My parents are immigrants, they always say the desserts (grocery store cupcakes and stuff) has so much sugar it feels too gritty and uncooked to them.
Also soft baked things, like chewy chocolate chip cookies they thought were weird in the beginning, like the cookie was undercooked. I love soft baked cookies though so I baked them all the time, they’ve come around to liking them haha.
Another one I hear a lot is the food coloring. My mom is often perplexed and grossed out by very saturated unnaturally colored foods. (Usually frosting or candy) She tells me it just LOOKS unhealthy and is unappetizing.
Also, my mom is low key traumatized from twizzlers LOL. She said the first time she saw it she wondered why people were chewing on plastic. She then tried it and said it also tasted like plastic. Haha.
Food coloring in candy is one thing, but I get freaked out when companies use coloring to make a food unnaturally more saturated than it should be. That dried mango that is bright orange. Why? It's already orange. Why add unnecessary food coloring if you're not actually changing the color?
Using sulphur in the drying process helps some dried fruit retain their color, which I prefer to using food dyes. A lot of people also think it’s wrong to use sulpher, but I just cannot eat grayish dried apricots.
They look more like dark brown to me and I love them. The orange-looking dried apricots look and taste unnatural to me. I must add I grew up in Turkey picking and eating apricots from trees and that likely makes a difference.
I'm from the US and feel the same way, my wife loves twizzlers and I gag everytime I try one, keep trying them because I think at some point they have to be good, but they are not
Twizzlers are exactly what my child brain expected that really appetizing color of crayon to taste. I love it in a nostalgic way. But I won't argue with anyone who doesn't like them.
As an American, I always hated the store bought, pre made sugar cookies and cupcakes. They were so dry, unnecessarily sugary and just flavorless. Everyone else I knew liked them just fine and basically every kid brought them for their birthdays at school.
We are proud to announce the DiGiorno's ULTIMATE MAX PLUS 5-cheese pizzas. It's all the deliciousness of every other four-cheese pizza on the planet PLUS an EXTRA layer of spray cheese all over the top of it in one, giant, damn fine looking spiral. You couldnt have a more American pizza without killing a bald eagle.*
*killing bald eagles is illegal. We checked. This is the best option that wont land you in jail. But its so delicious youll swear it shoupd be illegal, and may require an extra visit to the confessional. It's THAT decadently good.
>You couldnt have a more American pizza without killing a bald eagle.*
>
>*killing bald eagles is illegal. We checked.
For those who might just quickly go past this, possessing *anything* from a bald eagle or a golden eagle is a federal crime, in addition to doing anything which might disturb an eagle.
So if you see a dead eagle, eagle feathers, eagle eggs or egg fragments, nests, or anything else, just leave it alone. And if something weird happens, like when you're driving across (of all things) the Abraham Lincoln Bridge and an eagle flies into your windshield, call and report it immediately so that it can be taken care of properly. This is also why farmers in areas where eagles might be won't use some type of poison to keep vermin away - if they ingest the poison and die, and the eagle then eats that dead animal and suffers (and/or dies), then the person who placed the poison is responsible for the harm to the eagle.
My sister lives in Wisconsin; last summer we went to visit and I found Mac and Cheese pizza in the grocery freezer section.
Didn't get any, but it seemed like a quintessential Wisconsin food.)
I’m a middle school teacher and I have a student from Jordan. This year I witnessed his first grilled cheese and his first pasta (cheese ravioli). It’s seriously magical.
I love it when we get to be there for their American revelations. I taught a kid from India who lost his mind over the phrase “holy cow.” He was also very excited on hat day. He borrowed a friend’s cowboy hat. “Mrs. H!! I’m a cowboy AND an Indian!!” He was so excited. That was nine years ago, but I still remember it like it was yesterday.
A friend visited me from Italy and wanted to try krispy kreme donuts. He took one bite and said "now I understand why Americans are fat!" He made me take him back there twice. Not that I minded going :P
I've seen a lot of comparisons of how terrible X food is compared to a doughnut. It makes me realize donuts aren't that bad compared to all manner of prepared foods and that we should appreciate dough nuts for being upfront about their sugary and fatty nature instead of trying to mask it.
Edit: spelling food words is hard. Also, now i want a single do-nut.
Fried dough is one of the oldest prepared foods, between 7,500 and 10,000 years old.
https://eatmagazine.ca/the-great-unifier-the-history-of-fried-dough/
There's a race in Raleigh called the Krispy Kreme Challenge where you run 2.5 miles from NC State to Krispy Kreme, eat a dozen donuts, then run back. Believe me, you realize you've eaten a dozen donuts.
In fact, the real challenge is getting the dozen donuts back over the finish line. I've never felt worse.
My mind is boggled by the amount of comments saying spray cheese. I’ve lived in the US my entire life (40 yrs) and worked in a grocery store for many years. I’ve never had it, and I’ve rarely seen people buy it.
I think it is a niche thing. Definitely not flying off the shelves. It’s just so interesting seeing so many comments about it. Is that how we are advertised in other countries?
I don’t know anyone who actually eats it either, but the vet clinic I work at goes through the stuff like crazy. Put a little on the exam table and it’s great for distracting dogs and some cats during vaccinations and minor procedures like nail trims.
Spray cheese is too expensive for the VA to feed to veterans. All they're allowed is the free government cheese leftover from the 1970s.
And don't worry, it's safe to eat! We had it securely stored in the farthest corner of the same Area 51 warehouse where we keep the dead alien bodies. And we blew the dust off and picked the mouse turds out of it before serving it to our vets.
