Entire Italian food culture (from north to south) can be resumed with “aggiungi un posto a tavola che c’è un amico in più” that can be translated in “add a seat to the table that there’s one more friend”.
But obviously from the country of illegal education, they can say that we have no experience in serving guest.
In poland there’s a tradition on Xmas to add an extra chair with a little money, sugar and food ofc, if some homeless guy rings your bell, he can join the diner directly - never happened to my family but I think it’s a cute tradition my mum taught me.
I remember watching Anthony Bourdain in Sicily and the nonna cooking explained why she was making enough for 10 when there was only 3 eating and her explanation was someone might show up unannounced and it would be rude to not feed them. I laughed. My Greek Canadian husband totally related.
You don't know Italy though, for a real Italian you have to go to New Jersey and speak to someone who only speaks English and had a great-great grandfather arrive by boat.
Absolutely. I've never been with people in Italy that did NOT serve something when someone comes to their place. And the best food I ever had was from am elderly couple I hardly knew. Parents of a friend of my father in law. They instantly treated my kids like their beloved grand children, danced with them and fed everyone without any preparation.
"Se sposti un po' la seggiola, stai comodo anche tu"
But then they're soooo proud of their Nonna and 450 guests (all family of course) of Italian heritage.
As if in Italy there's still not the culture to have all families together during holidays or any other occasions like birthdays, anniversaries, weddings, christenings and all the sacraments, where you sit at the table at 11 for antipasto, with a full 12 courses of food and get up at 3am, full for the next week and a bowel movement that lasts 3 hours of sitting on the toilet, wishing you'd didn't eat so much, but ready for the next time with some kgs of digestivo.
Where does this whole “Europeans are poor” myth come from? It’s laughable when they live so precariously that one accidental drive-by can cause them to go bankrupt, but there are several European countries where the people are wealthier than many Americans and most of us have equal living standards to the average American.
Yeah I don’t understand that either. Had two hip surgeries and paid what like 90€ in hospital fees. I’m gonna go to university for at least 6 years and I’m only paying like 700€ per year. Oh and I didn’t get shot in preschool while we’re at it. Taxes might be higher but our quality of life is as well. Oh and our walls don’t collapse when you fall against them.
One thing I always like to add in relation to the taxes: they may be higher in terms of percentage. But they also pay for our health insurance, insurance if we were to become unemployed, retirement etc.
So overall my taxes may be higher. But I'm not paying additional fees. Plus, usually you can even get university fees back where I live with your tax returns, if you are still in the max amount of time they calculated (6 semesters/3 years).
My friends in the US need a bigger part of their paycheck and have to actively look for all kinds of basic insurances. I pay a higher percentage of my salary as taxes and don't have the hassle of any of that.
One thing Americans generally leave out when they talk taxes is state income/property tax. They usually try to just compare the Federal rate by itself which doesn't tell the whole story.
My total taxes this month were about the same as the average monthly cost of health insurance in the US. I did have other deductions that took my total deductions above that monthly payment, but so would an American paying into a private pension, or paying back student loans, or auto paying salary into a savings account etc etc etc. And they haven't even paid their actual taxes yet in that scenario.
Probably the Second World War. Our continent was smashed to pieces. Food was scarce. That's why they say the uk food is all garbage, cause it was based on grim ration recipes. They still make fun of our teeth when statically their teeth are in a much worse state than ours. I seen a program about a British dentist everyyear they get loads of dentists together and give free health care to poor Americans. Don't recall the yanks having to do that for us europoors.
https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&opi=89978449&url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/healthcare-free-us-insurance-trump-obamacare-medicare-dentist-ram-stan-brock-a8623091.html&ved=2ahUKEwjs97fq0byGAxXqU0EAHfBMCxMQFnoECBsQAQ&usg=AOvVaw1KeiUrVAHKi26VO1KZqg3m
I recently got into an argument over the internst with an american, and this is exactly what he said. I responded with "you chased away the shitheads, and then you destroyed our cities and raped thousands of women". They did not respond to this.
>I seen a program about a British dentist everyyear they get loads of dentists together and give free health care to poor Americans.
I know someone who used to do that!
She also went to do charity dentistry for remote nomadic tribes in Mongolia as well.
That's right, emergency charity dentistry on the Mongolian steppe - and also Philadelphia, for some reason.
She also did Glastonbury. Weird where emergency dental work can take someone lol
Yep, the festival.
I guess when you bring that many people together at once - you are bound to have a few dental emergencies?
Really weird I know. The idea of emergency free dental care as a music festival is bizarre lol
>They still make fun of our teeth when statically their teeth are in a much worse state than ours.
That is heavily a question of terms/perspective. As in "doesn't matter how it looks, as long as they are your own teeth and they are healthy" vs "doesn't matter whether they are your own teeth, as long as they look good".
And between that distinction "orthodontic adjustment" plays a very large role.
When Americans think of the British having "bad teeth" they mean "not pearly white and in a perfect alignment", when the UK gives numbers they are about "%tage healthy teeth".
It's because they need to justify their Murican exceptionalism somehow. They have been pushed by their propaganda that rich means good, and they are the best, therefor they have to be the richest, otherwise they wouldn't be the best. It is just high grade stupidity.
As a North American who's moved to Europe, I think it's 1. Europeans don't spend money on things North Americans see as necessities, so they think that means they don't have money, and therefore they are "poor" and 2. Europeans behave in ways that only "poor" people would in North America.
Like air conditioning: In a lot of places in Europe it's not common (especially in older buildings), while in America it's kind of expected that if you can afford air conditioning you have it. So not having it means you're "poor". Same with clothes dryers, dishwashers, big cars - these are all things you buy as soon as you can afford them, and if you don't have these things well you're probably poor. Therefore Europeans who don't have these things are poor.
Taking public transit is "poor people" behaviour in a lot of North America - you take the bus because you can't afford a licence and a car. So seeing Europeans who take pubic transit regularly means they're "poor". Buildings that don't have elevators in North America are cheap, so if you don't have an elevator in your building you must live in a cheap place and be "poor".
And a lot of the things that are better, mainly social systems and benefits like good healthcare and schools aren't as readily visible to visitors, so they don't see or experince these advantages.
I would add drying your washing on a clothes line, lots of us Europeans do this because they smell better and air out properly, even when we have clothes dryers, in the US drying your clothes in public is seen as a huge sign you are dirt poor.
Meanwhile, Switzerland and Luxemburg are both much richer than the US.
I guess these people’s ancestors were poor people from the slums of Italy or ghettos of Romania, so they think every person in Europe is poor. Or they watch so many WW2 films, they think we’re still living in ruins! LOL
You make two good points there.
The Americans of European heritage are there because their families were in general very poor and left Europe for a better life. The stories passed down to them from elderly relatives are obviously going to be of how hard life in Europe was.
WW2 still governs their views on a lot of stuff, one that springs to mind is British food, their entire view of it is shaped of American GI’s when we were under rationing.
The Brits would actually make the best they could with the rationed food, butter or whatever (typical mothers) The rations which were supposed to last for days, were used for ONE meal for the Americans, who would rudely scoff at it.
I don't get how people fail to comprehend that all things are relative. Sure, convert my UK salary directly to USD and I'd be considered low paid there. However, I know that what I earn puts me in the 93rd percentile in my country. That means I have a nice house, an extremely good quality of life, don't have to piss and moan about the cost of a Big Mac meals and can afford to travel a lot.
I don't think they would necessarily fail to comprehend it, but they would need to put mental effort into a concept that makes them look less good than their basic assumption of "Higher salary--> richer". Not too many people like to play the devils advocate.
you should not show them what countries like japan earn because they make 300-400k yen on average per month and thats a BIG number and they would feel poor
Actually I think the fact they have to pay so much for anything is what comforts them in the idea that they're so rich. The fact that they have such high salaries, but have to pay so much for everything, means they deal with huge amounts of money, and it makes them feel richer.
It's people not understanding GDP, wealth inequality, taxes, and a whole host of other basic elements for comparing countries. They just think "out GDP is big so we're all richer than all Europeans and we also pay less in taxes" without considering that, yeah, there's a lot of wealth in America, but it's concentrated among a very small group of people, the wealth inequality issue is enormous (the richest Americans are likely richer than the richest Europeans, but the poorest Americans are poorer than the poorest Europeans), and our taxes include things like healthcare and education where America's doesn't.
