10 Dishes Americans Love That Leave The World Scratching Their Heads

Every country has some foods that are uniquely delicious. Italy has fantastic spaghetti, Slovakia has delicious goulash, and Greece has mouthwatering souvlaki. People from other countries love these cultural dishes and frequently rave about how good they are. However, not every cultural dish is a hit with the rest of the world. There are some foods that leave people from other countries scratching their heads in confusion, and American food has several great examples of that.

There are a slew of American foods out there, but there are plenty of them that people in other countries just don't understand or, worse, find downright disgusting, even just in principle. Since many of these foods are things the average American eats every day, you may not realize how strange the rest of the world finds them. So, what are they? From holiday staples to a popular Southern drink, here are ten dishes Americans love that leave the rest of the world utterly confused.

If this first option is leaving you confused, rest assured, you're not alone. After all, other countries have white bread, don't they? It's true that other countries have white bread, but anyone who's tried any will tell you that what's on the shelves of American grocery stores is drastically different.

The biggest difference is how much sweeter American white bread is. It's so sweet, in fact, that foreigners regularly comment on how much sugar it contains, and they don't understand why. One commenter on Reddit said, "I know a Dutch woman who says almost all the breads in the grocery store are too sweet in the U.S." Another chimed in, saying, "I could not agree more! It's insane how near-impossible it is to find a sliced bread that does not have added sugar!"

It's not only the sugar content that's different, however. When compared to European breads, American options are more highly processed, which often results in the slices being softer. Additional preservatives and fillers are often added to American bread, which is commonly mass-produced rather than being baked and sold locally.

Root beer is, despite its name, not an alcoholic beverage. Instead, it's a carbonated, non-alcoholic soda that's brewed in a similar way to other "beers." While this popular American soda can be traced back to colonial times, there were drinks made from similar ingredients dating all the way back to the Indigenous peoples of the Americas. While America leads the global market for root beer consumption, thanks to deep historical ties, much of the rest of the world hates the stuff. Of course, if you're one of those who love it, make sure you check out our ranking of the 14 best Root Beers to see which brands make the best version.

The reason for hating this popular American soda boils down to taste, although different countries relate it to different things. For example, one Reddit user said, "back home there was a medicine for stomach aches that tasted so similar and I only remember it because I absolutely hated it." Another person claimed they heard someone from Brazil say the drink tastes like their toothpaste.

As for what root beer tastes like to Americans? Many find it challenging to explain because there are so many contributing flavor profiles combined with the dominant sassafras taste. People have described it as tasting like liquid licorice, which we think is a pretty solid explanation that comes as close as possible to describing the taste.

Peanut butter and jelly sandwiches are a popular American lunch item that finds its way into school lunches, work lunches, and (of course) the dining room table. It's so commonplace that you'd be hard pressed to find an American who hasn't either eaten it themselves or at least been offered one before. A fun fact is that the invention of this classic sandwich, as we know it today, can be traced back to a book from 1901. But it wasn't until the 1940s that its popularity soared, as World War II soldiers were provided with both peanut butter and jelly as part of their rations.

Other countries aren't as in love with peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, however. Many of them find it "weird" and overly sweet, especially when eaten on American white bread. One Reddit user described it as "Perhaps not gross (I kinda like it myself), but it's just not a thing. Perhaps that we see it in the movies, but it's kinda odd." Another person claimed that Europeans had an issue with American peanut butter generally, citing it as being both too sweet and not sweet enough, with another agreeing, saying, "On white bread, it's basically candy."

Sweet potato casserole is an American holiday classic that regularly graces the family table on Thanksgiving, along with select guest appearances at Christmas. If, on the off chance, you aren't familiar with the dish, it involves a sweetened sweet potato mixture that's topped with marshmallows. Although there's a range of complaints about the dish from non-Americans, those marshmallows seem to be the primary issue.

Apparently, even Canadians think the combination is weird. As one person complained on Reddit, "I would understand sweet potato casserole as a dessert, but it's the fact that it's a side dish for a roast turkey dinner that boggles my mind. What do you mean you eat marshmallows with gravy?" That same person had a secondary issue with sweet potato casserole. According to them, "The American thing of calling things casseroles when they're just cooked in a casserole dish is weird. A casserole is a kind of stew, not something you pick up with a spatula."

Although some people take issue with the dish itself, the American classic dish of biscuits and gravy is predominantly thought of as odd because of linguistic differences. In the United Kingdom, a "biscuit" is a cookie rather than the savory round doughs you may be thinking of. They also tend to imagine a thin brown gravy when they hear the word. So, when they hear the term "biscuits and gravy," they're imagining cookies drenched in brown gravy — we'd think that was weird, too!

