# Ketchup on Pizza?!? and other wierd international eating habits **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 29, 2008, 11:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ketchup-on-pizza-and-other-wierd-international-eating-habits/439626 "2008-02-29T11:07:48Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![nd\_n8](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/439d5e/32.png) [@nd\_n8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nd_n8)\ **Post date:** [February 29, 2008, 2:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ketchup-on-pizza-and-other-wierd-international-eating-habits/439626/21 "2008-02-29T14:04:45Z")
[QUOTE=chowder] I thought this until I tried it, It’s bloody good I tells ya. The maple syrup/bacon thing that Americans indulge in, is, I feel quite disgusting [/QUOTE] I don’t know so much about bacon but some nice pork sausage links swimming in maple syrup makes my mouth water. Hell, I’ve had bangers before and even they would be awesome floating in maple syrup next to a couple of fluffy buttery flapjacks. Not that there was anything wrong with the chutney and smashed up turnips that came with them of course. What is it about Americans and our aversion to eating cooked blood anyway? I’ve had conversations about how revolting blood pudding and sausages sound yet seen these exact same people drool over a sack of White Castles. Say sparky, you know that gooey bottom bun on the White Castle? You don’t think that’s just grease and onion juice do ya? And that soft and yummy greyish matter on the side of that meatloaf or home cooked hamburger? Ever wonder where that comes from anyway? ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [February 29, 2008, 2:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ketchup-on-pizza-and-other-wierd-international-eating-habits/439626/22 "2008-02-29T14:06:02Z")
I should hope England has gotten the hang of pizza by now. But when I went there as a kid, we got served a square pizza with bland tomato sauce (no oregano, so essentially ketchup) and _cheddar_ (!) cheese. ---
**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:** [February 29, 2008, 2:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ketchup-on-pizza-and-other-wierd-international-eating-habits/439626/23 "2008-02-29T14:07:34Z")
> [@](#): > > I should hope England has gotten the hang of pizza by now. But when I went there as a kid, we got served a square pizza with bland tomato sauce (no oregano, so essentially ketchup) and cheddar (!) cheese. Forr several years there was a restaurant in Boston/Cambridge that _specialized_ in “British-style Cheddar Cheese Pizza”. It was called Warburton’s. It’s gone now. ---
**Author:** ![chowder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/977dab/32.png) [@chowder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chowder)\ **Post date:** [February 29, 2008, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ketchup-on-pizza-and-other-wierd-international-eating-habits/439626/24 "2008-02-29T14:57:04Z")
[QUOTE=guizot] Yeah, but you’re from England, where they eat chip sandwiches. Good nutrition, innit?I’m with you on that. Chip sandwiches? It’s Chip Butties my good fellow, butties. And yes, it is good nutrition especially when accompanied with battered cod and mushy peas. Innit? ---
**Author:** ![Lunar\_Saltlick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/977dab/32.png) [@Lunar\_Saltlick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lunar_Saltlick)\ **Post date:** [February 29, 2008, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ketchup-on-pizza-and-other-wierd-international-eating-habits/439626/25 "2008-02-29T15:03:20Z")
Pizza with egg and cream. Hot dog bun with fries and cole slaw stuffed inside. Two slices of bread with a different type of bread as the filler. Peanut butter and Smarties sandwich. ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [February 29, 2008, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ketchup-on-pizza-and-other-wierd-international-eating-habits/439626/26 "2008-02-29T15:14:57Z")
What’s really weird to me is when you order, like, olives on a pizza in Italy, where you’d think they have this pizza thing down right, _the olives have pits in them_! How the hell are you supposed to eat that? Pick the olives off, pit them, put them back on? Also, the Subway in the Vienna train station put ketchup on my turkey sub. Which was suprisingly good. Especially since I had to order it, because he had no English and I had no German, by making the French noise the turkey makes. (I couldn’t remember the French word for turkey, either (dindon) but it got the job done.) Glouglouglouglouglou! And to think my mom sent me to order because “I’m sure you can talk to them, they all speak a million languages.” ---
