What’s differences have you noticed between foreign meals made in the USA vs foreign meals made in their native country?

42 comments

1. I have had Mexican food just like you describe here in the good ol’ US of A. I don’t go to Taco Bell thinking it is Mexican.

2. So, Mexican food in Mexico varies throughout the country. Same for other countries bigger than a postage stamp, really.

   I haven’t been to Mexico, but when I lived in Las Vegas and asked Mexican immigrants what restaurant was most like home cooking, the answers were very different depending on where the immigrant was from.

3. The biggest thing I noticed was the difference in portion size and sauce/cheese use. Both were greater in the US

4. I just looked at my local Mexican places menu. No ground beef.

   I think quality varies in regional cuisine and if you seek out good places (and willing to pay for great food) you can find just about anything in the states.

   I just came from NYC and had incredible food from about 10 different countries.

   That being said, some foods are less common. Like in Mexico I’ve run into a lots of beef tongue and nopales, etc. Sourcing some ingredients and US folks not being used to some make it less common here.

5. Freshness of ingredients is the main one.

   Most places pick food for flavor, America does it for durability of shipping. Often times our ingredients are not as flavorful due to this supply chain. Finding the best food here is typically the result of a local restaurant sourcing local goods picked for freshness and peak flavor

6. Mexican food is regional throughout the country. Unsurprisingly.

   What made me laugh is that we had a poster on this sub claiming to be Mexican and a taco purist. Claimed they didn’t eat all sorts of tacos that we consider ‘Mexican’. Made me laugh, because the taco I was describing came from a street vendor *in Mexico.*

   That said, what you describe can be found all over the US. Those hot sauces and meat choices should be available at any authentic taco stand.

7. I’ve had Vietnamese food in the US, and Vietnamese food in Czech Republic. They taste different and I have two theories as to why: 1. because the flavors are adjusted to suit American tastes vs. Czech tastes, or 2. because it’s regional differences in Vietnamese cooking (most Vietnamese immigrants to the US came from the South as refugees, most Vietnamese immigrants to Czechoslovakia came there from the North as students looking to study in a fellow USSR-alligned country).

8. Had the opportunity to have authentic fish and chips in the UK two weeks ago. I’m going to get shit for this, but I think we make it better. The cost was unbeatable, but there was a distinct lack of flavor and little to no salt. I had it twice over there, once in a nice restaurant and a second time at a well-reviewed chippy.

9. In American pubs they give you a waiter. In British pubs you order at the bar most of the time.

10. The more you travel, the more you’ll notice that every where you go you’ll see adaptations of foreign dishes to local tastes or ingredient availability and there’s nothing wrong with that.

    “Mexican food in the states” is quite a bit more diverse than ground beef tacos gringos. Even the restaurant in my small town in northern Michigan makes killer carnitas, barbacoa, etc. With the huge diaspora all over the US, it’s pretty easy to find regional Mexican food in most areas.

11. I had the opposite experience. Moving from Texas to Mexico City, I desperately miss spicy food. Chilangos seem to have weirdly low spice tolerance, and I miss getting my ass kicked like I can in a lot of Houston’s tampiqueña taquerías.

12. American pizza is nothing like Italian pizza. Italians almost always use thin crust, and fold the pizza slice into something resembling a sandwich. Cheese is like a novelty – and if they do add cheese it’s usually feta, or maybe a small amount of mozzarella. It isn’t uncommon to see egg on pizza in Italy. In fact – Italian food in general in North America is quite different. Italians eat way more vegetables than Italian themed cuisine in North America would suggest.

    Chinese food – especially the chicken – FAR different in China. Americans are more about the sweet taste, the Chinese are more about the Umami.

    I struggle to call it a Canadian dish, because it’s vastly over-rated and I don’t even like it all that much – but when I’ve had poutine in the states, or even fries and gravy, they never get the gravy right. They either use country gravy or chicken gravy.

    I will give Kudos to Mexican food though. Mexican is my favorite type of cuisine. I’ve been to a hell of a lot of Mexican states, tried a hell of a lot of Mexican food. There’s some pretty legit Mexican places in the US – but Mexicans rarely use ground beef. That’s maybe the biggest difference I’ve noticed.

13. Could just be coming from an immigrant hub, but when I lived in China and now living in Mexico, I’ve met a ton of people who are surprised that there aren’t many differences.

