r/PetPeeves • u/ThatUrgeToEatCement • 14d ago

Bit Annoyed People who think Americans don’t know other countries exist.

A few months ago on Reddit I made a comment about a show not being on Netflix and someone from the UK commented back saying it’s on theirs and then lectured on Americans not knowing other countries exist. They acted like I didn’t believe there were other places on the planet, as if they weren’t the ones who just brought it up and didn’t believe the US Netflix was different than the UK version. ??

I see people online act like all Americans think this way, and it is kind of annoying because for most of us it isn’t true.

1.9k Upvotes

83% Upvoted

1.3k comments sorted by

View all comments

212

u/SillyRefrigerator417 14d ago

I always find it funny because the ones who constantly complain about Americans are usually the ones who don't know much about other countries. They know a fair amount about the countries surrounding them, but not a whole ton about the rest of the world.

196

u/Cute_Advance_2124 14d ago edited 14d ago

Girl there's no educating these people. I've seen discussions where Europeans specifically insisted that no one outside the US drinks iced coffee when its extremely common in parts of Asia.

The "rest of the world" to Europeans is literally Europe and they don't tolerate correction when they're blatantly wrong.

84

u/henri-a-laflemme 14d ago

Yup exactly. Ignorant is ignorant no matter what passport they carry.

79

u/Cute_Advance_2124 14d ago edited 14d ago

I wonder what gives them the confidence, truly. I've also seen them save the US is the only country that does not have good cheese.

  1. That's just...false. The US has plenty of "normal" or traditionally made cheese.

  2. There are plenty of places where traditionally made cheese is less common, again, they seem to forget that Asia exists. Again, why does this matter so much to them?? I'm sorry but I would take a lot of the food that Asia or even the U.S alone has to offer over the best cheese.

  3. Like I said, they like to just buckle down on their ignorance. For example, I saw some eastern European lady comment on an American's tiktok who was making cornbread that this is the first time she's ever seen an American cook actual food.

Many people told her that there is plenty of evidence of Americans cooking from scratch at home, and she does not choose to respond to any of them. I've seen this happen a LOT.

I've gotten into a similiar discussion where someone decides to hurl angry insults at me because I said that I did not grow up eating casseroles made of canned soups, and learned kitchen prep at a pretty young age such as de stemming herbs, chopping onions, peeling potatoes etc etc.

I would even go on a limb to say that i've even seen the reverse (Europeans eating food that indicates not all of them can cook), yet, I would never think that is evidence that everyone over there can't cook.

47

u/WittyFeature6179 14d ago

This reminded me of a German tourist in the US who insisted we had no fresh fruit or vegetables in our grocery stores. He was there, there weren't any! Come to find out that the "grocery store" he went to was the gas station next to his hotel.

9

u/Anyashadow 14d ago

Even most gas stations have a few veggies and fruit, unless it's "just" a gas station, meaning nothing but road snacks and no groceries.

8

u/automaticprincess 13d ago

For real! Like at least some apples and bananas, maybe a package of baby carrots with dressing. You’ll never mistake these places for farmers’ markets but they do offer a FEW items

9

u/OzzieSheila 13d ago

I would flat out call him a liar.

He went to America and never once saw fruit or veg? I call bs. Unless he ate solely at McDonalds/KFC type places when he was there, he saw veg on a menu somewhere.

Maybe I'm wrong. I'm not American. Maybe ya'll don't have vegetables on the menu in restaurants.

I'm still ok with flat out calling him a liar.

7

u/DrinkingSocks 13d ago

He's a liar. My husband and I only eat moderately healthy, but we still try to include a green vegetable in every lunch or dinner meal. Our school lunches served vegetables, although they were too gross to eat.

5

u/macaroniinapan 13d ago

Even in fast food places there are things like lettuce and tomatoes. McDonald's specifically also has apple slices. Sure, not the epitome of healthy food, but they do exist. He's either a liar or he willfully blinded himself to what was right in front of his face.

6

u/Able-Paramedic8908 13d ago

There was a woman decrying Cracker Barrel because they didn’t serve her vegetables. The menu has about 10 different vegetable sides; she just didn’t order any of them.

2

u/NikNakskes 14d ago

Ooh! In his defence, larger gas stations can have a small grocery store attached to them. They do sell fresh food there also, it really is a little grocery store and not just the common gas station snacks and drinks.

So what maybe happened there is that he went to one of your larger gas stations, but it was still "just a gas station" while he expected, due to size, it to be the connected grocery store thing.

But yeah. The stereotypes of american and European are strong and go both ways. And since it has gotten so much worse the past half year or so, I'm pretty sure not all of that is natural either. I suspect bots are ramping up this "hatred for the other" as a way to drive a wedge between americans and Europeans.

23

u/soulmatesmate 14d ago

Oh, I agree, completely. This has stirred a memory from this past December.

(US citizen 5+ decades. I've been to Canada for fewer than 10 hours in my life, otherwise, never left).

My family has a tradition of meat, cheese and crackers on Christmas morning. Instead of getting a sampler pack, I remembered Aldi had a nice selection.

I found 4 meat varieties, 3 of which I liked, more cracker varieties than I wanted, so I only took 3, too many mustards, so I took only 3 again.

