Foods liked by Americans and Canadians that most other people hate.

[Skeletor]

I learned in college that people from outside North America hate much of our food. High on the list was peanut butter, many of our soft drinks with doctor pepper and root beer at the top, pop tarts, American cheese, Hershy chocolate, the list went on. Many complained that our diet was too sweet and messed them up with the digestive system too.

 

[Streetwise]

I'm interested in the food American and Canadian vegans eat and some of the food indigenous people eat ,I'm not American, what's familiar to me is not wholely American, I like less sweet peanut butter,I don't like root beer from Australia,I also have health problems so can't eat the diet a lot of people in my country eat.

 

[Judge]

Consumption of sugar, high-fructose and glucose products are considered unhealthy- even toxic by much of the rest of the world. And they're right. Some even chastise us for drinking ice water. Go figure.

Though for many of us, I suspect sugar has become our "personal brand of heroin".

However I see this as an academic argument given there are so many other substances ingested by people all across the planet that are known to be harmful as well. Environmental issues, apart from sustenance.

 

[Skeletor]

I wasn't aware root beer was available anywhere outside the US and Canada. I had a Korean roommate who told me Asians hate it and think it tastes like toothpaste.

 

[Judge]

I'm interested in the food American and Canadian vegans eat and some of the food indigenous people eat ,I'm not American, what's familiar to me is not wholely American, I like less sweet peanut butter,I don't like root beer from Australia,I also have health problems so can't eat the diet a lot of people in my country eat.

You'd probably be disappointed in the diet of Native Americans.

Native American foods, dietary habits take center stage | NHLBI, NIH

 

[GrownupGirl]

In the states, Hershey's chocolate has a taste and smell similar to vomit because of they use butyric acid that's used as an ingredient. But for some strange, inexplicable reason, people here in Canada didn't like their chocolate tasting like they already ate it, so the Hershey's recipe was changed. But I can still remember that disgusting flavor. I didn't care for Hershey's kisses because they smelled and tasted the most pukey.

So, do Americans just not like sweet things as much? They seem to love to make fun of anyone for having a sweet tooth, especially adult men, and they're always saying you'll get the diabeetus if you so much as put a bite-sized Tootsie Roll in your mouth. Sweet food itself doesn't cause diabetes, but eating too much can cause obesity, which of course can lead to diabetes.

I think root beer is the best-tasting soft drink in the entire world. When I heard that people outside of North American think it's awful, I was really surprised. I once heard someone from Japan said it tasted like cough syrup. I wish! If cough syrup tasted like root beer I'd have no trouble taking it. But instead it tastes more like the tears of sad little puppies.

 

[Streetwise]

You'd probably be disappointed in the diet of Native Americans.

Native American foods, dietary habits take center stage | NHLBI, NIH

I know what Navajo and hopi people eat it looks like the food any caucasian eats apart from making their own bread

 

[GrownupGirl]

I wasn't aware root beer was available anywhere outside the US and Canada. I had a Korean roommate who told me Asians hate it and think it tastes like toothpaste.

It doesn't taste anything like toothpaste. Makes me wonder what toothpaste tastes like in Asian countries.
Or maybe their taste buds work differently, maybe for genetic reasons?

 

[Judge]

I know what Navajo and hopi people eat it looks like the food any caucasian eats apart from making their own bread

Pretty much. An increasing trend if you examine the NIH's uptake.

 

[Judge]

So, do Americans just not like sweet things as much? They seem to love to make fun of anyone for having a sweet tooth, especially adult men, and they're always saying you'll get the diabeetus if you so much as put a bite-sized Tootsie Roll in your mouth. Sweet food itself doesn't cause diabetes, but eating too much can cause obesity, which of course can lead to diabetes.

LOL. That sounds like the perspective health-food advocates, regardless of what nation they hail from.

We have plenty of those as well. But while their tastes may add to our economy, they don't drive it.

All you have to do is to go to any supermarket and see how many products on the shelves contain sugar. Or look down the street and see all the corporate fast food franchises. It's all about what's in demand. Trouble is how easy it is for food manufacturers to increase that demand artificially, and make their clientele food junkies.

I was always amused with those old Lays potato chip commercials...citing that you can't eat only one. They were right, but for a very different reason involving some of those mysterious food additives.