The appearance of this dish also turns some heads. In one YouTube video, a group of British high school students tried biscuits and gravy for the first time. They thought the gravy looked weird and lumpy, with one going so far as to describe it as looking like "a chopped up ferret" and another saying it looked like vomit. However, once they actually gave the dish a try, most of them ended up liking it! It's a classic case of not judging a book by its cover.

Corndogs are a state fair food classic that you can also make at home or purchase frozen in the grocery store for a quick snack. If you had a traditional American childhood, you probably ate quite a few of these growing up — likely drizzled with ketchup and mustard for good measure. But people from other countries don't share the same warm, cozy sentiments towards corn dogs as you might. Indeed, they're confused as to what they are and appear mildly mortified when they discover the answer.

When referencing corn dogs, one Reddit commenter said, "Seen them on TV and I always thought they were a hot dog in a bun on a stick but apparently they aren't." When another commenter described to them what the food actually was, they responded, "Not going to lie, that sounds honking, but I'm not really a fan of stuff that's been deep fried unless it's filo pastry." Another person claimed that corn dogs taste like cardboard and low-quality sausages, saying they'd tried them from several places without better results.

Sweet tea may not be a dish, per se, but it is a beloved drink that Southern Americans simply can't live without. And, while most other countries drink tea, it's traditionally served hot and either unsweetened or lightly sweetened (although iced tea is now quite popular in a lot of places). Since both of these things are the exact opposite of sweet tea, it makes sense that many foreigners just can't get behind the drink.

One perplexed Reddit user exclaimed, "What is this? There's no flavor to it so it just feels like I'm drinking pure sugar and nothing more so I never have it." It is true that significant amounts of sugar go into traditional Southern sweet tea, but those who regularly drink the brew wouldn't go so far as to say it has no flavor outside that sweetness. Another commenter reminisced, "I was at a summer camp once with a bunch of young adult Brits employed as camp counselors. They were absolutely flabbergasted by the iced tea."

Chicken and waffles is another classic Southern American dish, involving crispy fried chicken served over thick, fluffy waffles and drizzled with syrup. It's most often eaten for breakfast, but can be served for any meal of the day — the combination of a morning food with a supper food is exceptionally versatile. While this dish may be beloved below the Mason-Dixon line, it leaves non-Americans scratching their heads.

It isn't necessarily that foreigners don't enjoy this food, but that they find the idea of it weird. One Reddit user said, "Waffles with fried chicken and syrup. It is delicious, but the first time I heard about it, I was like wtf, that is weird." Another commenter said, "This doesn't sound nasty, just unnecessarily hedonistic." Plenty of people seem to find America's habit of having sweets for breakfast a bit strange, finding it an odd choice, undoubtedly adding to why they think chicken and waffles is a strange meal.

Scrapple is a combination of pork trimmings and cornmeal that's created in the shape of a loaf. Before eating it, you fry it in a pan until it's crispy on both sides, and often serve it with breakfast foods. However, some people eat scrapple (especially when made into sandwiches) at any time of the day. In America, you'll most often find this regional dish eaten in the Northeast, but outside of the states, many people appear to be generally horrified by the look of scrapple. Once they discover what the "poor man's bacon" is actually made out of, they seem even more so.

When someone asked what scrapple was on Reddit, a helpful commenter described it as "Take all the parts of the pig too disgusting to be turned into pepperoni or dog food, emulsify them into a fine paste. Then add cornmeal, and form the resulting mush into a loaf." One confused person thought it would contain apple, because of the name, saying, "This is so much worse than I anticipated."

However, one wise Reddit commenter pointed out that scrapple may be distinctly American, but it's far from unique, saying, "Scrapple has European cousins — Blood Pudding, White Pudding, etc." One of the biggest differences is that scrapple has a distinct rectangular shape.

We believe that this particular food makes the list of American dishes that leave people from the rest of the world scratching their heads for one significant reason — a misunderstanding. It appears that people in other countries believe deep-fried butter is something Americans eat regularly, which just isn't the case. Instead, as one person pointed out on Reddit, "that's not an everyday food item for obvious reasons. It's a novelty carnival item." You'll often find deep-fried butter offered at state fairs alongside a range of deep-fried concoctions, including candy bars, Twinkies, and similar foods.

While Americans may relish the strange foods served at fairs, the rest of the world is distinctly confused. Another Reddit commenter said, "I have no idea why it exists and I think my cholesterol went up just thinking about it." Among other reactions to this dish, some point out that butter isn't meant to be the main ingredient in a dish, while others say that just the idea of this dish makes them feel sick. Of course, anyone who's had the distinct pleasure of eating deep-fried butter will tell you that the dish is so rich, it's enough to make anyone feel just a little sick.