# View of America from an Aussie tourist. Right? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [September 6, 2013, 8:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/view-of-america-from-an-aussie-tourist-right/668159 "2013-09-06T08:33:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 7
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2013, 12:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/view-of-america-from-an-aussie-tourist-right/668159/121 "2013-09-09T12:52:56Z")
> [@Napkin\_Sandwich](#): > > I found Canada to be a lot like Australia in terms of food, and the prevalence of fresh/lightly prepared food. But I haven’t been to small town Canada, only the larger cities. When we lived in Detroit and used to take the short cut through Canada to New York state we occasionally had to stop in rural/small town Canada. The food there is pretty much indistinguishable from rural/small town US, outside of a few details. “Light” and “fresh” are not the first adjectives that come to mind. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2013, 12:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/view-of-america-from-an-aussie-tourist-right/668159/122 "2013-09-09T12:54:17Z")
> [@Acsenray](#): > > White egg shells are an American thing? I thought it just had to do with the breed of the hen that laid them. Correct. In the US for decades white eggs were so favored by buyers that brown eggs almost entirely disappeared. Now the trend is starting to reverse. ---
**Author:** ![Accidental\_Martyr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ce7236/32.png) [@Accidental\_Martyr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Accidental_Martyr)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2013, 1:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/view-of-america-from-an-aussie-tourist-right/668159/123 "2013-09-09T13:14:47Z")
> [@msmith537](#): > > And I’ve never been to Australia, but I’m willing to bet that outside of major cities like Sydney and Melbourne, there are probably a lot of places that are whatever the Aussie equivalent of “redneck” is. I believe the term is “yob.” ---
**Author:** ![tellyworth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/977dab/32.png) [@tellyworth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tellyworth)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2013, 1:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/view-of-america-from-an-aussie-tourist-right/668159/124 "2013-09-09T13:15:03Z")
> [@IvoryTowerDenizen](#): > > Even cheddar is orange, but I doubt that’s what they mean. Orange cheddar is what they’re talking about. Australian cheddar is pale yellow. ---
**Author:** ![Filbert](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/filbert/32/3433_2.png) [@Filbert](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Filbert)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2013, 1:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/view-of-america-from-an-aussie-tourist-right/668159/125 "2013-09-09T13:29:48Z")
> [@Trinopus](#): > > There’s an interesting ambiguity in this comment: in British English, that would mean “It’s all bad,” whereas in American English, that means, “It’s pretty much okay.” Eh? I’m English, and I’ve never heard ‘not half bad’ used to mean anything other than 'pretty much ok; where have you come across the other interpretation? Incidently, I found it very hard to find reasonably healthy cheap food in some areas of Australia- I spent a fun afternoon trying to find some form of veggie protein, ideally tofu, in Rockhampton, the supermarkets didn’t seem to even know what I was talking about, and the only tiny health food shop I found didn’t stock any. ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Tildrum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e95f7d/32.png) [@Tom\_Tildrum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Tildrum)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2013, 2:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/view-of-america-from-an-aussie-tourist-right/668159/126 "2013-09-09T14:14:52Z")
> [@Acsenray](#): > > White egg shells are an American thing? I thought it just had to do with the breed of the hen that laid them. Here’s a little [primer](http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/farming/8465410/Whats-happened-to-white-eggs) on egg preferences by country. It says that Japan and the US prefer white eggs, while Australia and Europe prefer brown. ---
**Author:** ![Springtime\_for\_Spacers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Springtime\_for\_Spacers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Springtime_for_Spacers)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2013, 2:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/view-of-america-from-an-aussie-tourist-right/668159/127 "2013-09-09T14:20:58Z")
> [@SerenaPerido](#): > > That’s not as funny as you might think. I have heard many a tale of people migrating from England because of the image of Australia they get from years of being brainwashed by Aussie soaps like Neighbours and Home and Away. It’s like “Hollywood” Australia, with golden beaches, beautiful homes, young, suntanned people - you know the drill. After spending a few years struggling here, a lot of em go back. I’ve heard that the swimming costume clad actors are frequently freezing during the beach scenes. As soon as the director shouts cut they are wrapping themselves in blankets ---
**Author:** ![Springtime\_for\_Spacers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Springtime\_for\_Spacers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Springtime_for_Spacers)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2013, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/view-of-america-from-an-aussie-tourist-right/668159/128 "2013-09-09T14:30:05Z")
> [@Accidental\_Martyr](#): > > I believe the term is “yob.” Nah, it’s “[bogan](https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=bogan&rlz=1C1EODB_enGB511GB511&um=1&ie=UTF-8&hl=en&tbm=isch&source=og&sa=N&tab=wi&ei=mtotUqyAJo-M7Aaz0oGYCA&biw=1024&bih=649&sei=vtotUrPxC43A7AbNpoCgCw)”. ---