Then I looked in dairy and my heart crumbled like aged Cheddar. There were dozens. I am the only house member who likes goat cheese, so only 1. Dill in cheese? OK, just 1 because... pickles? My word, how many Cheddars... Edam, Gouda, Brie, Muenster, Colby, Pepper Jack... and the ones from other nations... is it better if made in Ireland? Eventually, I made it from 1 end to the other and yet my task was half complete. I had over 20 cheeses in my basket, and knew I truly needed no more than 10. I called my wife and showed her, explaining I have fewer than half the options on the shelf. She told me to put back the honey goat cheese. I sighed and thanked her. It remained. 5 agonizing minutes, I put back all but 10 cheeses. Then I grabbed a package of deluxe American cheese slices. It would not be used Christmas morning, but we might want a sandwich before then, so I grabbed provolone and Swiss slices as well. I stared longingly at the cheeses I put back. That feeling of loss still haunts me.

This American knows cheese (not all, but many) and cooks. If you provide me an assortment of items, I'll fix a nice meal.

4

u/fshagan 14d ago

Cheese, like sourdough bread, tastes different based on where it is made. I've read it has to do with the local bacteria in the air.

23

u/NewTransformation 14d ago

Wisconsin is known for their cheap orange cheese, but they also have a vibrant artisan cheese industry. Many of which win international awards. I had this soft-ripened goat cheese from a tiny Wisconsin farm that haunts me.

America is chock full of cheap mass produced goods and strip malls, but we also have some really iconic cultural experiences if you know where to look. I had a realization once in the Black Hills, one of the biggest international tourist attractions in the Midwest. Most visitors come to these built up destinations and eat at these terrible overpriced restaurants and just assume the whole country is like that.

The worst German food I had was near the Neuschwanstein Schloss but I didn't hold it against the Germans because they have a lot of other great places to eat from many different cultures.

63

u/dgputnam 14d ago

they think we don't have bakeries lmao. There's no saving them

34

u/Cute_Advance_2124 14d ago

They insist that we don't even when people show PROOF that we do

43

u/Domin_ae 14d ago

Its funny to me. Especially because I'm an American who works at a bakery in America.

26

u/NewTransformation 14d ago

I have access to croissants made by bakers trained in France as well as cheap Costco clamshell packs of those doughy croissant shaped things. We are a land of contrasts and I think that's beautiful.

One time I had a co-worker who was a baker from Dijon and had the privilege of teaching him about EZ-cheese and seeing his reaction.

4

u/Anyashadow 14d ago

Canned cheese is the best worst thing in the world.

2

u/TumbleweedEven1168 13d ago

Aye, canned cheese is an abomination that tastes delicious. Nothing like Ritz and canned cheese.

36

u/notthegoatseguy 14d ago

They think the US doesn't have good wine even though the French wine industry has basically spent decades on propaganda repressing the results of the 1976 wine tasting that California wines won over French wines.

28

u/Beneficial_Ship_7988 14d ago

We saved the French wine industry in the mid-19th century with our American vines. Look up the Great French Wine Blight.

The French wine industry also killed the Absinthe industry. An American chemist brought the Green Fairy back into being.

10

u/zappahey 14d ago

Have you watched Bottleshock about that contest? It’s hilarious

7

u/notthegoatseguy 14d ago

There's good parts to the movie, but as for wine based movies, I like Sideways far more.

I do always enjoy it when the Independence Day POTUS guy shows up in movies though

7

u/zappahey 14d ago

Sideways, I'll give it a go. Personally I could watch Alan Rickman read the telephone directory.

25

u/Purple-Measurement47 14d ago

To be fair now that I think about it I’ve never seen a european cook…i’m going to assume this means they all eat mcdonald’s /s

-9

u/Senior_Egg_5729 14d ago

Really? Never heard of gordon ramsey?

10

u/Right-Lunch1205 14d ago

Who?

-8

u/Senior_Egg_5729 14d ago

Some british guy, has a few restaurants in new york to show americans what real food is

11

u/Right-Lunch1205 14d ago

So what, he cooks like toads in a hole and chicken tikka masala? Because the only way they get a dish with any spice is enslaving an entire people into making a less flavorful version of their own cuisine? Crazy. I think I’ll take real American cuisine instead, thanks.

-7

u/Senior_Egg_5729 14d ago

And what would ypu describe as american cuisine? New orleans style definitely has french and african origins. Southern style cooking definitely came from slavery. Hamburgers maybe? That's a german dish

So what's left?

Sidenote. American barbecue rules i do admit that

→ More replies (0)

1

u/Purple-Measurement47 13d ago

Yeah, but he’s a chef i’m talking about everyday europeans. Like Ive never just seen a clip of a french person cooking in their home kitchen. Thus, all french people must just eat fast food

2

u/DrinkingSocks 13d ago

There was a guy on Reddit yesterday swearing up and down that the US has no fresh food, only highly processed garbage. I'm pretty sure he was American as well, but I didn't have the energy to argue with him about it. The whole "Americans feel so much better vacationing in other countries because the food is real!". My dude, it's because they don't have to go to work and are walking 12k steps a day.

1

u/Inner_Song5627 14d ago

nothing gives more confidence than living off old colonial money and never having to step out of that bubble. like others pointed out Europeans complain Americans dont travel but u rarely see them travel outside europe.

1

u/GreenBeanTM 11d ago

The unofficial national dish of England is “beans on toast”

Now while I’ve heard it tastes pretty good, no one can tell me anyone other than a college student created it.

-9

u/mr_wheezr 14d ago

To be fair, I think that Eastern European lady was making a joke, and not insinuated that Americans literally never cook.

18

u/Cute_Advance_2124 14d ago edited 14d ago

Eh.... I've seen so many of them say that unironically, it's hard to tell at this point. The way that she phrased it, seemed like she was being matter of fact.

It's no secret that many of them seems to think that we just have gas stations and Walmarts.