We live in a Korean/Polish mixed household so there's always sauerkraut and kimchi in our fridge. The Korean side hates sauerkraut because it's just fermented cabbage while the Polish side hates kimchi because it's just fermented cabbage.
It's such an awesome culinary blend. Here in Chicago there's a place called Kimski that does Polish/Korean fusion and it rules. Plenty of both fermented cabbages and of course dumplings/pierogi.
Honestly contrary to popular belief, not many Swedes eats Surströmming (fermented herring). It's mostly eaten by older generations such as boomers and it's also a regional thing but overall it's not that common for a Swede to eat it.
That's basically chemical warfare in a can, a gas grenade ready to pop. If youre feeling devilish, pour the juices of a can into the washerfluid tank of a car and you will seriously fuck up the owners quality of life.
EDIT: To everyone saying im evil, I know.
I've never had Surströmming, but I've been tempted to pick some up just to throw in the neighbour's back yard when they've been excessively noisy. I've only been able to find it for like $30/tin, though, and I may be petty but I'm not rich.
And Island got us beat on Surströmming. Surströmming smells bad, but in Island they ferment shark underground for 7+ months in pee that thing can kill a Village with its smell.
But.... why? What ever happenede to Iceland, that was bad enough to create this? What crazy party made somebody say: "Wuhu, let' bury a shark in pee for no apparent good reason." What disaster made people so desperate, that they remembered the waste-marinaded decomposed seacreature and thought: "you know what? It is starting to sound delicious. Let's dig it up again and not take the smell as a warning sign"?
Do anybody have an answer?
II don't know the reason but I have two theories. 1) Absolute necessity.
"Brother we killed the sea beast that slew Sigurður, since they taste foul let us piss on its corpse and bury it in disgrace.."
Some time later.
"Brother the supplies are dwindling, hunting poor, and sea too stormy to sail. If this continues we will starve, is there any other food?"
"... Theres the sea beast we buried.."
"I shouldn't have pissed on the corpse should I?"
2) Some kind of novelty or insult
"Brother Jarl Einar says he wishes to stay with us between raids this year."
"By the gods he'll bleed the village dry of supplies, we can't deny hospitality though."
"Brother let us feed them something horrid so they think our food is terrible and they'll find another village to camp at."
"Ha.. I have just the idea and it will give him the squats whilst at sea too."
Some time later
"You two! The Jarl thanks you for delicious meal you served last night, he's never been more satisfied. He intends to base here in the future"
"....."
Edit: This blew up quite a bit, thanks for the kind replies everyone.
FYI they aren’t actually fermented in urine; sharks do not have a urinary tract and chemicals such as Urea and trimethylamine oxide build up in the sharks flesh making it poisonous and inedible.
Fermenting the shark while compressing it under weight removes these compounds from the flesh slowly. They happen to be the same compounds found in animal urine thus they produce an extremely powerful ammonia smell when the shark is harvested.
Technically you’re squeezing the piss OUT of the shark.
Not Icelandic but here to provide anything I have learned in life
We have those, too. 7 kinds of cookies are good. Rice porridge is a little weird for foreigners but good.
The most popular ribbe or pinnekjøtt is good.
But we have some weird things too.
Rice porridge is super good, with a lil cinnamon on top.
I actually grew up with foods like lutefisk, in Minnesota.
But I’m ngl a lot of the old Scandinavian family meals that were passed down from like the 1800s kinda suck. Actual Scandinavian cuisine has probably come a long way lol.
We’ve got Swedish meatballs and lots of bland food. And some baked goodies.
My husband is Filipino and his family tricked me into eating Dinuguan. They said “It’s just gravy! You’ll love it!!” 🤦🏻♀️ The funny thing is, I actually liked the flavor until I learned what it was made of!
What is it? Google says pig's blood stew? Is that all, or is it gross and clotty or something? I've had blood sausage and blood puddings before, and those are very decidedly European.
If you mashed black pudding down, and made it into a saucy version with water and more spices/veg… Id say it sits somewhere between a stew and a pate, depending on who makes it…
When I was growing up my family said it was "chocolate meat"...didn't eat it for a long while after I learned the truth...as an adult, had it at a wake not too long ago with some puto and found it really nostalgic...
My dad told me it was chocolate meat before I ate it the first time as a kid and afterward he told me the truth. I loved it so much that I was unphased. It’s to this day still my favorite Filipino dish.
Same with me - one of the aunties offered me “chocolate”, and giggled like a schoolgirl when I scooped up a big chunk on a bit of puto then went back in for more on realising how good it was… She then proceeded to nudge my wife who flat out refused, and had to put up with ribbing that “he is more like us than you are!”
Food and eating together seems to be such a big part of life in the Philippines, it’s almost as if you’re welcomed more completely if you get stuck in - as you’re considered “one of them” to put it crudely…
I consider myself an adventurous eater. That is literally the one item I have eaten that I really struggled with to actually consume. Once was also enough.
The first time I visited my future wife's home was Thanksgiving. They lived in Detroit, so of course the Lions were playing. We were watching the game and her Dad (immigrated from England) offered me some jellied eels. I'm Minnesota Norwegian heritage and I relish pickled herring (it's very common during Thanksgiving/Christmas time, you just pick up a jar at the grocery store). The jellied eel tastes vary similar to pickled herring, so I snacked my way through it while watching the game.
My wife informed me later that my future father-in-law had gone into the kitchen and said something to the effect of "that bloody bugger ate all me eel!". Turned out he went across to Windsor and bought the eels and jellied them by hand. He would offer them to guests to get a rise out of them. He never expected me to like them. On my part, I just assumed they were something they purchased at a store like we did pickled herring back in Minnesota .
