That’s good stuff. I get it at the local Asian market. It’s not quite root beer (a bit more… bubblegummy?), but it’s definitely in the same ballpark.
Pumpkin pie. That’ll raise an eyebrow in most of Europe.
With respect to Japanese people (I lived over there for 8 years), they tend to dislike two foods already mentioned: dill pickles and root beer.
The McDonald’s burgers there are exactly the same as here, and probably most people leave the pickles on, but it’s something that Japanese people will often call out as not liking. I have found this odd, as Japan has a huge pickle culture with a wide variety of flavors. Dill seems pretty inoffensive to me.
And yes, root beer is said to taste like medicine, and why make a soda that tastes like medicine? (When you think about it, the main flavor is wintergreen. Mint soda. Wintergreen or other flavoring is used to make medicine more palatable in many countries, including Ota Isan, a popular stomach remedy in Japan. So it doesn’t have good associations in some places.)
Other than that, I think American food is pretty “normal.” Most countries are pretty used to it by now, and I don’t think there are too many things people would find “really gross.”
Hershey chocolate bars taste vile.
Edit: missed post 18.
I found root beer disgusting the only time tried it. Now, I must admit that it was more than 25 years ago. Plus, I thought it was a sort of cola so the difference between the expected taste and the actual one might have played a role. I’m still not going to give it another try, though.
Peanut butter, while not as bad, is definitely not pleasant either.
More specifically, Concord-grape flavoured stuff. Double yech!
Not generic American food, but those weird-ass casseroles from the upper Midwest, made with like canned mushroom soup and green beans.
On the other hand, I quite like root beer (although I prefer dandelion&burdock)
Pumpkin pie and the tinned pumpkin that makes them.
Sloppy Joes like in Roseanne.
That marshmallow Fluff they had at Aldi once.
Smores, until we got the Fluff and started making them at work,
Grits.
Personally I like spice so when I was in Vegas last month the food was very much to my taste, particularly the mexican inspired dishes. But portion size killed me, I cut down to 2 meals a day, brunch and dinner with margaritas and beer to fill the gap.
I bet you omitted part of the presentation. The proper way to drink root beer is with a scoop of vanilla ice cream floating in it.
I went to school with a guy from Peru, and when I mentioned eating cold pizza he thought I was trying to pull a fast one on the foreigner.
Do you mean the loose meat sandwiches Roseanne sold in her restaurant? Because loose meat sandwiches ≠ sloppy joes.
Having grown up with Hershey’s chocolate, I do feel compelled to defend it. Quoting from the Wikipedia article on chocolate types:
It’s not clear to me that Hershey settled on his process because it was cheap – despite the 1830s experiments, “milk chocolate” was still a new concept (and a luxury item) when Milton Hershey came up with his own formula by experimentation. That his result differs in taste from the European variety isn’t surprising, but that in no way makes it inferior.
For me I can get on with most US food - I would call a lot of it “LCD (lowest common denominator) food” and it is not a million miles from English food.
However there’s a few dishes that I object to on intellectual grounds:
Peanut Butter and ‘Jelly’ sandwiches: I detest peanut butter (but I assure you it is a popular food stuff in the UK), so this was always going to be a non-starter with me, but I can’t work out the rationale behind this sandwich.
Pumpkin pie: Pumpkin is the least edible of all vegetables, so why make a sweet pie out of it? Though I have never tried this uniquely American dish.
Cheese in a can: nearly all cheeses have some virtue, but this cheese has none.
Biscuits (scone-like things, for the Brits) with sausage gravy. Even a lot of Americans (mostly women) find it disgusting.
It’s the same rationale that’s behind the latest craze of salted caramel and salted chocolates - the combination of sweet and salty/savory.
Or the combination of butter & jam on toast.
You start eating PB&J sandwiches in childhood, and children’s palates are inclined to like sweet things. In adulthood you eat them because you remember them fondly from childhood and because they still taste good to you. The sweet jelly/jam/preserves and the sweet & salty peanut butter together are pretty good!
Starting with an adult palate they could easily taste too sweet to you.
Sure you can justify anything if you set your mind to it, but some ideas (like PBJ) are too vile to allow into your heart.
Grits are pretty gross.
Pumpkin seems odd on its own, but a lot of the “pumpkin” flavor really comes from a mix of spices like cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice, and ginger. The pumpkin itself is kind of a base which provides the texture and color and complements the spices well; without the spices, pumpkin falls flat.
As far as cheeses and chocolates go, I like to think that all types have their place. I can enjoy a Hershey’s bar, and I’m not opposed to cheese in a can; however, I would prefer anything else if given the choice.
Now, I come from a land where people consider pig feet and snails a delicacy, but, by Jove, even I consider that cheese on a spray can is too much of an affront to good taste.
ETA - I’m bringing PB&J for lunch tomorrow, dammit! I’m not letting some redcoat tell me what to do! And I’m going to sing My Country 'Tis of Thee while I eat it!!!
Right then! That’s quite enough young man! Vegemite for supper and straight to bed for you!