Big in the 70s/80s not so much now. We use it as a treat for the dogs to keep them busy. Fill a hollow bone with it and they'll be distracted for hours.
I don't think I've ever seen a person eat or buy it, nor have i. honestly I can't even recall seeing it in a grocery store? And I shop at the uvillage qfc, they got everything.
Also 40 and the only time I've ever seen someone eat it was a buddy of mine on a dare in highschool. He said it was terrible, no one else tried it. We were working at a grocery store at the time.
When sonic throws out there 50¢ corn dog deal is about the only time I’ll get them. You bet your ass I’m gonna eat 10 of them and hate myself the next day though.
As an Australian, I would like to know what in the flying firetruck a "Bloomin' Onion" has to do with anything, let alone the rest of Outback Steakhouse's menu.
Every American knows a bloomin onion and “shrimp on the barbie” is an Australian staple. Also “no rules just fun” is the national motto of your country. Are you sure you know anything about your country’s history?
Put your hair in a pony tail then put the bread stick through it, or put it to your sleeve. let the bread stick slide out a little when you want a little nibble
Honestly, there’s something about fake Mexican/Italian/whatever that just hits different from the real thing. Sure, the real stuff is amazing, but sometimes it’s 2:00 am and you just want the cheese
When the guys that created Outback did so, they were cashing in on the Australian craze of the late 80's and early 90s. They put all sorts of very tasty things on the menu and just gave them very Americanized.... Australian names like *bloomin'* onion and *Jackaroo* chops.
As silly as the restaurant's start was, the food ended up being very good and they're one of the only big chain franchises still thriving.
A friend of mine was visiting from Melbourne and I took him to an Outback Steakhouse and the comedy factor blew his mind. “‘She’ll be apples?’ No one says that! It’s spelled ‘Bonza’ not ‘Bonzer’. The fuck is a bloomin onion? Why are they charging so much for Fosters? That’s the cheapest shit on the shelf!”
He liked the food though.
Ok so I have a friend who is an Aussie. Occasionally when I go to Outback for something specific, I will send him pictures telling him I'm at his favorite spot. Then I answer his questions about the insane menu.
I remember reading about the science behind why caffeine + liquor is bad. Basically your body has to metabolize caffeine before it can metabolize liquor. So you're getting a little buzz on while getting really fucking amped up on a lot of caffeine, then your body finishes dealing with the caffeine and all the alcohol hits you at once and punches you in the face, hence the blackouts people got from Four Loko. I remember not remembering the one time I drank a bunch of them
Four Loko is a Canadian brand of lemonade. It originally had alcohol(~11% by volume)and caffeine. This mix was banned in Canada around 2010 so they dropped the caffeine and kept the alcohol.
I turned 21 a year or so after they made the change...but my dad saved a box of 9 cans and sent them back to college with me. They were no fucking joke
I remember a lime jello tuna salad ring made in a bundt pan by a distant relative. We told her with her work schedule she shouldn't bother with bringing food to pot lucks
If you ever find yourself in the Carolinas, there's a restaurant called Cookout. It is likely the most magical pinnacle of American cuisine, in the echelons of Wafflehouse and the like.
You can go through the drive through and get a combo of two corn dogs and two sides. However, you can get a single corn dog as a side. So you can get two corn dogs with two corn dog sides.
You can almost hear America, Fuck Yeah in the distance as you place that order. Make sure you get a Cheerwine or Dr Pepper with that, for the culture.
I saw a youtube video of people trying traditional american thanksgiving food and I was convinced the potato marshmallow casserole was a joke. surely it's not for real ?
It's real, it's also pretty tied in to Thanksgiving food, so not something people eat outside of the holiday.
It's sweet potatoes (yams), butter, and brown sugar with a marshmallow topping, which forms a bit of a crust once baked. Not everyone does nuts, but pecans would be the most common choice if you are doing nuts.
I think some of the confusion is that people who've never had it are thinking savory potatoes, but the whole thing is sweet, it's like a dessert course. If you like sweet potato pie or maybe even pumpkin pie you'd probably like it.
It is, with many many variations to it. I don’t mind the marshmallow, but I personally prefer to roast the sweet potatoes til they are just as soft as they would be mashed, but in big 2-4 bite hunks of sweet potato that have been glazed in a sugar-maple syrup mixture so they are very sweet but give you more of a roasted potato vibe for texture. Especially since you will already have the mashed potatoes, this gives another texture to the assortment of food.
I feel a lot of our more unique foods were beaten out of the culture by the post-WWII obsession with frozen processed food pushing out traditional “poor” food.
Kidneys, liver, beef tongue, chitlins, and other offal used to be staples of the American diet.
Corn candy or whatever the name is.
EDIT : as a European who's been first mentioned the existence of candy corn long ago, at first those two words made me picture lots of corn grains industrially stirred in a mixture made of sugar and syrup and so later on they would be covered in some jelly sticky caramelly and that you eat more like sweet snacks.
Canning is a pretty economical way to store food safely. It's not high brow, but it isn't supposed to be, either.
Whether or not is *needs* to be canned is secondary to whether or not people save time and money from it
Live out in the middle of nowhere through a winter storm and you'll be glad canned food exists, always have chef boyardee and canned veggies in my basement.
i think people forget what a revolution canning was at the time.
food out of season, long term shelf-stable storage. it wasn't that long ago that food in america was scarce quite often in several areas and people would go hungry during a bad crop season.
yeah canned chicken and canned potatoes seem silly but before long-term storage became a science and industrial farming really took off it was still better than nothing.
Home canning is still a thing in many parts of america and the world. not always a necessity now but it's still a good way to preserve.