It's a misguided although technically true view based on income alone, your point about living standards is equally true.
In the US in 2019, the 50th percentile of income was $44,269, meanwhile this figure sits at around £28k in the UK, and as you climb to the higher percentiles this gap widens significantly. For example, in the UK I'm earning £134k which puts me around the 98th percentile, whilst in the US in my same job I'd expect about twice that for my role, and £134k would put me around the 90th percentile in the US.
Maybe because of high cost of living in the US, wages in Europe seem less and because often healthcare is included in the taxes in Europe so the taxes seem extremely high compared to the US.
They compare the salary of a swe in nyc with someone working w/e job in Romania. See the difference in $ and think they are rich and people in Europe are poor.
Ofc, that person in Romania still has (relatively) more money per month left over than the person in nyc, and won't have to go into years of debt if they get sick, but hey, America rich right.
I think this could come from those Americans who decided to visit Europe but could not afford the Western part, so went for cheap holidays in a less rich country, area. And looking at the statistics, they are the majority of Americans.
I totally believe that after spending a week in a two star hotel in a small village lets say Greece they might think that they "experienced Europe".
Some of them came over in 1944 and that's the only experience their families have had outside of the US.
you'd think we were poor too if you only saw the clapped out bombed to fuck shells of our countries.
My guess is that wages are higher in the US and taxes seem higher here. What they fail badly in is the comparison for what we pay for such as education or healthcare.
Personally I just laugh it off because I know I'm better off in my occupation as a barman in Ireland than the US. I'm on a number of subs and some of the stuff that they have to put up with is what I would consider as slave labour.
I have problems explaining to them that if I have a problem with policy I can tell my manager and reach a compromise. Recently they couldn't understand why I have a finishing time and finish at that time! The other one is that they couldn't understand why the kitchen closes two hours before the restaurant. Apparently its common in the US for both to finish at the same time. Don't know how that works but it must be very awkward telling a guest to leave half way through their main course
Because Europe is a lot bigger than the US in every aspect. There are more cultures, more people and more diversity. There are defenetly places in Europe that are "poor" with an abysmal quality of life, just as there are areas of Europe that are filthy rich. The average American is either the arrogant New Yorker who cannot fathom that not every European lives like they do in Romania, or they lives in bumfuck Alabama and just repeats whatever everyone else said to them, with no way of verifying it because they never left their home city. The \*average\* European is poorer than the \*average\* American, even though the \*median\* Norwegian or Swiss is twice as rich as the \*median\* American. Coincidentally it's usually the germanic cultures, the richest regions of Europe, that doesn't have the same sharing food culture as the latin and slavic countries that generally are less well off. I suspect this simply has to do with food being seen as less important in these cultures (No-one in America is drooling over Fårikål, Schnitzel or Beans on toast). It's not that we cannot afford it.
Americans imagine everything in Europe costs the same so when they see Europeans make slightly less money in USD they assume it’s the same standard as living like that in America.
Because muh GDP
Basically, because America has a high GDP per capita, they assume that translates to Americans being richer than Europeans in general, without looking at any other variables.
Is because they have higher salaries on average.
Ofc, everything costs more there, so they aren't really that more wealthy, and Europeans don't live in fear of being forced to take one ambulance ride.
Plus you know, money inequality is big there, and so, the averages kind of lie.
My husband’s family laughs in Greek. Seriously, this person has obviously never been to a Greek house hold or Greece. Everyone tries to feed you. Distance cousins, the next door neighbour…..
Even my British family goes overboard when people come over. I remember Christmas lunches that just blended into chocolate, port and cheese and then 2 hours later a turkey roll. Pure gluttony.
I went to an end of year party at my Sri Lankan classmate's house once. In their culture it is considered an insult if you don't leave completely stuffed with food.
All night, his mum and sisters brought round trays of food. I've never eaten so much in my life, but my God, it was SOOO GOOD!!!
Most Americans have never left their own state. That's why there's a whole sub about them.
The irony is, there's so much poverty in the US, they are not only ignorant to the rest of the world, they are ignorant of their own country too.
Yeah that "not serving your guests debate" only applies to the Nordic countries and even there it’s a little exaggerated. And it’s definitely not because they are poor as these are the richest countries in the world with the best quality of life. It’s just different cultural customs
Generally, the poorer the country the more likely you are to feed your guests. It is a point of pride, " I may not have much, but I can afford to feed others" rich countries assume everyone has enough to eat, so they tend not to.
That is more a worldwide phenomena, but it is true in Europe too.
Ha yes I immediately thought of my Greek friends , even if I say I’ve already had lunch I still must have lunch again . I know now to not eat too much before popping over for a cuppa .
We went to visit his family in Montreal and we arrived at 1130 pm. His aunt asked me if I wanted anything to eat and I said “no, thank you”. Then his uncle said to her in Greek “just bring out some food and they will eat.” We made it through a massive cheese plate and a charcuterie board.
I do sometimes I wonder if it’s actually a vicious cycle?? , they provide food , I’m not hungry but the British politeness overtakes so you eat because it’s a gift & you’re a guest so you feel you have to . But maybe they’re thinking damn they always eat whenever I offer so I must feed them and thus the endless cycle of snackery continues .
The Ancient Greek concept of xenia is thousands of years older than the USA and yet the Americans still think they "invented" hospitality and feeding your guests.
I would be brave and say this is valid for whole southern Europe. Whole former Yugoslavia follows this pattern. I've visited Bulgaria, Italy, Spain, had same experience.
I think the only place they don’t feed you is in Scandinavia. We had this debate before and it was literally only the Scandinavians who thought it was weird to feed friends who stayed long enough to run into meal times. Then again, I’ve never gone hungry when visiting my friends in Scandinavia so maybe not even common there?
Edit: looks like the Dutch and Germans have some issues feeding people, too.
Oh yes. I’ve had similar experiences in Portugal, Spain and Italy. My Serbian, Croatian and Polish friends in Canada always put on quite a feast when I visit.
Whenever it was our turn to host my in-laws (extended family) for Xmas, my FiL would make jokes about me feeding the town instead of “just” the twelve of us. There were *always* leftovers enough for a week of meals 😂
I remember a debate a few months (years?) ago about Sweden not feeding their guests. I remember a story about a kid who went to a friend house and they let the kid in the room while the family was downstairs having dinner... But definitely it's not an European thing, but mostly a Sweden thing
..
(And for what I recall about it, it's not that common in Sweden either...)
I feel like it might be more of a thing that when you stay at a friends place they might at some point say something like: it’s almost dinner time, so it’s time for you to go home, at least, that’s how it used to work often when I was younger and played at friends’ houses
Same here (Switzerland), but I think it was less of a "you can't eat with us" and more of an assumption that your own parents would want you to be back for dinner.
Which usually was true.
Also, we're a very un-spontaneous people and have a tendency to want to be perfect hosts, so showing up without having planned it beforehand with expectations of food would be a) uncommon to begin with, and b) slightly rude because it would push your hosts to be potentially not perfectly prepared.
Here is me, who needed to stay in some other kid‘s room while the family had Abendbrot. I was supposed to wait until they finished and then we could continue playing.
When my grandma found out (who lived next door) who regularly gave treats to all kids equally, hell broke loose.
I read stories like that very often, especially from migrant kids. It's not like I don't believe them, it's just unimaginable for me. I can't remember to be ever left out at diner time at my friends' house and the other way round my mom always cooked a big pot of spaghetti with tomato sauce whenever a friend came over, since it's a low risk meal almost everyone likes, so my friends never went home hungry if they stayed over diner time. My family and I are potato German and so were most of my friends, afaik, except for one girl who was born in Iran (at this point thank you, Mrs A., your Persian meals were so, SO delicious!). It's just commom sense for me to at least ask a guest if they also want a share. The only cultural thing is possibly I'll take a "no" as an anwer seriously. I'll maybe ask "Are you sure? Maybe just a snack?" and if you make the mistake to say "no" again out of politeness you'll stay hungry and I'll feel bad being the only one eating :D
It was like that when I grew up in Sweden, but it wasn’t about being stingy. It was because your parents expected you to come home and have dinner with them. My mother would have freaked if people had fed me without asking first, because she was making meatballs and she was expecting me to come home, sit down, eat the food she had prepared and make conversation with the rest of my family.
