Most american food is bland to me - when I go to a restaurant offering “spicy” food, I order it extra “hot” but end up with something I would rate as a 2 out of 5. Don’t get me started on the “Hot” sauce packets at Taco Bell. I don’t consider something hot until I start sweating and get a runny nose. Only place I have experienced that was over in Korea, and one other time my wife put five sliced Thai peppers in a bowl of Noodle Soup (they looked like carrot slices to me, big mistake!).
I always try and sample the “true” cuisine of any country I have been in, but I can’t comment on european food, as I have never been there. Personally, the raw octopus I had in Korea (the tentacles were still sqirming on the plate) was about as far as I am gonna go…