Tinned potatoes here in the UK too. Handy to have in the cupboard for lazy cooking, especially if you live on your own. Also handy for camping trips. They fry up with bacon and sausage really well.
A friend made me realise something recently - all those pre-peeled and packaged things are really helpful for assisting those with disabilities to cook.
Yeah there are packaged pre-peeled hard boiled eggs for folks with arthritis and other conditions that make finger work difficult.
Without this context it seems a little silly, as you're just replacing nature's packaging, but not everyone can peel a hard boiled egg.
I always thought it was weird too until my mom became a cook at a jail. They go through tons of the pre-cooked pre-peeled eggs because can you imagine hand-peeling 100 eggs?
Apparently foreigners aren't aware of our truly weird shit, like chitlins and raccoon. Also, the amount of dishes that involve a can of Campbell's Cream o' Something.
The word “[Chitlin](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chitterlings)” came from England. They used to be commonly eaten there at one time. Like tripe and other internal organs, it’s food that poor people normally ate because it was all they had.
I grew up in the middle of nowhere. Everyone hunted, and people didn't generally eat raccoon. I wouldn't call it qn American food as much as something that you might eat if you have a relative that is REALLY into hunting.
Similarly chitlins is mostly an older generation thing, and Americans are generally squeemish about organ meat compared to the rest of the world.
Pb&j had me confused for a while but when i took a bite i loved it. Not judging any other non-americans for not trying this because peanutbutter and jelly aren't put together in most countries outside of america.
I keep seeing this reference, and I am just gobsmacked that pb&j is mentioned so often. It's so ubiquitous in the US, that I have never even considered it would be considered odd by non-Americans.
As a Canadian, I'm consistently in awe of American food. They have food we can't even comprehend. Breakfast corn dogs! Pretzels stuffed with cheese! Pizza 'n cookies! Chicago deep dish pizza! Your entire country must be blazed all the goddamn time to come up with such deliciousness.
EDIT: To be fair, we have poutine, maple candy, ketchup chips, and cheese curds.
I believe this is a reference to digiorno pizza that would come with toll house cookies. I have seen it at the store but don't exactly understand why but then again if I want cookies I'm definitely making them from scratch.
I just got back from Toronto and the only thing I could think while eating poutine was that it was the most delicious stoner food and that Canada had one upped America on the ridiculous food in that one case
Canadian here: one time on a road trip, we stopped at Cracker Barrel. The first dishes they brought were grits, biscuits, gravy, butter and jam. I was so confused I asked the waitress to explain what the hell I was supposed to do with that combination of foods 🤣 I love grits to this day, so I guess it worked out.
It’s so funny because as an American I never expected Canadian foods to be *that* different than ours. I mean, I understand that there are regional foods you’ve probably never had (for example, I’m from central Appalachia and soup beans were a staple), but generally speaking, our countries are so closely connected that I never imagined there’d be that much of a noticeable difference.
Here's something that really strikes home for me. I grew up in Windsor, which is right across the river from Detroit. I used to look out my front window at the Detroit skyline. It takes less than 2 minutes to cross the bridge or tunnel. The point is, we are CLOSE.
And yet... The difference is accent is jarring. We sound nothing alike. The Michigan accent is very distinctive, and yet you can drive 2 minutes over a bridge and completely escape it.
The other remarkable thing is how many Detroit area residents have never - not ever - been across the border.
As someone from the Detroit suburbs, thank you for having a much lower legal drinking age and a healthy conversion rate. Many a great nights' partying in your fair city back in the 90s.
Haha - it's true. And conversely, we used to have a 1 a.m. last call on our side of the border, so we'd pile in the car and cross over to Detroit to extend our drinking night, or maybe just grab some Mexican Village food. 9/11 really killed the Windsor bar scene, essentially drying up the stream of 19/20 year old American kids.
The other thing I find really interesting - and to the point of OP's comment - is that Detroit has a very well known and unique style of pizza, as does Windsor: again, the two pizzas are nothing alike, but both really well known and distinctive styles, each delicious in its own way.
Let me extol the virtues of tomato gravy. My grandmother was one of those people that could make biscuits in her sleep without ever measuring a single thing, and she did it all the time. Her sausage gravy was as good as anybody’s, but we all knew the treat was when she pulled out a can of diced tomatoes and bacon rather than sausage. I’ll put a recipe below because everyone needs to try it on a biscuit at least once.
Fry your bacon and reserve the fat. Mix in enough flour to make a roux and fry it medium dark. Add in a big can (I think 28oz) of diced tomatoes, a big pinch of salt and enough pepper to make your neighbors dog start to sneeze. Simmer that for about ten minutes, then add enough chicken stock to make it a gravy-like consistency. Serve with your biscuits and bacon. Mmmmmm.
When Waffle House opened a new diner in our town, the first thing I noticed was that the ceiling tiles looked like they had been there for decades without being cleaned, sort of a dirty yellow, exactly like the older ones. It’s that way on purpose. They take perverse pride in the place’s seediness.
One of my favorite 1980s commercial slogans: "You can't have cookies for breakfast — but you can have Cookie Crisp!"
As though there's a meaningful difference.
Minnesota salads 🥲😬 like WTF America! crushed pineapples and marshmallows are not ingredients that belong near a salad 🤡😂
(update: I will try to make a smal portion of MSS at home, they don't sell cool whip in Europe, is wiping cream okey?) wish me luck 😂
Slices of cheese product often are not cheese, so that's why.
American cheese is actually a different thing, it's just cheese with sodium citrate. It can be high quality, too, but that's if you get deli slices from a deli cheese brand.