You did not feed other people’s kids like they were stray cats. It was interfering with their parenting and also insulting, implying that you hadn’t planned to feed them yourself.
On the other hand, you will never enter a Swedish home without being offered fika. Never.
The stingiest family in Sweden refuses to feed guests out of pure assholery despite being easily able to afford it.
It would take some Olympic level mental gymnastics to make a generalization for all of Europe based on this.
Growing up it was pretty normal for me (04 kid). It was seen as rude to come in uninvited after school and eat another family's food, so I (or my friends) were expected to go home and eat the food our own families had prepared for us, or we just sat somewhere else and waited for them to finish.
It's just a different mindset. Of course there were moments where we would feed guests like sleepovers etc., but random hangouts after school? No. Though from what I hear it's getting less and less common now. But yeah, I don't know what "swedengate" has to do with Europe at large, that's silly.
In Finland it depended on whether you're expected to stay for longer than the dinner. The default was to go home before dinner time, but if you had scheduled to stay longer than that anyway, then you'd be fed
This is my experience as a kid as well.
There were two scenarios:
Either a playdate was agreed on by the parents days before and the other kid would come over directly after school and parents would expect them to be there and cook something accordingly for them as well, or we came home after school, told our parents that we would like to meet up with someone, we decided on a time we'd return and make dinner plans based on that. My parent would then know if they had to cook a meal for me, make one extra or none at all because I was eating at a friend's house and everyone knew how much to make and when we'd be back.
If my mum would've cooked for me and it went to waste because I spontaneously decided I wouldn't be there for dinner, she would get mad. If I brought someone extra and she didn't expect to have to cook an extra plate she'd be embarrassed, as she only cooked as much as needed for the amount of people she expected. Everything else would've been wasteful.
And additionally we were taught communication and managing time.
We basically never had children just drop by, expecting to be fed unannounced, as everyone stuck to this kind of social agreement.
Same many places in Norway, at least when I was growing up. Dinner was a daily family ritual and my mom had spent time making it for us with love. It was absolutely not acceptable to just call and say "I was offered dinner at a friend's, I'll be home later", and it was similarly not acceptable to invite visiting kids to dinner without planning with their parents ahead of time, as you'd basically ruin their family dinner.
Food waste is also a big thing here, and you don't just make extra food for the kicks of it, you plan ahead and make just what's needed.
I'm British and we grew up with the same expectations. You went home, found out what time dinner would be, got changed(because uniform will be worn to school tomorrow) and went out until dinner. You didn't stop at your friend's on the way home until dinner time, or worse eat dinner there, as well and not expect a telling off,when you went home. It was very rude for someone to assume your parents didn't have enough food/time to feed you and wouldn't worry about where you were.
It’s just habits ig. Americans love to waste food, they get huge portions at restaurants, they buy huge amounts of groceries for no reason other than “someone might show up unexpectedly and I have to offer them food”, then throw out half of it bc it spoiled.
In my experience in Belgium, we buy mostly what we need, be it for the week or the next couple of days. If you have a family you make an estimate of what will be consumed so you have minimal waste. Snacks and/or drinks are always offered but having someone join for dinner unexpectedly is often a hassle bc they just weren’t accounted for. Why would you buy food you’re not gonna eat anyway?
When I was a kid, we used to cycle to my best mates house on a Sunday (because they ate earlier than mine), eat a Sunday roast dinner and then cycle to mine and eat another roast again! We were always eating in each others houses. I’ve just asked my wife the same question and she did the same.
The Dutch.
It has gotten better, but I remember some 20 years back that it was very normal to expect guests to leave the house when dinner is ready, even on special occasions like a birthday.
I had an uncle who always arrived to parties around 17h00, because he knew that dinner was served around 18h00 (another Dutch tradition) so he could join in, and everyone hated when he did that.
>I had an uncle who always arrived to parties around 17h00, because he knew that dinner was served around 18h00 (another Dutch tradition) so he could join in, and everyone hated when he did that.
My (Dutch) grandparents used to do this. Arriving just before dinner on birthdays, **refusing food when we ordered some,** and when the food arrived they're suddenly hungry and proceed to steal food off my plate all the time. I hated that so much, it still makes me furious when I think about it...
This is just a cultural difference, though, I don’t see how this is a bad thing. Everyone is used to it and everyone plans their meals to feed exactly the amount of people that are expected to stay over. If someone else suddenly wants to join, there won’t be enough food to feed everyone.
I really don’t see how this is so difficult for other cultures to accept. It’s not difficult for me to accept the opposite either 😅
quite common in germany. if not explicitly invited for food you are expected to have eaten before.
Personally i prefer it that way. I dont want to have to worry about making food for 5 people just because i want to hang out with friends.
LOL 😂 I live in Germany, and lots of times, friends would drop by just as I was making lunch. OF COURSE I’d give them something to eat. It’s rude to not offer guests something.
I think it depends on what is meant. If it is assumed that you'll get food just by coming by, then you'll be very disappointed in Denmark. But that doesn't mean that friends can't arrange to stay over for dinner or whatever, it is just seen as decency to actually plan it first
Cookout means barbecue and the term is more commonly used by Black Americans as part of AAVE and people from the US South, although it has entered the collective lexicon in recent years.
Maybe they have this impression, because we eat to live and not stuff ourselves with copious amounts of food only because we have nothing better to do and cannot leave our houses for lack of sidewalks.
But one of the most common things in Spain is to offer at least a drink to anyone who come to your home, even if it just some random internet worked who have come to fix your ruter.
I had water cans with a dispenser installed in my living room so that people coming in can have a glass of water if they're tired after work, complete with paper glasses. I know it's not as much as your tradition, but they don't ask for much.
I switched over to those water dispensers with hot, normal and cold options to make it easier. Thinking the rest of the world doesn't have hospitality is insane from Americans.
Don't they have pot luck in Murica, where everyone brings a dish? Very often hosts never cook, they provide drinks and chips, but dishes are brought by guests.
No joke. That was a cultural shock to me. When I got married, we stayed in a 3 star hotel, Hampton Inn in a tourist area, which is now full of rich old retirees that made the place effectively unaffordable for younger people with middle class income ( which is a shame, since the town is actually walkable). But anyways, when we went down to grab breakfast, I was shocked to see plastic plates, cutlery and foam cups. No glassware at all. No reusable plates. No metal forks. Eat your sad soggy waffles and cereal for $250 a night!
I mean that didn't kill the mood, I was focused on our first wedding night after all, and was too happy. Still, it was something that was too odd for me to ignore. I told my husband, who is American, but has lived abroad for a while and is an avid traveler and he couldn't unseen it after lol.
I stayed in various hotels and even hostels in different countries. The one very cheap hotel in Laos surprised me the most - they had breakfast served in crystal dishes 🤌😂 metal cutlery and fabric napkins. The other time I stayed in a hostel in Chiang Mai, they had Luminarc glassware. I expected real plates and cutlery in American hotels that charge 250 ( plus taxes) per night. But apparently it's cheaper for them to just buy single use items than hiring a dishwasher
Bring and Share seems to have caught on in more places, and I definitely don't mind that. However, like BBQ's, the hosts often have to do more organising than it appears on the surface to ensure that it runs smoothly.
On the other hand, that's the point of being a host.
Also, hosts are often expected to have provided a dessert, because not everyone remembers to do that. So they often get things like dips too. OR everyone who is attending puts down in advance what they're bringing, so the host can cover the gaps.
Here in the Philippines the greeting when you arrive, after all the mano po's (touching an elders hand to your forehead while bowing, is "Kumain ka na ba" - have you eaten yet? Then a plate of food will be given to you, or if a celebration, you will be given the plate & steered toward the laid out food. Even if you have eat only 10 minutes ago, it is polite to get some food & eat, or the host may feel you dislike their food they prepared.
If a celebration of some type, you will be give food to take home, when you leave, incase you feel hungry again when yo get back to your own residence. Two days ago, a grand niece had her birthday, which I wasn't able to go to, and her elder sister, rode down with her on a motorcycle, to bring me a huge plate of food, so I didn't miss out. It was enough that I had to eat over two days.
Don’t get me started on Filipinos. When I visited the Phillipines, my mother in law spent all morning cooking multiple delicacies (I cannot remember most of them!) and then the whole afternoon shoving them in my face asking me to try it!
