11 hours ago
34 Well-Known But Misunderstood International Dishes
"It's an acquired taste" might be the understatement of the century when it comes to some delicacies, depending on what you're used to where you come from — but that's what makes global cuisines so fascinating. On the r/cooking subreddit, a German user sparked a fascinating (and occasionally stomach-turning) discussion by asking: 'What's a popular dish from your country that makes foreigners recoil in horror?' The responses were simply the most chaotic food tour around the world:
Chrischi3 kicked off the list, sharing: "For me, one of the big ones has to be Zwiebelmett. It's literally just raw pork on a breadroll with onions. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Hugely popular in Germany (and some neighbouring countries as well), but I think you can see why people might hesitate with that one."
"Snails. We boil them in a tomato sauce and eat them with toothpick."
"Tempoyak. Have you heard of durian and its infamous nauseating smell and creamy texture?"
"Caldo de nervio is an Ecuadorian soup made with the penis of a bull."
"People love to hate the British for beans on toast."
—spacecoyote555
"Kibbeh Nayyeh — it's so good, but others find it disgusting!"
"Bananas and peanut butter — I live in Japan, and many people scoff at this combination."
—ShaleSelothan
"Finland has many. Here's a few: Salmiakki, which is ammonium chloride-flavoured liquorice. Sometimes further flavoured with tar to make it extra-strong."
"I'm from the part of the US Midwest, aka cream soup casserole city. Our church potluck offerings don't always appeal to visiting international pastors. But they are good sports about it."
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"Surströmming. Fermented herring from Sweden"
—zedicar
"Midwesterners have 'salads' that are unironically made up of only dessert ingredients. My favorite is sweetened whipping cream as a dressing for equal parts chopped apples and Snickers bars."
"Akutaq from Alaska. Dried and pulverized moose or caribou tenderloin blended with moose fat until the mixture is light and fluffy."
"It is then whisked with berries, especially cowberry, bilberry, cranberries, bearberry, crowberry, salmonberry, cloudberry or low-bush salmonberry, raspberry, blueberry, or prickly rose or mild sweeteners such as roots of Indian potato or wild carrot. It may be eaten unfrozen or frozen, with the frozen variety vaguely resembling commercial ice cream."—wootentoo
"The first and only time I have ever had Vegemite was not good. I was hung over and my roommate said: 'Here, have a bite of this, it'll clear your head.' It cleared many things, but not my head."
"I used to have Italian flatmates, and they would lose it when I opened the kimchi jar. 'Que Puzza!' Then, they would go and make risotto with a pound of parmesan that stunk the whole place."
"Pig's snout, jellied lamprey, blood sausage, as some examples from Latvia. I've had people from the US not even believe that we consider lamprey a delicacy because of how it looks and what it feeds on."
"Russians have a dish called Cholodetz — I believe it's called Aspic in English. Basically, gelatinous congealed bone broth with meat and egg suspended in the gelatin. It's the reason I'm scared to bring girls home for dinner."
"From Japan: natto, aka fermented soy beans. Actually only popular in eastern Japan, not western. I'm originally from the US (but now a Japanese citizen), and I eat natto several times a week with rice for breakfast, but I think most of my foreign friends in Japan hate it. It is a bit smelly and has a strange sticky/stringy consistency."
"Chicken feet in Cantonese cuisine. Next time you have dim sum, give it a try!"
"Growing up, it was oxtail. The kids at my school were always grossed out when I mentioned it, and I remember my mom getting oxtail from the butcher for free cause he'd just throw it out otherwise. Fast forward to today, and now the $20 oxtail at the butcher near me is sold out the same day they get it in. Bring back white people being grossed out by oxtail. Please, I miss it."
"Chislic — deep fried lamb cubes served with saltines and garlic salt. It's popular bar food in the Midwest."
"I used to work in a bar that served it, and we had a separate deep fryer just for the chislic because it had such a strong smell and taste."—WearAdept4506
"Ashkenazi-style jellied calves' feet — called p'tcha — is not to everyone's taste!"
"Chitlins — a dish made of pig intestines from the southern US. I don't eat it anymore, though. I would only eat my mom's and now that she's gone..."
"Coddle is a traditional Dublin stew made with bacon and sausage. Some people say the boiled sausages look like 'mickeys' (penises) floating in a bowl of soup."
—OGfantasee
"Norwegian here. There is this dish called smalahove — you burn a sheep's head with a flamethrower, boil it, and serve it in half with the eye up. Norwegians think the eye is the tastiest part."
"My first husband (English) was horrified by boiled crawfish. He said they looked like roaches."
"In Scotland, haggis (offal and sweetmeats ground up with oatmeal and boiled in a sheep stomach) probably gives foreigners the genuine heave. And most locals are cowards. It's like the next difficulty level up from black pudding (blood sausage)."
—Rafnir_Fann
"Chiming in from Finland: just like many other Nordics, we pickle raw herring, and while I've loved it since early childhood, it's not a thing most people, globally, love."
"I don't see anyone in this thread defending mushy peas, so I'm going to go with mushy peas."
"Chapulines — fried grasshoppers from Mexico. I'm too scared to try."
—poop_monster35
"It's not really a thing in my region of Germany specifically, is eel soup, which isn't made from any strange ingredients per se, but it is considered an acquired taste."
"Kale pache — a traditional Iranian dish, literally meaning 'head and feet.' It's a savory soup made from a sheep's head, including the brain and other organs, and trotters."
—dman011
"Ireland, it's coddle. I love it, it's like a white stew soup with boiled sausages and sometimes ham. The sausages stay white, so they look raw, and people think it looks disgusting, including Irish people. It's also a regional dish, more so Dublin, and we will ask people what colour is theirs, because some people make it brown or fry the sausage first, and it's not true to the dish."
"I don't know what it's called, but my Greek family is really into sheep's brain. Usually fried now, but apparently when they were kids, they'd eat it raw sometimes. Never been a huge fan myself."
—QuestionUnlikely9590
"I'm from India... I think of 'chapura,' which is red ant chutney, a tangy and spicy condiment made with red weaver ants and their eggs, plus chillies, and some other spices."
What food did you grow up with that people from other places find nauseating, even if you don't think it's justified? Let us know in the comments or share anonymously using the form below!
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