# What is the most unusual thing about the American diet to people of other nationalities? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [February 15, 2012, 11:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-unusual-thing-about-the-american-diet-to-people-of-other-nationalities/612980 "2012-02-15T23:44:42Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 10
**Author:** ![bengangmo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/50afbb/32.png) [@bengangmo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bengangmo)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2012, 5:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-unusual-thing-about-the-american-diet-to-people-of-other-nationalities/612980/181 "2012-02-17T05:58:02Z")
> [@Cheesesteak](#): > > I can see what he’s saying. To me, scrambled are stirred frequently during cooking. Some places may just let the eggs sit and cook, like an omelet, then break it up before serving, rather than fold it into a proper omelet shape. You get the firmer omelet texture, rather than the soft scramble texture. Scrambled eggs are beaten / very briskly whisked prior to cooking to be light and fluffy, often you will add chives. Omlettes the white and yolk are mixed, but not beaten, they are a lot sturdier… ---
**Author:** ![bengangmo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/50afbb/32.png) [@bengangmo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bengangmo)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2012, 6:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-unusual-thing-about-the-american-diet-to-people-of-other-nationalities/612980/182 "2012-02-17T06:00:46Z")
> [@Ximenean](#): > > If NZ is like the UK, and in matters culinary it often seems to be, you get sunny side up, yolks still runny. I suppose you could ask the person to cook them a bit harder or on both sides, but we don’t really have names for that, I guess because not many people want them that way. [edit] Obviously, you can have scrambled eggs or omelette too. I’m talking about plain fried eggs. The default is sunny side up with a runny yolk. But you can certainly specify how runny you want the yolk, or if you prefer over easy - most cooks will unnerstand. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2012, 6:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-unusual-thing-about-the-american-diet-to-people-of-other-nationalities/612980/183 "2012-02-17T06:05:11Z")
I find Hershey’s chocolate to be soapy tasting. ---
**Author:** ![bengangmo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/50afbb/32.png) [@bengangmo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bengangmo)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2012, 6:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-unusual-thing-about-the-american-diet-to-people-of-other-nationalities/612980/184 "2012-02-17T06:10:06Z")
> [@Koxinga](#): > > I’m American, and there are things that I find strange now that I’m living abroad. > > (1) The amount of desserts and candy and snack cakes, not for meals but just casual snacking. > (2) The variety of different kinds of frozen meals. > (3) Things like [this](http://media.fakeposters.com/results/2009/08/10/kgwcf448v3.jpg). > (4) Why when growing up I was never made aware that you can eat fish in any other form but battered and fried. > > My wife and inlaws (Taiwanese) think it’s flabbergasting to drink a refreshing cold Coke with ice in the morning, but I don’t mind. There’s all sorts of food theories about when you shouldn’t eat or drink “cold” things, not always necessarily cold temperature-wise but somehow classified as “cold.” There are other things that are classified as “hot” for which there are times you’re not supposed to eat or drink. If you’re ever married to a pregnant Chinese woman, you’ll hear aaaaallll about it. here there is the same theory except its “cooling” and “heaty” - some foods make you feel hot / heaty, and some foods are refreshingly cool. ---
**Author:** ![bengangmo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/50afbb/32.png) [@bengangmo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bengangmo)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2012, 6:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-unusual-thing-about-the-american-diet-to-people-of-other-nationalities/612980/185 "2012-02-17T06:13:26Z")
> [@GreedySmurf](#): > > From Australia, I don’t know about weird specific foodstuffs, (apart from ‘biscuits’ as a savoury item :eek:) but there must be some interesting additives in a lot of foods, because in both my trips to the US I had indigestion at least once a day for at least the first week or so. Luckily I was able to locate industrial quantities\* of antacids at local chemists (drugstores?) > > Seriously how long does it normally take you to go through 100 antacid tablets? From what I unnerstand, an American “biscuit” is roughly equivalent to an antipodean scone, and one of our biscuits is a “cookie” to a 'mercan. Quite what they would think of a lamington I don’t know… ---
