What are some foods that are only available in the USA? For example, I imagine bison and alligator meat can’t be found in other countries. The pawpaw is an example of a fruit native only to North America. Are there any other examples of native fruits and animals that you could think of?

31 comments

  1. A lot of BBQ. You can get it in other countries but it isn’t the same at all. Lots of local breweries too.

  2. I don’t imagine there’s any food in America that can’t be found in Canada or Mexico except something very regional specific that even most Americans wouldn’t know about

  3. I haven’t seen anything quite like this outside the US but one of my favorite foods is Cincinnati-style Chili.

  5. Described in the first part of this wiki article, the [garbage plate ](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nick_Tahou_Hots?wprov=sfla1)

    it’s a Rochester NY specialty, features a type of hot dog hard to find outside of this part of the state, weird meat sauce, and is best eaten when your brain function is not 100%. I can almost guarantee you this isn’t found outside of the US, even with Canada pretty close to me.

  6. When I lived in the UK I had the hardest time finding American hotdogs, mustard, ranch dressing, real BBQ sauce, proper tortillas (though they’re nearly as impossible to find on the east coast of America as well), half an half, and jicama (a fave of mine that’s also hard to find out East). Jicama would probably be the only one in the category of native foods though, as the rest I mentioned are processed.

  7. I’ve spent most of my life in the US, and this is the first I’ve heard of a pawpaw.

    I’ve seen bison on the menu in Germany, at a Canadian-themed restaurant, of all places. Yes, such a thing exists.

  8. There’s a wild onion called a ramp that’s popular in Appalachia. It also grows in eastern Canada but is more plentiful in the eastern United States. There are several ramp festivals held annually in West Virginia, Virginia, North Carolina, and Tennessee.

  9. As far as I’m aware ranch dressing is an exclusively American thing unless Canada has it too.

  11. Most nationally popular things can probably be found elsewhere, like pizza, burgers, etc. And most things that can’t are probably regional and also won’t be found elsewhere in the US.

    You can’t really find the [New Mexico chile](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Mexico_chile) elsewhere in the US, even in neighboring states, let alone in other countries. By extension, most of New Mexico cuisine.

    There’s probably a lot of snacks and drinks that you can’t find elsewhere because they have no place in other countries’ markets.

    Things like reindeer sausage are probably not found many places elsewhere, except maybe Canada, the Nordics, and Russia.

  13. Goetta and scrapple are inspired by German dishes but are very often hard to find outside of Cincinnati and Pennsylvania / mid-atlantic respectively.

    I’ve oversimplified where you can find these, but you get the idea.

  14. I can think of plenty of foods native to the Pacific Northwest, but they all get disqualified due to British Columbia, which has a ton of culinary continuity with us in Washington.

  15. Interestingly enough, pecans are extremely difficult to find or very expensive in many countries. For another interesting fact, foreigners often do not like pumpkin pie, but are much more likely to enjoy pecan pie.

  16. most Southern cuisine outside of the US isn’t very common, like corn meal based foods or stuff like jambalaya and brunswick stew

  18. In Hawaii, there is the ohelo berry. Found at higher elevations on Hawaii Island and Maui. Part of the cranberry family. People make jams from it.

  19. In Hawaii, there is the ohelo berry. Found at higher elevations on Hawaii Island and Maui. Part of the cranberry family. People make jams from it.

  27. I’m not 100% but I feel like the oversized pork tenderloin is a very American/Hoosier thing.

  29. Muscadines and scuppernongs. They are sort of indigenous grapes.

    Crawfish. Southern BBQ.

  30. Real maple syrup and peanut butter are surprisingly hard to find outside of North America.

  31. Sweet Vidalia onions, officially only from the state of Georgia. Delicious.

    The following flavours seem uniquely American, or at least only popular in the US: sarsaparilla, artificial grape (candy/soda), and whatever Dr Pepper is. The first two are almost non-existent in Europe, and I’ve never met a non-American who doesn’t think they’re vile. Dr Pepper is available here but not popular at all; I’ve never seen anyone drink it or heard anyone say they like it. (It’s all to do with what you grow up with, of course.)

Leave a Reply
You May Also Like