9 ms·

They (Americans) do that all over the world. Examples I can think of from the top of my head as a EU citizen: - pizza pepperoni (Italy) - mayonaise (Be

They (Americans) do that all over the world. Examples I can think of from the top of my head as a EU citizen: - pizza pepperoni (Italy) - mayonaise (Belgium/France) - paella (Spain)

toolslive 5y ago
It's also true the other way around: I am 100% sure that if I enter an Exotic restaurant in Belgium, that what I will get is something that has been "tweaked" to suite Belgian taste buds.
- oauea 5y ago
  You're completely missing the point. You won't see many non-Americans go to another country, then demand the bastardized versions of local dishes.
  - sidlls 5y ago
    As an American who goes to restaurants in America in heavily tourist populated areas, I can assure you that you are hilariously wrong. Non-americans are not superior in any way to Americans in this regard (and many others).
  - dagw 5y ago
    I take it you have never seen British or German tourists in Spain.
    - deleted 5y ago
      [deleted]
  - zenexer 5y ago
    I live in an area of the US with lots of Asian and European tourists, and they do exactly what you claim they don’t do. Is it really an issue, though? As long as they’re nice, I find their impression of my culture to be more fascinating than anything.
  - long_time_gone 5y ago
    And yet, you can find California rolls in Japan.
  - pwinnski 5y ago
    This is VERY incorrect. I've seen visitors from Europe and Asia do this many, many, many times.
deleted 5y ago
[deleted]
zaphod12 5y ago
Wait...what on earth is American paella?!?!?!
- arcturus17 5y ago
  Or mayo for that matter? Also pizza pepperoni might be an American / Ninja Turtles thing, but I've seen plenty of genuine Italian places that make them with variations of small salame which are very close...
  - toolslive 5y ago
    No way you get salami on a pizza pepperoni in Italy, unless you're in a tourist place where they know what Americans expect when order this. Mayonaise in France/Belgium will have 0 sugar.
    - imgabe 5y ago
      Mayonnaise in the US also has zero sugar: https://smartlabel.unileverusa.com/048001213487-0001-en-US/index.html https://smartlabel.unileverusa.com/048001213487-0001-en-US/i...
      - MSM 5y ago
        It does have some sugar, it's just very small amounts: https://smartlabel.unileverusa.com/048001213487-0001-en-US/index.html#ingredients https://smartlabel.unileverusa.com/048001213487-0001-en-US/i... I do wonder how the addition of a tiny amount of sugar, less than the amount of added salt, could even be noticed... let alone enough to request the "real" American version
      - jjeaff 5y ago
        Click the ingredients tab in your link and you will see sugar listed. You aren't seeing it on the nutrition label because the FDA allows you to pretend there is no sugar as long as you have less than 1g of sugar per serving. So, make the serving size small enough, and almost anything can show no sugar on the nutrition label. I believe you can also use the term "sugar free" as long as you have 0.5g or less sugar per serving.
distantaidenn 5y ago
Or maybe some Americans just prefer the American version...the ones we grew up with. Example, yeah I know our chocolate supposedly tastes like vomit to Europeans, but eh, it's what we know, and taste fine if you were raised with it. Edit: This will probably elicit more ire, but I'm genuienly curious why this was downvoted? Is it because of the dislike of American chocolate, or the idea that some people (in this case Americans) like the food they were raised with?
- engineeringwoke 5y ago
  I think that's a bit reductionist. A Milka bar is not that different than a Hershey bar, and snobs turn up their nose at them in both continents.
  - distantaidenn 5y ago
    I'm curious which part you consider reductionist. Also, American milk chocolate proper tastes like vomit to some Europeans/Aussies due to the butyric acid formed during the lipolysis phase of the milk fats. It's exactly that which gives American chocolate its unique (vomit-like) flavor. Anecdotal, but I couldn't believe it when I heard people hated our chocolate, and asked my decidedly non-snobby English buds and my (non-American) fiancé, and they confirmed it tastes off to them, albeit palatable. However, Hershey's Kisses were a no-go for the fiancé.
    - IneffablePigeon 5y ago
      Yeah, it's a genuinely different taste. I'm not a big fan of cheap chocolate from Europe or the US any more but I'm definitely more used to the Europe style than the US style. I also can't stand Kisses, they really do taste like they're a year past their best before date to me. All subjective though, isn't it.
    - joelfolksy 5y ago
      Why are you using "American milk chocolate" as a synonym for "Hershey's"?
christophilus 5y ago
I’m an American, and never thought we invented any of those. These broad, sweeping American stereotypes are as obnoxious as American tourists in Brussels. (See what I did, there.)
- sp332 5y ago
  It's a communication problem. If an American sees "paella" on a menu in Spain, they're not going to recognize what's on the plate. It's not that Americans did or didn't invent it, it's just not what they thought they were asking for.
  - 0_____0 5y ago
    I'm intrigued by this notion of an alternate form of paella; what is it that Americans think they're asking for when they order paella?
    - dagw 5y ago
      "Paella" in the US (and much of non-mediterranean Europe) generally implies shellfish. This is only common in some parts of Spain, and is not considered an 'authentic' Valencian paella. An American would absolutely recognize it for what it is, it might just be a bit different from what they where assuming. That being said most Spaniards happily chuck whatever they happen to have laying round into their paella when cooking at home.
      - ahartmetz 5y ago
        Hm. I'm German, and to me, paella means some dish with rice in a pan plus whatever. Usually contains tomato in some way, I guess? It has a similar meaning to pizza (starchy base + usually tomato + [...]) that way.
      - jmkb 5y ago
        The notion of paella purity is powerful enough that Valencians successfully protested Apple's rendering of the "shallow pan of food" emoji because it evoked a non-Valencian paella (or, as they would say, not paella at all but just arroz con cosas.) https://blog.emojipedia.org/apple-fixes-paella-emoji/ https://blog.emojipedia.org/apple-fixes-paella-emoji/
silvanocerza 5y ago
The pepperoni pizza is more of a language issue really, in the USA Pepperoni is a salami brand and it sounds a TON like peperoni, the italian word for bell peppers.
liopleurodon 5y ago
can't wait to go to Italy and order deep dish
- dagw 5y ago
  Next time you're in Torino, go for it. "Pizza al tegamino" is the phrase you're looking for. Also keep an eye out for a "torte salata", some of which are quite similar to what Americans call deep dish pizza.
slumdev 5y ago
When I hear the word "pizza", the first thing that comes to mind is a New York slice. Italy wasn't the first culture to bake cheese and other ingredients on a flatbread, either: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_pizza https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_pizza
dang 5y ago
Please don't take HN threads further into nationalistic flamewar hell. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