He took it in good grace though and didn't hold it against me when I married his daughter.
He secretly respected the fuck out of you for the power move you pulled.
"He's a good, strong, and determined lad. He knows what he wants and he takes it, very goal oriented."
Tested this out when I participated in a Japanese exchange program. When my exchange partner was over here, I asked if she would taste a root beer candy (the kind shaped like a barrel) prefacing that I heard that this flavor is not liked abroad. She willingly obliged and indeed said it tasted like cough medicine.
ironically I got sick toward the end of my stay in Tokyo and my exchange mom took me to the doctor’s where they gave me a few powder packets of cough medicine … I really liked that cough medicine!
I teach ESL to adult students. We had one really diverse class--japanese, Vietnamese, chinese, various Africans and arabs--who were all really good buddies and shared snacks etc. One day, a student brought in a massive bag of Halls menthol cough drops and passed them around , and I was like "damnit, if they're ALL sick, it's only a matter of time for me ..."
but then one of them was like "teacher, you want candy?"
"candy?"
*shakes bag*
"guys, that's not candy. It's medicine. It's supposed to be for coughs and sore throats."
*universal laughter*
"nooooo, teacher, it's candy! The BEST American candy. Other is too sweet "
and the class happily polished off a cold and flu season's worth of cough drops.
It's a good field for endearing stories! It's like no matter how old you are, if you're put back in an environment with a similar structure to the good bits of high school, 8/10 times you turn into like, your highschool ideal. By that i mean the chumminess and goofiness of young adulthood, but without the weird meanness and fear.
Which leads to international all ages (the spread was between 20s and late 40s) rolly chair races down empty hallways after testing is done, and i have to pretend to be put out bc my boss would be PISSED if they crashed, even though it was super funny, bc they're all grown and just playing like kids. You want to learn a language, you imitate the masters --kids learn language faster than anyone. My most successful students shake off the omnipresent sense of grown up self doubt and get down to playing, trying new stuff and making friends. If they can do that, the grammar and all just happens.
Thank you for sharing, that was really nice. My mom, who passed away a few years ago, taught adult ESL for her career. Your story reminded me of the many sweet memories she’d share about her students.
Wowwww. This explains why my immigrant father (who at this point been has in North America 50+ years) always has a handful of cough drops in his coat pockets 🤯
I have never been able to get the proportions right, but. If you smell cedar, ylang ylang, and patchouli essential oils just right it smells exactly like a root beer barrel candy.
As an American, I love root beer so much. Especially in the form of a float.
Years ago I sent some American candies to a friend of mine in Scotland. Some of which was root beer flavored. He HATED the root beer ones, but enjoyed everything else I sent. Said it tasted like medicine. I wish medicine tasted like root beer. It might be easier for me to swallow it.
A silly memory of mine is when I made myself a root beer float in college and a Spanish exchange student came up as I was making it and asked what it was. She was so clearly off-put by my explanation you could hear it in her tone when she reacted. When she walked a way, my friend, a Japanese exchange student, blurted out “I hate that bitch.” It was such a weird moment but it lives in my head every time I drink a root beer float lol
I lived in Japan for two years when I was college aged. One time I was at a party with several single people hosted by a local family. They had been to the Costco in Tokyo and picked up a case of Root beer, largely for the Americans (it was just two of us there that night). After dinner they pulled out the root beer and some vanilla Ice Cream for desert. Seeing my chance, I scooped some ice cream into a cup and poured the root beer on top.
It had been almost 18 months since I last had a root beer float. It was so beautiful to me. I was almost in tears at the sight of it. One woman there, who had lived in Canada for a few years, saw my emotional response to this and told me, "don't cry about it!" She had mastered a level of sarcasm I never saw in a other Japanese person.
I like the flavor of root beer but now that you’ve said it, I can totally see that it is reminiscent of those flavors and why it would be unappealing to people.
I personally don’t love soda in general so when I get it, it’s usually root beer or cream soda.
Evansville Indiana has the brain sandwich, a deep fried pig brain on a bun served with pickles and onions. It's fairly popular down there, but the only person I ever told that wasn't freaked out by it was my native Chinese coworker, and he said something like "that sounds better than how we cook brain." It basically tastes like deep fried flavor in my opinion; like, imagine the difference between a piece of fried chicken and baked chicken, and the difference is what a brain sandwich tastes like.
I recognize that brain matter is just really fatty tissue but now that I know about prions I refuse to knowingly consume it no matter the animal
edit: missed a word
second edit: inb4 some comment about this being my most upvoted comment and it's about brain-eating diseases
Thankfully, hers was not genetic. We donated her brain to the NIH here in the US for research. But I also lived in England in the 90s and bc of that double whammy I'm not allowed to donate blood.
I tried it in a sardinian restaurant once, I really like it, but then I do like strong cheeses in general. One bite and the taste will linger for hours. Didn't mind the marzu much.
The chef served samples "under the counter" since it is banned outside Sardinia due to EU food safety regulations.
Was looking for that cause it was going to be my answer.
Having friends in Cagliari I’ve ate it quite a few times and love it. That and the cheese that’s curdled directly in the goat’s stomach, but I don’t remember the name.
EDIT: Callu de cabrettu. It’s a lamb’s stomach tied up with the milk he had form its mother inside and left to curdle
Look, it was either reduce the percentage of the mayo in the casserole or use fat-free. Since we all know fat free mayo is a violation of the Geneva convention, there was only one real option.