**Author:** ![Norse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/a9adbd/32.png) [@Norse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Norse)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2012, 7:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-unusual-thing-about-the-american-diet-to-people-of-other-nationalities/612980/186 "2012-02-17T07:26:25Z")
> [@Sattua](#): > > This thread is really rubbing me the wrong way. I’ve been served plenty of disgustingly salty, greasy, over-processed, unexcusable foods all over the world. Chill, man. The main part of the posts aren’t about “disgustingly salty, greasy, over-processed, unexcusable foods”. They are about what we who aren’t from the US find weird and unusual WRT US food. That’s not a judgment, that’s talking about cultural differences. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2012, 9:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-unusual-thing-about-the-american-diet-to-people-of-other-nationalities/612980/187 "2012-02-17T09:25:39Z")
> [@Mister\_Rik](#): > > I don’t know if this is exactly what you’re referring to, but one of the cruelest jokes (IMO) ever perpetrated upon my childhood self was the time my family was having dinner at the home of another family, and the hostess plopped down in front of me a blob of Jell-O with fruit inside it, topped with a big dollop of … mayonnaise. Imagine being a child thinking you’re about to scoop a big spoonful of whipped cream into your mouth, and it turns out to be something entirely different. I learned much later that some people actually consider the combination of Jell-O and mayonnaise to be quite “normal”. Where’s the barfing smiley when you need it? ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2012, 9:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-unusual-thing-about-the-american-diet-to-people-of-other-nationalities/612980/188 "2012-02-17T09:36:02Z")
> [@bengangmo](#): > > Quite what they would think of a lamington I don’t know… They do have some stuff that’s somewhat similar, I think, so they’ll probably call it a “Snack Cake” along the lines of Snoballs or Ding-Dongs or Ho-Hos… > [@Mister\_Rik](#): > > Yeah, root beer is a uniquely American thing. We have root beer in South Africa. It is a relatively recent thing, and the branding is often very [Yankophile](http://www.frankiessoftdrinks.com/Frankies-Root-Beer.html) (in both senses!). But it does sell, and I, for one, like it (although it _does_ taste like bubble-gum.) ---
**Author:** ![amanset](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8dc957/32.png) [@amanset](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amanset)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2012, 10:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-unusual-thing-about-the-american-diet-to-people-of-other-nationalities/612980/189 "2012-02-17T10:05:08Z")
> [@Acsenray](#): > > Hershey’s is horrible. > > I’ve seen marshmallow fluff at the supermarket my whole life. But I’ve never seen anyone actually eating it. It is also sold in pretty much all large supermarkets I have been in in Sweden. I have also never seen anyone buy it, but surely someone must be? ---
**Author:** ![amanset](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8dc957/32.png) [@amanset](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amanset)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2012, 10:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-unusual-thing-about-the-american-diet-to-people-of-other-nationalities/612980/190 "2012-02-17T10:15:36Z")
> [@Cheesesteak](#): > > No. There is nothing normal about piling fruit on a plate with spaghetti. > > How about cold pizza? I had a classmate from Peru convinced that eating cold pizza was a put on, we were saying something totally ridiculous to see if the foreigner would buy it. He should have read this: > **[BBC News | SCOTLAND | Cold pizza passes the taste test](http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/scotland/692122.stm)** > > A Scottish chemistry lecturer believes she has discovered why cold, left-over pizza, tastes so good the morning after. ---
**Author:** ![Shalmanese](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shalmanese](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shalmanese)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2012, 10:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-unusual-thing-about-the-american-diet-to-people-of-other-nationalities/612980/191 "2012-02-17T10:17:18Z")
Hershey’s chocolate uses soured milk as part of their chocolate, a process that gives it a taste some label as “baby vomit”. It was a byproduct of their WWII days when the milk supply was uncertain but, post war, consumers had become accustomed to the taste. It’s a uniquely American taste and one that some other chocolate manufacturers actually deliberately replicate in order to gain more acceptance in the American market. [Wiki article](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hershey_bar) > [@](#): > > Hershey process milk chocolate is cheaper to make than other types of chocolate as it is less sensitive to the freshness of the milk. The process is a trade secret, but experts speculate that the milk is partially lipolyzed, producing butyric acid, which stabilizes the milk from further fermentation. This compound gives the product a particular sour, “tangy” taste, to which the US public has become accustomed, to the point that other manufacturers often add butyric acid to their milk chocolates.[1] ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2012, 10:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-unusual-thing-about-the-american-diet-to-people-of-other-nationalities/612980/192 "2012-02-17T10:46:51Z")