**Author:** ![fessie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c37758/32.png) [@fessie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fessie)\ **Post date:** [February 29, 2008, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ketchup-on-pizza-and-other-wierd-international-eating-habits/439626/27 "2008-02-29T15:21:31Z")
In Holland they put an egg, sunny-side-up, on their hamburgers. And they fry them with some kind of weird onion. It’s not a normal onion, that would be good (mmmm, sliders), but some bastard relative thereof. Ketchup on cheese pizza (frozen-type) = yum Ketchup on mac 'n cheese = yum Ketchup on scrambled eggs = yum Ketchup on potato chips = hum Ketchup on those orange cheese/peanut butter crackers = yum Ketchup and grape jelly as a bbq meatball sauce = not as bad as it sounds ---
**Author:** ![Sophistry\_and\_Illusion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b3f665/32.png) [@Sophistry\_and\_Illusion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sophistry_and_Illusion)\ **Post date:** [February 29, 2008, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ketchup-on-pizza-and-other-wierd-international-eating-habits/439626/28 "2008-02-29T15:23:25Z")
I’m pretty sure foreigners would be horrified by Pump Cheese like they have at Fuddruckers. Hell, many Americans are horrified by it. ---
**Author:** ![An\_Gadai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@An\_Gadai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Gadai)\ **Post date:** [February 29, 2008, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ketchup-on-pizza-and-other-wierd-international-eating-habits/439626/29 "2008-02-29T15:25:37Z")
[QUOTE=CalMeacham] In **Dave Barry Does Japan** he talks about the Japanese putti ng corn of pizza CORN!!! Of course, I was surprised when I ordered spaghetti in Rome, Italy, and found that, among the pasta and the sauce, it had peas. [/QUOTE] We do that too. Corn is delicious on a pizza as I’ve said in another thread recently. ---
**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\ **Post date:** [February 29, 2008, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ketchup-on-pizza-and-other-wierd-international-eating-habits/439626/30 "2008-02-29T15:27:51Z")
[QUOTE=Zsofia] What’s really weird to me is when you order, like, olives on a pizza in Italy, where you’d think they have this pizza thing down right, _the olives have pits in them_! How the hell are you supposed to eat that? Pick the olives off, pit them, put them back on? [/QUOTE] Pizza as we think of it was invented and perfected in the U.S. The Italian versions can be reverse engineered as a foreign food just like everywhere else. ---
**Author:** ![An\_Gadai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@An\_Gadai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Gadai)\ **Post date:** [February 29, 2008, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ketchup-on-pizza-and-other-wierd-international-eating-habits/439626/31 "2008-02-29T15:30:18Z")
My girlfriend finds it strange that we have coleslaw in sandwiches and rolls here. Pizza here comes usually with garlic sauce. Peanut butter and jam sandwiches do sound horrible to me. I got tea in Spain with powdered milk in it (bleh) Iced Tea I find strange too but love hot tea. ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [February 29, 2008, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ketchup-on-pizza-and-other-wierd-international-eating-habits/439626/32 "2008-02-29T15:31:08Z")
I, er, put mayo on my fries\*. It’s something I tried after watching _Pulp Fiction_, during a trip to McD’s to get a Royale with Cheese. \*Technically, I dip the fries into some mayo as opposed to actually putting the mayo on a pile of fries. ---
**Author:** ![Wee\_Bairn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/90db22/32.png) [@Wee\_Bairn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wee_Bairn)\ **Post date:** [February 29, 2008, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ketchup-on-pizza-and-other-wierd-international-eating-habits/439626/33 "2008-02-29T15:36:09Z")
[QUOTE=Max the Immortal] When visiting New Zealand I was nonplussed when I discovered that they consider canned beet (aka “beet root”) a legitimate hamburger topping. I tried it and did not care for it. On the other hand, I wish that potato wedges with sour cream were more common here in Canada. Those are sheer brilliance. [/QUOTE] I had the potatoes and sour cream at a schwarma take out palce in downtown Montreal- very yummy indeed. Same place also put the standard onion, tomato, cucumber type things on the chicken sandwich, but on the lamb put these dark red beet looking strips that were repugnant. ---
