# Foreign food habits you've imported **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 18, 2020, 10:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foreign-food-habits-youve-imported/852041 "2020-04-18T10:30:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![StGermain](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stgermain/32/2868_2.png) [@StGermain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StGermain)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2020, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foreign-food-habits-youve-imported/852041/61 "2020-04-19T16:54:23Z")
> [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](#): > > That’s the stuff. I just bought 3 jars! Thanks!! 😃 🙂 🆒 Glad I could brighten your day. StG ---
**Author:** ![Dallas\_Jones](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dallas_jones/32/3277_2.png) [@Dallas\_Jones](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dallas_Jones)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2020, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foreign-food-habits-youve-imported/852041/62 "2020-04-19T17:05:06Z")
I work with a woman from the Philippines and she introduced me to Lumpia, their version of small spring rolls. > **[Traditional Filipino Lumpia](https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/35151/traditional-filipino-lumpia/)** > > Filipino lumpia are fried spring rolls filled with a savory mixture of pork, cabbage, and other veggies usually served as a side dish or appetizer. You can make them many ways with vegetables, meat, or combinations. Mine are getting almost as good as hers. And oyster sauce is now a required part of my condiment cabinet. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2020, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foreign-food-habits-youve-imported/852041/63 "2020-04-19T17:56:52Z")
Oyster sauce rocks! But I grew up with that, as my dad liked to cook Chinese food. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2020, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foreign-food-habits-youve-imported/852041/64 "2020-04-19T18:00:42Z")
> [@Yorkshire\_Pudding](#): > > Lord, how I miss Ribena. Since the introduction of the sugar tax, a lot of manufacturers has sidestepped the price increase by reformulation with enough sweetener to reduce the sugar content…and thus making it taste undrinkably wretched. 40 years drinking Ribena and it was ruined overnight. That’s horrible! It looks like mine was manufactured just before they changed the recipe. I guess I won’t be buying more. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Angel\_of\_the\_Lord](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/angel_of_the_lord/32/2949_2.png) [@Angel\_of\_the\_Lord](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Angel_of_the_Lord)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2020, 11:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foreign-food-habits-youve-imported/852041/65 "2020-04-19T23:38:51Z")
My mom is from Canada. I grew up putting white (not malt–gross!) vinegar on my fries. I didn’t realize until I went to live on my own that this was somewhat unusual. I still vastly prefer white vinegar to malt. And I’ll put the vinegar on, then _also_ dip them in ketchup. I also will put cinnamon and allspice and sometimes clove in when making beefy sauces and stews. It just tastes right. I suspect this is in part because my dad’s mom’s family is Greek, and I grew up eating meat with those seasonings pretty regularly. When I tried Cincinnati chili for the first time, as an adult, it felt so _right_. ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2020, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foreign-food-habits-youve-imported/852041/66 "2020-04-20T00:33:22Z")
Do methods of eating count? Ever since I spent my 19th summer studying French overseas (1980) I’ve dined with my fork in my left hand and my knife in my right. The North American style of “cut food, switch fork to right hand” seems clumsy. This infuriated my Father, who insisted I should eat like an American. ---
**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:** [April 20, 2020, 12:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foreign-food-habits-youve-imported/852041/67 "2020-04-20T00:38:32Z")
I would think so. Mainly because I eat that way as well. Tines down. ---
**Author:** ![Balthisar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/balthisar/32/2825_2.png) [@Balthisar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balthisar)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2020, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foreign-food-habits-youve-imported/852041/68 "2020-04-20T02:35:48Z")
> [@Angel\_of\_the\_Lord](#): > > My mom is from Canada. I grew up putting white (not malt–gross!) vinegar on my fries. I didn’t realize until I went to live on my own that this was somewhat unusual. I still vastly prefer white vinegar to malt. And I’ll put the vinegar on, then _also_ dip them in ketchup. In the USA, or Canada? I think in the USA, putting any type of vinegar on fries is unusual. In Ontario, it’s white vinegar, unless you have fish and chips, then it’s malt vinegar, because the fish gets malt, and you don’t need two different types of vinegar. If you don’t want malt on your fries with fish and chips, then you get tomato sauce or catsup. