[DrunkSmurf]

Are there any weird, "signature" foods from the USA (or Canada), that taste weird to outsiders?

I can think of a few examples from other countries:
Australia: vegemite
Japan: Natto (fermented soy beans that taste and smell like unsalty piss)
Korea: Kimchi (fermented cabbage--tastes great! After you throw it up the first two tries.... I can't get enough of it now!)

I don't think American hamburgers should qualify, since those don't particularly shock anyone. Rocky Mountain Oysters (bull balls) might qualify, but those are hard to find (I've never seen them in any restaurant or store). Chitlins, pig intestines, aren't found much anymore, either. It has to be something common and popular.... heh... maybe some of our ultra-potent espresso coffee??? Or Kentucky Whiskey?

Maybe you Brits or Australians might know better about American oddities, because I grew up accustomed to it

[Smurfysmurf]

I can think of a few things that still taste odd to me after 12 years I guess, they would qualify as American food, as I never heard of them before I moved here

I am not sure if they are only popular in the South though..

I am talking about
Pinto Beans (getting used to it after 12 years )
Cornbread
Turnup greens (I will not eat those....I think they are just nasty )
Okra (yuck)
Squash (I have grown it before, but only because it is fun watching them grow )
and putting lard into everything...and I mean everything, but that might be a Hillbilly thing

and I am pretty sure at least one other member on this board will agree to this one...
What is the big deal about Krystal??? Everybody I know down here loves Krystalburgers, but I just don't see why

[Tojo]

The only thing that I can't get my head around is peanut butter & jello sandwiches (peanut butter & jam in one sandwich). Now I like peanut butter & I enjoy jam on crumpets or with scones - but together in one sandwich

btw. I like Okra otherwise known as ladies fingers cooked Indian style - bhindi bhaji is the most popular dish.

[Syd Smurf]

How about Fluffer Nutter......and adding peanut butter to anything that an outsider would normally consider gross or basically not consider at all

I have dubbed this country the United States of Peanut Butter

Dyar

[DrunkSmurf]

Pinto Beans (getting used to it after 12 years )
Cornbread
Turnup greens (I will not eat those....I think they are just nasty )
Okra (yuck)
Squash (I have grown it before, but only because it is fun watching them grow )
and putting lard into everything...and I mean everything, but that might be a Hillbilly thing

and I am pretty sure at least one other member on this board will agree to this one...
What is the big deal about Krystal??? Everybody I know down here loves Krystalburgers, but I just don't see why

1) Didn't think of pinto beans... I've had them before, but not often... in my mind, that's Mexican-style food, but maybe because I'm a midwesterner/notherner.
2) Wow! I love cornbread! That's definitely a southern food. I lived in New Orleans for three months (with the parents) and was first introduced to that. Also, I've seen cornbread oversees (Japan?) at imitation US style restaurants, so it qualifies as an oddity export.
3) No experience with Turnip Greens... I've heard of the ingredient, though.
4) I like Okra a lot. That's also southern food, but easily found at the grocery store. There's something about the slimy texture of properly cooked okra I adore.
5) Squash--that's common and I never thought about it being/not being local to North American!
6) Putting lard in everything is definitely a southern thing. I don't even know if you can buy lard around here.
7) KrystalBurgers must be a southern chain restaurant. It doesn't exist in the region I live in.
==================================
I just thought of another American export:

Gumbo -- a New Orleans soup, usually heavy on okra and tobasco sauce.


New Orleans serves crayfish boiled in spices that you buy hot by the bag and eat by tearing off the tails. But, I've never heard of anybody reacting badly to that, unless they are squeamish about tearing crayfish/crawdads apart.

[DrunkSmurf]

The only thing that I can't get my head around is peanut butter & jello sandwiches (peanut butter & jam in one sandwich). Now I like peanut butter & I enjoy jam on crumpets or with scones - but together in one sandwich

btw. I like Okra otherwise known as ladies fingers cooked Indian style - bhindi bhaji is the most popular dish.

Peanut butter and jelly makes me sick.
I don't know whether kids eat it nowadays (now kids live off pre-packed stuff it seems). But, I remember my friends eating it by the toilet full, usually with the jelly bleeding from the corner of their mouth and dribbling down their chins onto their shirts. I didn't try peanut butter until I was 26 and living in California, renting a spare bedroom with no kitchen (and a lunatic for a landlord who thought he was being friendly by offering to share his prostitute)(what are friends for?).

[DrunkSmurf]

How about Fluffer Nutter......and adding peanut butter to anything that an outsider would normally consider gross or basically not consider at all

I have dubbed this country the United States of Peanut Butter

Dyar

I think peanut butter was the number one sandwich spread for moms with too many kids over at the house. Two slices of bread, a coating of jelly, and a coating of peanut butter and the brats are fed.