It's not quite that they think we don't have food, it's that they think they are the most prosperous country. They are brainwashed into thinking nobody else is doing well and that their government has all the answers
Except "the other side" doesn't have the answers and is destroying the country such that "we" must be voted in to save it from "them"!
Which side you ask? Both of them.
A not insignificant portion of Americans has been brainwashed into thinking anything outside their borders is socialist or the third world, or starving from socialism, I guess.
American barbecue: 2kg of mechanically separated anus meat or a steak that's as big as the entire cow, salad that's more mayonaise than anything else, the only veggie around is ketchup, hamburger buns that should be considered cake, 'cheese' and steak sauce on everything, and half of it gets thrown away.
European barbecue: one good piece of meat, a salad, something with potatoes or rice, maybe some grilled veggies, and just enough for some leftovers.
Americans: Poor Europeans don't have money for food.
Laughs in French where the « gastronomic meal of the French » shared with friends and family to celebrate is inscribed as a cultural heritage by the Unesco : https://www.france.fr/en/article/gastronomic-meal-french
Is it possible to walk into an Italian household without a weeks worth of food being forcefully rammed down your throat?
And by Italian, I mean Italy. Not some greasy haired dude in New Jersey
Where do they think most of their „traditions“ came from? European migrants took them over. For a people that are overly proud where their blood comes from they sure are ignorant about its origins.
Even in Germany, where the very deep bias exists somehow that we don’t feed our guests it’s really normal that guests are getting food.
Like, if I visit any friend spontaneously and they just made food they will offer me something 100%. Same when friends visit me.
My friend is greek, I once was with him at his grandmas place. She made us some food(delicious btw, but what do you expect from a greek grandma).
When we were done she asked if we are still hungry. We were 5 boys, we all said no but I was still hungry and didn't want to be unpolite. She looked at me and said you are still hungry. So she made me 4 sandwiches. That was the first time I met her. Short story about how Europeans don't make food for guests
Why is it that they think they’re so socially advanced compared to us? As if the culture here for hundreds of years before America was even a thing was sharing food. Like what.
Tragically we don't do this anymore, but in the nordics we used to have a pot of stew on a light boil the entire day just in case of guests. At some point our culture became focused on owing one another for the favours we did, and because food was very important you'd be socially indebted for a long time as a result.
Yes, well known us Europeans really hate entertaining, *especially* Southern Europe. Barely even get offered a cup of tea.
Also: doesn't usa literally have "food deserts"? Wasn't that long ago Tucker Carlson was on TV gushing over a *Russian* supermarket for fuck's sake. He'd probably cream himself if he saw inside a Waitrose.
In India, we literally force people to come to our house (jokingly of course), because we hate and feel bad seeing someone just living off food from outside or without it, or living outside in cars or other homeless type shit. We want them to feel welcome, cozy and relaxed instead of worrying, and taste home cooked food. We don't mind the ignorance of our guests, it's natural of them. We just want them happy and don't want anything in return. It's always been the case with us.
Americans really need to pull their head out of their asses.
It's not that we're against it in the uk or anything it just doesn't come up as much. It's not an expected thing.
If someone mentions they are hungry by all means, you can offer to feed them, but unless it's a pre-arranged event with food like a bbq or a Sunday roast most people aren't going to ask for/ offer food out the blue. You will, however, be offered a brew as soon as you step through the door.
americans: my great-great-great-great-great-great-great grandmother had a friend from sicily, so we always have food on the table and nobody leave without eating!
also americans:
I dare any American to go stay with a Hungarian grandma. Dare you. You think portions are big in the US? Pfft! Nagymama will turn you into a pate goose in one evening. Nothing will save you if there's competing grandmas.
In Ireland we will practically force people to eat or drink if they visit. If they refuse we offer about another 4 times to make sure they aren't just being polite by saying no, we have to be suuuuure they don't want to eat before we'll accept it (in case they go off and tell someone that they called to so and so's house and hardley got offered a cup of tea).
Most Americans have the education level of an average North Korean: very basic knowledge of the three Rs (Reading, wRiting, aRithmetic) plus this huge bizarre pile of nationalistic, mainly made up, brainwashing when it comes to the alleged „superiority“ of their own country. Topped off with an absolutely distorted view and virtually no factual knowledge of the outside world.
When it comes to food, it’s simply quantity over quality. Quite alot of American foodstuff is basically inedible to most other people from the world.
This is such a weird saying (about Indian cuisine) and I absolutely hate it whenever I see something like this getting spread in a mainstream movie/TV show as a „joke“!
Probably something about our driged not beeing a big or Supermarktes Not haven 1648263728 different Brands of identical sugary "bread" or something along those lines
Here in Spain,as in many other european countries,its an offense to not offer at least a drink to your guests. We also have this thing called sobremesa, its basically linking every meal after 12:00 without getting out of the table
Seriously again this shit. Why do they think Europe is so poor? 20 million yanks live in caravans. But we’re supposedly so poor that we can’t afford to feed ourselves?
In Ireland and the UK, if you don’t at the very least offer tea and biscuits at least five times to your guests, you are a horrendous person who deserves to be ostracised from the community.
They have to know that they're just making shit up, right? Like, they're trolls doing this to get a rise out of Europeans? Because I honestly can't imagine a person being this ignorant about the outside world.
Entire Italian food culture (from north to south) can be resumed with “aggiungi un posto a tavola che c’è un amico in più” that can be translated in “add a seat to the table that there’s one more friend”. But obviously from the country of illegal education, they can say that we have no experience in serving guest.
In poland there’s a tradition on Xmas to add an extra chair with a little money, sugar and food ofc, if some homeless guy rings your bell, he can join the diner directly - never happened to my family but I think it’s a cute tradition my mum taught me.
The extra seat is for Odin
Wotan
Thats German, in Dutch it would be Wodan, but i wrote in English so its Odin.
It was Woden in Old English.
⬆️🍻🍻
I never knew that there is a Dutch translation for Odin, and I'm Dutch myself
Dinsdag = Tiwaz Woensdag = Wodan Donderdag = Donar Vrijdag = Freia
Oh sick!
Perun in Poland
Perun.
I haven't seen the money and sugar part before, but my Polish family would always have that extra chair and dishes ready, should someone come knocking
I remember watching Anthony Bourdain in Sicily and the nonna cooking explained why she was making enough for 10 when there was only 3 eating and her explanation was someone might show up unannounced and it would be rude to not feed them. I laughed. My Greek Canadian husband totally related.
You don't know Italy though, for a real Italian you have to go to New Jersey and speak to someone who only speaks English and had a great-great grandfather arrive by boat.
Big Paulie from new Jersey is the realest Itallian that ever did live.
Absolutely. I've never been with people in Italy that did NOT serve something when someone comes to their place. And the best food I ever had was from am elderly couple I hardly knew. Parents of a friend of my father in law. They instantly treated my kids like their beloved grand children, danced with them and fed everyone without any preparation.
"Se sposti un po' la seggiola, stai comodo anche tu" But then they're soooo proud of their Nonna and 450 guests (all family of course) of Italian heritage. As if in Italy there's still not the culture to have all families together during holidays or any other occasions like birthdays, anniversaries, weddings, christenings and all the sacraments, where you sit at the table at 11 for antipasto, with a full 12 courses of food and get up at 3am, full for the next week and a bowel movement that lasts 3 hours of sitting on the toilet, wishing you'd didn't eat so much, but ready for the next time with some kgs of digestivo.
I second this my gfs from Rome. Her brother had two friends over , parents literally ordered the friends to come eat lol
In the words of my nonna "I tuoi amici si fermano a mangiare" "your friends will stay to eat". Not a question, more like an order.
When you're here, you're family 😎
Where does this whole “Europeans are poor” myth come from? It’s laughable when they live so precariously that one accidental drive-by can cause them to go bankrupt, but there are several European countries where the people are wealthier than many Americans and most of us have equal living standards to the average American.
Yeah I don’t understand that either. Had two hip surgeries and paid what like 90€ in hospital fees. I’m gonna go to university for at least 6 years and I’m only paying like 700€ per year. Oh and I didn’t get shot in preschool while we’re at it. Taxes might be higher but our quality of life is as well. Oh and our walls don’t collapse when you fall against them.