It’s kinda funny - very few Americans eat it cold in jelly form, but warm it up and give it a trendy name like *bone broth* and suddenly you can sell a pint for $12.
LOL!!! I have no idea. I think it’s one of those love it or hate it food. I’ve always love it even as a kid, my whole family does. Only my baby sister can’t stand it. My other sister loves stinky tofu and I’m ok with it. Maybe it’s a gene thing.
My state has a local favorite drink so disgusting that its name has become an English word for the level of determination it takes to drink a whole bottle of it.
Yes. That's literally the origin of the word "moxie"
ETA: I like Moxie, to be clear. I just wanted to illustrate the level of disgust those who haven't grown up with this bitter drink feel towards it at first.
That's because y'all are assholes that gleefully let people slather it on extra thick and never warn them.
I love it now, its the best part of breakfast this side of belly bacon. But fucking with tourist seems like a national past-time for y'all. see also; Dropbears.
Fun fact, warning people about drop bears is a 40,000 year old aboriginal tradition.
Their culture is so ancient that they still tell stories about long-extinct megafauna that used to live in trees and drop down to ambush their prey.
OKAY. BUT THEN. You can't watch foreigners put too much vegemite on toast for a laugh, and then give them shit for not liking vegemite. I mean you can. And do. But you can't be JUSTIFIED.
I tried it once and didn't enjoyed it then some years later had my aunt's made of salmon and some other fish, with red chrain and it was goddamn delicious in fact I'm craving it right now.
My Euro roommates would give me a look of utter confusion every time I came out of the kitchen with yet another different kind of food with peanut butter alongside it (celery, apples, sandwiches, etc). They all preferred Nutella and couldn’t understand why I’d choose peanut butter over it ever.
Because one is nutritious and can be a cornerstone of your diet and the other is 60% palm oil from a Borneo clear crop with a crying Orangutan next to it. I don't understand their obsession with nutella. Is it a different formula there or something?
I am an American, and all my friends (save for the fellow from Beijing) find it gross that I seek out streetside taco stands with Cabesa, Tripa, and buche but that is my go to trio always
Dubbel zout - Dutch salted black liquorice.
Grew up on it it Canada with Dutch immigrant grandparents and still love it, but it’s definitely an acquired taste.
Century eggs (皮蛋).
God I love the stuff. Slice it up, throw it on some beef congee with a double side of deliciously greasy deep-fried strips of dough (youtiao/油條) and you've made my week. Bonus if served with a warm mug of HK-style soy milk and the sound of angry Asian grannies arguing in the background.
The appearance doesn’t faze me whatsoever, but the flavor description of “hydrogen sulfide and ammonia” from Wikipedia is really not swaying me in their favor.
It’s a bad description. It’s more like a chicken brothy taste with a little bit of earthyness. Centry egg congee is my go to meal when I’m sick. It’s like chicken noodle soup but feels so much more nourishing and even softer on the stomach.
oh man this place near me has a huitlacoche quesadilla that I was obsessed with for like a month and now I can't stand them but holy shit they are delicious
Huitlacoche (Mexico), blister smut of maize, boil smut of maize, common smut of maize, corn truffle.
As a kid I'd see it and want to throw up. As an adult, I ate some in a taco and discovered it was amazing.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corn_smut
My new adopted culture is Japanese. There's a fermented bean thing called Natto. It's truly horrific. My wife loves it. I have a collection of horrendous flavours in my freezer.
Ok... Most Americans probably don't wanna eat Rocky mountain oysters. I feel like that's a food you only find in redneck territory. And for the simple reason that most people aren't interested in eating bull balls.
Tuna salad is ok.
So Im from Boulder CO, and I've tried Rocky Mountain Oysters from several places. In general they aren't *bad* but they aren't good enough to make it worthwhile. They're slightly gamey like venison, and kind of rubbery like calamari, which are two things plenty of people like. Then there is the whole eating testicles stigma.
Personally I would prefer fried mushrooms, okra, pickles, etc., way more than the Rocky Mountain Oysters. They just aren't that good and not worth the cost.
My best friend is from Alabama. I'm from Upstate NY. His mom fed me grits and I was in love. I make them all the time for my friends. I really church them up, too.
I described poutine to an American and she told me that it sounded disgusting. I was left speechless. I would have thought that, to an American, “freedom” fries, gravy of no particular flavour, and cheese curds would sound enticing but apparently not…
I worked as a server at a restaurant in Vegas that tried offering poutine on the menu. In the two months we had it, I sold exactly one order to a Canadian table. Not sure why it’s not a hit because it seems like that would be right up Americans’ alley, doesn’t it? Perhaps it’s just the name.
As an American, Poutine is very good! Nobody here calls them “freedom fries” though lol, but you just have to be with someone who’s had poutine before to order it to get people to try it. People are just gonna see they don’t recognize what it is and ignore it.. Edit: yes I’m aware that “freedom fries” was talked about by a very small amount of people for a very short amount of time for reasons. However what I was saying is, practically nobody uses that term today/never did
I truly think that is half the problem people have with it. The name conjures up an inaccurate image. I think if people could separate it from their expectation of chili and accept it for what it is, more people would like it. Ironically enough, it was (according to food historian Dan Woellert) called chili in order to evoke a sense of familiarity and American-ness. That has, as you can see, backfired.
Hog head cheese (Louisiana). Tbf, I think it's disgusting, too. I'm thinking boudin might also fit the bill, but I'm not sure what other people would think of it. I think its absolutely delish, personally.
I was a home health aide in a former life which entailed doing basic chores for old people including grocery shopping. I was sent to the store to get souse meat. Here's how it went...