**Author:** ![IvoryTowerDenizen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ivorytowerdenizen/32/17937_2.png) [@IvoryTowerDenizen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IvoryTowerDenizen)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2013, 2:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/view-of-america-from-an-aussie-tourist-right/668159/129 "2013-09-09T14:31:48Z")
> [@tellyworth](#): > > Orange cheddar is what they’re talking about. Australian cheddar is pale yellow. Really? I assumed they were talking about american cheese (which is usually met with some level of distain here and abroad) and not cheddar. What’s wrong with yellow cheddar? ---
**Author:** ![delphica](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e9a140/32.png) [@delphica](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/delphica)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2013, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/view-of-america-from-an-aussie-tourist-right/668159/130 "2013-09-09T14:39:28Z")
> [@doreen](#): > > My guess is that you actually bought vanilla flavored milk- I did that once. I just this did this the other day! I’m an American, in America, and I still didn’t noticed the milk was vanilla flavored until I had some and discovered it was disgusting. What threw me is that I’m used to associating the flavored milks with cartoon-y packaging, and this particular brand’s carton looked very normal. Just more on the NYC garbage situation, another element that is businesses and residences are all very intertwined. In almost all of Manhattan (which is where I’m assuming your friend spent the most time), every street is a mix of businesses and housing. The businesses produce a lot more trash that gets added to the pick up (and usually use private garbage collection services so you might see the private trucks and city trucks all together, making it seem like even more like endless garbage). In general, the garbage collection is pretty speedy and efficient, it’s just very possible that as you’re walking around, you keep seeing the waiting garbage as you’re moving from area to area. And again in New York, I agree with those who suggested that locals know how to identify the food options with more variety (and healthier variety), but a visitor won’t have that knack, especially with the fast food options being so flashy and recognizable. Really, the healthy restaurants are RIGHT THERE, but I can see how a tourist might walk right by. Australians, please come visit the U.S.! Most Americans love meeting visitors. Please, come take pictures of our squirrels! ---
**Author:** ![LinusK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/258eb7/32.png) [@LinusK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LinusK)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2013, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/view-of-america-from-an-aussie-tourist-right/668159/131 "2013-09-09T18:54:23Z")
> [@stui\_magpie](#): > > Hi All, > > Let me start by saying that I’m putting this up, not to have a shot at the USA, but to get some opinion from the locals whether this perception is right or not. > > A woman who works for me just got home from a 5 week USA holiday with her husband and 3 young daughters, She did LA, Las Vegas, New York, Washington and Hawaii. > > While she really enjoyed the holiday, she had a few comments about the USA in general that made her very happy to be home. > > 1. She said the food was horrible (her words). She likes to eat healthy but found it very difficult to get what she considered healthy food. There were hamburger joints on every 2nd corner and the other one had a different fast food joint. Trying to get some simple food like fish or salad involved having to go to an expensive restaurant. > > Her opinion was that almost everything was greasy and the orange cheese was just damn weird. Yeah, food is greasy and unhealthy, at least at fast food restaurants, and many other ones as well. There are healthy places to eat too, but you have to look for them. They’re outnumbered at least a couple of times to one. And they’re more expensive. Plus portions are ginormous. I can never finish a plate. > [@](#): > > 1. There were homeless people everywhere in public parks and on beaches, having built temporary shelters out of trolleys and cardboard, begging for money There are certainly homeless people everywhere, at least in any city of any size. I don’t know about the cardboard and trolleys or whatever. They don’t let them build structures around here, at least not unless they’re off in the woods or otherwise hidden from view. > [@](#): > > 1. The roads all seemed to be full of holes and are as bumpy as fuck. That’s certainly true here. Apparently all the utilities are under the roads, so whenever a new building goes up, they have to tear the shit out of roads to get at them. And of course they do a crappy job repairing the roads when they finally get done. > [@](#): > > Overall, her opinion as someone who had never been to the US before but having grown up watching US TV programs and movies, was that the USA seemed to be a place that had peaked several years ago and now was in decline. She was happy to be home. No. The economy’s improving, at least where I live. New commercial/residential stuff is going up all over the place. (One reason the roads are so shitty.) I’d say TV is just nothing like reality, and never has been, so she shouldn’t judge the US naked on what she sees on TV. > [@](#): > > Granted that most people in the USA have no real knowledge of Australia so can’t compare, and her only prior knowledge of the USA was TV and Movies. > > So my question to the good citizens of the US are: > > Are her observations fair? > Would you agree or disagree? > Did she just cop the narrow view from doing the tourist beat or is what she saw consistent with the rest of the country? > > I’m intending to visit sometime in the not so distant future, so I’m interested to see how the inside view compares with that from outside. The biggest difference is between tourist destinations like NY and Las Vegas and the rest of the country. I mean I love NY, and would love to live there (if I could afford it) but its nothing like the rest of the country. And of course Las Vegas is Las Vegas. It’s Disneyworld for grow ups. I’ve never been to Hawaii, but I’ve always heard it was beautiful, so I’m surprised if she got a bad impression there. ---
