No matter where you visit in the world, odds are, you will find something vastly different than what you are used to at home. This rings true for almost everything, from landscapes and customs to beliefs and practices, and while we may not understand it all, we aren’t perplexed by many of these differences. Until it comes to food. Nothing else seems to confuse people more than the differences in cuisine and what may seem normal and delicious to you, may horrify another at the very thought of ingesting it.
Consider Scotland’s famous haggis – ground-up lamb organs and oatmeal encased in a sheep’s bladder – or Iceland’s most famous food – hakarl (fermented shark), or svid (sheep’s head), which is sometimes cured with lactic acid. Then there is casu marzu from Corsica, a maggot-infested sheep’s milk, a delicacy, that may come as no surprise, is banned in the EU and the U.S. (This is one of the 25 foods that can make you sick or kill you). But as unpleasant as many of these dishes might sound to us, they are an integral part of the food cultures of their native lands. We shouldn’t be surprised to realize, then, that certain commonplace American foods (and drinks) that we enjoy regularly, people not from this country might consider bizarre, absurd, or unappetizing.
To assemble a list of American foods that foreigners are confused by, 24/7 Tempo consulted lists appearing on Quora and Mashed, as well as articles on various gastronomic and cultural sites. As American foods have proliferated around the globe, with food like hamburgers, and Southern fried chicken becoming virtually universal, it’s possible to say that not everybody in every country will find the items here distasteful. (Of course, even within the U.S., food preferences can vary widely. Here is a list of the strangest food from every state.)
To be fair, there are certain items listed here that confuse Americans too. Many of these items are filled with unhealthy fats and if you have any health issues, or even if you don’t, you should probably avoid them. For certain health conditions, like chronic kidney disease, also known as lupus nephritis, which is an issue that can by Lupus, it is suggested that you keep certain foods out of your diet, like red meat and sodium, found in several items on our list. (Interestingly, there are recommended diets for kidney disease but not its cause, Lupus).
Some of the things highlighted here are simply contrary to the way most of the rest of the world thinks about food. Many of these ingestibles, or perhaps not, aren’t widely available overseas, except maybe on military base markets (PXs) or in American specialty food stores. Others are based on foods that may be available in other countries but aren’t used the same way we use them. As they say in Latin, De gustibus non est disputandum (there’s no disputing about tastes).
Here are some American foods that foreigners are confused by:
Breakfast cereal
Drenching cornflakes with milk.
The Swiss may enjoy muesli, a cold breakfast they invented, and the French get croissants, but Americans get cereal, a staple of the American diet that was invented in the United States in 1863 by Dr. James Caleb Jackson. It was called granula (different than granola) and earned Kelly a spot in the National Inventors Hall of Fame.
Lima beans
Cooked lima beans.
Lima beans might look a little like fava beans, but the latter is native to the Middle East, while limas are a New World vegetable, originating in Central America and cultivated in the South American country of Peru (they were first cultivated in the nation’s capital, Lima). Those unfamiliar with them find them chalky and insipid in flavor. But they can never be eaten raw because they contain cyanide. Cooking destroys the enzymes that release the chemical, but the very idea puts a lot of people off.
Jell-0
Assorted Jell-O flavors.
Gelatin is binding and used as a thickener or gelling agent and is widely used in many applications, from capsules and cosmetics to foods. In other cuisines, it is commonly used in savory applications, foods like the meat jelly around pâté, or aspic studded with vegetables, and others. There’s even jellied soup, called consommé madrilène. But gelatin artificially colored and fruit-flavored, often with pieces of fruit or even cottage cheese encased within, just seems wrong to a lot of people.
American cheese
Individually wrapped American cheese slices.
There’s a lot of great American cheese, whether made by artisanal producers in Vermont or Georgia or big companies in California or Wisconsin, but no great cheese ever came with each slice individually wrapped in plastic. The whole idea of cheese slices, perfectly uniform in every way and bland in flavor is just weird to cheese lovers abroad, and the use of additional plastic also makes it environmentally incorrect.
Peanut butter
Peanut butter on a spoon.
In some parts of Africa and Southeast Asia, peanut butter is well-known and appreciated as an ingredient in soups, stews, and other dishes. While it has started appearing in European markets, they are less likely to enjoy it (though it reportedly has a lot of fans in the Netherlands), and is seen as a curiosity. Americans consume more than four pounds of peanut butter per year on average, compared to Europeans who only consume one tablespoon per year. Almost nowhere else in the world is it considered something to top crackers with, dip apples in, or even worse, combined with jelly in a sandwich.
Spam
Fried Spam.