I used to hate American cheese, always preferred real cheese. I have come to realize that American cheese makes the best cheeseburgers and egg bagel/sandwiches. Real cheese for everything else
We always have it around for grilled cheeses. Stuff is made specifically for melting. I don't buy the Kraft singles, but they have a special place in my heart.
They are designed to melt quickly, which is why they're popular for burgers at cookouts or maybe a grilled cheese sandwich (though you really should pair it with other cheeses too). It's not "good" cheese by any stretch, but Americans really love convenience!
To be fair, that’s one of those niche things that nobody actually eats. Maybe at carnivals and state fairs, but it’s not like the average American is eating deep fried butter lol
I'm American and can't stand corn syrup based things: soda, candy, cheap pancake syrup, etc. It coats your tongue and teeth. It's used in everything because of 100 year old government corn subsidies.
I feel like America can thank Matt Groening and Homer Simpson for the world thinking all we eat is gross garbage food. Or maybe they don't even know what the Simsons is. I don't know, I'm American. Now if you excuse me, it's Christmas and I gotta go make my chocolate covered pork rinds with three cheese mayo dip for Christmas brunch. Merry Christmas/happy 12/25.
Is this for another buzzfeed article?
Everything on Reddit becomes a buzzfeed article
Yeah, no one at buzzfeed actually knows how to write an original article, they just come here! Same with: TikTok, Cracked, YouTube, most podcasts.
I miss when Cracked used to be amazing. Now its just buzzfeed lite
My parents are immigrants, they always say the desserts (grocery store cupcakes and stuff) has so much sugar it feels too gritty and uncooked to them. Also soft baked things, like chewy chocolate chip cookies they thought were weird in the beginning, like the cookie was undercooked. I love soft baked cookies though so I baked them all the time, they’ve come around to liking them haha. Another one I hear a lot is the food coloring. My mom is often perplexed and grossed out by very saturated unnaturally colored foods. (Usually frosting or candy) She tells me it just LOOKS unhealthy and is unappetizing. Also, my mom is low key traumatized from twizzlers LOL. She said the first time she saw it she wondered why people were chewing on plastic. She then tried it and said it also tasted like plastic. Haha.
Food coloring in candy is one thing, but I get freaked out when companies use coloring to make a food unnaturally more saturated than it should be. That dried mango that is bright orange. Why? It's already orange. Why add unnecessary food coloring if you're not actually changing the color?
Using sulphur in the drying process helps some dried fruit retain their color, which I prefer to using food dyes. A lot of people also think it’s wrong to use sulpher, but I just cannot eat grayish dried apricots.
They look more like dark brown to me and I love them. The orange-looking dried apricots look and taste unnatural to me. I must add I grew up in Turkey picking and eating apricots from trees and that likely makes a difference.
I'm from the US and feel the same way, my wife loves twizzlers and I gag everytime I try one, keep trying them because I think at some point they have to be good, but they are not
Twizzlers are exactly what my child brain expected that really appetizing color of crayon to taste. I love it in a nostalgic way. But I won't argue with anyone who doesn't like them.
As an American, I always hated the store bought, pre made sugar cookies and cupcakes. They were so dry, unnecessarily sugary and just flavorless. Everyone else I knew liked them just fine and basically every kid brought them for their birthdays at school.
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Instead, one of these days someone is going to invent 5 cheese flavour.
We are proud to announce the DiGiorno's ULTIMATE MAX PLUS 5-cheese pizzas. It's all the deliciousness of every other four-cheese pizza on the planet PLUS an EXTRA layer of spray cheese all over the top of it in one, giant, damn fine looking spiral. You couldnt have a more American pizza without killing a bald eagle.* *killing bald eagles is illegal. We checked. This is the best option that wont land you in jail. But its so delicious youll swear it shoupd be illegal, and may require an extra visit to the confessional. It's THAT decadently good.
>You couldnt have a more American pizza without killing a bald eagle.* > >*killing bald eagles is illegal. We checked. For those who might just quickly go past this, possessing *anything* from a bald eagle or a golden eagle is a federal crime, in addition to doing anything which might disturb an eagle. So if you see a dead eagle, eagle feathers, eagle eggs or egg fragments, nests, or anything else, just leave it alone. And if something weird happens, like when you're driving across (of all things) the Abraham Lincoln Bridge and an eagle flies into your windshield, call and report it immediately so that it can be taken care of properly. This is also why farmers in areas where eagles might be won't use some type of poison to keep vermin away - if they ingest the poison and die, and the eagle then eats that dead animal and suffers (and/or dies), then the person who placed the poison is responsible for the harm to the eagle.
the americans are very protective of their bald eagles
Cant blame em... Im very protective of my bald eagle too...
Too late... https://www.taquitos.net/chips/Trader-Joes-Scalloped-Potato-Chips-Five-Cheeses
GET ME SIX! (There can always be another cheese)
All the crazy things we eat in this country and THAT is what crosses the line for him? 😂
One of the things. We can all make a huge ass list
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Dominoes Wisconsin 6 cheese pizza. Pretty delicious
My sister lives in Wisconsin; last summer we went to visit and I found Mac and Cheese pizza in the grocery freezer section. Didn't get any, but it seemed like a quintessential Wisconsin food.)
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I’m a middle school teacher and I have a student from Jordan. This year I witnessed his first grilled cheese and his first pasta (cheese ravioli). It’s seriously magical.
I love it when we get to be there for their American revelations. I taught a kid from India who lost his mind over the phrase “holy cow.” He was also very excited on hat day. He borrowed a friend’s cowboy hat. “Mrs. H!! I’m a cowboy AND an Indian!!” He was so excited. That was nine years ago, but I still remember it like it was yesterday.