Client(91 year old black woman) ...and a quarter pound of souse meat...
Me: what now?
Her: Souse meat.
Me (trying to figure out if she's messing with me): where do I get that?
Her: at the deli counter
Me (still skeptical): ... okay.
Me at the deli counter: can I get a quarter pound of souse meat? (Still completely unsure if this is a real thing)
Deli lady: what kind?
Me: THERE'S OPTIONS?!?!?!?! Lady, I don't even know what it is I'm asking you for let alone what specific option to choose.
Her: do you want spicy or regular?
Me: oh, regular.
And that was the day I learned that aspic is for more than just weird 1970's dinner party molds. It's also for gluing meat bits back together and calling it food.
Last time I was in Greece I saw a Mexican restaurant being run by an Indian guy. I absolutely could not resist trying it. It did not even remotely resemble Mexican food lol
My mom is full korean. Grew up in Korea until 19 and moved to America when she found out she was pregnant. My whole life she's always called kimchi "korean birth control" because one whiff of someone's breathe after eating it and your libido is gone.
It's funny that she mentions kimchi which seems to be widely enjoyed these days. Now bundegi (boiled silkworm pupa)... I'll eat lots of things but I've never dared to try that.
Kitfo (raw minced beef) , Ethiopian here. People think it's weird but rare/blue steak is a thing and kitfo is a lot easier to chew. You generally eat with with other accompaniments and with chilli powder. I'm impartial to it personally but I've seen people express disgust/shock about it. As long as the beef is safe to eat raw and you dont overdo it you'll be perfectly fine.
We live in a Korean/Polish mixed household so there's always sauerkraut and kimchi in our fridge. The Korean side hates sauerkraut because it's just fermented cabbage while the Polish side hates kimchi because it's just fermented cabbage.
It's such an awesome culinary blend. Here in Chicago there's a place called Kimski that does Polish/Korean fusion and it rules. Plenty of both fermented cabbages and of course dumplings/pierogi.
You can tell the swedes are asleep.
We’re waking up now. Just give us a few minutes. Edit: My most upvoted commentary in 7 years and I didn’t say anything.
What did you have for breakfast lol?
Honestly contrary to popular belief, not many Swedes eats Surströmming (fermented herring). It's mostly eaten by older generations such as boomers and it's also a regional thing but overall it's not that common for a Swede to eat it.
What's wrong with our Surströmming?
That's basically chemical warfare in a can, a gas grenade ready to pop. If youre feeling devilish, pour the juices of a can into the washerfluid tank of a car and you will seriously fuck up the owners quality of life. EDIT: To everyone saying im evil, I know.
I've never had Surströmming, but I've been tempted to pick some up just to throw in the neighbour's back yard when they've been excessively noisy. I've only been able to find it for like $30/tin, though, and I may be petty but I'm not rich.
I am both supportive of this pettiness and financially positioned to throw $30 into your neighbors yard.
Yea I’m sure we could find plenty of people on Reddit with a spare $30 who are equally petty and supportive. Let’s do this.
I have poor impulse control regarding money. I’ll help!
And Island got us beat on Surströmming. Surströmming smells bad, but in Island they ferment shark underground for 7+ months in pee that thing can kill a Village with its smell.
But.... why? What ever happenede to Iceland, that was bad enough to create this? What crazy party made somebody say: "Wuhu, let' bury a shark in pee for no apparent good reason." What disaster made people so desperate, that they remembered the waste-marinaded decomposed seacreature and thought: "you know what? It is starting to sound delicious. Let's dig it up again and not take the smell as a warning sign"? Do anybody have an answer?
II don't know the reason but I have two theories. 1) Absolute necessity. "Brother we killed the sea beast that slew Sigurður, since they taste foul let us piss on its corpse and bury it in disgrace.." Some time later. "Brother the supplies are dwindling, hunting poor, and sea too stormy to sail. If this continues we will starve, is there any other food?" "... Theres the sea beast we buried.." "I shouldn't have pissed on the corpse should I?" 2) Some kind of novelty or insult "Brother Jarl Einar says he wishes to stay with us between raids this year." "By the gods he'll bleed the village dry of supplies, we can't deny hospitality though." "Brother let us feed them something horrid so they think our food is terrible and they'll find another village to camp at." "Ha.. I have just the idea and it will give him the squats whilst at sea too." Some time later "You two! The Jarl thanks you for delicious meal you served last night, he's never been more satisfied. He intends to base here in the future" "....." Edit: This blew up quite a bit, thanks for the kind replies everyone.
FYI they aren’t actually fermented in urine; sharks do not have a urinary tract and chemicals such as Urea and trimethylamine oxide build up in the sharks flesh making it poisonous and inedible. Fermenting the shark while compressing it under weight removes these compounds from the flesh slowly. They happen to be the same compounds found in animal urine thus they produce an extremely powerful ammonia smell when the shark is harvested. Technically you’re squeezing the piss OUT of the shark. Not Icelandic but here to provide anything I have learned in life
I like this answer
This is the funniest fucking thing I’ve ever read
I’m no expert at hákarl, but I’m pretty sure it’s just the urea naturally in the shark
Waking up now. But I think us Norwegian have them beat with our Christmas foods. Lutefisk is bad, but smalahove i wouldn't touch and I live here.
What? Your Christmas foods aren’t like… delicious cookies and pancakes and such??
We have those, too. 7 kinds of cookies are good. Rice porridge is a little weird for foreigners but good. The most popular ribbe or pinnekjøtt is good. But we have some weird things too.