Spam — a pre-cooked, heavily salted, reconstituted pork product — was introduced by Hormel Foods in 1937 and has been a kind of American food staple ever since, especially in Hawaii where it’s a staple of much of their cuisine. It has found fans in parts of Asia, and as any Monty Python fan will know, also in the U.K. But in most other places, it is looked on with suspicion, considered a kind of imitation meat, and superfluous when the real thing is available.
Doughnut burgers
Two cheeseburgers on brioche doughnut buns.
Fast-food mash-ups are a recent American phenomenon, and we’ve seen a fad in recent years for alternative buns. Dunkin’ might have started it a decade ago when they used a plain doughnut as the bun for a breakfast sandwich, which sort of made sense, but then came the addition of cheeseburgers inside. The burger is added in between two slices of a doughnut, split in half (this meat is also found in other alternative “buns,” like fried ramen wedges). This kind of sweet-and-savory combination seems pointless to much of the world.
Corn dogs
Corn dogs at the American Meat Institute's Hot Dog Day Lunch in Washington D.C.
Hot dogs and similar sausages, under whatever name, are found all over Europe, Latin America, and much of the rest of the world. But they are typically encased in a bun or bread of some sort, where they belong, not in a cloak of deep-fried cornmeal batter and on a stick. The notion leaves people scratching their heads in foreign parts.
S’mores
A classic example of S'mores.
This campfire staple isn’t found – or heard of – in much of the world and one key component, marshmallows, aren’t eaten in many places outside the U.S., Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. Graham crackers are also hard to find in many places. Outside observers are likely to consider s’mores yet another example of American excess — gooey white stuff with melted chocolate on sweet cookies.
Biscuits and gravy
A Southern breakfast staple.
This one can be confusing for multiple reasons, starting with the name, biscuits. In many countries outside of the U.S., like in the U.K., biscuits are called cookies so the very thought of smothering what are essentially savory scones in a thick white sauce full of crumbled sausage seems like a major disconnect to people in a lot of other places. Even in the U.S., this one can be confusing since the word gravy has different meanings in certain regions, like NY where gravy is a red sauce used on pasta).
Pop Tarts
Frosted Pop Tarts with sprinkles.
These sweet toaster “pastries” may be a boon to busy parents trying to put breakfast on the table before school and work, but they are unrecognizable as pastry to much of the world and are widely seen as the kind of artificial food product that’s all too typical of the American kitchen.
Deep-fried pickles
Deep-fried pickle slices.
Pickles are delicious, a condiment, usually served cold, and known around the world as an enhancer of meat and vegetable dishes or as an accompaniment to a sandwich. They aren’t viewed as a snack, and especially not one that is deep-fried.
Cincinnati chili
Five-way Cincinnati chili (with cheese, chili, onions, beans, and spatherri).
Chili con carne (usually called just “chili”) has found fans in many countries. But this unique regional specialty from southern Ohio turns chili into pasta sauce and obscures the whole thing with huge amounts of shredded yellow cheese. The dish may have been invented by Greek immigrants, but it has taken on a new twist and it is difficult to imagine it finding favor in Greece, Italy, or almost anywhere else today.
Ice water
Very cold ice water.
Americans are obsessed with ice, and can’t imagine drinking any cold beverages without it. Other cultures do at times use ice in drinks, as in a nice cocktail, but it is much less common than it is here. Room-temperature water is the way to go, the same goes for bottled water that comes from the refrigerator. Pouring it over ice seems like yet another example of our “more is more” tendencies.
Root beer
Root beer in an old-fashioned mug.
There have been numerous attempts over the years to introduce root beer to the international market, but it has rarely found fans abroad. People who haven’t been used to it from childhood simply find the flavor unpleasant, and reminiscent of toothpaste or mouthwash.
Corn on the cob
Fresh-shucked corn on the cob.
A staple of American barbecues is corn on the cob and in Mexico it is a popular street food, albeit with crema and dusted with cotija cheese and chile powder, and is eaten increasingly in other places. But for much of the world, it’s food only intended for animals – especially pigs – because it’s an inexpensive way to give them a nutrient-dense meal.
Sliced bread
A loaf of sliced white bread.
Soft, spongy, pre-sliced bread made from bleached flour dates from the late 1920s, and is, not surprisingly, an American invention, hailed for its convenience. While similar loaves are popular in other parts of the English-speaking world and in Japan, in most places, the most likely response to this kind of thing would be “That’s not bread.”
Well-done steak
A piece of steak grilled into lifelessness.
If you ask for a steak well done in certain parts of the world – like France – the waitstaff will look at you in horror. They even have a term for medium-rare steak: à point, which means just to the right degree, or perfectly. But when it’s well done, all the juices and much of the flavor simply disappear (which is why some restaurants, even in this country, refuse to turn out a well-done piece of meat). Steak tends to be expensive, and preparing it like this just ruins it.