Every country has its culture – the food, dressing, and socialization structure – that makes them special. Even in a liberal and diverse culture like the United States, some things are unique to the people that people from other cultures would find weird. One such aspect of culture is food. Some foods that foreigners wouldn’t find attractive but Americans think are normal are:
Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwich
Americans are known for their sweet tooth and love for processed food. And while the peanut butter and jelly sandwich has a glorious taste, it does look a bit messy if the peanut butter and jelly aren’t spread well on the bread.
Twinkies
Food, to many foreign cultures, is both aesthetic and nutritional. Twinkies, on the other hand, do not have the aesthetic appeal of many foreign delicacies. Its spongy-white-filling look makes one pullback a bit before it eats it. It isn’t appealing to the eyes, even though I can’t say the same for the taste in the mouth.
Deep-fried Oreos
Yummy when you first see it, but it can quickly turn gross if it isn’t prepared properly. And its nutritional benefits don’t scream “healthy” given it’s made from cookies dipped in batter and deep fried. Foreigners would have a hard time munching on so much processed food at once.
Peanut Butter Cakes
These cakes are tasty in the mouth, but their ingredient contains so much processed sugar that a nutritionally conscious foreigner wouldn’t want to touch them. It has too many processed ingredients to be loved by anyone who wants to eat healthy.
Red Velvet Cake
When you see red velvet cake for the first time, you’ll be tempted to think, this is just the perfect cake for me. Until you take a bite and you’d never want to eat one again. The taste can be great, but its sometimes soggy feel in the mouth can make it undesirable to foreigners.
Bologna Sandwich
Sandwiches are great quick meals to have if you’re in a hurry. But being in haste doesn’t mean you should stuff yourself with a lot of flour, sugar, and sprinklings of greens. A Bologna sandwich does magic in the mouth, but not so much to the eyes, and a great deal not to the body.
Macaroni and Cheese
In America, when you’re feeling bored and need something to make you happy, comfort food readily comes to the rescue. Macaroni and Cheese is a popular comfort food that won’t pass for good enough for many foreigners because it’s highly cheesy and unhealthy.
Pigs in a Blanket
Cutting down fat consumption is important in many foreign cultures because they’re conscious of their health. Pigs in pig blankets are sausages wrapped in crescent roll dough and baked till it turn brown. This snack is tasty but unhealthy because of its high concentration of fat.
Spam
Processed food is becoming a cause for serious concern in the United States because of the high number of obese people, 36.9% of American adults. Spam is a processed pork product that’s used in stir-fries and sandwiches. It’s processed and stored in a can, making it unhealthy and highly carcinogenic if consumed over a long time.
Fruit Loops
Fruits are healthy for the body as they provide a rich array of nutrients. But fruit loops are snacks made with corn and fruit-flavored pieces. Fruit loops would be found gross by foreigners because they are sugary.
Candy Corn
Fibers obtained from maize provide the body with strength and help with cell regeneration. But candy corn is not corn at all. It is a sweetened snack made from sugar, corn syrup, and food coloring. It is sugary and unhealthy.
Sloppy Joe
On the nutritional side, Sloppy Joe has onions, tomato sauce, and ground beef with bread, making it fairly healthy, but it doesn’t look appealing to the eye. It looks gross in the eye and can leave quite a mess when you’re eating.
American Cheese
Now and again, it’s great to have something tasty, something that awakens your taste buds. But American cheese, made from milk, cream, and cheese cultures, is not the tastiest cheese to have. And when you factor in its processing and highly fatty content, its bland taste would make any foreigner never want to eat it again.
American Hotdogs
On first look, the sight of thin sausage meshed between two slabs of fine bread is tempting. But when you factor in how often Americans eat hotdogs, and how sausages can lead to cancer, no foreigner would want to eat American hotdogs more than once.
Reuben Sandwich
Made from a corned beef sandwich made with sauerkraut, Swiss cheese, and Russian dressing on rye bread, the Reuben sandwich is tasty but salty and sour, making it a ‘no-eat’ for foreigners.
New York Style Bagel with Cream Cheese
Foreigners would find the New York-style Bagel with cream cheese a tad too salty and a bit messy in the hand. While one can’t deny its taste, it can sometimes come across as having too much oil, which is unhealthy for the heart.
Grits
On the healthy side of the conversation, Grits are healthy, but they look bland and unappealing. Made from finely ground corn, grits don’t have the food aesthetics that’ll make a first-timer want to try it.
S’mores
Many foreigners would squeeze their faces at the messiness of S’mores, and how burnt it looks. Made from roasting marshmallows over a campfire and placing them between two graham crackers with a piece of chocolate in the middle, S’more could pass for a good meal if it wasn’t so burnt.
Jell-O
Gelatins are healthy because they have antioxidants and proteins that help protect the cells in the body. But when a gelatin-based dessert that’s made with different flavors looks jiggly and messy, no foreigner would want to touch it. Except that foreigner is highly experimental with food.
Moon Pies
A beloved American treat, Moon Pies consists of chocolate-covered marshmallow sandwiches. They boast high sugar and calorie content, which can be off-putting to some. Their messy nature and artificial sweetness often deter foreigners, who find them less appealing.
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