**Author:** ![Mahna\_Mahna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e47c2d/32.png) [@Mahna\_Mahna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahna_Mahna)\ **Post date:** [February 29, 2008, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ketchup-on-pizza-and-other-wierd-international-eating-habits/439626/34 "2008-02-29T16:05:41Z")
I’ve had egg on a burger before. It’s actually much tastier than you’d imagine, especially when said burger is also topped with cheddar cheese and bacon. Mmmmm. The only thing mentioned so far that I’m utterly grossed out by is the chip buttie. I’m all for fries in sandwiches (in fact, a gyros sandwich ain’t the same unless it’s got a generous helping of greasy fries in the middle)… but JUST fries? with butter? Gag. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [February 29, 2008, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ketchup-on-pizza-and-other-wierd-international-eating-habits/439626/35 "2008-02-29T16:18:37Z")
My daughter is in the Peace Corps in Namibia, and their habits are much different than in the US. They eat a lot of meat. Red meat. So much that, if you say you prefer chicken and fish, they think you’re a vegetarian. The government keeps trying to support the local fishing industry but no one eats fish. They don’t eat many vegetables (it’s a very dry country, and the only farming is actually ranching). They serve what veggies they get (usually canned) with mayonnaise. ---
**Author:** ![Max\_the\_Immortal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/6de8d8/32.png) [@Max\_the\_Immortal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_the_Immortal)\ **Post date:** [February 29, 2008, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ketchup-on-pizza-and-other-wierd-international-eating-habits/439626/36 "2008-02-29T16:27:16Z")
[QUOTE=Sophistry and Illusion] I’m pretty sure foreigners would be horrified by Pump Cheese like they have at Fuddruckers. Hell, many Americans are horrified by it. [/QUOTE] A little bird once told me that many many people in southeast asia find the the very concept of cheese to be revolting (it’s kinda just spoiled milk, isn’t it?). Hopefully a Doper who actually lives in the area can confirm or deny this. ---
**Author:** ![Harmonious\_Discord](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/74df32/32.png) [@Harmonious\_Discord](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harmonious_Discord)\ **Post date:** [February 29, 2008, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ketchup-on-pizza-and-other-wierd-international-eating-habits/439626/37 "2008-02-29T16:28:16Z")
[QUOTE=Sophistry and Illusion] I’m pretty sure foreigners would be horrified by Pump Cheese like they have at Fuddruckers. Hell, many Americans are horrified by it. [/QUOTE] Pump cheese is to cheese for food, as what bacon grease is to K-Y jelly for lube. The FDA should ban the word cheese from the bucket of that slop. I always look at mayo on fries the same as sour cream on a potato. ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [February 29, 2008, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ketchup-on-pizza-and-other-wierd-international-eating-habits/439626/38 "2008-02-29T16:28:29Z")
[QUOTE=Shagnasty] Pizza as we think of it was invented and perfected in the U.S. The Italian versions can be reverse engineered as a foreign food just like everywhere else. [/QUOTE] You’d think people would complain, though. Like, “Hey, dude, how the hell am I supposed to eat these olives?” only in Italian so it sounds sexier. ---
**Author:** ![Capt.Ridley\_s\_Shooting\_Party](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/cc9497/32.png) [@Capt.Ridley\_s\_Shooting\_Party](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Capt.Ridley_s_Shooting_Party)\ **Post date:** [February 29, 2008, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ketchup-on-pizza-and-other-wierd-international-eating-habits/439626/39 "2008-02-29T16:32:38Z")
> [@](#): > > The only thing mentioned so far that I’m utterly grossed out by is the chip buttie. I’m all for fries in sandwiches (in fact, a gyros sandwich ain’t the same unless it’s got a generous helping of greasy fries in the middle)… but JUST fries? with butter? Gag. Not fries - proper chips. ---
**Author:** ![Kid\_A\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ed8c4c/32.png) [@Kid\_A\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kid_A_1)\ **Post date:** [February 29, 2008, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ketchup-on-pizza-and-other-wierd-international-eating-habits/439626/40 "2008-02-29T16:41:50Z")
[QUOTE=Wee Bairn] I had the potatoes and sour cream at a schwarma take out palce in downtown Montreal- very yummy indeed. Same place also put the standard onion, tomato, cucumber type things on the chicken sandwich, but on the lamb put these dark red beet looking strips that were repugnant. [/QUOTE] It was probably pickled turnip. IMHO, without it, shwarmas just aren’t right. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ketchup-on-pizza-and-other-wierd-international-eating-habits/439626.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ketchup-on-pizza-and-other-wierd-international-eating-habits/439626.md?page=3)