A Russian woman living in the U.S., admitted that while her home country has its fair share of odd food, she finds some of the normal, everyday things Americans eat to be downright perplexing.
Every country’s foods seem strange to outsiders, but given how highly processed and often sugar-laden American food is, our cuisine is frequently jarring to foreigners for totally different reasons than those that make other countries’ foods seem weird to us Americans. The Russian woman named Christine took to TikTok to share three American foods that she still doesn’t get, even after living in the U.S. for six years.
1. Root beer
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Who doesn’t love a root beer, right? I mean, I’m not going to necessarily seek it out, but what’s better than a root beer float on a hot summer day? America, baby!
But Christine is not having it. Despite trying it several times, she said, “It tastes like somebody dropped a bubble gum into your Coca-Cola and you accidentally sipped it.”
My first instinct was to roll my eyes and mount a spirited defense of A&W, but the thing is … she’s not entirely wrong. The bubblegum description might sound extreme, but that is kind of what it tastes like. This is probably because root beer originally had a bunch of super-sweet ingredients like molasses and cinnamon in it. Most of those flavors are artificial now, but still, it sounds like we have to concede this one, Yanks.
2. Fried pickles
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Now hold on just a cotton-pickin’ minute. Who doesn’t like fried pickles? What more do you want out of a snack while guzzling beer in a sports bar or whatever?
Christine is not about that life, however. “What made you fry a pickle?” she asked. “Like, why? How did it come up in your mind?”
The simplest answer is that this is America, and we feel a strong need to fry absolutely everything, right down to pickles. If we don’t, we will die, at least spiritually if not physically.
But Christine finds it downright confounding. “First time when I saw it in a menu … honestly, I thought it was, like, a joke,” she said. “Why would someone make it and why would someone eat it? Can you please explain [it to] me in the comments?”
People definitely did, but I’m not sure it’s the answers she was looking for. “The reason why people make and eat fried pickles is because it’s good,” one person wrote. “No other explanation.” Court adjourned!
3. Powdered mac and cheese
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Now, fellow Americans, this is where I’m going to lose you: This stuff is disgusting, and if I had one wish for my fellow countrymen, it would be that they look inward and start loving themselves enough to recognize that Kraft-style mac and cheese is vile.
Shockingly, some culinary experts have actually suggested that those powdered cheese packets are better to use when making homemade mac and cheese than actual, well, cheese. With so many wildly delicious mac and cheese recipes out there, why do we continue living like this? We need to have a national reckoning. Enough is enough!
Christine continued, “The yellow powder that you have to mix in with the pasta, it has nothing to do with cheese. It tastes disgusting, like somebody already had it in their mouth or something.” My thoughts exactly!
And while Christine conceded that Russian food can be pretty hard to understand, it’s got nothing on these three American concoctions. “Don’t get me wrong, Russians have the weirdest food probably you’ve ever seen or tried,” she said. “But these three things? I can’t.”
I will die on the hill of root beer and fried pickles being delicious, but personally, the vindication of powdered mac and cheese puts me firmly on Team Christine. She’s definitely welcome at my table any time.
John Sundholm is a writer, editor, and video personality with 20 years of experience in media and entertainment. He covers culture, mental health, and human interest topics.
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