They (Americans) do that all over the world. Examples I can think of from the top of my head as a EU citizen: - pizza pepperoni (Italy) - mayonaise (Belgium/France) - paella (Spain)

toolslive 5y ago

It's also true the other way around: I am 100% sure that if I enter an Exotic restaurant in Belgium, that what I will get is something that has been "tweaked" to suite Belgian taste buds.

oauea 5y ago
You're completely missing the point. You won't see many non-Americans go to another country, then demand the bastardized versions of local dishes.
- sidlls 5y ago
  As an American who goes to restaurants in America in heavily tourist populated areas, I can assure you that you are hilariously wrong. Non-americans are not superior in any way to Americans in this regard (and many others).
- dagw 5y ago
  I take it you have never seen British or German tourists in Spain.
  - deleted 5y ago
    [deleted]
- zenexer 5y ago
  I live in an area of the US with lots of Asian and European tourists, and they do exactly what you claim they don’t do. Is it really an issue, though? As long as they’re nice, I find their impression of my culture to be more fascinating than anything.
- long_time_gone 5y ago
  And yet, you can find California rolls in Japan.
- pwinnski 5y ago
  This is VERY incorrect. I've seen visitors from Europe and Asia do this many, many, many times.

deleted 5y ago

[deleted]

zaphod12 5y ago

Wait...what on earth is American paella?!?!?!

arcturus17 5y ago
Or mayo for that matter? Also pizza pepperoni might be an American / Ninja Turtles thing, but I've seen plenty of genuine Italian places that make them with variations of small salame which are very close...
- toolslive 5y ago
  No way you get salami on a pizza pepperoni in Italy, unless you're in a tourist place where they know what Americans expect when order this. Mayonaise in France/Belgium will have 0 sugar.
  - imgabe 5y ago
    Mayonnaise in the US also has zero sugar: https://smartlabel.unileverusa.com/048001213487-0001-en-US/index.html https://smartlabel.unileverusa.com/048001213487-0001-en-US/i...
    - MSM 5y ago
      It does have some sugar, it's just very small amounts: https://smartlabel.unileverusa.com/048001213487-0001-en-US/index.html#ingredients https://smartlabel.unileverusa.com/048001213487-0001-en-US/i... I do wonder how the addition of a tiny amount of sugar, less than the amount of added salt, could even be noticed... let alone enough to request the "real" American version
    - jjeaff 5y ago
      Click the ingredients tab in your link and you will see sugar listed. You aren't seeing it on the nutrition label because the FDA allows you to pretend there is no sugar as long as you have less than 1g of sugar per serving. So, make the serving size small enough, and almost anything can show no sugar on the nutrition label. I believe you can also use the term "sugar free" as long as you have 0.5g or less sugar per serving.