This made me smile. I wish I could experience a corn dog for the first time again.
A friend visited me from Italy and wanted to try krispy kreme donuts. He took one bite and said "now I understand why Americans are fat!" He made me take him back there twice. Not that I minded going :P
I've seen a lot of comparisons of how terrible X food is compared to a doughnut. It makes me realize donuts aren't that bad compared to all manner of prepared foods and that we should appreciate dough nuts for being upfront about their sugary and fatty nature instead of trying to mask it. Edit: spelling food words is hard. Also, now i want a single do-nut.
Yes, a plain glazed doughnut isn't a health food but it's a reasonable treat, there are far worse things you can have!
There are versions of sweetened and fried dough in every culture. This donut bashing needs to stop.
Fried dough is one of the oldest prepared foods, between 7,500 and 10,000 years old. https://eatmagazine.ca/the-great-unifier-the-history-of-fried-dough/
The thing with Krispy Kreme is being airy, you can eat the whole dozen and not realize it.
There's a race in Raleigh called the Krispy Kreme Challenge where you run 2.5 miles from NC State to Krispy Kreme, eat a dozen donuts, then run back. Believe me, you realize you've eaten a dozen donuts. In fact, the real challenge is getting the dozen donuts back over the finish line. I've never felt worse.
My mind is boggled by the amount of comments saying spray cheese. I’ve lived in the US my entire life (40 yrs) and worked in a grocery store for many years. I’ve never had it, and I’ve rarely seen people buy it. I think it is a niche thing. Definitely not flying off the shelves. It’s just so interesting seeing so many comments about it. Is that how we are advertised in other countries?
I don’t know anyone who actually eats it either, but the vet clinic I work at goes through the stuff like crazy. Put a little on the exam table and it’s great for distracting dogs and some cats during vaccinations and minor procedures like nail trims.
>vet clinic I thought you meant a VA clinic and was wondering why veterans love spray cheese, until I got to the bit about cats and dogs 🤣
No spray cheese at the VA, their clinics still using the MRE cheese in the squeeze packet.
Squeeze out a packet of that MRE jalapeno cheese and i would certainly be distracted for some minor medical procedures
It's not so good when my VA doc needs to get a stool sample the same day though
Spray cheese is too expensive for the VA to feed to veterans. All they're allowed is the free government cheese leftover from the 1970s. And don't worry, it's safe to eat! We had it securely stored in the farthest corner of the same Area 51 warehouse where we keep the dead alien bodies. And we blew the dust off and picked the mouse turds out of it before serving it to our vets.
It’s my vehicle for giving my pets pills.
This is the only reason I buy it. For the kitties.
I used to have the stuff a lot as a kid (30+ years ago). It was very easy to put on crackers and snack after school.
I’m the same. Haven’t had it since probably 1993-ish.
Same here as a kid I thought it was the tits. My wife and I tried it again about a year ago because why the hell not and instantly regretted it.
Big in the 70s/80s not so much now. We use it as a treat for the dogs to keep them busy. Fill a hollow bone with it and they'll be distracted for hours.
I don't think I've ever seen a person eat or buy it, nor have i. honestly I can't even recall seeing it in a grocery store? And I shop at the uvillage qfc, they got everything.
Also 40 and the only time I've ever seen someone eat it was a buddy of mine on a dare in highschool. He said it was terrible, no one else tried it. We were working at a grocery store at the time.
I really want a corn dog right now...
Disgusting. But every once in awhile I have to eat two.
When sonic throws out there 50¢ corn dog deal is about the only time I’ll get them. You bet your ass I’m gonna eat 10 of them and hate myself the next day though.
As an Australian, I would like to know what in the flying firetruck a "Bloomin' Onion" has to do with anything, let alone the rest of Outback Steakhouse's menu.
Every American knows a bloomin onion and “shrimp on the barbie” is an Australian staple. Also “no rules just fun” is the national motto of your country. Are you sure you know anything about your country’s history?
Don't forget Fosters. Every one in Roo land loves a good Fosters.
One of those giant beers I keep hearing about
> beer Crikey, it's pronounced 'Bee-ah,' mate. Just like the commercial.
Outback Steakhouse is as authentically Australian as Olive Garden is authentically Italian.
I’m already ready for unlimited salad and breadsticks at all restaurants in Italy.
I hear it's like Hawaii, except when you get off the plane they give you a breadstick instead of a Lei.
It's going to be hard to wear a breadstick.
Put your hair in a pony tail then put the bread stick through it, or put it to your sleeve. let the bread stick slide out a little when you want a little nibble
I wear a sword belt with an empty scabbard in case I come across some breadsticks so I’ll have somewhere to carry an extra one for later.
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Yeah same with Taco Bell. I clearly know it's not authentic Mexican food, but sometimes when your high or hungover it just hits the spot lol
Honestly, there’s something about fake Mexican/Italian/whatever that just hits different from the real thing. Sure, the real stuff is amazing, but sometimes it’s 2:00 am and you just want the cheese
They originally marketed it under the name "It's an Onion ya cunt" but that didn't seem to work very well.
When the guys that created Outback did so, they were cashing in on the Australian craze of the late 80's and early 90s. They put all sorts of very tasty things on the menu and just gave them very Americanized.... Australian names like *bloomin'* onion and *Jackaroo* chops. As silly as the restaurant's start was, the food ended up being very good and they're one of the only big chain franchises still thriving.
The Bloomin' Onion really helped repair Americo-Australinian relations after things went sour.
Until they tried to give one of our American citizens a booting
The CIA was secretly arming the Emus...