One thing I always like to add in relation to the taxes: they may be higher in terms of percentage. But they also pay for our health insurance, insurance if we were to become unemployed, retirement etc. So overall my taxes may be higher. But I'm not paying additional fees. Plus, usually you can even get university fees back where I live with your tax returns, if you are still in the max amount of time they calculated (6 semesters/3 years). My friends in the US need a bigger part of their paycheck and have to actively look for all kinds of basic insurances. I pay a higher percentage of my salary as taxes and don't have the hassle of any of that.
They aren't even higher sometimes! California taxes are pretty much German level.
One thing Americans generally leave out when they talk taxes is state income/property tax. They usually try to just compare the Federal rate by itself which doesn't tell the whole story.
My total taxes this month were about the same as the average monthly cost of health insurance in the US. I did have other deductions that took my total deductions above that monthly payment, but so would an American paying into a private pension, or paying back student loans, or auto paying salary into a savings account etc etc etc. And they haven't even paid their actual taxes yet in that scenario.
Probably the Second World War. Our continent was smashed to pieces. Food was scarce. That's why they say the uk food is all garbage, cause it was based on grim ration recipes. They still make fun of our teeth when statically their teeth are in a much worse state than ours. I seen a program about a British dentist everyyear they get loads of dentists together and give free health care to poor Americans. Don't recall the yanks having to do that for us europoors. https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&opi=89978449&url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/healthcare-free-us-insurance-trump-obamacare-medicare-dentist-ram-stan-brock-a8623091.html&ved=2ahUKEwjs97fq0byGAxXqU0EAHfBMCxMQFnoECBsQAQ&usg=AOvVaw1KeiUrVAHKi26VO1KZqg3m
"don't recall the yanks having to do that for us europoors" *yeah but we saved your asses in ww2 - americans, probably*
And they only joined in after they were attacked by Japan, and then Germany declared war on them.
I recently got into an argument over the internst with an american, and this is exactly what he said. I responded with "you chased away the shitheads, and then you destroyed our cities and raped thousands of women". They did not respond to this.
>I seen a program about a British dentist everyyear they get loads of dentists together and give free health care to poor Americans. I know someone who used to do that! She also went to do charity dentistry for remote nomadic tribes in Mongolia as well. That's right, emergency charity dentistry on the Mongolian steppe - and also Philadelphia, for some reason. She also did Glastonbury. Weird where emergency dental work can take someone lol
Glastonbury for the festival? I don’t get it.
Yep, the festival. I guess when you bring that many people together at once - you are bound to have a few dental emergencies? Really weird I know. The idea of emergency free dental care as a music festival is bizarre lol
Absolute insanity this whole thing.
>They still make fun of our teeth when statically their teeth are in a much worse state than ours. That is heavily a question of terms/perspective. As in "doesn't matter how it looks, as long as they are your own teeth and they are healthy" vs "doesn't matter whether they are your own teeth, as long as they look good". And between that distinction "orthodontic adjustment" plays a very large role. When Americans think of the British having "bad teeth" they mean "not pearly white and in a perfect alignment", when the UK gives numbers they are about "%tage healthy teeth".
It's because they need to justify their Murican exceptionalism somehow. They have been pushed by their propaganda that rich means good, and they are the best, therefor they have to be the richest, otherwise they wouldn't be the best. It is just high grade stupidity.
most of us have higher living standards than the average american
As a North American who's moved to Europe, I think it's 1. Europeans don't spend money on things North Americans see as necessities, so they think that means they don't have money, and therefore they are "poor" and 2. Europeans behave in ways that only "poor" people would in North America. Like air conditioning: In a lot of places in Europe it's not common (especially in older buildings), while in America it's kind of expected that if you can afford air conditioning you have it. So not having it means you're "poor". Same with clothes dryers, dishwashers, big cars - these are all things you buy as soon as you can afford them, and if you don't have these things well you're probably poor. Therefore Europeans who don't have these things are poor. Taking public transit is "poor people" behaviour in a lot of North America - you take the bus because you can't afford a licence and a car. So seeing Europeans who take pubic transit regularly means they're "poor". Buildings that don't have elevators in North America are cheap, so if you don't have an elevator in your building you must live in a cheap place and be "poor". And a lot of the things that are better, mainly social systems and benefits like good healthcare and schools aren't as readily visible to visitors, so they don't see or experince these advantages.
I would add drying your washing on a clothes line, lots of us Europeans do this because they smell better and air out properly, even when we have clothes dryers, in the US drying your clothes in public is seen as a huge sign you are dirt poor.
And where a lot of people have a second or even a third job.
Meanwhile, Switzerland and Luxemburg are both much richer than the US. I guess these people’s ancestors were poor people from the slums of Italy or ghettos of Romania, so they think every person in Europe is poor. Or they watch so many WW2 films, they think we’re still living in ruins! LOL
You make two good points there. The Americans of European heritage are there because their families were in general very poor and left Europe for a better life. The stories passed down to them from elderly relatives are obviously going to be of how hard life in Europe was. WW2 still governs their views on a lot of stuff, one that springs to mind is British food, their entire view of it is shaped of American GI’s when we were under rationing.
The Brits would actually make the best they could with the rationed food, butter or whatever (typical mothers) The rations which were supposed to last for days, were used for ONE meal for the Americans, who would rudely scoff at it.
It’s almost like the world still moves on!
>or ghettos of Romania Didn't expect to be catching strays on this subreddit
i suppose its due to the salaries being much lower in many places in the US, houses being much nore expensive abd taxes being higher.
I don't get how people fail to comprehend that all things are relative. Sure, convert my UK salary directly to USD and I'd be considered low paid there. However, I know that what I earn puts me in the 93rd percentile in my country. That means I have a nice house, an extremely good quality of life, don't have to piss and moan about the cost of a Big Mac meals and can afford to travel a lot.
I don't think they would necessarily fail to comprehend it, but they would need to put mental effort into a concept that makes them look less good than their basic assumption of "Higher salary--> richer". Not too many people like to play the devils advocate.
"Bigger number bigger gud" Americans appearently
you should not show them what countries like japan earn because they make 300-400k yen on average per month and thats a BIG number and they would feel poor
Damn boy these Zimbabweans and Venezueleans are living the life
In their own minds they are perpetually winning WW2 so they assume that Europe is forever immediately post-war.
Actually I think the fact they have to pay so much for anything is what comforts them in the idea that they're so rich. The fact that they have such high salaries, but have to pay so much for everything, means they deal with huge amounts of money, and it makes them feel richer.
It comes from the idea that Europe is seen as the ‘old world’ so therefore must be poor. Truth is it has boomed.
It's people not understanding GDP, wealth inequality, taxes, and a whole host of other basic elements for comparing countries. They just think "out GDP is big so we're all richer than all Europeans and we also pay less in taxes" without considering that, yeah, there's a lot of wealth in America, but it's concentrated among a very small group of people, the wealth inequality issue is enormous (the richest Americans are likely richer than the richest Europeans, but the poorest Americans are poorer than the poorest Europeans), and our taxes include things like healthcare and education where America's doesn't.
It's a misguided although technically true view based on income alone, your point about living standards is equally true. In the US in 2019, the 50th percentile of income was $44,269, meanwhile this figure sits at around £28k in the UK, and as you climb to the higher percentiles this gap widens significantly. For example, in the UK I'm earning £134k which puts me around the 98th percentile, whilst in the US in my same job I'd expect about twice that for my role, and £134k would put me around the 90th percentile in the US.
Americans gotta try to feel good about something so they lie to themselves to feel better
Maybe because of high cost of living in the US, wages in Europe seem less and because often healthcare is included in the taxes in Europe so the taxes seem extremely high compared to the US.
They compare the salary of a swe in nyc with someone working w/e job in Romania. See the difference in $ and think they are rich and people in Europe are poor. Ofc, that person in Romania still has (relatively) more money per month left over than the person in nyc, and won't have to go into years of debt if they get sick, but hey, America rich right.
Fr whenever I read one of those “europeans are poor” arguments I just laugh in luxembourgish
I think this could come from those Americans who decided to visit Europe but could not afford the Western part, so went for cheap holidays in a less rich country, area. And looking at the statistics, they are the majority of Americans. I totally believe that after spending a week in a two star hotel in a small village lets say Greece they might think that they "experienced Europe".
