3 ms·

I can't imagine a lot of close minded arrogant westerners doing a lot of travel to begin with. I think it's more likely that they want you to feel more at home

I can't imagine a lot of close minded arrogant westerners doing a lot of travel to begin with. I think it's more likely that they want you to feel more at home. I was visiting an overseas team in Bangalore for a week and the team took me out to ... a steakhouse. Most of the team didn't eat beef but they wanted to take me somewhere they thought I'd like. I was appreciative of their consideration but ended up ordering the chicken, felt weird otherwise.

lvturner 6y ago
You’d be surprised. There was a roaring trade in American coca-cola in Beijing because enough people wanted to avoid the local version. As a non-American, I couldn’t taste the difference, but the imported stuff was 3x the price. Another phrase I heard often was an irate “This would never happen in America!”
- notdang 6y ago
  Usually I try to avoid American Coca-Cola and prefer Mexican Coca-Cola. If Mexican Coca-Cola is not available, I prefer not to drink it. While visiting US, I buy the overpriced Mexican version. And yes, the taste is different, even for Coca-Cola light.
  - Djvacto 6y ago
    From what I know, this is because the american coca-cola is sweetened with corn syrup, while in other countries it's usually cane sugar. I'm not sure if the corn syrup thing has changed in recent years or not.
    - notdang 6y ago
      AFAIK the Coca-Cola light doesn't have any sugar, so the usual cane sugar explanation does not apply.
    - alisonkisk 6y ago
      The difference in taste is the glass bottle vs aluminum can or plastic bottle.
gwd 6y ago
> I was visiting an overseas team in Bangalore for a week and the team took me out to ... a steakhouse. Right, this is exactly the problem I was talking about! And to be fair, there probably are a lot of Americans who would prefer a steakhouse; and many more who want to try "real" Indian food but just aren't ready for how different cultural food tastes actually are. But when you've eaten chicken feet a dozen times, and incorporated "century egg" into your own personal cooking repertoire, it's a bit frustrating to make your way to a third-tier city in China and be fed breaded deep-fried bits of chicken with a bland sweet-and-sour sauce!

lvturner 6y ago

You’d be surprised. There was a roaring trade in American coca-cola in Beijing because enough people wanted to avoid the local version. As a non-American, I couldn’t taste the difference, but the imported stuff was 3x the price. Another phrase I heard often was an irate “This would never happen in America!”

notdang 6y ago
Usually I try to avoid American Coca-Cola and prefer Mexican Coca-Cola. If Mexican Coca-Cola is not available, I prefer not to drink it. While visiting US, I buy the overpriced Mexican version. And yes, the taste is different, even for Coca-Cola light.
- Djvacto 6y ago
  From what I know, this is because the american coca-cola is sweetened with corn syrup, while in other countries it's usually cane sugar. I'm not sure if the corn syrup thing has changed in recent years or not.
  - notdang 6y ago
    AFAIK the Coca-Cola light doesn't have any sugar, so the usual cane sugar explanation does not apply.
  - alisonkisk 6y ago
    The difference in taste is the glass bottle vs aluminum can or plastic bottle.

gwd 6y ago

> I was visiting an overseas team in Bangalore for a week and the team took me out to ... a steakhouse. Right, this is exactly the problem I was talking about! And to be fair, there probably are a lot of Americans who would prefer a steakhouse; and many more who want to try "real" Indian food but just aren't ready for how different cultural food tastes actually are. But when you've eaten chicken feet a dozen times, and incorporated "century egg" into your own personal cooking repertoire, it's a bit frustrating to make your way to a third-tier city in China and be fed breaded deep-fried bits of chicken with a bland sweet-and-sour sauce!