# Foods that are "savory" in one country, "sweet" in another **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 22, 2014, 5:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foods-that-are-savory-in-one-country-sweet-in-another/691352 "2014-06-22T05:14:30Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![chiroptera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/df705f/32.png) [@chiroptera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chiroptera)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2014, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foods-that-are-savory-in-one-country-sweet-in-another/691352/21 "2014-06-22T15:24:31Z")
> [@Athena](#): > > They spread from the UP. I’m surprised to hear they’re common in SE Michigan; it wasn’t very long ago that outside the UP it was pretty difficult to find them. > > Up here, they’re ubiquitous. Churches bake them for fundraisers, most towns have at least one pasty shop. My town has 2 pasty shops, plus a smattering of other places where you can find them (stores, bakeries, etc that don’t specialize in pasties but often have them.) I grew up having pasties for hot lunch at school at least once a week. > > Mmmmmm… pasties. Now I want one. Me too! There’s a couple of pasty stores near me - one is King Arthur’s Pasties. They’re also common, as you say, for church fundraisers. ---
**Author:** ![JKilez](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e5b9ba/32.png) [@JKilez](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKilez)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2014, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foods-that-are-savory-in-one-country-sweet-in-another/691352/22 "2014-06-22T16:17:38Z")
> [@Motorgirl](#): > > The peanut butter in my (US) cupboard contains peanuts and salt. No sweeteners. > [@chiroptera](#): > > I’m sure there’s peanut butter with sugar in it but I’m in the US and mine only has peanuts and a little salt. Come on, guys, do not be disingenuous here. Certainly it is possible to find peanut butter without sugar in the US, but that is not the norm. Peanut butter was the first thing I thought of after reading the OP since its sweetness has been something that has been pointed out to me by a number of foreign transplants. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2014, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foods-that-are-savory-in-one-country-sweet-in-another/691352/23 "2014-06-22T16:18:19Z")
> [@Octarine](#): > > This one is a bit of a generalization, but the concept of a savory pie (and really any combination of pastry and meat) is much more popular in the UK than the US. While the US does have pot pie, that’s pretty much it… We have savoury pies here. You can get them in almost any gas station/mini-mart, or in the frozen food section of a grocery store. Only we call them ‘pockets’; like ‘pizza pocket’ or ‘ham and cheese pocket’ or ‘beef and cheddar pocket’, or by the brand name Hot Pocket. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2014, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foods-that-are-savory-in-one-country-sweet-in-another/691352/24 "2014-06-22T16:24:08Z")
> [@JKilez](#): > > Come on, guys, do not be disingenuous here. Certainly it is possible to find peanut butter without sugar in the US, but that is not the norm. Peanut butter was the first thing I thought of after reading the OP since its sweetness has been something that has been pointed out to me by a number of foreign transplants. I prefer Skippy peanut butter. (The smooth kind. For me, chunky peanut butter is for cooking.) It most definitely has a lot of sugar in it. _Everybody_ eats a spoonful of peanut butter now and again, but most often it’s eaten in a sandwich. If you’re putting jam on anyway, sugar in the peanut butter doesn’t matter. But peanut butter is also popular as a filling for [pretzels](http://media.npr.org/assets/img/2014/02/20/img_0038-500x3752_wide-40d6c3aad2b5011898b431e3275408249d251c4d-s6-c30.jpg), which I would put in the savoury category. I think it was **chefguy** who recommended peanut butter and sriracha on hot dogs, which also fits in that category. ---
**Author:** ![chiroptera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/df705f/32.png) [@chiroptera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chiroptera)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2014, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foods-that-are-savory-in-one-country-sweet-in-another/691352/25 "2014-06-22T16:33:01Z")
> [@JKilez](#): > > Come on, guys, do not be disingenuous here. Certainly it is possible to find peanut butter without sugar in the US, but that is not the norm. Peanut butter was the first thing I thought of after reading the OP since its sweetness has been something that has been pointed out to me by a number of foreign transplants. Huh, I guess you’re right. I don’t currently have any PB in the house but usually I buy the “natural” sort so I assumed it was just peanuts and salt/preservative. Checking various PB brand websites, it appears that many of those do have sugar as a second ingredient. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2014, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foods-that-are-savory-in-one-country-sweet-in-another/691352/26 "2014-06-22T16:35:53Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > We have savoury pies here. You can get them in almost any gas station/mini-mart, or in the frozen food section of a grocery store. Only we call them ‘pockets’; like ‘pizza pocket’ or ‘ham and cheese pocket’ or ‘beef and cheddar pocket’, or by the brand name Hot Pocket. There’s also calzones, which are a common Italian-American item. ---