[Smurfysmurf]

7) KrystalBurgers must be a southern chain restaurant. It doesn't exist in the region I live in.

trust me, you haven't missed much...I think it originated here, but I could be wrong....it is spread all over the South now, or so I have been told....Men in my area love to take their girl-friends on the first date out to Krystals.....could explain why I am still looking for my ideal man

[Rachel]

I don't think there was any food that really suprised me when I was in America as being VERY different from what I had eaten before, although I am pretty sure I didn't try all the dishes mentioned. The size of the portions did suprise me though.

I totally agree with Tojo about the peanut butter & jam / jelly sandwich. I love both seperately but together... nah.

Here in Wales we do have one food that is pretty much local to us and one that many visitors to Wales (and some Welsh people) find disgusting - Laverbread - which is basically boiled seaweed. It is often eaten with a meal of bacon and eggs or with cockles and is virtually impossible to buy fresh outside of South Wales. I absolutely love it and my parents used to have to bring a supply for me when they visited whilst I was away at university. Mmmmmmmmm

[SA Smurfette]

OK, I think I've lived a very sheltered life
I've never heard of these foods Only peanut butter and Jam and may squash ( I've never eaten squash though )
I like my peanut butter and jam seperate as well

Laverbread sounds a bit

[eggie smurf]

Oh, all you PB&J haters! I grew up having peanut butter and jelly sandwiches every day from age 5 - 10 (my choice, I wouldn't eat anything else...of course, I would have a fluffernutter sandwich every once in a while just to liven things up)

[Margaret]

Oh, all you PB&J haters! I grew up having peanut butter and jelly sandwiches every day from age 5 - 10 (my choice, I wouldn't eat anything else...of course, I would have a fluffernutter sandwich every once in a while just to liven things up)

I love peanut butter !! It is really good on apples , bananas, on toast ,and on a chocolate bar !!!

as for the other foods I have not heard of them !!

[Syd Smurf]

From what I have learnt....New Orleans has their own foods too like something called a Po Boy.....or something like that.....just hope there aren't Peanut Butter Po Boys otherwise I will have to scream.

Dyar

[Margaret]

Japan: Natto (fermented soy beans that taste and smell like unsalty piss )

am I the only one thinking how you know what piss smells and tast like

[Smurfysmurf]

just hope there aren't Peanut Butter Po Boys otherwise I will have to scream

better get ready to scream ...I am pretty sure there are......

[DrunkSmurf]

From what I have learnt....New Orleans has their own foods too like something called a Po Boy.....or something like that.....just hope there aren't Peanut Butter Po Boys otherwise I will have to scream.

Dyar

Yeah, I remember "Po Boys" from my New Orleans (N'awlins, as the local lingo goes) days. Actually, though, I could never figure out how they were different from regular subway sandwiches, except that the bread was toasted. There's also a chain called Po Boys which confused me further. Was it a food or a brandname?

===========

Wow! I had vegemite for the first time at work today! It was a little vinegary/salty, but after I got accustomed to it, it wasn't so bad. I got a little tired of listening to the vegemite dialogs, though. My cube neighbor put the stuff out on his file cabinet, and for half the day I listened to every pretentious git in the department explain why the stuff was "too much for him" and "didn't do it for him."

Strangely, the less pretentious the person, the more likely they were to call it OK.

Is vegemite basically marmite? Pretentious Git #2 reminded us about 10 times how it reminded him of marmite, which he ate the last time he was in London. Marmite "didn't do it for him" either.

[Syd Smurf]

from my New Orleans (N'awlins, as the local lingo goes) days.

I have been practising the lingo Tim.....I think I have N'awlins down pat now thanks to Stace and her friends

Wow! I had vegemite for the first time at work today! It was a little vinegary/salty, but after I got accustomed to it, it wasn't so bad.

Good for you Tim From what I understand Vegemite and Marmite are not exactly the same but I couldn't tell what the difference is....I know Aussies will say that Vegemuck is heaps better than Marmite but I am sure the English will counterbalance that argument as well.

Just for the record...Vegemite doesn't do it for me either.....it's just a type of food...I think they have their spreads all mixed up.

I do think it helps if you grow up with it to appreciate it but good to hear it wasn't that foul for you Tim...we can make you an Aussie soon me thinks

Dyar

[southernyacht]

Is vegemite basically marmite? Pretentious Git #2 reminded us about 10 times how it reminded him of marmite, which he ate the last time he was in London. Marmite "didn't do it for him" either.

I love both. I always think of Vegemite as a much milder form of Marmite. What do others think I also love Bovril spread on toast as well...

[Elvissmurf]

Bovril on toast!!!

Marmite is the only one for me...and as i may of mentioned before is the perfect accompaniement to Peanut butter in a sandwich (much better than jam...eewk!! to sickly sweet)

But of course other beefy spreads are available

[Ritter_Schlumpfenherz]

I love peanut butter.