Why International Students Don’t Adjust Well to American Food
By: Veronika Mirkovic
Moving away from home is hard, and especially if you transport yourself across the world and to a big country as the U.S. Luckily, we have Facetime, Social Media, and international food places that make it easier to stay connected to home.
Though, as food is one of the biggest gateways to a cultural experience, international students are eager to try all the American foods that we see on the internet and on American TV shows and movies. However, often times we’re not that impressed. The food is too sweet, “fast” (as in fast food), artificial, and not at all what we’re used to.
One of the biggest shocks for me when experiencing American food is how Americans want everything to be sweet and sugary — even the foods that are not supposed to be: like bread, or bacon covered in maple syrup. The article Is America Too Sweet on Sugar? states that “Including refined sugar, high fructose corn syrup and artificial sweeteners, the average American wolfs down 142 pounds a year, or roughly 2 ½ pound a week.” Thinking about how much that actually is, is crazy. What’s the point of eating bacon if you’re not even going to taste the bacon, but rather just the maple syrup?
Moving on, according to the article Fast Food Still Major Part of U.S. Diet, almost 5 in 10 Americans said they eat fast food at least weekly. Being a non-American, this is an insanely high number. I understand that sometimes you’re lazy, or you don’t have time, but every week? In Europe, where I am from, eating fast food often is not popular. I think in general, eating out is seen as a luxury, whether it’s fast food or not. And when it’s an option, Europeans usually choose to eat at a fancy restaurant rather than at a fast food restaurant. Since we don’t eat out that often, I think we can afford a fancier meal. Continuing from that, since nearly 50 percent of Americans eat out weekly, it can be even harder for Americans to buy healthier food and try to eat better. The article American Obesity Rates are on the Rise, Gallup Poll Finds implies that there’s a connection between struggling financially and not being able to eat healthy in the U.S.
In addition, in Europe it’s considered a social event when you eat out. You can usually sit for hours and talk, as where in the U.S. it’s supposed to go as fast as possible, so you can continue on with your day. Maybe that’s why Americans rather eat fast food, because they don’t want to sit and talk for hours.
O n the contrary though, studies show that American food is spreading across the world and becoming more and more popular. According to the article Clustering in Cities, Asians Are Becoming Obese, “A wave of obesity is sweeping through Asia as its population shifts into vast new cities where the food is faster and fattier.” Food chains as McDonald's and KFC are just two of the American fast food restaurants that that are competing (and often winning) against Asian food restaurants.
Also, the article London Journal; U.S. Eating Habits, and Europeans, Are Spreading Visibly suggests that “Europeans are eating differently: they are eating more like Americans.”
Nevertheless, not many places can compare to America’s use of artificial flavors and colors in food. Alternet.org says that “Europe is much stricter than our country about what kinds of chemicals get into the food chain.” Furthermore, the article Living in Color: The Potential Dangers of Artificial Dyes implies that multiple popular products in the United States confide heavily in artificial colors.
For example, Taco Bell came out with a “Mountain Dew A.M.” for their breakfast menu a couple years ago, consisting of Tropicana orange juice and Mountain Dew. Considering Mountain Dew consists of “brominated vegetable oil” Taco Bell would not be able to sell that drink in many other places, because it’s banned in more than 100 countries.
I n conclusion, it is hard being an international student and adjusting to the food habits in the U.S. We’re not used to drenching our breakfast in maple syrup, or eating fast food as often as every week. Also, we’re not used to super colored food that tastes like food shouldn’t taste.
However, it’s not all bad. Obviously, once you get used to another culture and its food, you put your own touch on it. I, for example, don’t drench my whole breakfast in syrup — just my pancakes.