**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:** [June 22, 2014, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foods-that-are-savory-in-one-country-sweet-in-another/691352/27 "2014-06-22T16:39:36Z")
> [@JKilez](#): > > Come on, guys, do not be disingenuous here. Certainly it is possible to find peanut butter without sugar in the US, but that is not the norm. Peanut butter was the first thing I thought of after reading the OP since its sweetness has been something that has been pointed out to me by a number of foreign transplants. Yeah, all the major brands – Skippy, Jif, Peter Pan, etc. – contain sugar. Even Skippy’s “natural” brand has sugar in it. You have to read labels and specifically look for the non-sugar varieties, like Smucker’s. Even, oddly enough, Whole Foods 365’s “organic” peanut butter, which contains sugar, while the regular “non-organic” kind does not. Now, nothing wrong with sugar and being “organic” or “all-natural,” of course, but I think most people’s assumptions would be that the regular variety would have sugar, not the organic kind. ---
**Author:** ![mbh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a6a055/32.png) [@mbh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mbh)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2014, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foods-that-are-savory-in-one-country-sweet-in-another/691352/28 "2014-06-22T17:02:29Z")
In Chinese cuisine, there are a number of sweet pastry-like dishes whose main ingredient is lima beans. ---
**Author:** ![Claverhouse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/13edae/32.png) [@Claverhouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Claverhouse)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2014, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foods-that-are-savory-in-one-country-sweet-in-another/691352/29 "2014-06-22T17:05:23Z")
> [@Max\_the\_Immortal](#): > > I’m given to understand that peanut butter is a savory food in many parts of the world (including the U.K.), but it’s a sweet category food in North America. It’s not really sweet per se, but it pairs well with sweet ingredients (chocolate, honey, banana, etc.). I once explained the peanut butter and jam sandwich to a couple of English gals, and they didn’t believe me. Since then I’ve run across this difference of opinion on the internet several times. Some folks claim that American peanut butter is sweetened whereas it isn’t sweetened in other nations, but the stuff sold here in Canada doesn’t taste especially sweet to me and we also consider it a sweet category food. I took peanut butter and raspberry jam ( yank=jelly ) sandwiches to school in Britain, and the peanut butter was, then as now here, savoury: no sugar, merely peanuts, salt and high grade industrial oil. Also something called grape jelly ( American I now guess ) mixed with Devonshire Clotted Cream. Though I haven’t seen grape jelly for years and years. For the OP I would say Semolina, in _the same country_. For some of us it is savoury, something gently cooked to make Gnocchi, etc.; for those living in the lower depths, it is cooked into a sugary mess like a sweet slurry. For the trolls way below that there is something called sago as a sweet pudding, with a jam-jelly water substance poured over sometimes. I cannot say whether it can be savoury, since few at any school luncheon would eat it, due to disparaging it for similarity to frogspawn. I don’t really have a sweet tooth. ---
**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:** [June 22, 2014, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foods-that-are-savory-in-one-country-sweet-in-another/691352/30 "2014-06-22T17:17:53Z")
> [@mbh](#): > > In Chinese cuisine, there are a number of sweet pastry-like dishes whose main ingredient is lima beans. In certain American cuisines (primarily African-American Muslim, in my experience), you’ll find bean pie (usually made with navy beans), and it’s sweet. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2014, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foods-that-are-savory-in-one-country-sweet-in-another/691352/31 "2014-06-22T17:21:58Z")
> [@Claverhouse](#): > > raspberry jam ( yank=jelly ) ‘Yank jelly’? :eek: ‘Hey, baby, how’d you like some “yank jelly”?’ 😃 IME (native Californian, still living on the West Coast – though farther north), ‘jam’ is a preserve that contains seeds and ‘jelly’ is a preserve without seeds. I don’t know if this is The Definition, but it’s a distinction that seems to hold up label-wise. ---
**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:** [June 22, 2014, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foods-that-are-savory-in-one-country-sweet-in-another/691352/32 "2014-06-22T17:38:04Z")
Yeah, jam and jelly are two different substances in the US. Jelly is usually made just from fruit juice. Jam has other bits of fruit, often including seed, in it. Then there are marmalades and preserves. Jelly is usually fairly clear. Jam is not. ---
**Author:** ![Claverhouse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/13edae/32.png) [@Claverhouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Claverhouse)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2014, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foods-that-are-savory-in-one-country-sweet-in-another/691352/33 "2014-06-22T17:49:53Z")
And yet in Britain, jelly is that sweet clear set dish made often from gelatine. That too looks appalling. ---