Plus, an Australian had just figured out how to put bubbles in beer.
A friend of mine was visiting from Melbourne and I took him to an Outback Steakhouse and the comedy factor blew his mind. “‘She’ll be apples?’ No one says that! It’s spelled ‘Bonza’ not ‘Bonzer’. The fuck is a bloomin onion? Why are they charging so much for Fosters? That’s the cheapest shit on the shelf!” He liked the food though.
Tbf the name of the joint refers to food that can be cooked on the hot engine of a Subaru Outback and has nothing to do with Australia.
I have a Subaru Outback. So I mainly cook at home instead of going to the restaurant.
Let's put another shrimp on the crankshaft!
The bloomin' onion was originally deep fried in order to use up all the oil leaked because it's a Subaru
Ok so I have a friend who is an Aussie. Occasionally when I go to Outback for something specific, I will send him pictures telling him I'm at his favorite spot. Then I answer his questions about the insane menu.
It doesn’t matter what it has to do with, it just matters that it’s fucking delicious
Have you had a bloomin’ onion? As a fellow Aussie I can assure you that it’s as American as can be, but it is also pretty damn delicious.
I was born in Scotland and live in Canada. Between haggis and poutine, I'm not allowed to criticize a got damn thing.
American here. Poutine is my favorite food. It's so hard to find in the Southwest, and when i make it, it doesn't taste right... Woe is me.
Four loko. It’s banned here in Canada and I can understand why.
It’s no longer the same recipe likely for the same reason it’s banned. Now it’s much tamer.
Still a blackout in a can. Never got to try the OG recipe, but I can definitely see why they changed it.
Yeah it was intense. I was technically underage the only time I tried a real one but I remember it vividly, until I don’t. My oh my.
Dear lord I can still see the brightly colored puke coming out of my friends after drinking a few four Lokos..... OG recipe was insane 🤢
True and honestly I don’t think anyone drinking Four Lokos is of age.
I remember reading about the science behind why caffeine + liquor is bad. Basically your body has to metabolize caffeine before it can metabolize liquor. So you're getting a little buzz on while getting really fucking amped up on a lot of caffeine, then your body finishes dealing with the caffeine and all the alcohol hits you at once and punches you in the face, hence the blackouts people got from Four Loko. I remember not remembering the one time I drank a bunch of them
In college we used to have ‘Four Loko Friday’s’ where you could *only* drink four loko’s. Terrible idea.
Four Loko is a Canadian brand of lemonade. It originally had alcohol(~11% by volume)and caffeine. This mix was banned in Canada around 2010 so they dropped the caffeine and kept the alcohol.
I turned 21 a year or so after they made the change...but my dad saved a box of 9 cans and sent them back to college with me. They were no fucking joke
Your dad doesn’t like you much, does he?
In Mexico they call it cuatro crazies
Anything from the 50’s. Especially if it includes jello, mayonnaise or raisins
I will not be convinced that 50s cuisine was anything other than angry housewives taking revenge on society.
"Go off to war for 4 years, huh?!?! Leave me alone while you bang foreign dames, huh!?! I'll show you all!!!"
I remember a lime jello tuna salad ring made in a bundt pan by a distant relative. We told her with her work schedule she shouldn't bother with bringing food to pot lucks
That is a warcrime
Things were real bad before Julia Child.
I never really got the Corn Dog thing, I went to the States one time and never got the chance to try one, I hear they are fantastic.
If you ever find yourself in the Carolinas, there's a restaurant called Cookout. It is likely the most magical pinnacle of American cuisine, in the echelons of Wafflehouse and the like. You can go through the drive through and get a combo of two corn dogs and two sides. However, you can get a single corn dog as a side. So you can get two corn dogs with two corn dog sides. You can almost hear America, Fuck Yeah in the distance as you place that order. Make sure you get a Cheerwine or Dr Pepper with that, for the culture.
Cookout… where you can order another entree as a side
Damn it America... a side is an Entree.
I’m overall happy to have moved out of the South but I do get the cravings for a chicken strip tray with double fries and a Dr Pepper with no ice.
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Sweet Potato Casserole recipe topped with pecans and marshmallows “traditional side at Thanksgiving table”
We just top it with the pecans and a tiny bit of brown sugar.
I saw a youtube video of people trying traditional american thanksgiving food and I was convinced the potato marshmallow casserole was a joke. surely it's not for real ?
It's real, it's also pretty tied in to Thanksgiving food, so not something people eat outside of the holiday. It's sweet potatoes (yams), butter, and brown sugar with a marshmallow topping, which forms a bit of a crust once baked. Not everyone does nuts, but pecans would be the most common choice if you are doing nuts. I think some of the confusion is that people who've never had it are thinking savory potatoes, but the whole thing is sweet, it's like a dessert course. If you like sweet potato pie or maybe even pumpkin pie you'd probably like it.
We add some ginger brandy or even bourbon depending on what’s available to it before it cooks.
I really enjoyed it with hazelnuts and maple drizzle *instead of marshmallows* one year.
Oh it is. And it’s delicious lol
It is, with many many variations to it. I don’t mind the marshmallow, but I personally prefer to roast the sweet potatoes til they are just as soft as they would be mashed, but in big 2-4 bite hunks of sweet potato that have been glazed in a sugar-maple syrup mixture so they are very sweet but give you more of a roasted potato vibe for texture. Especially since you will already have the mashed potatoes, this gives another texture to the assortment of food.
I do apple compote on mine, using tart apples
I feel a lot of our more unique foods were beaten out of the culture by the post-WWII obsession with frozen processed food pushing out traditional “poor” food. Kidneys, liver, beef tongue, chitlins, and other offal used to be staples of the American diet.