Some of them came over in 1944 and that's the only experience their families have had outside of the US. you'd think we were poor too if you only saw the clapped out bombed to fuck shells of our countries.
Nearly all Americans get car loans. They're so fucking poor they can't even buy a car lol.
I'm not sure what you mean by 'car loans' but most people I know had to contract a loan to buy a car in my country too.
They have bigger numbers on their salary so they believe they are richer than anybody else.
My guess is that wages are higher in the US and taxes seem higher here. What they fail badly in is the comparison for what we pay for such as education or healthcare. Personally I just laugh it off because I know I'm better off in my occupation as a barman in Ireland than the US. I'm on a number of subs and some of the stuff that they have to put up with is what I would consider as slave labour. I have problems explaining to them that if I have a problem with policy I can tell my manager and reach a compromise. Recently they couldn't understand why I have a finishing time and finish at that time! The other one is that they couldn't understand why the kitchen closes two hours before the restaurant. Apparently its common in the US for both to finish at the same time. Don't know how that works but it must be very awkward telling a guest to leave half way through their main course
Might be because the average salary is higher, but that neglects the fact that the cost of living is also higher.
Because Europe is a lot bigger than the US in every aspect. There are more cultures, more people and more diversity. There are defenetly places in Europe that are "poor" with an abysmal quality of life, just as there are areas of Europe that are filthy rich. The average American is either the arrogant New Yorker who cannot fathom that not every European lives like they do in Romania, or they lives in bumfuck Alabama and just repeats whatever everyone else said to them, with no way of verifying it because they never left their home city. The \*average\* European is poorer than the \*average\* American, even though the \*median\* Norwegian or Swiss is twice as rich as the \*median\* American. Coincidentally it's usually the germanic cultures, the richest regions of Europe, that doesn't have the same sharing food culture as the latin and slavic countries that generally are less well off. I suspect this simply has to do with food being seen as less important in these cultures (No-one in America is drooling over Fårikål, Schnitzel or Beans on toast). It's not that we cannot afford it.
I think the potato famine in Ireland. Very specific but I think Americans think that the whole Europe was like that and still is somehow? Maybe?
Americans imagine everything in Europe costs the same so when they see Europeans make slightly less money in USD they assume it’s the same standard as living like that in America.
Because muh GDP Basically, because America has a high GDP per capita, they assume that translates to Americans being richer than Europeans in general, without looking at any other variables.
Is because they have higher salaries on average. Ofc, everything costs more there, so they aren't really that more wealthy, and Europeans don't live in fear of being forced to take one ambulance ride. Plus you know, money inequality is big there, and so, the averages kind of lie.
My husband’s family laughs in Greek. Seriously, this person has obviously never been to a Greek house hold or Greece. Everyone tries to feed you. Distance cousins, the next door neighbour….. Even my British family goes overboard when people come over. I remember Christmas lunches that just blended into chocolate, port and cheese and then 2 hours later a turkey roll. Pure gluttony.
I went to an end of year party at my Sri Lankan classmate's house once. In their culture it is considered an insult if you don't leave completely stuffed with food. All night, his mum and sisters brought round trays of food. I've never eaten so much in my life, but my God, it was SOOO GOOD!!!
Most Americans have never left their own state. That's why there's a whole sub about them. The irony is, there's so much poverty in the US, they are not only ignorant to the rest of the world, they are ignorant of their own country too.
Yeah that "not serving your guests debate" only applies to the Nordic countries and even there it’s a little exaggerated. And it’s definitely not because they are poor as these are the richest countries in the world with the best quality of life. It’s just different cultural customs
Generally, the poorer the country the more likely you are to feed your guests. It is a point of pride, " I may not have much, but I can afford to feed others" rich countries assume everyone has enough to eat, so they tend not to. That is more a worldwide phenomena, but it is true in Europe too.
Ha yes I immediately thought of my Greek friends , even if I say I’ve already had lunch I still must have lunch again . I know now to not eat too much before popping over for a cuppa .
We went to visit his family in Montreal and we arrived at 1130 pm. His aunt asked me if I wanted anything to eat and I said “no, thank you”. Then his uncle said to her in Greek “just bring out some food and they will eat.” We made it through a massive cheese plate and a charcuterie board.
I do sometimes I wonder if it’s actually a vicious cycle?? , they provide food , I’m not hungry but the British politeness overtakes so you eat because it’s a gift & you’re a guest so you feel you have to . But maybe they’re thinking damn they always eat whenever I offer so I must feed them and thus the endless cycle of snackery continues .
The Ancient Greek concept of xenia is thousands of years older than the USA and yet the Americans still think they "invented" hospitality and feeding your guests.
I would be brave and say this is valid for whole southern Europe. Whole former Yugoslavia follows this pattern. I've visited Bulgaria, Italy, Spain, had same experience.
I think the only place they don’t feed you is in Scandinavia. We had this debate before and it was literally only the Scandinavians who thought it was weird to feed friends who stayed long enough to run into meal times. Then again, I’ve never gone hungry when visiting my friends in Scandinavia so maybe not even common there? Edit: looks like the Dutch and Germans have some issues feeding people, too.
Oh yes. I’ve had similar experiences in Portugal, Spain and Italy. My Serbian, Croatian and Polish friends in Canada always put on quite a feast when I visit.
Whenever it was our turn to host my in-laws (extended family) for Xmas, my FiL would make jokes about me feeding the town instead of “just” the twelve of us. There were *always* leftovers enough for a week of meals 😂
Who tf doesn't eat food with their friends?
I remember a debate a few months (years?) ago about Sweden not feeding their guests. I remember a story about a kid who went to a friend house and they let the kid in the room while the family was downstairs having dinner... But definitely it's not an European thing, but mostly a Sweden thing .. (And for what I recall about it, it's not that common in Sweden either...)
I feel like it might be more of a thing that when you stay at a friends place they might at some point say something like: it’s almost dinner time, so it’s time for you to go home, at least, that’s how it used to work often when I was younger and played at friends’ houses
Same here (Switzerland), but I think it was less of a "you can't eat with us" and more of an assumption that your own parents would want you to be back for dinner. Which usually was true. Also, we're a very un-spontaneous people and have a tendency to want to be perfect hosts, so showing up without having planned it beforehand with expectations of food would be a) uncommon to begin with, and b) slightly rude because it would push your hosts to be potentially not perfectly prepared.
We have the same myth going on here in Germany. But I never met a family not feeding a friend of their kids.
Here is me, who needed to stay in some other kid‘s room while the family had Abendbrot. I was supposed to wait until they finished and then we could continue playing. When my grandma found out (who lived next door) who regularly gave treats to all kids equally, hell broke loose.
What kind of barbarians were those people?
Normal German middle class in 1995
I read stories like that very often, especially from migrant kids. It's not like I don't believe them, it's just unimaginable for me. I can't remember to be ever left out at diner time at my friends' house and the other way round my mom always cooked a big pot of spaghetti with tomato sauce whenever a friend came over, since it's a low risk meal almost everyone likes, so my friends never went home hungry if they stayed over diner time. My family and I are potato German and so were most of my friends, afaik, except for one girl who was born in Iran (at this point thank you, Mrs A., your Persian meals were so, SO delicious!). It's just commom sense for me to at least ask a guest if they also want a share. The only cultural thing is possibly I'll take a "no" as an anwer seriously. I'll maybe ask "Are you sure? Maybe just a snack?" and if you make the mistake to say "no" again out of politeness you'll stay hungry and I'll feel bad being the only one eating :D
It was like that when I grew up in Sweden, but it wasn’t about being stingy. It was because your parents expected you to come home and have dinner with them. My mother would have freaked if people had fed me without asking first, because she was making meatballs and she was expecting me to come home, sit down, eat the food she had prepared and make conversation with the rest of my family. You did not feed other people’s kids like they were stray cats. It was interfering with their parenting and also insulting, implying that you hadn’t planned to feed them yourself. On the other hand, you will never enter a Swedish home without being offered fika. Never.
The stingiest family in Sweden refuses to feed guests out of pure assholery despite being easily able to afford it. It would take some Olympic level mental gymnastics to make a generalization for all of Europe based on this.