**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:** [June 22, 2014, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foods-that-are-savory-in-one-country-sweet-in-another/691352/34 "2014-06-22T17:52:16Z")
> [@Claverhouse](#): > > And yet in Britain, jelly is that sweet clear set dish made often from gelatine. > > That too looks appalling. We just use the term “jello” generically for that. Or just “gelatin.” ---
**Author:** ![Doug\_K](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b5ac83/32.png) [@Doug\_K](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doug_K)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2014, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foods-that-are-savory-in-one-country-sweet-in-another/691352/35 "2014-06-22T18:09:12Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > Yeah, all the major brands – Skippy, Jif, Peter Pan, etc. – contain sugar. Even Skippy’s “natural” brand has sugar in it. You have to read labels and specifically look for the non-sugar varieties, like Smucker’s. Even, oddly enough, Whole Foods 365’s “organic” peanut butter, which contains sugar, while the regular “non-organic” kind does not. Now, nothing wrong with sugar and being “organic” or “all-natural,” of course, but I think most people’s assumptions would be that the regular variety would have sugar, not the organic kind. When I was in high school I saw a consumer advocate on TV trying to educate people about paying attention to labels. He made the point (and I agree with him) that most national brands of “peanut butter” are basically peanut flavored shortening, and that if you want real peanut butter to make sure the only ingredients are \>99% peanuts and \<1% salt. In most grocery stores that limits you to Smucker’s and possibly a store brand. ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/46a35a/32.png) [@Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_T-Bonham.net)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2014, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foods-that-are-savory-in-one-country-sweet-in-another/691352/36 "2014-06-22T18:32:39Z")
> [@Zeldar](#): > > Don’t laugh at this entry, but grits are good both ways. > [@Rachellelogram](#): > > Yes, they’re just as good in a garbage disposal as they are in a trash can. 😉 How wasteful! Rather, they are good for feeding to pigs, which eventually become pork roast, which is good for humans to eat. ---
**Author:** ![Athena](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/35a633/32.png) [@Athena](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Athena)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2014, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foods-that-are-savory-in-one-country-sweet-in-another/691352/37 "2014-06-22T19:11:13Z")
Just had a pasty, because I had to after this thread. First one in forever. Yum! ---
**Author:** ![TruCelt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/trucelt/32/523_2.png) [@TruCelt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TruCelt)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2014, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foods-that-are-savory-in-one-country-sweet-in-another/691352/38 "2014-06-22T19:39:10Z")
> [@araminty](#): > > Bread. Most commercial sliced bread in the US is waaaaaaay sweeter than other countries. It makes Vegemite taste odd. I make my own bread now. Look, I know you all get tired of hearing us tell you how disgusting that stuff is, nonetheless I have to say that this made me laugh so hard popcorn came out of my nose. Ouch! Ha! hahahahahahahahaaaaaa! Ouch! Ouch! Ouch! :eek::p:eek::eek::eek: Yah, that’s the trouble; our BREAD makes the vegemite taste funny. Ha! Ha! hahahahahahahahaaaaaa! Ouch! Ouch! Ouch! :D:p:eek::eek::eek: I was going to mention savoury pasties as well. I always look forward to those on trips to Ireland, where the local gas station/convenience store generally serves mushroom pasties. In the US, those would nearly always have apple or other fruit filling. Also, my _very_ American daughter loves to visit the “beanie” section at the local Korean bakery. She is absolutely aghast that anyone could eat bean-based cookies and pastries and balls of sweetened bean paste. She watches me eat with morbid fascination when I get one, but refuses to try it. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2014, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foods-that-are-savory-in-one-country-sweet-in-another/691352/39 "2014-06-22T19:49:00Z")
> [@TruCelt](#): > > She watches me eat with morbid fascination when I get one, but refuses to try it. Her loss. ---
**Author:** ![Biggirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biggirl/32/3294_2.png) [@Biggirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biggirl)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2014, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foods-that-are-savory-in-one-country-sweet-in-another/691352/40 "2014-06-22T19:51:55Z")
My son makes a bitchin’ navy bean pie. It is to die for but so sweet, he serves it in little sliver slices. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foods-that-are-savory-in-one-country-sweet-in-another/691352.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foods-that-are-savory-in-one-country-sweet-in-another/691352.md?page=3)