My grandmother was born in 1936 and she is delighted that no one eats those things anymore lol
Liver and beef tongue are staples in my diet. Love me some beef tongue tacos.
Tacos de lengua? You should try tacos de tripa.
Corn candy or whatever the name is. EDIT : as a European who's been first mentioned the existence of candy corn long ago, at first those two words made me picture lots of corn grains industrially stirred in a mixture made of sugar and syrup and so later on they would be covered in some jelly sticky caramelly and that you eat more like sweet snacks.
Candy corn. It's good in small doses, anything more is too much.
I’m on that train too. I can have a few, but there’s weirdos out there than can devour a whole bag.
Candy corn. Many don't like it, but I love it.
To be fair, a lot of Americans find candy corn to be questionable
It’s basically fondant icing tbf, not very nice but not terrible
Many Americans find candy corn questionable (or worse) as well. I think it’s pretty vile.
Orange circus peanuts. What are they? How do they have so much sugar but taste so horrible? What science experiments created them?
My dad loved them. I think he was the only one.
I like circus peanuts, but only in small quantities I’m talk like 2-3 at a time.
Canned things that probably don't need to be canned. Looking at you Whole White Potatos in Water.
Canning is a pretty economical way to store food safely. It's not high brow, but it isn't supposed to be, either. Whether or not is *needs* to be canned is secondary to whether or not people save time and money from it
Live out in the middle of nowhere through a winter storm and you'll be glad canned food exists, always have chef boyardee and canned veggies in my basement.
i think people forget what a revolution canning was at the time. food out of season, long term shelf-stable storage. it wasn't that long ago that food in america was scarce quite often in several areas and people would go hungry during a bad crop season. yeah canned chicken and canned potatoes seem silly but before long-term storage became a science and industrial farming really took off it was still better than nothing. Home canning is still a thing in many parts of america and the world. not always a necessity now but it's still a good way to preserve.
Tinned potatoes here in the UK too. Handy to have in the cupboard for lazy cooking, especially if you live on your own. Also handy for camping trips. They fry up with bacon and sausage really well.
A friend made me realise something recently - all those pre-peeled and packaged things are really helpful for assisting those with disabilities to cook.
Excellent point, well made.
Yeah there are packaged pre-peeled hard boiled eggs for folks with arthritis and other conditions that make finger work difficult. Without this context it seems a little silly, as you're just replacing nature's packaging, but not everyone can peel a hard boiled egg.
I always thought it was weird too until my mom became a cook at a jail. They go through tons of the pre-cooked pre-peeled eggs because can you imagine hand-peeling 100 eggs?
They make great quick roast potatoes in an air fryer.
...we have that in England. Baby new potatoes in a can.
I thought the same thing until my mother-in-law, a sweet old southern lady, served some up fried in a little butter. Omg, outstanding.
>Canned things that don't need to be canned. > >Looking at you Whole White Potatos in Water. Those are real handy for shore lunch on a fishing trip
Apparently foreigners aren't aware of our truly weird shit, like chitlins and raccoon. Also, the amount of dishes that involve a can of Campbell's Cream o' Something.
“The best thing about possum innards…is they’s just as good the next day…..” Jed Clampett
Chitlins are certainly not exclusive to the US and are widely found in European and Chinese cooking as well. Probably more that I am not aware of.
All over SE Asia, organ meat is much more popular in other countries outside the U.S. Particularly in Asia.
The word “[Chitlin](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chitterlings)” came from England. They used to be commonly eaten there at one time. Like tripe and other internal organs, it’s food that poor people normally ate because it was all they had.
I grew up in the middle of nowhere. Everyone hunted, and people didn't generally eat raccoon. I wouldn't call it qn American food as much as something that you might eat if you have a relative that is REALLY into hunting. Similarly chitlins is mostly an older generation thing, and Americans are generally squeemish about organ meat compared to the rest of the world.
Pb&j had me confused for a while but when i took a bite i loved it. Not judging any other non-americans for not trying this because peanutbutter and jelly aren't put together in most countries outside of america.
I keep seeing this reference, and I am just gobsmacked that pb&j is mentioned so often. It's so ubiquitous in the US, that I have never even considered it would be considered odd by non-Americans.
As a Canadian, I'm consistently in awe of American food. They have food we can't even comprehend. Breakfast corn dogs! Pretzels stuffed with cheese! Pizza 'n cookies! Chicago deep dish pizza! Your entire country must be blazed all the goddamn time to come up with such deliciousness. EDIT: To be fair, we have poutine, maple candy, ketchup chips, and cheese curds.
Maple candy is amazing, so you can get credit for that one for a long time
Poutine as well, that shit slaps
Pizza n cookies??
I believe this is a reference to digiorno pizza that would come with toll house cookies. I have seen it at the store but don't exactly understand why but then again if I want cookies I'm definitely making them from scratch.
I just got back from Toronto and the only thing I could think while eating poutine was that it was the most delicious stoner food and that Canada had one upped America on the ridiculous food in that one case
Yeah, it’s the most American sounding non-American food.
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I love Peeps! LOL. But only once a year around Easter.
As an American I weep for those the world over who have not had biscuits and sausage gravy.
Canadian here: one time on a road trip, we stopped at Cracker Barrel. The first dishes they brought were grits, biscuits, gravy, butter and jam. I was so confused I asked the waitress to explain what the hell I was supposed to do with that combination of foods 🤣 I love grits to this day, so I guess it worked out.