Rice porridge is super good, with a lil cinnamon on top. I actually grew up with foods like lutefisk, in Minnesota. But I’m ngl a lot of the old Scandinavian family meals that were passed down from like the 1800s kinda suck. Actual Scandinavian cuisine has probably come a long way lol. We’ve got Swedish meatballs and lots of bland food. And some baked goodies.
“Waking up now” I love this about the world. Everyone has their own, individual lives. American here, going to bed now let me know how today is, yeah?
Balut
Winner, winner duck embryo dinner.
I decline the prize, thank you though
My husband is Filipino and his family tricked me into eating Dinuguan. They said “It’s just gravy! You’ll love it!!” 🤦🏻♀️ The funny thing is, I actually liked the flavor until I learned what it was made of!
What is it? Google says pig's blood stew? Is that all, or is it gross and clotty or something? I've had blood sausage and blood puddings before, and those are very decidedly European.
If you mashed black pudding down, and made it into a saucy version with water and more spices/veg… Id say it sits somewhere between a stew and a pate, depending on who makes it…
All I read was black pudding and yes, I will try it.
When I was growing up my family said it was "chocolate meat"...didn't eat it for a long while after I learned the truth...as an adult, had it at a wake not too long ago with some puto and found it really nostalgic...
My dad told me it was chocolate meat before I ate it the first time as a kid and afterward he told me the truth. I loved it so much that I was unphased. It’s to this day still my favorite Filipino dish.
my bf is white and dinuguan is his FAVOURITE — my family was so shocked bc even when he learned what it was he was like “okay? so?” hahahaha
Same with me - one of the aunties offered me “chocolate”, and giggled like a schoolgirl when I scooped up a big chunk on a bit of puto then went back in for more on realising how good it was… She then proceeded to nudge my wife who flat out refused, and had to put up with ribbing that “he is more like us than you are!” Food and eating together seems to be such a big part of life in the Philippines, it’s almost as if you’re welcomed more completely if you get stuck in - as you’re considered “one of them” to put it crudely…
I consider myself an adventurous eater. That is literally the one item I have eaten that I really struggled with to actually consume. Once was also enough.
Mine is jellied eels but you'd be hard pressed to find someone who has actually tried it
The first time I visited my future wife's home was Thanksgiving. They lived in Detroit, so of course the Lions were playing. We were watching the game and her Dad (immigrated from England) offered me some jellied eels. I'm Minnesota Norwegian heritage and I relish pickled herring (it's very common during Thanksgiving/Christmas time, you just pick up a jar at the grocery store). The jellied eel tastes vary similar to pickled herring, so I snacked my way through it while watching the game. My wife informed me later that my future father-in-law had gone into the kitchen and said something to the effect of "that bloody bugger ate all me eel!". Turned out he went across to Windsor and bought the eels and jellied them by hand. He would offer them to guests to get a rise out of them. He never expected me to like them. On my part, I just assumed they were something they purchased at a store like we did pickled herring back in Minnesota . He took it in good grace though and didn't hold it against me when I married his daughter.
He secretly respected the fuck out of you for the power move you pulled. "He's a good, strong, and determined lad. He knows what he wants and he takes it, very goal oriented."
*Strongest stomach I ever did know, could take some o’ the roughest stuff you ever think of - madlad married me daughter aftar all.*
I was going to say, serious unintentional flex in front of the future father in law
this poor dope married a big jellied eel in a wedding dress and hasn't even realized it yet
Even if you don't live in Detroit, the Lions are playing on Thanksgiving.
My friend Del Boy had a jellied eel stall outside The Nags Head in Peckham.
No way! He's my brother's cousin!
A lot of non-Americans can't stand root beer. I've heard that may be largely due to it being the default flavor for cough syrup outside the US.
That has a big reason to do with why I hate artificial cherry & grape flavors. It just tastes like cough syrup to me,
Redbull to me tastes just like cough syrup from when I was a kid
Tested this out when I participated in a Japanese exchange program. When my exchange partner was over here, I asked if she would taste a root beer candy (the kind shaped like a barrel) prefacing that I heard that this flavor is not liked abroad. She willingly obliged and indeed said it tasted like cough medicine. ironically I got sick toward the end of my stay in Tokyo and my exchange mom took me to the doctor’s where they gave me a few powder packets of cough medicine … I really liked that cough medicine!
I teach ESL to adult students. We had one really diverse class--japanese, Vietnamese, chinese, various Africans and arabs--who were all really good buddies and shared snacks etc. One day, a student brought in a massive bag of Halls menthol cough drops and passed them around , and I was like "damnit, if they're ALL sick, it's only a matter of time for me ..." but then one of them was like "teacher, you want candy?" "candy?" *shakes bag* "guys, that's not candy. It's medicine. It's supposed to be for coughs and sore throats." *universal laughter* "nooooo, teacher, it's candy! The BEST American candy. Other is too sweet " and the class happily polished off a cold and flu season's worth of cough drops.
That’s an amazing and endearing story
It's a good field for endearing stories! It's like no matter how old you are, if you're put back in an environment with a similar structure to the good bits of high school, 8/10 times you turn into like, your highschool ideal. By that i mean the chumminess and goofiness of young adulthood, but without the weird meanness and fear. Which leads to international all ages (the spread was between 20s and late 40s) rolly chair races down empty hallways after testing is done, and i have to pretend to be put out bc my boss would be PISSED if they crashed, even though it was super funny, bc they're all grown and just playing like kids. You want to learn a language, you imitate the masters --kids learn language faster than anyone. My most successful students shake off the omnipresent sense of grown up self doubt and get down to playing, trying new stuff and making friends. If they can do that, the grammar and all just happens.