> [@Mister\_Rik](#): > > Yeah, root beer is a uniquely American thing. McDonalds offered it here in the UK for a while after their initial big invasion starting in the 80s, but I don’t think it’s on the menu here any more. We have root beer here though (it’s called Dandelion and Burdock - and it’s different from American root beer, but it is a root beer) ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2012, 10:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-unusual-thing-about-the-american-diet-to-people-of-other-nationalities/612980/193 "2012-02-17T10:58:21Z")
> [@rogerbox](#): > > I’ve heard from foreign people from a variety of countries that Peanutbutter and jelly sandwiches are bizzarre. A filipino who tried it first as an adult liked it but found it weird. A lady from England finds them revolting because you don’t mix sweet and savory, supposedly. It may be that when you say ‘jelly’ to a Brit, they’re quite likely to interpret it as meaning fruit-flavoured gelatin dessert (i.e. what you call Jello) - and that, in a sandwich with peanut butter is a weird idea. (It’s a popular misconception that what we Brits call ‘jam’ is called ‘jelly’ in the USA, but this isn’t really true - we have jam, you have jam. You have jelly - we also have jelly - although not grape - it’s just that what you call jello, we also call jelly) And mixing sweet & savory? I don’t think she thought that one through completely - we have apple sauce with roast pork, redcurrant jelly with roast game, orange sauce with duck, pineapple on gammon… Peanut butter isn’t (or wasn’t) a staple sandwich filler here in the UK - that’s all. In the sense that PB&J is the default packed lunch sandwich in the USA, the UK default is probably cheese. ---
**Author:** ![grude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47774/32.png) [@grude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/grude)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2012, 11:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-unusual-thing-about-the-american-diet-to-people-of-other-nationalities/612980/194 "2012-02-17T11:11:57Z")
Look if you have a gourmet or import grocery by you go find some Euro chocolate, Germany has many good ones that are easy to find in the USA and not too expensive. The superiority over Hershey is indisputable, hell even cheap kids stuff like Kinder Eggs taste like heaven compared to Hershey. Its so soft and the taste so subtle and milky it melts in your mouth ummmmmmmmm. ---
**Author:** ![jz78817](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jz78817/32/1028_2.png) [@jz78817](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jz78817)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2012, 11:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-unusual-thing-about-the-american-diet-to-people-of-other-nationalities/612980/195 "2012-02-17T11:22:30Z")
> [@Mangetout](#): > > It may be that when you say ‘jelly’ to a Brit, they’re quite likely to interpret it as meaning fruit-flavoured gelatin dessert (i.e. what you call Jello) - and that, in a sandwich with peanut butter is a weird idea. > > (It’s a popular misconception that what we Brits call ‘jam’ is called ‘jelly’ in the USA, but this isn’t really true - we have jam, you have jam. You have jelly - we also have jelly - although not grape - it’s just that what you call jello, we also call jelly) [Jam, jelly, preserves,](http://www.smuckers.com/products/group.aspx?groupId=1) who can keep track?!? ---
**Author:** ![gracer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/8e7dd6/32.png) [@gracer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gracer)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2012, 11:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-unusual-thing-about-the-american-diet-to-people-of-other-nationalities/612980/196 "2012-02-17T11:55:00Z")
> [@Mister\_Rik](#): > > I don’t know if this is exactly what you’re referring to, but one of the cruelest jokes (IMO) ever perpetrated upon my childhood self was the time my family was having dinner at the home of another family, and the hostess plopped down in front of me a blob of Jell-O with fruit inside it, topped with a big dollop of … mayonnaise. Imagine being a child thinking you’re about to scoop a big spoonful of whipped cream into your mouth, and it turns out to be something entirely different. I learned much later that some people actually consider the combination of Jell-O and mayonnaise to be quite “normal”. :eek: I genuinely thought that was a silly HIMYM joke! Having peanut butter and jam on toast is a pretty normal thing in the UK & in The Netherlands. I’ve never known anyone to be surprised by it. Jelly would surprise them, because as **Mangetout** mentions, jelly is either jello or it goes with meat. ---
