# 15 things Americans eat that Foreigners hate **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 4, 2014, 12:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/15-things-americans-eat-that-foreigners-hate/706307 "2014-12-04T12:38:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 11
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2014, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/15-things-americans-eat-that-foreigners-hate/706307/201 "2014-12-05T20:51:33Z")
> [@njtt](#): > > On a somewhat similar note, the first time I ate breakfast in an American diner, I was somewhat flabbergasted when my bacon, sausages and “French toast” arrived together with a small pot of maple syrup. However, I decided to give it a try, and found, rather to my surprise, that the combination was actually pretty good. Americans seem to have discovered that sweet and savory together, can actually, sometimes, work. Yeah–my wife thinks that pancakes are really just an excuse to eat sausage and maple syrup, and I can see her point. It’s a fabulous combination. > [@](#): > > But yeah, peanut butter is common enough in Europe. It is not such a staple as it is in America, and perhaps some Europeans, like my mum, don’t realize that it really needs that jam, but, even though not everyone may like it, it is not something that is widely reviled. My understanding is that while peanut butter is eaten in a lot of places, not many other places treat it as a sweet spread, the way Americans do. In addition to PB&J, you can get peanut butter cookies and peanut butter pie and peanut butter candies very easily here, and they’re all delicious. I knew a girl from Japan in college who totally appreciated peanut butter as an ingredient in a sauce for tofu but who gagged at the thought of a PB&J. > [@MrDibble](#): > > Pumpkin’s a savoury vegetable to some of us, this is like having sweet broccoli pie for dessert. You make me a delicious sweet broccoli pie and I will be all over that. Granted, there are desserts from elsewhere that I find a little weird (red bean ice cream, I’m looking at you), but in general I’m happy to eat delicious desserts and won’t raise an eyebrow at something if it’s delicious. ---
**Author:** ![mathmannix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5a626/32.png) [@mathmannix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mathmannix)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2014, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/15-things-americans-eat-that-foreigners-hate/706307/202 "2014-12-05T21:07:00Z")
I love absolutely everything on the original list. I hadn’t heard it called Frito Pie before, but that’s the best one! (Chili+Fritos+American cheese) ---
**Author:** ![levdrakon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/49beb7/32.png) [@levdrakon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/levdrakon)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2014, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/15-things-americans-eat-that-foreigners-hate/706307/203 "2014-12-05T21:55:30Z")
> [@Ximenean](#): > > I think the most mystifying item on the list, to me, is the Frito pie. I Google it and I don’t see anything pie-like about it. “Pie” implies some sort of crust, surely? Either on top, or around the sides and bottom, or both. What I see in the pictures is a curious corn-chip-based concoction that comes in a dish, or even in a bag. It looks nice enough, as a snack food, but I’m not seeing the “pie” part. Pie doesn’t make sense to me either. The one and only time I had it was at my sister’s house in Wisconsin. I think she called it a casserole. She thought it was fancy schmancy. I was appalled she was serving junk snack food as a meal. I didn’t say that, of course. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2014, 10:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/15-things-americans-eat-that-foreigners-hate/706307/204 "2014-12-05T22:00:13Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > I LIKE just peanut butter on bread, without jelly, myself. Peanut butter smeared on a slice of banana bread … mmmmmmmmmmmmmmm! :o Elvis loved peanut butter and banana sandwiches fried in butter, something I’ve yet to try. But peanut butter spread on bananas (or apples) is great. I prefer the crunchy variety, myself … with lots of little bits of peanut in it! ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2014, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/15-things-americans-eat-that-foreigners-hate/706307/205 "2014-12-05T22:04:02Z")
> [@levdrakon](#): > > Pie doesn’t make sense to me either. The one and only time I had it was at my sister’s house in Wisconsin. I think she called it a casserole. She thought it was fancy schmancy. I was appalled she was serving junk snack food as a meal. I didn’t say that, of course. 🙂 I take it you’re not from the Midwest? :dubious: Sounds like typical fare there to me. I read somewhere once that Wisconsin (“The Dairy State”) has the highest incidence of cardiovascular disease in the US (and I think obesity as well). Oddly enough, I found the food to be the most appealing thing about the state the eighteen months I lived there. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2014, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/15-things-americans-eat-that-foreigners-hate/706307/206 "2014-12-05T22:13:41Z")