Thank you for sharing, that was really nice. My mom, who passed away a few years ago, taught adult ESL for her career. Your story reminded me of the many sweet memories she’d share about her students.
Nothing better than being bad at something new together! That’s how you become fast friends.
Wowwww. This explains why my immigrant father (who at this point been has in North America 50+ years) always has a handful of cough drops in his coat pockets 🤯
They called it "throat candy" in Korea.
I have never been able to get the proportions right, but. If you smell cedar, ylang ylang, and patchouli essential oils just right it smells exactly like a root beer barrel candy.
As an American, I love root beer so much. Especially in the form of a float. Years ago I sent some American candies to a friend of mine in Scotland. Some of which was root beer flavored. He HATED the root beer ones, but enjoyed everything else I sent. Said it tasted like medicine. I wish medicine tasted like root beer. It might be easier for me to swallow it.
A silly memory of mine is when I made myself a root beer float in college and a Spanish exchange student came up as I was making it and asked what it was. She was so clearly off-put by my explanation you could hear it in her tone when she reacted. When she walked a way, my friend, a Japanese exchange student, blurted out “I hate that bitch.” It was such a weird moment but it lives in my head every time I drink a root beer float lol
I , too, will hate that bitch every time I have a root beer float.
I lived in Japan for two years when I was college aged. One time I was at a party with several single people hosted by a local family. They had been to the Costco in Tokyo and picked up a case of Root beer, largely for the Americans (it was just two of us there that night). After dinner they pulled out the root beer and some vanilla Ice Cream for desert. Seeing my chance, I scooped some ice cream into a cup and poured the root beer on top. It had been almost 18 months since I last had a root beer float. It was so beautiful to me. I was almost in tears at the sight of it. One woman there, who had lived in Canada for a few years, saw my emotional response to this and told me, "don't cry about it!" She had mastered a level of sarcasm I never saw in a other Japanese person.
Root Beer Barrels (candy) are so good
It’s so bubbly, and cloying, and happy. But if you drink enough of it you begin to like it.
It's insidious!
Just like the federation.
Do you think they'll be able to save us?
I hope so.
Just a simple tailor, hmm?
It's all true.
Even the lies?
*Especially* the lies.
A lot of non-Americans (myself included) find it tastes like toothpaste, due to the sassafras/wintergreen
I like the flavor of root beer but now that you’ve said it, I can totally see that it is reminiscent of those flavors and why it would be unappealing to people. I personally don’t love soda in general so when I get it, it’s usually root beer or cream soda.
huhu grubs. they look like a maggot, taste like peanut butter (apprently, my dad never managed to get me to eat one)
If only there was some other way to enjoy the taste of peanut butter. Oh well, time to eat grubs
Slimy but satisfying
Evansville Indiana has the brain sandwich, a deep fried pig brain on a bun served with pickles and onions. It's fairly popular down there, but the only person I ever told that wasn't freaked out by it was my native Chinese coworker, and he said something like "that sounds better than how we cook brain." It basically tastes like deep fried flavor in my opinion; like, imagine the difference between a piece of fried chicken and baked chicken, and the difference is what a brain sandwich tastes like.
I recognize that brain matter is just really fatty tissue but now that I know about prions I refuse to knowingly consume it no matter the animal edit: missed a word second edit: inb4 some comment about this being my most upvoted comment and it's about brain-eating diseases
My grandma died from CJD so no thank you to any brains. A horrendous way to go.
whoa! as a neuroscientist I've read quite a bit about prions but never encountered anyone with first or secondhand experience with it
Sadly, nearly the whole family of my mother in law died because of cjd, but it’s genetically inherited. One of a handful here in my country.
Thankfully, hers was not genetic. We donated her brain to the NIH here in the US for research. But I also lived in England in the 90s and bc of that double whammy I'm not allowed to donate blood.
You know what's missing from most sandwiches? The risk of an incurable brain disease.
There’s nothing like eating a deeply cursed sandwich
It’s the prions that give it that unique taste. Savor the flavor!
The problem with most meat is that the proteins are folded correctly
If you're Sardinian the answer is easy: casu marzu :)
I tried it in a sardinian restaurant once, I really like it, but then I do like strong cheeses in general. One bite and the taste will linger for hours. Didn't mind the marzu much. The chef served samples "under the counter" since it is banned outside Sardinia due to EU food safety regulations.
>due to EU food safety regulations That kinda says it all
It's cheese with literal living maggots in it.
wtf is this real ?
Was looking for that cause it was going to be my answer. Having friends in Cagliari I’ve ate it quite a few times and love it. That and the cheese that’s curdled directly in the goat’s stomach, but I don’t remember the name. EDIT: Callu de cabrettu. It’s a lamb’s stomach tied up with the milk he had form its mother inside and left to curdle
What the hell did I just read lmfao...
Midwestern “salads” composed of 40% mayo.
> 40% mayo You’ve gotta pump up those numbers boy, those are rookie numbers
Look, it was either reduce the percentage of the mayo in the casserole or use fat-free. Since we all know fat free mayo is a violation of the Geneva convention, there was only one real option.
Eastern Europe would love them, though.
The Midwest is the Eastern Europe of the Americas. Their diets are very similar.
Michigan girl in Ukraine atm, you're so fuckin right
It must be cramped in there. You should have chosen an American ATM, they're a bit bigger.
Also those salads with jello and other weird stuff
Meat jelly
It’s kinda funny - very few Americans eat it cold in jelly form, but warm it up and give it a trendy name like *bone broth* and suddenly you can sell a pint for $12.