    The Chinese food I grew up on tastes pretty similar to Chinese food in China. The Mexican food I cook at home has been perfectly welcome at Mexican potlucks. The Korean food I ate living in Chicago wasn’t that different to what I had in Seoul.

    Not to say American food doesn’t exist or that I don’t love it, but everybody I know knows the difference between Tex-Mex and Mexican, or Viet-Cajun and Vietnamese, or British Indian and Indian. I wouldn’t ever confuse them, and can readily get all of them.

    Urban America is with London and Toronto as the most diverse food environments in the world, and when I want food from another country, I’ve never had trouble getting it.

14. >In Mexico ground beef isn’t even an option(it’s not even a matter of preference, there is a logistical reason for this).

    Where are you getting this premise?

15. Americanized Chinese food is obviously very different from authentic Chinese food, but more upscale Chinese restaurants do a pretty good job of replicating dishes as they were originally made.

16. In Israel “spicy” is hotter for chilis and more mild for horseradish and mustard. Americans largely eat a variant of Israeli hummus (distinguished by having the most tihini, garlic, mix-ins, and basically everything but chickpea) that uses mild mix-ins like bell pepper and pine nut rather than the face-melting Yemenite sauces Israelis prefer.

17. Pasta in Italy has less sauce than in the US. Also smaller portions as it is frequently a first course rather than a main.

18. I’m Japanese-American and find it all delicious, but:

    American-style sushi is definitely its own thing: Spicy mayo drizzle, crunchy bits, cream cheese, deep fried, jalapeños, avocado, fruit pieces… that’s all American. Sushi in Japan is the traditional stuff.

    Also, most Japanese restaurants in the US are owned by Koreans or Chinese people (because people are willing to pay more money for Japanese food), so there’s a distinct difference in the flavors and the menu items you will find in US Japanese restaurants.

    Out here in Bay Area there are more Japanese-owned Japanese restaurants and you can tell the difference.

19. One of my Indian friend’s mom (born in India) said a lot of the dishes you see here are special back home- they’d be made for weddings and holidays, not spread out at a buffet. “If we ate like that every day we’d be enormous!”

20. Well, it’s not easy to find a good curry here like in the UK, though I did just find a good Indian place that I enjoyed.

21. As a Texas, I remain willfully ignorant of how other states ruin Mexican food. I’d say the primary different between Tex-Mex and Mexican is the amount of cheese we use. We love us some cheese!

22. The American versions are much better 🙂 Like pizza, we definitely make the best pizza

23. The typical “Indian restaurant” in the US serves food that is predominantly North Indian (in fact, Punjabi).
    It’s really rare to see any Indian restaurant serve mainstream dishes from Southern states (Kerala, Goa, Karnataka, etc), or North Eastern states (Nagaland, Assam, etc).
    The flavor, and spiciness (heat) of dishes served here are quite muted (maybe a 6/10), and pale in comparison to what you’d get in India.

24. In Hungary, goulash (or gulyás in Hungarian) is always a liquidy soup and never a stew. For some reason outside of its place of origin, people think of goulash as a stew.

    We call the stews either pörkölt if it doesn’t have sour cream or paprikás (or paprikasch) if it is mixed with sour cream.

    For all three you slow simmer a protein (usually beef, but chicken works) with onion, and add paprika, though tomato sauce and garlic are usually used too. That makes pörkölt. For goulash, once it is done cooking, add water or broth. For paprikás add sour cream and mix.

    American goulash is different from other non-Hungarian European goulashes, as it is a crime against humanity.

25. Just got back from Italy and will say it tended to be milder flavors than what we’re used to back in the SF bay area. Don’t, get me wrong, it was good but we’re used to more spice even in our good Italian food here ( not the olive garden variety). And I wonder whether our Asian influence means that our vegetables are cooked quite as long. About ten days in my oldest kid said he could really go for a burrito.

    We take things that we like about the food when traveling and incorporate them into our diet when we get back. I’m looking for some different coffees, gelato and pasta making is on our list to do as well as using less pesto on pasta, smaller gnocchi, and more charcuterie boards.

26. Food is very regional in Mexico. Lived a few places and each region has their own thing. Birria in some places is goat I think, others beef. Tamales are made different in different regions such as corn husk vs banana leaf.