Just as an aside, can you still buy American breakfast sausage links with the casings? I remember eating them when I was a kid, but I haven’t seen them on sale for ages. In Britain, they’d probably be called “bangers,” but the seasoning and meat content are quite different. They’re also smaller than bangers, usually. (There must be exceptions, but all of the real British bangers I’ve ever eaten were quite mealy—in other words, not exactly 100% meat. The ones sold in Canada under that name are not like that; I had to search before I found a specialty shop that sold “Irish sausages” indistinguishible from the bangers I had in Great Britain.) (I remember a TV show where Gordon Ramsay made venison bangers from scratch; THOSE I’d really like to try! :o ) ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2014, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/15-things-americans-eat-that-foreigners-hate/706307/207 "2014-12-05T22:22:10Z")
> [@Frank](#): > > One doesn’t have to be foreign to hate half the stuff on that list. > [@Living\_Well\_Is\_Best\_Revenge](#): > > This seems more like southern redneck cuisine. Yes and Yes. I’m a “damn Yankee” American, and I don’t like grits, never had biscuits and gravy (never care to), never had a corn dog, and have never even heard of Frito Pie. But… Root Beer Float: I’m all over that. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2014, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/15-things-americans-eat-that-foreigners-hate/706307/208 "2014-12-05T22:32:20Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > Just as an aside, can you still buy American breakfast sausage links with the casings? Yes you can. I just had some last week. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2014, 10:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/15-things-americans-eat-that-foreigners-hate/706307/209 "2014-12-05T22:53:25Z")
> [@Shagnasty](#): > > You may have had grits and not even known it. Grits are also known as polenta in Italy and the fanciest Italian restaurants serve it as a side dish. I can’t think of any reason why anyone would think it is an odd or offensive food. It is very bland on its own just like white rice and the entire flavor comes from whatever you choose to put into it. I’m going to have to disagree on this. Grits and polenta may both be from corn, but they do not taste at all the same to me, nor do they have the same texture. And I like polenta. Grits are flavorless corn mush, and I’m usually OK with flavorless, except for grits. They taste like bad nothing. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2014, 11:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/15-things-americans-eat-that-foreigners-hate/706307/210 "2014-12-05T23:56:01Z")
> [@levdrakon](#): > > Pie doesn’t make sense to me either. The one and only time I had it was at my sister’s house in Wisconsin. I think she called it a casserole. She thought it was fancy schmancy. I was appalled she was serving junk snack food as a meal. I didn’t say that, of course. 🙂 Frito pie is a pie the same way shepherds pie is. The Fritos are the “crust” and the chili, cheese, etc. are the “filling.” ---
**Author:** ![Yookeroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yookeroo/32/323_2.png) [@Yookeroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yookeroo)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2014, 12:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/15-things-americans-eat-that-foreigners-hate/706307/211 "2014-12-06T00:10:30Z")
> [@neofishboy](#): > > Strangely enough, the best corn dog I’ve ever had was from that cart at Disneyland where the line’s always twenty or thirty people long. Best corn dogs ever. ---
**Author:** ![dracoi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/90db22/32.png) [@dracoi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dracoi)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2014, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/15-things-americans-eat-that-foreigners-hate/706307/212 "2014-12-06T00:41:01Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > I’m going to have to disagree on this. Grits and polenta may both be from corn, but they do not taste at all the same to me, nor do they have the same texture. And I like polenta. Grits are flavorless corn mush, and I’m usually OK with flavorless, except for grits. They taste like bad nothing. I don’t know if it’s a brand issue or something, but my impression of the primary difference between grits and cornmeal is the color. I have never had quick/instant grits, though, so maybe that’s the issue? Did you add enough salt? Even if you intend to add sugar to your grits, they need more salt than you would think. My family’s rule of thumb for polenta is “Start by adding too much salt; now you’re halfway there.” (For example, Wikipedia’s grits recipe says 1/4 tsp per cup of water. I add closer to three times as much. In fact, I think a lot of people add so much butter to grits only because butter is salted, and they