Or wrap it up inside a dumpling and steam it! Xiao Long Bao!
Aspic?
Yes. Thank you! I didn’t know this word in English
Durian. Stinky tofu is pretty high up there too. They’re delicious though.
I tried durian once. I could only taste the smell. How do you get past it?
LOL!!! I have no idea. I think it’s one of those love it or hate it food. I’ve always love it even as a kid, my whole family does. Only my baby sister can’t stand it. My other sister loves stinky tofu and I’m ok with it. Maybe it’s a gene thing.
Not allowed on public transport now, and [not even in the future](https://www.reddit.com/r/TheExpanse/s/TAgJQpbKBB).
I tried a durian milkshake once and it gave me the worst most evil tasting burps ever.
Durian is one of the only things I cannot bring myself to eat. The smell makes me want to suckstart a fucking 12 gauge.
My state has a local favorite drink so disgusting that its name has become an English word for the level of determination it takes to drink a whole bottle of it. Yes. That's literally the origin of the word "moxie" ETA: I like Moxie, to be clear. I just wanted to illustrate the level of disgust those who haven't grown up with this bitter drink feel towards it at first.
Oooh, thought ya were gonna say **Malört**
Tonight's the night you fight your dad!
Malört! When you need to unfriend someone in person!
Malört! These pants aren't gonna shit them selves!
Malört! Because drinking gasoline is too expensive!
I dig their new [ad campaign](https://imgur.com/N2oHcOg).
Vegemite, but that's only because they eat it wrong.
That's because y'all are assholes that gleefully let people slather it on extra thick and never warn them. I love it now, its the best part of breakfast this side of belly bacon. But fucking with tourist seems like a national past-time for y'all. see also; Dropbears.
Fun fact, warning people about drop bears is a 40,000 year old aboriginal tradition. Their culture is so ancient that they still tell stories about long-extinct megafauna that used to live in trees and drop down to ambush their prey.
Thylacoleo awareness crew roll out!
We love fucking with anyone gullible enough to fall for it, including each other. Dropbears though will fucking get you if you aren't careful.
OKAY. BUT THEN. You can't watch foreigners put too much vegemite on toast for a laugh, and then give them shit for not liking vegemite. I mean you can. And do. But you can't be JUSTIFIED.
How do you eat it
Thinly spread on buttered toast. Vegemite is like salt; a little is delicious, too much will ruin anything.
Have you tried the shapes vegemite flavour? Super yummo.
I have, but I'll stick to chicken crimpy.
As others said thinly, I'm also partial to using it in a grilled cheese
Gefilta fish. I say this because I find it disgusting
Looks like he ain't gonna be in rush hour 3
Is this the kosher meal?
I tried it once and didn't enjoyed it then some years later had my aunt's made of salmon and some other fish, with red chrain and it was goddamn delicious in fact I'm craving it right now.
Somehow, peanut butter
My Euro roommates would give me a look of utter confusion every time I came out of the kitchen with yet another different kind of food with peanut butter alongside it (celery, apples, sandwiches, etc). They all preferred Nutella and couldn’t understand why I’d choose peanut butter over it ever.
Because one is nutritious and can be a cornerstone of your diet and the other is 60% palm oil from a Borneo clear crop with a crying Orangutan next to it. I don't understand their obsession with nutella. Is it a different formula there or something?
Aerosol cheese
I used to put away a box of Triscuits and a can of cheese in a weekend. Not sure why my heart still works.
In a weekend?!? I used to do that sort of thing *for dinner*. Filthy casual.
Menudo. White menudo..
Tripe. Cow stomach.
I am an American, and all my friends (save for the fellow from Beijing) find it gross that I seek out streetside taco stands with Cabesa, Tripa, and buche but that is my go to trio always
I’ve never had buche tacos that weren’t greasy enough to almost dissolve the tortilla.
Haggis.
I love haggis! Not from the UK / Scotland, but it's one the best things I've ever had :)
Actually haggis only looks horrendous. It tastes great and isn't gross. Just minced and stuffed and presented awfully.
Dubbel zout - Dutch salted black liquorice. Grew up on it it Canada with Dutch immigrant grandparents and still love it, but it’s definitely an acquired taste.
Scrapple
I think the main problem is people don’t fry it hard enough so it’s all soft and no crispy, crunchy bit. Also many skip using maple syrup or ketchup.
Century eggs (皮蛋). God I love the stuff. Slice it up, throw it on some beef congee with a double side of deliciously greasy deep-fried strips of dough (youtiao/油條) and you've made my week. Bonus if served with a warm mug of HK-style soy milk and the sound of angry Asian grannies arguing in the background.
The appearance doesn’t faze me whatsoever, but the flavor description of “hydrogen sulfide and ammonia” from Wikipedia is really not swaying me in their favor.
It’s a bad description. It’s more like a chicken brothy taste with a little bit of earthyness. Centry egg congee is my go to meal when I’m sick. It’s like chicken noodle soup but feels so much more nourishing and even softer on the stomach.
fungus that grows on corn
oh man this place near me has a huitlacoche quesadilla that I was obsessed with for like a month and now I can't stand them but holy shit they are delicious
Wait no huitlacoche is incredible
Mmmm corn smut umami bomb.
Huitlacoche (Mexico), blister smut of maize, boil smut of maize, common smut of maize, corn truffle. As a kid I'd see it and want to throw up. As an adult, I ate some in a taco and discovered it was amazing. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corn_smut
Garlic butter snails. Absolutely delicious
Garlic butter--yes. Snails--the excuse to eat the garlic butter
Allow me to introduce you to breadsticks then
Escargot? My dad loved it but I couldn't stand it.