27. I’ve had street food in Mexico City and the same street food in the US. It used to be a difference in the cuts of meat and spices, but that’s no longer an issue. You can get the same exact food here as there. And it’s often people from Mexico that open up stuff here.

    The main difference in any of the foods is ingredient substitution. It’s not because it’s cheaper. Some ingredients are only available in those regions s.

28. Italy:

    Pasta is often a small side dish and if they use tomato sauce, they do so sparingly.

    Vegetables are a more prominent part of the meal.

    They eat a lot more fish.

    Wine-based sauces are common.

    Steak is a common menu item, particularly in the north.

    Sausage is almost always cured and dried. I have never seen what we in the US call “Italian sausage” in Italy.

    Ireland:

    For one, their food doesn’t suck.

    Corned beef is generally not eaten there.

    They eat a lot of seafood.

29. Anytime I’ve ever said this to anyone it’s gotten me absolutely crucified, but I stand by it. Pizza in the US is better than Pizza in Italy, and Italian food in Italy as a whole is not noticeably better than Italian food in the US.

    I think the perception of this comes from people ordering pizza from dominoes or going to Olive Garden and then comparing it to the high quality restaurant they went to when they were on vacation in Italy. If you go to a nice Italian restaurant in pretty much any us city, the food is going to be as good (and better in some instances) than in Italy.

30. Indian food in India tastes a lot richer than Indian food in the US. From what I’ve also heard, chicken tastes better due to the differences in quality of chicken meat

31. I’m just going to respond to your post op.

    You need to remember that Mexico is not a hegemonic state in regards to culinary culture.

    What you did not see or witness does not mean it was never a thing elsewhere in Mexico. Just like how there’s food that I have in the US that you absolutely don’t have access to in the same way being on the opposite side of the continent from me.

32. Chinese food in Queens is incredible and same as china if not better.

33. Chinese food in Queens is incredible and same as china if not better.

34. Sort of an opposite answer, but I’ve found that Afghan food in Afghanistan and the kind at restaurants is almost identical, which I appreciate.

35. You lived in LA and Chicago and didn’t see authentic Mexican food??

    LA is known for Mexican and Korean food…and honestly for me the food has been pretty similar between what’s in LA and those countries. Same for Japanese and Italian food for me. But the authentic spots in LA are more specialized while there are a lot Americanized versions to filter through, but there’s definitely options.

36. Italian food in Italy seems like it uses less ingredients and less cheese overall than in the US. I like Italian food in both places though, so that’s not a complaint to either side.

    One thing I find funny though is folks’ knocks on American pizza and typically trashing the most widespread pizza chains then comparing American pizza chains to Italian pizza places that clearly focus on making the best pizza. It’s such an unfair comparison. Italian pizza chains are just as good/bad as American pizza chains. But folks don’t care to notice.

37. I once got “Mexican nachos” at a bar in Manchester (UK) and they made their guac with mushy peas….

38. Philly cheesesteaks. A true Philly cheesesteak is cheap steak, cheez whiz, fried onions. Outside Philly everyone keeps pushing sirloin steak, provolone, lettuce and tomato.

39. I’m gonna take a different approach to this question. I think foreign versions of American food are hilarious, especially hamburgers. I remember being in an “American” restaurant in Dublin and the guy sitting at the table next to me ordered some special hamburger they had. The waiter then brought out a stack of meat, buns, and toppings that was about a foot tall. The poor guy couldn’t figure out how to eat the thing so he just took it apart and ate it with a fork. I was dying of laughter at the Irish thinking American food = big. Definitely the biggest burger I’ve ever seen with my American eyes.

40. I’ve found that the skill of the chef matters far more than location.

    Case in point, the second worst pasta I’ve ever had was in Italy.

41. Korean food in the states is sort of time capsuled from like 1980s Korean food.

    Most places in Korea will give you banchan (side dishes) but it’s very minimal and low effort side dishes. Nicer places will def give out banchan but most everyday places are not at that quality.

    In the states you usually get 5-7 side dishes.

    In the states the restaurants will have 30 items but in Korea one restaurant is dedicated to one to two dishes.

    Restaurants in America use a lot of dashida and msg. It’s made cheaply and quickly.

42. I find the American versions way better