distantaidenn 5y ago

Or maybe some Americans just prefer the American version...the ones we grew up with. Example, yeah I know our chocolate supposedly tastes like vomit to Europeans, but eh, it's what we know, and taste fine if you were raised with it. Edit: This will probably elicit more ire, but I'm genuienly curious why this was downvoted? Is it because of the dislike of American chocolate, or the idea that some people (in this case Americans) like the food they were raised with?

engineeringwoke 5y ago
I think that's a bit reductionist. A Milka bar is not that different than a Hershey bar, and snobs turn up their nose at them in both continents.
- distantaidenn 5y ago
  I'm curious which part you consider reductionist. Also, American milk chocolate proper tastes like vomit to some Europeans/Aussies due to the butyric acid formed during the lipolysis phase of the milk fats. It's exactly that which gives American chocolate its unique (vomit-like) flavor. Anecdotal, but I couldn't believe it when I heard people hated our chocolate, and asked my decidedly non-snobby English buds and my (non-American) fiancé, and they confirmed it tastes off to them, albeit palatable. However, Hershey's Kisses were a no-go for the fiancé.
  - IneffablePigeon 5y ago
    Yeah, it's a genuinely different taste. I'm not a big fan of cheap chocolate from Europe or the US any more but I'm definitely more used to the Europe style than the US style. I also can't stand Kisses, they really do taste like they're a year past their best before date to me. All subjective though, isn't it.
  - joelfolksy 5y ago
    Why are you using "American milk chocolate" as a synonym for "Hershey's"?

christophilus 5y ago

I’m an American, and never thought we invented any of those. These broad, sweeping American stereotypes are as obnoxious as American tourists in Brussels. (See what I did, there.)

sp332 5y ago
It's a communication problem. If an American sees "paella" on a menu in Spain, they're not going to recognize what's on the plate. It's not that Americans did or didn't invent it, it's just not what they thought they were asking for.
- 0_____0 5y ago
  I'm intrigued by this notion of an alternate form of paella; what is it that Americans think they're asking for when they order paella?
  - dagw 5y ago
    "Paella" in the US (and much of non-mediterranean Europe) generally implies shellfish. This is only common in some parts of Spain, and is not considered an 'authentic' Valencian paella. An American would absolutely recognize it for what it is, it might just be a bit different from what they where assuming. That being said most Spaniards happily chuck whatever they happen to have laying round into their paella when cooking at home.
    - ahartmetz 5y ago
      Hm. I'm German, and to me, paella means some dish with rice in a pan plus whatever. Usually contains tomato in some way, I guess? It has a similar meaning to pizza (starchy base + usually tomato + [...]) that way.
    - jmkb 5y ago
      The notion of paella purity is powerful enough that Valencians successfully protested Apple's rendering of the "shallow pan of food" emoji because it evoked a non-Valencian paella (or, as they would say, not paella at all but just arroz con cosas.) https://blog.emojipedia.org/apple-fixes-paella-emoji/ https://blog.emojipedia.org/apple-fixes-paella-emoji/

silvanocerza 5y ago

The pepperoni pizza is more of a language issue really, in the USA Pepperoni is a salami brand and it sounds a TON like peperoni, the italian word for bell peppers.

liopleurodon 5y ago

can't wait to go to Italy and order deep dish

dagw 5y ago
Next time you're in Torino, go for it. "Pizza al tegamino" is the phrase you're looking for. Also keep an eye out for a "torte salata", some of which are quite similar to what Americans call deep dish pizza.

slumdev 5y ago

When I hear the word "pizza", the first thing that comes to mind is a New York slice. Italy wasn't the first culture to bake cheese and other ingredients on a flatbread, either: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_pizza https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_pizza

dang 5y ago

Please don't take HN threads further into nationalistic flamewar hell. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html