root beer. My sister wants to puke at the smell of it. Hard root beer was a disappointment, as it really did taste like NiteQuil.
I like just about everything on this post , except maybe granola. If you don't like it don't eat it. And shut the f**k up.
Please stop picking on the US. I have only been on bored panda for about a month. And in that time, I have seen at 5-7 post about us that are far from flattering. And I've never seen any other country besides US! Wtf?
Ha - welcome to BP. It's frustrating and we try to ignore it, but it def seems they don't care. But the other posts are nice enough that we come back anyway. I wish there was another site that had nice posts without all the bashing.
Load More Replies...The one that I never understand is Cool Whip, which seems to be in a lot of US recipes that I come across. What even is that? The main ingredients seem to be water, oil and corn syrup. Doesn't sound tasty.
Oh, it's good. On ice cream, pies, cake even cookies.
Load More Replies...The thing with this "food" is that's not even food for me. But I'd like to belive it's just things you may get in shops and when you hungry, you simply cooking/buying healthy meal. Deep fried food is good, but maybe once a month? Same with pizza/hamburger. Or anything that contains unhealthy amounts of salt, sugar or fat. But... I live in the middle of Europe and my national cuisine is also gross. I barely ever eat anything of that. It's full of fat and carbs. Also chocolate in my country is bad, too. I buy german chocolate, waaaay better.
Here we go again. There are a lot of ridiculous foods in the US. There are a lot of amazing foods in the US. If you feed yourself here only by going to gas stations, fast food joints, country fairs, Walmart and Aunt Millie's for dinner, this is what you'll see FFS. The generalizations are just dumb.
Ah yes. The BP "how to bash Americans today" post. Can we at least get something NEW?
Agree. Not an American but I am a bit fed up of all the "Look, Americans are weird and awful" lists on BP.
Load More Replies...American here and I hate nearly all of the foods listed. Too much sugar. Too much grease. Too many artificial colors and so forth. The three things I am guilty about are the applesauce, mint flavored things, and rootbeer.
I miss real root beer. Can't stand the stuff they make today
Load More Replies...I'm so tired of these anti American lists. Most fellow Americans I know don't indulge in most of this c**p. It's just a bunch of snobbish people trying to make themselves look better than us. You just sound stupid. And way to buy into stereotypes. I'm sure ever country has it's fair share of s****y food. I would just never think to post a list of everything I hate about another country. Get over yourselves and find something else to talk about. And I bet the people on this list are the shittiest tourists ever.
And Brits are evil colonising slavers with appalling cuisine and terrible teeth. Welcome to the "this country sucks" club.☹️
Load More Replies...What a bummer. At first I thought it was something about Non USA for a change
A friend of mine went to the US for business reasons like two years ago, and she said the servings you'd get in a restaurant were so big that she could split one plate with her assistant and they'd both be full.
The original idea was to get your money's worth and have enough for a meal there and then one to take home to eat later. However, in this day and age people just eat it all. Part of the reason why most americans (me included) are all shaped like spheres.
Load More Replies...Cute, but that’s not meant to cover and justify junk food.
Load More Replies...I can definitely appreciate that some American foods seem strange to visitors from other countries.... but that definitely goes both ways... I have traveled abroad quite a bit and can say with earnest people are eating some weird and nasty sh** in other regions of the globe! I guess it's all just what your used to. Italy is the best though. Can never go wrong with Italian food :-)
But never forget that tomatoes are indigenous to the Americas
Load More Replies...This topic is SOOOOOOOOO old and been done ad nauseum. Can we make fun of English and Irish food now?
There are ridiculous foods everywhere. Also gross ones. Humans, y'know? So how about "ridiculous foods of the world"? I'll start: Kinder Surprise/Eggs. Plsatic inside chocolate.... And I can't recall where, but in one country you can get a sheep head (or is it a goat?) as a take-out food. Soooo.... what's ridiculous to one is normal to another.
I love root beer. My sister wants to puke at the smell of it. Hard root beer was a disappointment, as it really did taste like NiteQuil.
I like just about everything on this post , except maybe granola. If you don't like it don't eat it. And shut the f**k up.
Please stop picking on the US. I have only been on bored panda for about a month. And in that time, I have seen at 5-7 post about us that are far from flattering. And I've never seen any other country besides US! Wtf?
Ha - welcome to BP. It's frustrating and we try to ignore it, but it def seems they don't care. But the other posts are nice enough that we come back anyway. I wish there was another site that had nice posts without all the bashing.
Load More Replies...The one that I never understand is Cool Whip, which seems to be in a lot of US recipes that I come across. What even is that? The main ingredients seem to be water, oil and corn syrup. Doesn't sound tasty.
Oh, it's good. On ice cream, pies, cake even cookies.
Load More Replies...The thing with this "food" is that's not even food for me. But I'd like to belive it's just things you may get in shops and when you hungry, you simply cooking/buying healthy meal. Deep fried food is good, but maybe once a month? Same with pizza/hamburger. Or anything that contains unhealthy amounts of salt, sugar or fat. But... I live in the middle of Europe and my national cuisine is also gross. I barely ever eat anything of that. It's full of fat and carbs. Also chocolate in my country is bad, too. I buy german chocolate, waaaay better.