What do you think of American Food sold in other countries and what do you think of Fried Chicken in the UK?

30 comments

1. On the former, I generally don’t.

   On the latter…I mean Nando’s here is decent (if mild spice-wise), but that’s about as much thought as I put into it. And on second thought, that’s not ~~fired~~ fried. So why am I talking about it.

2. The imitation stuff sold in grocery stores and some restaurants is, quite often, hilariously off the mark and bad.

   Never had UK fried chicken, but I feel pretty confident it would usually be found wanting.

3. I’ve been to the UK a handful of times and really enjoyed the chicken shops. Good stuff.

4. Nothing in particular. It is refreshing having a little slice of America in other countries when I’m homesick though. There are usually the same foods but enough regional / country variants that there is always something new to try.

   I know nothing about UK fried chicken culture so not what that is.

5. I avoid American food overseas but I’ve had a few really bad hamburgers in Europe. Always overcooked.

6. It cracks me up to see how other countries view us.

   I don’t think I ever had fried chicken in the UK. I’m sure it’s fine though. Fried chicken isn’t that hard.

7. “””American food””” sold overseas isn’t actually American food

8. I’ve been to McDonalds in Paris and Moscow, tasted pretty much the same as one here.

   Never had KFC in the UK though. But everybody loves fried chicken.

9. I spent a few months on exchange in Britain, and found most of the faster-food to be pretty high quality. I’m not much for takeaway fried chicken, but I remember the place across from our campus being pretty good. (I didn’t go to McDonalds, so I couldn’t tell you, there.)

10. I’ve been to American fast-food places in 6-8 countries. It’s funny to see how upscale they are sometimes considered. We always get the local variants not available in the states, so I can’t make any direct comparisons.

11. I saw a sweet corn pizza described as American style. And they say Americans are ignorant

12. I went to one Burger King in the UK, and it beat every one I tried in the US. The bun and onion rings made the difference. I had the best quesadillas of my life at a Mexican restaurant in Edinburgh. Their idea of salsa was just diced up tomatoes, onion, and cilantro, and I’ve had much better salsa in the US.

    I saw a lot of KFCs in the UK, but never decided to try it.

13. Not UK, but I’ve had KFC and McDonald’s in Ireland, and it was okay.

    My son got hot wings at one Irish place, and they brought him a finger bowl. That was different.

14. When I’m extremely bored, I like to search the McDonald’s website for menus in other countries. It’s very interesting what is sold in other countries.

15. Most of the “American” stuff is stuff most Americans wouldn’t even recognize. Fried chicken in the UK is pretty decent.

16. I went to an American-themed restaurant called
    Texas Embassy when I was in London that was pretty good Tex Mex. Not great, not somewhere I’d go if it was in the US and actual Tex Mex and real Mexican were both available, but it did the job and was a nice slice of home-ish after being away from home a few months by then.

    Google says it’s permanently closed, so this is not news you can use.

17. The fact that UK KFC doesn’t have biscuits and mashed potatoes is something I can’t even fathom. Like those are the two of main things usually associated with KFC in the US.

18. I generally avoided American food when I lived in Europe. If I really wanted something, I would make it myself.

    I went to one “American-style” diner in Germany. Like most US diners, the food was fine and mostly the same basic items that are probably easy enough to replicate anywhere.

    I had fried chicken in Scotland, and it wasn’t noticeably different from any I’ve had in the US. Not really my favorite anyway.

19. Visited the UK over the summer and British KFC after a long night of drinking is quite the experience.

20. I thought it was hilarious that peanut butter was in the American section of the grocery store when I lived in New Zealand. It’s a staple food for me and I made a cashier laugh by buying four jars at once.

    Haven’t had fried chicken in the UK, but fried chicken is pretty easy. I bet you guys do alright with it!

21. Never been to the UK but gotta say Asians win the fried chicken game. And I’m from the American South where some of the best there is can be found. But got dam Asians know their chicken!!

22. American food (not counting fast food) is generally speaking not done quite right abroad. Mostly with stuff like BBQ, Tex-Mex, and even American diner style food will be missing key ingredients or preparation methods (biggest one is like using liquid smoke for BBQ meats, sauces not having enough or proper spices, etc.).

    I can’t recall having fried chicken on the England side of the UK, but I had in Scotland and it was decent enough. Under-seasoned for how I’d prefer it but the preparation and actual frying was spot on, which isn’t surprising for historical purposes.

23. Honestly I think it’s really funny! They take a lot of liberties on what they do with American food which is either hilariously weird or pretty good.

    The first time I went to the UK (2014) my uncle told me burgers were trendy. I didn’t try them but I thought it was hilarious to see the pop up places and weird ideas of what a burger was. They’re so ubiquitous here that it was weird to think of them as some trend.

    Last time I went there seemed to be the start of a Burrito craze. The menus and restaurant theming was so weird and bad I had to take a picture of it. We wanted to try some British texmex but didn’t get around to it.

    Mexico’s American food is pretty much the same as in the US, but I’ve only been to tourist spots. Oddly enough Japan’s Italian was weird as fuck but their other foreign food (TexMex, American) was actually pretty good.

24. Is frying chicken an American thing?

25. Those American aisles in other countries always looks like what a stoned teenager would bring home. It sucks they only think we eat candy, pop-tarts and bbq sauce

26. KFC in the UK is better than the US. The quality of fast food generally is way better outside the US

27. I am sorry but I had probably one of the worst fried chicken sandwiches in Manchester last year.

28. From what I’ve seen abroad Europeanized American foods are actually kind of funny if not satirical. Sometimes it hits home though. There’s a few places on the UK that I’ve seen featured that look like they take American bbq food fairly seriously and draw their recipes from it.

    As far as fried chicken, I’m sure they make some good fried chicken, but no matter what mama makes the best

29. Very weird, Alaska Fried Chicken, does Alaska have much chicken?

30. Ice cream in the UK is gross. It’s not very cold, maybe it has too much fat content?

    American pancakes, cakes, cookies, and Brownies are Never even close to correct.

    Bacon in Europe is not crispy. Gross!

    Hamburgers are often hard to get right in Europe.

    We had good burgers in Australia.

    My exchange student from Finland and her mom in the 80s as an exchange student- both gained weight in the US. She said in Finland that cookies are hard, and she loved our soft cookies and frozen custard and hamburgers. She loved my cooking- stir fry, Thai soups, pork loin, etc. She hated non-rye bread.

    When I got home from living abroad, I couldn’t wait to get BBQ, root beer, iced tea, soft cakes, cookies, brownies, cold ice cream, pancakes, good Mexican food, chili, cornbread, poke Bowls, having a large variety of foods.

    But My husband loved the fresh French pastries, the müesli with yogurt, the fresh Bretzeln, the ubiquitous Biergartens, there is a lot more stuff made with rhubarb and blueberries-yum! All the food in France and Italy. In the UK we like quirky foods from M&S like honeycomb candy, millionaires bars, good Indian food. From Israel we miss the interesting vegetables like kohlrabi, the challah, shakshuka, etc.