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2020, 2:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foreign-food-habits-youve-imported/852041/69 "2020-04-20T02:54:31Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > I would think so. Mainly because I eat that way as well. Tines down. I do, too, but that’s not a habit I imported. I’ve always done that. I’m not actually sure what my parents did, but I don’t think they moved their fork around, either, because I thought it was odd when I read about “Americans do this” as an adult. I sometimes have tines up and sometimes tines down, depending on what I am eating. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2020, 3:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foreign-food-habits-youve-imported/852041/70 "2020-04-20T03:39:53Z")
> [@Ukulele\_Ike](#): > > Do methods of eating count? Ever since I spent my 19th summer studying French overseas (1980) I’ve dined with my fork in my left hand and my knife in my right. The North American style of “cut food, switch fork to right hand” seems clumsy. > > This infuriated my Father, who insisted I should eat like an American. My mother used to get mad when I would eat with chopsticks at a Chinese restaurant. She thought I was just showing off.😃 ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2020, 4:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foreign-food-habits-youve-imported/852041/71 "2020-04-20T04:46:12Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > My mother used to get mad when I would eat with chopsticks at a Chinese restaurant. She thought I was just showing off.😃 lol I would be very embarassed if I didn’t know how to use chopsticks. > [@Yorkshire\_Pudding](#): > > Traditionally, to a Brit, the idea of breakfasting on pancakes and bacon with syrup would be like breakfasting on apple pie and roast beef with ice cream… I am right now waiting for a blueberry pie to cool a bit before I put it in the fridge. Will have a slice for breakfast. ---
**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:** [April 20, 2020, 5:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foreign-food-habits-youve-imported/852041/72 "2020-04-20T05:14:19Z")
I had never had tea with milk until I lived in Britain. Nor was I used to making tea in a pot; I’d just boil teabags in a saucepan. My Scottish pen-pal’s mother saw me making tea this way and drinking it black, and she thought I was daft. Now, of course, I almost always drink it with milk and sugar, except when I have a cold. Then I drink it with honey and lemon. Boiling tea is, BTW, the traditional Russian way of making it. A samovar is just used to heat water to dilute the strong tea to taste. The pot to which the tea is transferred after boiling is placed on top of the samovar’s stovepipe to keep it warm. (In the past, samovars burned charcoal; today they’re all electric.) Now, of course, Russians use teabags and kettles like everyone else, but you still see samovars in use sometimes. Russians traditionally drink tea with jam: a sip of tea, a small spoonful of jam; repeat. They would also suck tea (without milk) through sugar cubes in their mouths. You could always spot these people because their remaining teeth were black. Loose tea is, of course, better than teabags qualitatively, but bags are just more convenient. No messy cleanup. ---
**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:** [April 20, 2020, 5:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foreign-food-habits-youve-imported/852041/73 "2020-04-20T05:37:01Z")
> [@Yorkshire\_Pudding](#): > > Traditionally, to a Brit, the idea of breakfasting on pancakes and bacon with syrup would be like breakfasting on apple pie and roast beef with ice cream. For breakfast this morning, I had oatmeal with brown sugar, a little maple sugar, a gob of butter, and a splash of 18% cream. Also too sweet for you? 😉 I can never eat oatmeal without thinking of _ **The Avengers** _ episode “Castle de’Ath”: **HEAD OF THE CLAN de’ATH:** (_Seeing that Steed isn’t eating his breakfast porridge_) What’s the matter? Is it nae salty enough for ye? (_Proceeds to add more salt to the dish._) ---
**Author:** ![Yorkshire\_Pudding](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/59ef9b/32.png) [@Yorkshire\_Pudding](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yorkshire_Pudding)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2020, 10:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foreign-food-habits-youve-imported/852041/74 "2020-04-20T10:33:11Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > For breakfast this morning, I had oatmeal with brown sugar, a little maple sugar, a gob of butter, and a splash of 18% cream. Also too sweet for you? 