**Author:** ![auRa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c4cdca/32.png) [@auRa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/auRa)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2012, 1:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-unusual-thing-about-the-american-diet-to-people-of-other-nationalities/612980/197 "2012-02-17T13:15:08Z")
> [@Acsenray](#): > > The thing I remember my friend bringing back from Amsterdam was some kind of salty candy whose name translated as “dog shit” (Honden something?) and the package actually bore an illustration of the candies being expelled from a cartoon dog’s anus. Might be candy from BonBon, a Danish candy maker with such appetizingly named fare as [Earwax](http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_7YpjO_OmPKo/S3cZmBXLMQI/AAAAAAAAEUk/nWDPQ6tX310/s320/%25C3%25B6ronvax.jpg) and [Gull Shit](http://godisbloggen.se/verdens-sjoveste-slik/). I’m thinking what you remember could actually be [Hundeprutter](http://www.zen20611.zen.co.uk/DanishFood/ProductImages/sweets/bonbon_hundeprutter.jpg), or “Dog Farts”. There’s also a [theme park](http://www.bonbonland.dk/rides/the-farting-dog-rollercoaster/). ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2012, 1:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-unusual-thing-about-the-american-diet-to-people-of-other-nationalities/612980/198 "2012-02-17T13:15:46Z")
> [@grude](#): > > Look if you have a gourmet or import grocery by you go find some Euro chocolate, Germany has many good ones that are easy to find in the USA and not too expensive. The superiority over Hershey is indisputable, hell even cheap kids stuff like Kinder Eggs taste like heaven compared to Hershey. Its so soft and the taste so subtle and milky it melts in your mouth ummmmmmmmm. I guess it’s ultimately a matter of personal preference, but I too find Hershey chocolate slightly gritty, dry/waxy and oddly-burnt/chemical tasting. ---
**Author:** ![hamwater](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/0ea827/32.png) [@hamwater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hamwater)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2012, 1:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-unusual-thing-about-the-american-diet-to-people-of-other-nationalities/612980/199 "2012-02-17T13:31:10Z")
[quote=“tdn, post:105, topic:612980”] Color me surprised as well that **Nava** couldn’t find canned tomatoes in a normal supermarket in a normal US city. [QUOTE] . I haven’t finished reading the thread so I apologize if this has been addressed by someone else but I believe **Nava** said that she could only find whole, unpeeled tomatoes. Since our canned tomatoes are listed as “whole” maybe she thought that they were unpeeled but they were actually peeled, whole tomatoes (as they usually are)? Sorry about the coding, I tried but I’m on my phone and I don’t seem to be able to correct it. ---
**Author:** ![gracer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/8e7dd6/32.png) [@gracer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gracer)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2012, 1:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-unusual-thing-about-the-american-diet-to-people-of-other-nationalities/612980/200 "2012-02-17T13:55:16Z")
> [@Mangetout](#): > > I guess it’s ultimately a matter of personal preference, but I too find Hershey chocolate slightly gritty, dry/waxy and oddly-burnt/chemical tasting. Suddenly remember my American friend when I lived in Brazil. She really liked the Brazilian chocolate (just regular supermarket stuff). To me it tasted like you describe: waxy, gritty, burnt and tasteless. Her mum sent her a care package with some chocolate in it and then I understood why she liked the Brazilian chocolate: it was waaay worse! I have no idea what kind of chocolate it was, maybe it was Hershey? When we went to Rio we went to a posh chocolate shop for some nice choccies and her eyes were opened! To me both the Brazilian and the US chocolate tasted similar to when cheap chocolate goes off: like when you get those chocolate Santa for christmas and you find them the following year in the sweets box. In desperation, you try some. Yuck! I’m sure there is plenty of nice chocolate around in both countries though, don’t worry! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-unusual-thing-about-the-american-diet-to-people-of-other-nationalities/612980.md?page=9) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-unusual-thing-about-the-american-diet-to-people-of-other-nationalities/612980.md?page=11)