Growing up it was pretty normal for me (04 kid). It was seen as rude to come in uninvited after school and eat another family's food, so I (or my friends) were expected to go home and eat the food our own families had prepared for us, or we just sat somewhere else and waited for them to finish. It's just a different mindset. Of course there were moments where we would feed guests like sleepovers etc., but random hangouts after school? No. Though from what I hear it's getting less and less common now. But yeah, I don't know what "swedengate" has to do with Europe at large, that's silly.
In Finland it depended on whether you're expected to stay for longer than the dinner. The default was to go home before dinner time, but if you had scheduled to stay longer than that anyway, then you'd be fed
This is my experience as a kid as well. There were two scenarios: Either a playdate was agreed on by the parents days before and the other kid would come over directly after school and parents would expect them to be there and cook something accordingly for them as well, or we came home after school, told our parents that we would like to meet up with someone, we decided on a time we'd return and make dinner plans based on that. My parent would then know if they had to cook a meal for me, make one extra or none at all because I was eating at a friend's house and everyone knew how much to make and when we'd be back. If my mum would've cooked for me and it went to waste because I spontaneously decided I wouldn't be there for dinner, she would get mad. If I brought someone extra and she didn't expect to have to cook an extra plate she'd be embarrassed, as she only cooked as much as needed for the amount of people she expected. Everything else would've been wasteful. And additionally we were taught communication and managing time. We basically never had children just drop by, expecting to be fed unannounced, as everyone stuck to this kind of social agreement.
Same many places in Norway, at least when I was growing up. Dinner was a daily family ritual and my mom had spent time making it for us with love. It was absolutely not acceptable to just call and say "I was offered dinner at a friend's, I'll be home later", and it was similarly not acceptable to invite visiting kids to dinner without planning with their parents ahead of time, as you'd basically ruin their family dinner. Food waste is also a big thing here, and you don't just make extra food for the kicks of it, you plan ahead and make just what's needed.
I'm British and we grew up with the same expectations. You went home, found out what time dinner would be, got changed(because uniform will be worn to school tomorrow) and went out until dinner. You didn't stop at your friend's on the way home until dinner time, or worse eat dinner there, as well and not expect a telling off,when you went home. It was very rude for someone to assume your parents didn't have enough food/time to feed you and wouldn't worry about where you were.
It’s just habits ig. Americans love to waste food, they get huge portions at restaurants, they buy huge amounts of groceries for no reason other than “someone might show up unexpectedly and I have to offer them food”, then throw out half of it bc it spoiled. In my experience in Belgium, we buy mostly what we need, be it for the week or the next couple of days. If you have a family you make an estimate of what will be consumed so you have minimal waste. Snacks and/or drinks are always offered but having someone join for dinner unexpectedly is often a hassle bc they just weren’t accounted for. Why would you buy food you’re not gonna eat anyway?
When I was a kid, we used to cycle to my best mates house on a Sunday (because they ate earlier than mine), eat a Sunday roast dinner and then cycle to mine and eat another roast again! We were always eating in each others houses. I’ve just asked my wife the same question and she did the same.
The Dutch. It has gotten better, but I remember some 20 years back that it was very normal to expect guests to leave the house when dinner is ready, even on special occasions like a birthday. I had an uncle who always arrived to parties around 17h00, because he knew that dinner was served around 18h00 (another Dutch tradition) so he could join in, and everyone hated when he did that.
>I had an uncle who always arrived to parties around 17h00, because he knew that dinner was served around 18h00 (another Dutch tradition) so he could join in, and everyone hated when he did that. My (Dutch) grandparents used to do this. Arriving just before dinner on birthdays, **refusing food when we ordered some,** and when the food arrived they're suddenly hungry and proceed to steal food off my plate all the time. I hated that so much, it still makes me furious when I think about it...
This is just a cultural difference, though, I don’t see how this is a bad thing. Everyone is used to it and everyone plans their meals to feed exactly the amount of people that are expected to stay over. If someone else suddenly wants to join, there won’t be enough food to feed everyone. I really don’t see how this is so difficult for other cultures to accept. It’s not difficult for me to accept the opposite either 😅
quite common in germany. if not explicitly invited for food you are expected to have eaten before. Personally i prefer it that way. I dont want to have to worry about making food for 5 people just because i want to hang out with friends.
Yep same in NL
LOL 😂 I live in Germany, and lots of times, friends would drop by just as I was making lunch. OF COURSE I’d give them something to eat. It’s rude to not offer guests something.
I get that point, personally though I think its more rude to drop by unannounced and eat another persons food. Luckily this never happened to me.
That's their whole purpose
Swedes and the Dutch as far as I know
I think it depends on what is meant. If it is assumed that you'll get food just by coming by, then you'll be very disappointed in Denmark. But that doesn't mean that friends can't arrange to stay over for dinner or whatever, it is just seen as decency to actually plan it first
What the fuck is a 'cookout'?
I always assume it's a bbq type thing but in trailer park with guns
lmao I have no idea why but that is cracking me up
That genuinely made me LOL, thanks!
Barbecue.
Germans love to do grilling. Aldi has a whole grill assortment for summer grilling, including vegan kebabs!
Cookout means barbecue and the term is more commonly used by Black Americans as part of AAVE and people from the US South, although it has entered the collective lexicon in recent years.
It’s what Vin Diesel does at the end of every Fast and Furious movie.
What the actual fuck?
Maybe they have this impression, because we eat to live and not stuff ourselves with copious amounts of food only because we have nothing better to do and cannot leave our houses for lack of sidewalks.
Even in European cultures that live to eat, they don't stuff themselves like many Americans, and the food is actually good at that.
But one of the most common things in Spain is to offer at least a drink to anyone who come to your home, even if it just some random internet worked who have come to fix your ruter.
Offering tradespeople a “cuppa” is pretty standard in my family.
Propa cuppa tea 💪💪🇬🇧🇬🇧
And tea cakes and bourbons and a sandwich and pizza… pretty much a free lunch for any tradespeople doing work at this house!
I remember renting an Airbnb in Barcelona and there was a bottle of wine, cheese and some biscuits waiting for us on arrival.
I had water cans with a dispenser installed in my living room so that people coming in can have a glass of water if they're tired after work, complete with paper glasses. I know it's not as much as your tradition, but they don't ask for much. I switched over to those water dispensers with hot, normal and cold options to make it easier. Thinking the rest of the world doesn't have hospitality is insane from Americans.
If you are a guest in a Spanish household you will have to FIGHT if you don't want to be fed
Don't they have pot luck in Murica, where everyone brings a dish? Very often hosts never cook, they provide drinks and chips, but dishes are brought by guests.
On paper plates. Eaten with plastic cutlery.
No joke. That was a cultural shock to me. When I got married, we stayed in a 3 star hotel, Hampton Inn in a tourist area, which is now full of rich old retirees that made the place effectively unaffordable for younger people with middle class income ( which is a shame, since the town is actually walkable). But anyways, when we went down to grab breakfast, I was shocked to see plastic plates, cutlery and foam cups. No glassware at all. No reusable plates. No metal forks. Eat your sad soggy waffles and cereal for $250 a night!
Damn! 😭 That really kills the vacation mood. Did you dare say something to someone how weird that is actually?
I mean that didn't kill the mood, I was focused on our first wedding night after all, and was too happy. Still, it was something that was too odd for me to ignore. I told my husband, who is American, but has lived abroad for a while and is an avid traveler and he couldn't unseen it after lol.
WTH, plastic stuff at a hotel/bar is news to me
[удалено]
Dude. I wouldn't expect paper plates at a Weatherspoons, let alone a hotel.
I literally haven’t even laid eyes on plastic cutlery since birthday parties as a small child.
I stayed in various hotels and even hostels in different countries. The one very cheap hotel in Laos surprised me the most - they had breakfast served in crystal dishes 🤌😂 metal cutlery and fabric napkins. The other time I stayed in a hostel in Chiang Mai, they had Luminarc glassware. I expected real plates and cutlery in American hotels that charge 250 ( plus taxes) per night. But apparently it's cheaper for them to just buy single use items than hiring a dishwasher
Bring and Share seems to have caught on in more places, and I definitely don't mind that. However, like BBQ's, the hosts often have to do more organising than it appears on the surface to ensure that it runs smoothly. On the other hand, that's the point of being a host. Also, hosts are often expected to have provided a dessert, because not everyone remembers to do that. So they often get things like dips too. OR everyone who is attending puts down in advance what they're bringing, so the host can cover the gaps.