😉 > > I can never eat oatmeal without thinking of _ **The Avengers** _ episode “Castle de’Ath”: > > **HEAD OF THE CLAN de’ATH:** (_Seeing that Steed isn’t eating his breakfast porridge_) What’s the matter? Is it nae salty enough for ye? (_Proceeds to add more salt to the dish._) I could never reconcile the stereotypes of Scotland: on the one hand you’ve got your “The English are all softies, wanting _sugar_ in their porridge for Christ’s sake…what, do you want your arse wiping for you too?” then on the other you’ve got the “Batter and deep-fry everything, and feed me sweeties till my teeth rot back into my whisky-pickled skull!” I’m not suggesting either is accurate, I hasten to add, but it always seemed weird that anyone should have equal reputations both for pouring scorn on luxury and for unbridled indulgence. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2020, 11:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foreign-food-habits-youve-imported/852041/75 "2020-04-20T11:03:31Z")
My guess? Porridge is eaten sober; fried food is eaten drunk. ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2020, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foreign-food-habits-youve-imported/852041/76 "2020-04-20T15:04:11Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > …Boiling tea is, BTW, the traditional Russian way of making it. A samovar is just used to heat water to dilute the strong tea to taste. The pot to which the tea is transferred after boiling is placed on top of the samovar’s stovepipe to keep it warm. (In the past, samovars burned charcoal; today they’re all electric.) Now, of course, Russians use teabags and kettles like everyone else, but you still see samovars in use sometimes. > > … In case you get to hankering for your own [samovar](https://smile.amazon.com/s?k=samovar&i=garden&s=relevancerank&qid=1587394906&ref=sr_st_relevancerank)at home. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Yorkshire\_Pudding](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/59ef9b/32.png) [@Yorkshire\_Pudding](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yorkshire_Pudding)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2020, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foreign-food-habits-youve-imported/852041/77 "2020-04-20T15:44:22Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > I had never had tea with milk until I lived in Britain. Nor was I used to making tea in a pot; I’d just boil teabags in a saucepan. My Scottish pen-pal’s mother saw me making tea this way and drinking it black, and she thought I was daft. Now, of course, I almost always drink it with milk and sugar, except when I have a cold. Then I drink it with honey and lemon. When I stayed with a German family on a school exchange trip, they were stunned that I drank my tea without milk. “No! You’re not English! You’re no English boy!” I grew up literally two minute’s walk from Taylor’s of Harrogate, home of Yorkshire Tea. I used to get summer jobs there, packing tea. But no, I know, no milk makes me a weirdo… ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2020, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foreign-food-habits-youve-imported/852041/78 "2020-04-20T15:50:13Z")
I don’t like milk in my tea. My husband puts milk in his Indian tea, but not in his Chinese tea. But I feel like milk removes all the “zip”. I don’t use sugar, either, although I did as a child. ---
**Author:** ![madsircool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madsircool/32/3432_2.png) [@madsircool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madsircool)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2020, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foreign-food-habits-youve-imported/852041/79 "2020-04-20T15:55:32Z")
> [@Yorkshire\_Pudding](#): > > When I stayed with a German family on a school exchange trip, they were stunned that I drank my tea without milk. “No! You’re not English! You’re no English boy!” > > I grew up literally two minute’s walk from Taylor’s of Harrogate, home of Yorkshire Tea. I used to get summer jobs there, packing tea. > > But no, I know, no milk makes me a weirdo… As an aside I am well aware of Harrogate and Harrogate Railway through my lower league saves on Football Manager playing as a resurrected Leigh RMI. I hope this crisis doesnt destroy lower league football. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2020, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foreign-food-habits-youve-imported/852041/80 "2020-04-20T16:01:56Z")
> [@Yorkshire\_Pudding](#): > > When I stayed with a German family on a school exchange trip, they were stunned that I drank my tea without milk. “No! You’re not English! You’re no English boy!” > > I grew up literally two minute’s walk from Taylor’s of Harrogate, home of Yorkshire Tea. I used to get summer jobs there, packing tea. > > But no, I know, no milk makes me a weirdo… My Irish (-American) mother always made tea with milk and sugar. I didn’t learn that some people drank it plain or with just lemon until I was in my teens. Oddly, she always drank her coffee black without sugar (despite the fact that in New York City “coffee regular” means with milk and sugar). [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foreign-food-habits-youve-imported/852041.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foreign-food-habits-youve-imported/852041.md?page=5)