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35 People Share What Stereotypical Foods From Their Nation They Don’t Actually Eat
Travel,LifestyleOCT 11, 2025

35 People Share What Stereotypical Foods From Their Nation They Don’t Actually Eat

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While it’s easy to imagine Parisians living on a steady diet of wine and croissants, or Bostonians downing their doughnuts with some coffee in lieu of a meal, the reality is that people tend to eat all sorts of things.
Someone asked “What's a food in your country that is stereotyped for your country but really, nobody eats?” and people from around the world shared their best examples. So get comfortable as you scroll through, bring a snack, upvote your favorites and be sure to share your thoughts in the comments down below.

#1

35 People Share What Stereotypical Foods From Their Nation They Don’t Actually Eat
People act like all Irish people eat is potatoes but we have a super diverse food culture. We also eat cabbage.
65points

#2

35 People Share What Stereotypical Foods From Their Nation They Don’t Actually Eat
Fortune cookie. We dont even have this in China.

Its actually American food created in California.
53points

#3

35 People Share What Stereotypical Foods From Their Nation They Don’t Actually Eat
Most "Chinese" food consumed in US is not Chinese food.
49points

#4

35 People Share What Stereotypical Foods From Their Nation They Don’t Actually Eat
Corned beef and cabbage. ~~Literally **nobody** eats that here~~ **Edit:** Seems it's a thing in parts of Munster, based off what people are commenting here. I'm from Mayo, so maybe it's a regional thing or a reimport.

The original meal is bacon and cabbage, which people do eat. When Irish people emigrated to the US they were often in the same neighborhoods as Jewish people, so bacon was replaced with corned beef.
35points

#5

35 People Share What Stereotypical Foods From Their Nation They Don’t Actually Eat
Nobody in Iceland eats the fermented shark. We just foist it on unsuspecting foreigners for a laugh.
35points

#6

35 People Share What Stereotypical Foods From Their Nation They Don’t Actually Eat
Canada’s stereotype buffet: apparently we eat poutine three meals a day, chug maple syrup straight from the tree, and ride our pet moose to Tim Hortons. Reality check: most Canadians barely eat poutine, maple syrup is a once-in-a-while thing, and moose will stomp you if you get too close. Sorry to ruin the fantasy.
34points

#7

35 People Share What Stereotypical Foods From Their Nation They Don’t Actually Eat
I think in Germany lots of people really do eat stuff like pretzels, potato salads and sausages somewhat regularly (not every week but they are a regular occurrence). However, I know many Germans who really dislike beer and never drink it. Speaking of beer, most Germans have never been to Oktoberfest and don't want to go.
30points

#8

35 People Share What Stereotypical Foods From Their Nation They Don’t Actually Eat
With the caveat of prepackaged waffles, most Belgians don't really eat all that many waffles. All the fresh waffle stands are mostly kept afloat by tourists.
27points

#9

35 People Share What Stereotypical Foods From Their Nation They Don’t Actually Eat
Frog legs? I mean. Frog are better eating up mosquitos than being chased for food. But we do eat snails and they are very good.
26points

#10

35 People Share What Stereotypical Foods From Their Nation They Don’t Actually Eat
Jellied eels, 99.9% of British people have never had them. They are only found to my knowledge in one area of London.
24points

#11

35 People Share What Stereotypical Foods From Their Nation They Don’t Actually Eat
Yes, we produce a lot of maple syrup and yes, we love it but really there’s only so much you can do with it. It’s not an every day thing. It’s very tasty but also very sweet.
24points

#12

35 People Share What Stereotypical Foods From Their Nation They Don’t Actually Eat
Chicken Tikka masala. Not the main thing in India.
Report
24points

#13

35 People Share What Stereotypical Foods From Their Nation They Don’t Actually Eat
I would love to say surströmming. But people eat that rancid stuff every summer. I don't know why.
23points

#14

35 People Share What Stereotypical Foods From Their Nation They Don’t Actually Eat
What I've seen in American Chinese restaurants. Well most of them. No one in China ever heard of general tso chicken.
22points

#15

35 People Share What Stereotypical Foods From Their Nation They Don’t Actually Eat
Egg rolls are not actually Chinese food but invented in America.
21points

#16

35 People Share What Stereotypical Foods From Their Nation They Don’t Actually Eat
I personally don’t know anyone who eats spray-on cheese

I’ve had it before, but it’s not something I’d buy. And it doesn’t seem all that popular with people I know. I imagine the only people who eat it don’t care about their health or food quality and have the palates of raccoons.

Edit: Ok so apparently the main (human) consumers of spray cheese are people from Pennsylvania. I’ve never lived there so I didn’t know that was a popular thing.
20points

#17

35 People Share What Stereotypical Foods From Their Nation They Don’t Actually Eat
I realize it's regional but when tourists come and try Cincinnati style chili and leave thinking THAT is chili, I get really upset. Cincinnati chili is an abomination and a war crime. Cincinnati isn't even in Ohio. Don't believe me? Fly to Cincinnati and let me know where you land. Thank you for coming to my TED talk.
19points

#18

35 People Share What Stereotypical Foods From Their Nation They Don’t Actually Eat
“Canadian bacon”

If you ask for bacon in Canada, you get regular ol, “streaky bacon” from the pork belly.

What Americans refer to as “Canadian bacon” is called back bacon and is a more standard bacon in the UK (and Ireland) and what you get when you order a “Full English breakfast.”

Canadians do have back bacon, but isn’t nearly as common. And when we do have it, we typically cure and prepare it differently, then roll it in cornmeal and we call it “Peameal bacon”.

And peameal bacon sandwiches are delicious.
18points

#19

35 People Share What Stereotypical Foods From Their Nation They Don’t Actually Eat
I’m Hungarian, and I don’t know anybody who eats goulash regularly. I wouldn’t say that nobody eats it ever, but I really don’t think it’s as common as tourists believe.
17points

#20

35 People Share What Stereotypical Foods From Their Nation They Don’t Actually Eat
Curry
Most of India doesn't eat curry all day the food is so diverse every 2
100 km the food changes even languages to.
17points
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