desperately need more salt in there.) ---
**Author:** ![dracoi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/90db22/32.png) [@dracoi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dracoi)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2014, 12:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/15-things-americans-eat-that-foreigners-hate/706307/213 "2014-12-06T00:45:35Z")
> [@MrDibble](#): > > Pumpkin’s a savoury vegetable to some of us, this is like having sweet broccoli pie for dessert. That reminds me of my wife’s stories from her days in Panama. Apparently, they make an avocado pie. (Doubt me? Just Google it. It’s really a thing, though a surprising number of sources credit California with it. I lived in CA until I was 20 and never once heard about it there.) ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2014, 12:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/15-things-americans-eat-that-foreigners-hate/706307/214 "2014-12-06T00:55:02Z")
> [@dracoi](#): > > I don’t know if it’s a brand issue or something, but my impression of the primary difference between grits and cornmeal is the color. They do taste different, and I like both. At least with the grits I’ve had, it’s like trying to say that (non-nixtamilized) corn and hominy are the same. This board was the first place I’ve seen the grits=polenta thing, and it never made a lick of sense to me, as they seem distinct to me. ---
**Author:** ![neofishboy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/neofishboy/32/444_2.png) [@neofishboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/neofishboy)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2014, 12:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/15-things-americans-eat-that-foreigners-hate/706307/215 "2014-12-06T00:59:06Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > … never had biscuits and gravy (never care to), never had a corn dog … Go back to Russia!! ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2014, 1:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/15-things-americans-eat-that-foreigners-hate/706307/216 "2014-12-06T01:01:29Z")
Absolutely! Damn commies… ---
**Author:** ![BaldDudePeekskill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/b5e925/32.png) [@BaldDudePeekskill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BaldDudePeekskill)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2014, 1:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/15-things-americans-eat-that-foreigners-hate/706307/217 "2014-12-06T01:03:11Z")
This thread reminds of the time I cooked an “Exotic” American breakfast for my family in Sicily. I found Speck, which is similar enough to our bacon, made scrambled eggs, rich with heavy cream and butter and white toast. All of these ingredients are naturally available in Sicily, but they are not used in this combination at all. I have to say…good german Speck, eggs from the family’s chickens, heavy unpasteurized cream and french white bread (pan de mie, I think) from the bakery produces a WILDLY superior product to the dreck from the local greasy spoon! ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2014, 1:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/15-things-americans-eat-that-foreigners-hate/706307/218 "2014-12-06T01:10:49Z")
> [@neofishboy](#): > > Go back to Russia!! In Soviet Russia, biscuits pour gravy on YOU! ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2014, 1:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/15-things-americans-eat-that-foreigners-hate/706307/219 "2014-12-06T01:11:10Z")
I love Red Velvet Cake. With cream cheese frosting. Yum! If you like Devil’s Food Cake, you’ll like RVC. And if the idea of sausage gravy freaks you out, just think of it more as a sauce. (Organ meat freaks out us Americans) Biscuits and gravy are yummy! Does chicken pot pie count as a “meat pie”? I thought that was pretty universal all over the US? > [@CalMeacham](#): > > Actually, if you lived in the US in the 1980s, you’d know from Annette Funicello that peanut butter by itself on bread is good (She was the spokesperson for Jif peanut butter then --“Coosy mothers choose Jif!”. If you’ve ever seen the movie **Back to the Beach** , this explains why her character was so gung-ho on peanut butter sandwiches.) No, it wasn’t Jif, it was Skippy. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2014, 1:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/15-things-americans-eat-that-foreigners-hate/706307/220 "2014-12-06T01:15:34Z")
> [@Guinastasia](#): > > I love Red Velvet Cake. With cream cheese frosting. Yum! If you like Devil’s Food Cake, you’ll like RVC. > And if the idea of sausage gravy freaks you out, just think of it more as a sauce. (Organ meat freaks out us Americans) Biscuits and gravy are yummy! > > Does chicken pot pie count as a “meat pie”? I thought that was pretty universal all over the US? > > No, it wasn’t Jif, it was Skippy. Right you are. I misremembered. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/15-things-americans-eat-that-foreigners-hate/706307.md?page=10) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/15-things-americans-eat-that-foreigners-hate/706307.md?page=12)