 

[Progster]

I've never been to the US, but I have visited Canada. Just like anywhere else, there was good food and not so good food. I have tried Hershey bars, and Reese's peanut butter cups, also some cookies made to an American recipe, and they were way too sweet to my taste. Also once ate a dish with cheese sauce in an American food outlet, and it was sweet - I didn't like it at all. Cheese sauce isn't supposed to be sweet!

 

[Judge]

The best chocolate bar I ever had years ago was a very large Cadbury bar specifically made in Ireland with Irish cream. It was glorious. Thanks, Mom.

Sorry Milt. (Hershey)

But I think Hershey was a pioneer in food manufacturing who definitely set out to promote a sweeter product at the time. With an intentionally different taste from European dark chocolate. I'm apt to think that this inevitably spilled over into many other foods as well with other manufacturers following suit.

Much like the use of ice water, it's an American thang. But yeah, sweeter isn't always better.

 

[Streetwise]

The best chocolate bar I ever had years ago was a very large Cadbury bar specifically made in Ireland with Irish cream. It was glorious. Thanks, Mom.

Sorry Milt. (Hershey)

But I think Hershey was a pioneer in food manufacturing who definitely set out to promote a sweeter product at the time. With an intentionally different taste from European dark chocolate. I'm apt to think that this inevitably spilled over into many other foods as well with other manufacturers following suit.

Much like the use of ice water, it's an American thang. But yeah, sweeter isn't always better.

I think he was influenced by Germany, their chocolate seems to be like that ,British chocolate seems to have the influence of Austria and Switzerland, German chocolate reminds me of a laxative or cheap cooking chocolate, I only eat vegan chocolate now so I don't know what cadbury's tastes like now!!!!which is markedly different because it has cow's milk in it.

 

[Skeletor]

It doesn't taste anything like toothpaste. Makes me wonder what toothpaste tastes like in Asian countries.
Or maybe their taste buds work differently, maybe for genetic reasons?

Main complaint about Doctor Pepper from Indian people was it tastes like sweet cough syrup...And it does. Taste it with that in mind and see.

 

[Skeletor]

Where are you from Prog?

 

[Skeletor]

Oh and about Americans bullying people for their diet while all the choices here are unhealthy? Yeah, we are complete hypocrites on this as we are on most things.

 

[Skeletor]

It doesn't taste anything like toothpaste. Makes me wonder what toothpaste tastes like in Asian countries.
Or maybe their taste buds work differently, maybe for genetic reasons?

Some of the sweeter ones in the US do a little. I prefer less sweet and more crisp root beer. My thoughts are that Asians know of root beer because of the post World War Two US military presence there. The Philippine Islands in particular were heavily influenced by US culture stemming from this. They are the world's biggest eater of Spam for example.

 

[Pats]

The best chocolate bar I ever had years ago was a very large Cadbury bar specifically made in Ireland with Irish cream. It was glorious. Thanks, Mom.

Sorry Milt. (Hershey)

But I think Hershey was a pioneer in food manufacturing who definitely set out to promote a sweeter product at the time. With an intentionally different taste from European dark chocolate. I'm apt to think that this inevitably spilled over into many other foods as well with other manufacturers following suit.

Much like the use of ice water, it's an American thang. But yeah, sweeter isn't always better.

Hershey puts too much parafin (wax) in their chocolate.

 

[Moonhart44]

I am having a personal culture shock in VA. I am normally surrounding by a lot of latin culture, and they dont even have an el pollo loco here. i'm sure the locals here only like (excuse me as a whole, not individually) certain foods. i have even heard a young man say, why would i want chinese food? do i look like a [racial slur redacted]. i have been forced to cook for myself.
i also dont care what certain countries think of food when they do not produce good food (imo) i'm thinking about canada (poutine is gross) and england/germany/cold european countries.

 

[Pats]

It's all what you grow up on. Even in the U.S., foods vary from state to state. Southerners like biscuits and gravy and someone from California might gag. I grew up in Ohio but grew up spending a lot of time in the mountains in Virginia visiting relatives. The food people ate in Ohio and in Virginia were so different. Even the same foods were different - lasagna in Virginia was made using cottage cheese and in Ohio ricotta. I liked both. Foods from other countries do not look appealing to me at all - of course I'm very picky. But I wouldn't criticize because that's what you're used to and this is what I'm used to.