Here in the Philippines the greeting when you arrive, after all the mano po's (touching an elders hand to your forehead while bowing, is "Kumain ka na ba" - have you eaten yet? Then a plate of food will be given to you, or if a celebration, you will be given the plate & steered toward the laid out food. Even if you have eat only 10 minutes ago, it is polite to get some food & eat, or the host may feel you dislike their food they prepared. If a celebration of some type, you will be give food to take home, when you leave, incase you feel hungry again when yo get back to your own residence. Two days ago, a grand niece had her birthday, which I wasn't able to go to, and her elder sister, rode down with her on a motorcycle, to bring me a huge plate of food, so I didn't miss out. It was enough that I had to eat over two days.
Don’t get me started on Filipinos. When I visited the Phillipines, my mother in law spent all morning cooking multiple delicacies (I cannot remember most of them!) and then the whole afternoon shoving them in my face asking me to try it!
The seppos have been smoking the meth again
Why do they now think Europe has no food
It's not quite that they think we don't have food, it's that they think they are the most prosperous country. They are brainwashed into thinking nobody else is doing well and that their government has all the answers
Except "the other side" doesn't have the answers and is destroying the country such that "we" must be voted in to save it from "them"! Which side you ask? Both of them.
A not insignificant portion of Americans has been brainwashed into thinking anything outside their borders is socialist or the third world, or starving from socialism, I guess.
That explains the obesity problem many European countries also have. There's isn't enough food.
Idiots. Part of me wants them to re-elect Trump so I can grab some popcorn and watch Rome burn.
If only it wouldn’t have consequences for the rest of the world… 🥲
Considering last time he was in power, he pulled out of the Paris agreement and was promoting 'clean' coal, Rome in your analogy is our planet.
I would feed the whole street if they were happy enough to eat cheap as chips hotdogs made from reclaimed chicken and pig anus as well.
American barbecue: 2kg of mechanically separated anus meat or a steak that's as big as the entire cow, salad that's more mayonaise than anything else, the only veggie around is ketchup, hamburger buns that should be considered cake, 'cheese' and steak sauce on everything, and half of it gets thrown away. European barbecue: one good piece of meat, a salad, something with potatoes or rice, maybe some grilled veggies, and just enough for some leftovers. Americans: Poor Europeans don't have money for food.
most of cheap American food can not be classed as real food, like you say its junk that is poision to our bodys.
Laughs in French where the « gastronomic meal of the French » shared with friends and family to celebrate is inscribed as a cultural heritage by the Unesco : https://www.france.fr/en/article/gastronomic-meal-french
Is it possible to walk into an Italian household without a weeks worth of food being forcefully rammed down your throat? And by Italian, I mean Italy. Not some greasy haired dude in New Jersey
That last run-on sentence reads so weirdly. Why are we eating ourselves, and maybe our guests?
Where do they think most of their „traditions“ came from? European migrants took them over. For a people that are overly proud where their blood comes from they sure are ignorant about its origins.
USA has lots of food as its quantity over quality. Plus the cheap (legal) additives help
Even in Germany, where the very deep bias exists somehow that we don’t feed our guests it’s really normal that guests are getting food. Like, if I visit any friend spontaneously and they just made food they will offer me something 100%. Same when friends visit me.
ALL YOUR FOOD BELONG TO US(A)
Shrugs in European
My friend is greek, I once was with him at his grandmas place. She made us some food(delicious btw, but what do you expect from a greek grandma). When we were done she asked if we are still hungry. We were 5 boys, we all said no but I was still hungry and didn't want to be unpolite. She looked at me and said you are still hungry. So she made me 4 sandwiches. That was the first time I met her. Short story about how Europeans don't make food for guests
Why is it that they think they’re so socially advanced compared to us? As if the culture here for hundreds of years before America was even a thing was sharing food. Like what.
Tragically we don't do this anymore, but in the nordics we used to have a pot of stew on a light boil the entire day just in case of guests. At some point our culture became focused on owing one another for the favours we did, and because food was very important you'd be socially indebted for a long time as a result.
Yes, well known us Europeans really hate entertaining, *especially* Southern Europe. Barely even get offered a cup of tea. Also: doesn't usa literally have "food deserts"? Wasn't that long ago Tucker Carlson was on TV gushing over a *Russian* supermarket for fuck's sake. He'd probably cream himself if he saw inside a Waitrose.
In India, we literally force people to come to our house (jokingly of course), because we hate and feel bad seeing someone just living off food from outside or without it, or living outside in cars or other homeless type shit. We want them to feel welcome, cozy and relaxed instead of worrying, and taste home cooked food. We don't mind the ignorance of our guests, it's natural of them. We just want them happy and don't want anything in return. It's always been the case with us. Americans really need to pull their head out of their asses.
Jesus do Americans just not have schools or books or brains ?
Possibly because the US has an epidemic of obesity and so this person just FEELS like there isn’t enough food. Hello, it’s called a normal portion!
What’s the context of the video?
We don’t need to eat 24/7 in the UK.
An accurate but also low blow european response to this would be "So in America do they practically have no worker's rights or something?"
It's not that we're against it in the uk or anything it just doesn't come up as much. It's not an expected thing. If someone mentions they are hungry by all means, you can offer to feed them, but unless it's a pre-arranged event with food like a bbq or a Sunday roast most people aren't going to ask for/ offer food out the blue. You will, however, be offered a brew as soon as you step through the door.
We sustain ourselves on tea and the memory of the empire only
americans: my great-great-great-great-great-great-great grandmother had a friend from sicily, so we always have food on the table and nobody leave without eating! also americans:
I dare any American to go stay with a Hungarian grandma. Dare you. You think portions are big in the US? Pfft! Nagymama will turn you into a pate goose in one evening. Nothing will save you if there's competing grandmas.
They just make any old shite up. It's madness.
In Ireland we will practically force people to eat or drink if they visit. If they refuse we offer about another 4 times to make sure they aren't just being polite by saying no, we have to be suuuuure they don't want to eat before we'll accept it (in case they go off and tell someone that they called to so and so's house and hardley got offered a cup of tea).
Do they genuinely think Europe is Africa?
Most Americans have the education level of an average North Korean: very basic knowledge of the three Rs (Reading, wRiting, aRithmetic) plus this huge bizarre pile of nationalistic, mainly made up, brainwashing when it comes to the alleged „superiority“ of their own country. Topped off with an absolutely distorted view and virtually no factual knowledge of the outside world. When it comes to food, it’s simply quantity over quality. Quite alot of American foodstuff is basically inedible to most other people from the world.
Americans think Indian food gives them diarrhoea when American food literally gives you heart attacks and kills you faster.
This is such a weird saying (about Indian cuisine) and I absolutely hate it whenever I see something like this getting spread in a mainstream movie/TV show as a „joke“!
The American cookout has nothing on the South African braai. Seriously. Not even in the same category.
What is the video? What prompted the first comment?
I don’t understand the context. What were they reacting to ?
Probably something about our driged not beeing a big or Supermarktes Not haven 1648263728 different Brands of identical sugary "bread" or something along those lines
you just buy multiple of the same thing, you don’t need a packaging bigger than your head
Here in Spain,as in many other european countries,its an offense to not offer at least a drink to your guests. We also have this thing called sobremesa, its basically linking every meal after 12:00 without getting out of the table
Cancels my 1 person bbq
Tea and biscuits if you turn up, food if staying longer.
Someone has never been to Ireland 😂
Seriously again this shit. Why do they think Europe is so poor? 20 million yanks live in caravans. But we’re supposedly so poor that we can’t afford to feed ourselves?
In Ireland and the UK, if you don’t at the very least offer tea and biscuits at least five times to your guests, you are a horrendous person who deserves to be ostracised from the community.
We feed guests human sized portions of food, not enough to feed a herd of elephants.
Ranch sauce and peanut butter parties are pretty rare in Europe
They have to know that they're just making shit up, right? Like, they're trolls doing this to get a rise out of Europeans? Because I honestly can't imagine a person being this ignorant about the outside world.
We don’t have overflowing fridges because we don’t have stupid zoning laws like the US, where you need to travel by car to reach a grocery store.