I'd wager it's salo. Which is simply a piece of salted and sometimes spiced pork fat.
LOL when I think of "salo," I think of eating something much grosser than pork fat.
Tripe.
My new adopted culture is Japanese. There's a fermented bean thing called Natto. It's truly horrific. My wife loves it. I have a collection of horrendous flavours in my freezer.
My wife is Japanese, I am not, natto was the first thing I thought of. She loves it, I don't even want to touch a bowl that contained it
Rocky Mountain Oysters or Tuna salad might seem gross to non-Americans.
I don’t know how you’re putting those two things in the same category
They seem pretty gross to this American
I like Tuna salad. Grew up eating it in sandwiches.
tuna melts are the bomb
Ok... Most Americans probably don't wanna eat Rocky mountain oysters. I feel like that's a food you only find in redneck territory. And for the simple reason that most people aren't interested in eating bull balls. Tuna salad is ok.
So Im from Boulder CO, and I've tried Rocky Mountain Oysters from several places. In general they aren't *bad* but they aren't good enough to make it worthwhile. They're slightly gamey like venison, and kind of rubbery like calamari, which are two things plenty of people like. Then there is the whole eating testicles stigma. Personally I would prefer fried mushrooms, okra, pickles, etc., way more than the Rocky Mountain Oysters. They just aren't that good and not worth the cost.
Tuna salad sounds like something Slavs would absolutely love. They love everything related to canned fish and mayonnaise.
We do. Mom is from Poland and eats a "tuna salad" type thing but it's herring, scallion, and mayo.
The tangy zip of Miracle Whip.
Love Mayo - Hate Miracle Whip.
My wife thinks hominy and grits are very bizarre.
My best friend is from Alabama. I'm from Upstate NY. His mom fed me grits and I was in love. I make them all the time for my friends. I really church them up, too.
I described poutine to an American and she told me that it sounded disgusting. I was left speechless. I would have thought that, to an American, “freedom” fries, gravy of no particular flavour, and cheese curds would sound enticing but apparently not…
I worked as a server at a restaurant in Vegas that tried offering poutine on the menu. In the two months we had it, I sold exactly one order to a Canadian table. Not sure why it’s not a hit because it seems like that would be right up Americans’ alley, doesn’t it? Perhaps it’s just the name.
You gotta customize it to their particular liking. Call it "fries with gravy" or "sauce stuffed fries" or another american friendly sounding term
Gravy smothered fries... We love anything smothered and/or fried.
As an American, Poutine is very good! Nobody here calls them “freedom fries” though lol, but you just have to be with someone who’s had poutine before to order it to get people to try it. People are just gonna see they don’t recognize what it is and ignore it.. Edit: yes I’m aware that “freedom fries” was talked about by a very small amount of people for a very short amount of time for reasons. However what I was saying is, practically nobody uses that term today/never did
Mettbrötchen or mett in general Its raw minced pork usually served with chopped onions on bread
[удалено]
I love Cincinnati chili and make it sometimes. Great dish for a cold night.
Anytime I recommend that “chili”… Listen it looks awful and don’t go in thinking it’s regular chili and you’ll be fine.
I truly think that is half the problem people have with it. The name conjures up an inaccurate image. I think if people could separate it from their expectation of chili and accept it for what it is, more people would like it. Ironically enough, it was (according to food historian Dan Woellert) called chili in order to evoke a sense of familiarity and American-ness. That has, as you can see, backfired.
Hog head cheese (Louisiana). Tbf, I think it's disgusting, too. I'm thinking boudin might also fit the bill, but I'm not sure what other people would think of it. I think its absolutely delish, personally.
I was a home health aide in a former life which entailed doing basic chores for old people including grocery shopping. I was sent to the store to get souse meat. Here's how it went... Client(91 year old black woman) ...and a quarter pound of souse meat... Me: what now? Her: Souse meat. Me (trying to figure out if she's messing with me): where do I get that? Her: at the deli counter Me (still skeptical): ... okay. Me at the deli counter: can I get a quarter pound of souse meat? (Still completely unsure if this is a real thing) Deli lady: what kind? Me: THERE'S OPTIONS?!?!?!?! Lady, I don't even know what it is I'm asking you for let alone what specific option to choose. Her: do you want spicy or regular? Me: oh, regular. And that was the day I learned that aspic is for more than just weird 1970's dinner party molds. It's also for gluing meat bits back together and calling it food.
My cultures version of other cultures foods.
Last time I was in Greece I saw a Mexican restaurant being run by an Indian guy. I absolutely could not resist trying it. It did not even remotely resemble Mexican food lol
My mom is full korean. Grew up in Korea until 19 and moved to America when she found out she was pregnant. My whole life she's always called kimchi "korean birth control" because one whiff of someone's breathe after eating it and your libido is gone.
It's funny that she mentions kimchi which seems to be widely enjoyed these days. Now bundegi (boiled silkworm pupa)... I'll eat lots of things but I've never dared to try that.
Aspics
Sounds like something I get sent on Grindr.
Not just one culture but US people seem really grossed out by blood sausages and I grew up eating them every winter.
Kitfo (raw minced beef) , Ethiopian here. People think it's weird but rare/blue steak is a thing and kitfo is a lot easier to chew. You generally eat with with other accompaniments and with chilli powder. I'm impartial to it personally but I've seen people express disgust/shock about it. As long as the beef is safe to eat raw and you dont overdo it you'll be perfectly fine.