**Author:** ![Fleetwood](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fleetwood/32/271_2.png) [@Fleetwood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fleetwood)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2013, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/view-of-america-from-an-aussie-tourist-right/668159/132 "2013-09-09T21:16:05Z")
> [@Broomstick](#): > > Correct. In the US for decades white eggs were so favored by buyers that brown eggs almost entirely disappeared. > > Now the trend is starting to reverse. I dunno about disappearing. I grew up near Boston and never saw a white egg in person until I was in my twenties. ---
**Author:** ![Parenchyma](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Parenchyma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Parenchyma)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2013, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/view-of-america-from-an-aussie-tourist-right/668159/133 "2013-09-09T23:01:24Z")
> [@Fleetwood](#): > > I dunno about disappearing. I grew up near Boston and never saw a white egg in person until I was in my twenties. My experience is the same. The slogan was always [“Brown eggs are local, and local eggs are fresh.”](http://www.newenglandbrownegg.com/eggstory.html) I just learned that goes back to trade with China in the days of the Yankee Clippers, and the hens that became the Rhode Island Red breed. ---
**Author:** ![tellyworth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/977dab/32.png) [@tellyworth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tellyworth)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2013, 12:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/view-of-america-from-an-aussie-tourist-right/668159/134 "2013-09-10T00:25:18Z")
> [@IvoryTowerDenizen](#): > > What’s wrong with yellow cheddar? Eh? Nothing. Australians find orange cheddar a bit surprising because we’re used to it being yellow. I’m sure the reverse is probably true when Americans visit Australia. ---
**Author:** ![Motorgirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e36b37/32.png) [@Motorgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Motorgirl)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2013, 12:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/view-of-america-from-an-aussie-tourist-right/668159/135 "2013-09-10T00:50:57Z")
> [@tellyworth](#): > > Eh? Nothing. Australians find orange cheddar a bit surprising because we’re used to it being yellow. I’m sure the reverse is probably true when Americans visit Australia. Only some Americans. In NY & NE cheddar is mostly white. Yellow (orange) cheddar is hard to find. When I was a kid in Oklahoma cheddar was almost universally yellow (orange). Interestingly, my Australian friend says she prefers the yellow (orange) cheese because it “looks more like cheese.” ---
**Author:** ![Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eyebrows_0f_doom/32/3119_2.png) [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eyebrows_0f_Doom)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2013, 2:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/view-of-america-from-an-aussie-tourist-right/668159/136 "2013-09-10T02:31:31Z")
> [@Motorgirl](#): > > Only some Americans. In NY & NE cheddar is mostly white. Yellow (orange) cheddar is hard to find. :dubious: No it’s not. It’s the complete opposite. I live in New York and always get cheddar on my sandwiches. Rarely has it ever been white. I buy cheddar a lot from the deli counters and unless I specifically ask for white, it is always yellow. Go into the cheese section of any New York grocery store, most of the cheddar is yellow/orange. ---
**Author:** ![IvoryTowerDenizen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ivorytowerdenizen/32/17937_2.png) [@IvoryTowerDenizen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IvoryTowerDenizen)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2013, 2:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/view-of-america-from-an-aussie-tourist-right/668159/137 "2013-09-10T02:44:02Z")
> [@tellyworth](#): > > Eh? Nothing. Australians find orange cheddar a bit surprising because we’re used to it being yellow. I’m sure the reverse is probably true when Americans visit Australia. I know but the meme is always, “if it’s something in America, it must be bad”. ---
**Author:** ![GreedySmurf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a698b9/32.png) [@GreedySmurf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GreedySmurf)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2013, 2:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/view-of-america-from-an-aussie-tourist-right/668159/138 "2013-09-10T02:59:14Z")
> [@Filbert](#): > > Incidently, I found it very hard to find reasonably healthy cheap food in some areas of Australia- I spent a fun afternoon trying to find some form of veggie protein, ideally tofu, in Rockhampton, the supermarkets didn’t seem to even know what I was talking about, and the only tiny health food shop I found didn’t stock any. Tofu? in Rockhampton? 😃 Good luck! In case you didn’t notice while you were there, you were looking for Tofu in the “_Beef Capital of Australia_” ---
**Author:** ![Motorgirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e36b37/32.png) [@Motorgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Motorgirl)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2013, 12:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/view-of-america-from-an-aussie-tourist-right/668159/139 "2013-09-10T12:53:55Z")
> [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](#): > > :dubious: No it’s not. It’s the complete opposite. I live in New York and always get cheddar on my sandwiches. Rarely has it ever been white. I buy cheddar a lot from the deli counters and unless I specifically ask for white, it is always yellow. Go into the cheese section of any New York grocery store, most of the cheddar is yellow/orange. My experience is the exact opposite of yours. Orange cheddar (industry term for it is “yellow”) is vanishingly rare in the NY and New England supermarkets I shop in. It’s all “white” cheddar (industry term is “white” - in reality it’s pale yellow) ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2013, 1:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/view-of-america-from-an-aussie-tourist-right/668159/140 "2013-09-10T13:12:05Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > _Southern_ California (basically Santa Barbara to the Mexican border) and Australia each have 22.68 million people. As does the New York metropolitan area. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/view-of-america-from-an-aussie-tourist-right/668159.md?page=6)