Americans of reddit, what non- american food/ dish is weird to you, or very uncommon in America?

31 comments

1. Balut

2. Food from animals that we consider pets (and are often very attached to) like cats, dogs, and horses would be very taboo to most Americans.

3. Eel jelly. Is that actually a thing that people eat?

4. I mean, you just answered better than I could.

5. Fermented whale 

   Also, horse meat, snails, and frog legs aren’t very common, mainly in French restaurants 

6. Americans don’t commonly eat corn as a pizza topping. It’s not even available at the places near me.

7. [Fried spiders / Fried tarantulas](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fried_spider)

   Listen, I get the significance of it in local culture and I’m told it’s similar to crab meat, but my arachnophobia could never.

8. Dog meat. I just can’t do it. One of our rescued dogs’ mom was rescued from a Korean dog meat market and I just can’t imagine eating friends…

9. Jellied meats (aspic) do not appeal to me

10. We have a long history of horse as companions. WHen you were out on your land, alone, riding your horse he became a trusted companion.

11. Tuna on pizza is a crime against pizza.

12. >raw bacon

    Haven’t heard of that. Are you talking about something cured similarly to jamón Ibérico?

    >horse meat and blood sausages

    I’ve had the former (in Belgium), and enjoy the latter (morcilla, black pudding)

    I have never personally been offered something while traveling abroad that I would not try, but I do have some likely limits (such a balut, which thankfully I was not offered when in the Philippines).

13. I wouldn’t consider Vegemite and Marmite particularly weird, but, in my experience, both are very uncommon in the US. They exist, and most people have at least a passing familiarity with them, but they are not pantry staples.

    Fairy bread is another one that’s very uncommon in the US. All of the ingredients – white bread, butter/margarine, sprinkles/hundreds and thousands are very common, but they’re not something we generally eat together.

14. Balut

15. I would say Americans as a whole are not used to eating organ meats or the less appealing parts of animals (like chicken feet). I feel like because of the general prosperity and ease of getting food in America we don’t have a national food culture that optimizes getting every drop of food out of our livestock, so it just feels very unappetizing to us. Though you can find these foods if you want, they just aren’t common.

16. Well, I have never heard of raw bacon and frankly that sounds gross as fuck. Blood sausages are good though and I would try horse.

17. Lutefisk

18. Surströmming, hákarl, casu martzu.

19. Black pudding from the UK. If any Brits are on here, is black pudding really made with pigs blood???

20. Natto, Japanese fermented beans. Looks strange and sounds unappetizing.

21. Considering how close the US is to Mexico,  and how pervasive Mexican food is, there are some cuts of meat used for tacos most here would find odd,  like using meat from the cattles head, face, brain and even eyes.

    Then theres the Mexico City valley dish of an entire lambs head cooked and served on a plate

22. Blood sausages isn’t that weird. It’s very uncommon in the US but it’s not unheard of. Plus it’s well known it’s a common dish in Europe. Raw bacon tho? wtf? We don’t eat horse here because horses are seen as pets. It’s just not done.

    The only thing I can think of off the top of my head is balut.

23. A crisp/chip sandwich.

24. Haggis

25. I still think haggis is the result of someone losing a bet.

26. I’m an American married to a Swede and I don’t understand the approach of putting bananas in all your savory food. Flying Jacob is one thing, but eating bananas in your tacos feels like a hate crime.

27. Beans on toast. It’s not even the *good* beans either.

28. Organ meats are generally not super common in general, but going even further beyond that, often the people who ARE willing or even enjoy many offal dishes, there is usually a hesitancy to eat brains.

    Nervous system meats make a lot of Americans pretty uncomfortable, even if they’re otherwise down for trying unusual stuff.

29. Tripe (cow stomach) is an Italian-American dish that I grew up with and loved but even among my family, gets a mixed reaction. Other ethnicities have it too, e.g., Mexican menudo, I believe.

30. Century age. Tastes like farts. Durian as well. I have some family who love it, but I can’t stand the taste or mouth feel.

31. I’d believe someone if they told me the American Revolution was about escaping the culinary history of England and Scotland.