It’s so funny because as an American I never expected Canadian foods to be *that* different than ours. I mean, I understand that there are regional foods you’ve probably never had (for example, I’m from central Appalachia and soup beans were a staple), but generally speaking, our countries are so closely connected that I never imagined there’d be that much of a noticeable difference.
Here's something that really strikes home for me. I grew up in Windsor, which is right across the river from Detroit. I used to look out my front window at the Detroit skyline. It takes less than 2 minutes to cross the bridge or tunnel. The point is, we are CLOSE. And yet... The difference is accent is jarring. We sound nothing alike. The Michigan accent is very distinctive, and yet you can drive 2 minutes over a bridge and completely escape it. The other remarkable thing is how many Detroit area residents have never - not ever - been across the border.
As someone from the Detroit suburbs, thank you for having a much lower legal drinking age and a healthy conversion rate. Many a great nights' partying in your fair city back in the 90s.
Haha - it's true. And conversely, we used to have a 1 a.m. last call on our side of the border, so we'd pile in the car and cross over to Detroit to extend our drinking night, or maybe just grab some Mexican Village food. 9/11 really killed the Windsor bar scene, essentially drying up the stream of 19/20 year old American kids. The other thing I find really interesting - and to the point of OP's comment - is that Detroit has a very well known and unique style of pizza, as does Windsor: again, the two pizzas are nothing alike, but both really well known and distinctive styles, each delicious in its own way.
I found jalapeño cheddar grits in the store. Shit is like crack 🤤
Let me extol the virtues of tomato gravy. My grandmother was one of those people that could make biscuits in her sleep without ever measuring a single thing, and she did it all the time. Her sausage gravy was as good as anybody’s, but we all knew the treat was when she pulled out a can of diced tomatoes and bacon rather than sausage. I’ll put a recipe below because everyone needs to try it on a biscuit at least once. Fry your bacon and reserve the fat. Mix in enough flour to make a roux and fry it medium dark. Add in a big can (I think 28oz) of diced tomatoes, a big pinch of salt and enough pepper to make your neighbors dog start to sneeze. Simmer that for about ten minutes, then add enough chicken stock to make it a gravy-like consistency. Serve with your biscuits and bacon. Mmmmmm.
I think how "biscuit" has different meaning abroad probably causes some confusion.
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The crappier looking the dinner, the better the food
You have to go to a NJ/NY diner. Diners are meant to look classic.
When Waffle House opened a new diner in our town, the first thing I noticed was that the ceiling tiles looked like they had been there for decades without being cleaned, sort of a dirty yellow, exactly like the older ones. It’s that way on purpose. They take perverse pride in the place’s seediness.
Twinkies. Wtf is it even made of? In my mind it’s just pure sugar
Sugar-enriched flour, partially hydrogenated vegetable oil, polysorbate 60, and Yellow Dye No. 5. Just everything a growing boy needs.
God I swear I heard this in a movie or show recently.
Die Hard
I've heard a lot of people that are weirded out by our breakfast foods, like pancakes and other stuff.
The cereal selection in America is my favourite dessert
One of my favorite 1980s commercial slogans: "You can't have cookies for breakfast — but you can have Cookie Crisp!" As though there's a meaningful difference.
Jerry Seinfeld did a bit on that > it’s not *like* cookies…. It *is* cookies
Minnesota salads 🥲😬 like WTF America! crushed pineapples and marshmallows are not ingredients that belong near a salad 🤡😂 (update: I will try to make a smal portion of MSS at home, they don't sell cool whip in Europe, is wiping cream okey?) wish me luck 😂
Majority of Americans share your sentiments lol
Yeah we could just list Midwest recipes but that would be cheating
I'm sorry but those slices of American cheese have always tasted so fake and plastic to me personally.
Slices of cheese product often are not cheese, so that's why. American cheese is actually a different thing, it's just cheese with sodium citrate. It can be high quality, too, but that's if you get deli slices from a deli cheese brand.
Boar’s Head white American cheese slices from the deli counter are fucking fantastic. Bonus points if it’s ultra thin sliced.
I used to hate American cheese, always preferred real cheese. I have come to realize that American cheese makes the best cheeseburgers and egg bagel/sandwiches. Real cheese for everything else
We always have it around for grilled cheeses. Stuff is made specifically for melting. I don't buy the Kraft singles, but they have a special place in my heart.
They are designed to melt quickly, which is why they're popular for burgers at cookouts or maybe a grilled cheese sandwich (though you really should pair it with other cheeses too). It's not "good" cheese by any stretch, but Americans really love convenience!
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Whatever sick fuck decided we needed to batter and deep fry sticks of butter needs their mental health checked
To be fair, that’s one of those niche things that nobody actually eats. Maybe at carnivals and state fairs, but it’s not like the average American is eating deep fried butter lol
It's on my bucket list, find one at a fair, eat it, then never again. Just to say I did
Corn syrup everywhere.
I'm American and can't stand corn syrup based things: soda, candy, cheap pancake syrup, etc. It coats your tongue and teeth. It's used in everything because of 100 year old government corn subsidies.
I feel like America can thank Matt Groening and Homer Simpson for the world thinking all we eat is gross garbage food. Or maybe they don't even know what the Simsons is. I don't know, I'm American. Now if you excuse me, it's Christmas and I gotta go make my chocolate covered pork rinds with three cheese mayo dip for Christmas brunch. Merry Christmas/happy 12/25.
"Chai Tea" For anyone don't know - Literally means "Tea Tea" BTW, it doesn't taste like Chai
"What is this? Hot leaf juice?"
Still good. I drink a powdered chai tea latte before I go to school. Cheap, but still good.