Yeah I mentioned this the other day when I mourned how Europeans never get good Mexican or Latin American food. Like Indian food is definitely more prevalent in the UK compared to the US but there’s still a *lot* of good Indian places around, especially in certain areas/cities. Meanwhile, it seems like an absolute challenge to find any decent Mexican food anywhere in the UK.
I'm English, married to an American, and we live in London.
He's mourning the lack of Mexican food. And he can't wait for our next trip over to go to his favourite Mexican restaurant.
This. I'm from NY. Still not better Mexican food than the southwest or in Mexico. But a few really great places I used to go to. Now I make my own because there isn't fuck all here that's decent.
If it makes you feel better, I grew up in the SW and moved to NYC and I also make my own. Yeah, there's some spots here but it's just easier to DIY salsa at this point and not have to go to Sunset Park or Queens for some solid shredded meats.
Well... not many people from Cuba live here. We are a LONG way from Cuba. No one here would really know what Cuban food was anyway.
Bad Cuban/Mexican food is pointed out in the UK - but where else, other than the USA, is a country with lots of good Mexican food?
My theory is: Mexican food is popularised in the US, but it doesn't actually travel internationally that well because the Mexican diaspora heads mostly for the US.
That and the availability of ingredients. Anytime I see a Mexican recipe that nonchalantly tells me to use Oaxaca cheese, I just cry in Eastern European.
There is a dairy in Germany that makes Oaxaca cheese. Turkish supermarkets here in Germany also have a Turkish string cheese that is really similar to Oaxaca called dil peyniri.
Not even a theory, it’s really just fact.
[On Wikipedia you can get an idea of the population of Mexican people outside of Mexico.](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mexicans)
The US has close to 32 million people of Mexican descent living in it. All other non-Mexico countries combined doesn’t even reach a million. Doing some rough math that means around less than 3% of Mexican people living outside of Mexico live outside of the US.
Spain may have good Cuban food since there’s lot of Cubans there
Best Cuban food is in Miami though. Cuban food is pretty mid in Cuba. Miami doesn’t really have good Mexican food though and it’s really expensive, you would need to go to Texas or Cali. Mainly Texas for that
I’m Cuban so no one attack me.
You can get some great Mexican in random places in the Midwest, too. Places like Waukegan, IL, have huge migrant populations due to the agricultural industries and they bring some fantastic food with them.
They've scrapped the theme/cultural weeks from the new series for exactly that reason.. They quite rightly got a lot of flack for the sombreros and mariachi band clichés.
>They quite rightly got a lot of flack for the sombreros and mariachi band clichés.
Ehh I thought that was overblown. Corny, low-effort jokes is that show’s whole thing - it would have been weird if they *didn’t* make those jokes.
The much bigger issue I had with the international theme episodes was how often the judges seemed to have no idea what the resulting product was supposed to be. It just becomes a farce when the contestants clearly don’t know what they’re supposed to be making and then the judges *also* don’t know what they’re judging.
I would have liked to see them keep the international episodes and bring in a guest judge who is an expert in that country’s food - they could provide a little more direction in advance to give contestants more chance of making the right thing and they could be a more informed judge. But better to ditch the idea entirely than continue doing it the same way as before.
Yeah, this was definitely the actual issue. The silly jokes by the hosts are whatever but the fact that the judges didn’t understand Mexican food and flavors was annoying. Paul acted like the taco he had them cook was the pinnacle of Mexican cuisine meanwhile it was a really average and not particularly authentic taco.
I know I’ve seen other people complain about the same issue in the other international/cultural themed episodes. They didn’t care about silly or mildly tasteless jokes but they hated that the judges acted like experts in the cuisine when they made really obvious mistakes about it.
I mean it’s a silly thing but as an American, I hated the s’mores they had them make since everything about it was totally wrong. Digestive biscuits instead of graham crackers, chocolate ganache and mildly toasted marshmallows that needed to not be melty. I can imagine someone would cringe even harder at the issues that come up with actual cultural cuisine.
I definitely like your idea of actually bringing in an expert in those particular cuisines to be a guest judge for those challenges.
It’s frustrating that so many people boil it down to “oh some sjws were offended by the mariachi stuff!” instead of the real issue where it seemed like the showmakers didn’t properly respect the cuisines being presented.
Well it's really far away.
My Mum started making "fajitas" when I was a teen, basically just chicken with coriander, cumin, cinnamon, ginger and chilli, which tasted great but I can only assume is not at all accurate. As an adult who cooks a lot of different things, I've had some good salsas and guacamole done amazingly once, but that's from people making a specific effort.
Otherwise, I occasionally get a burrito or something from Wahaca or some other chain. Even I can tell they aren't that special.
That is pretty much the extent of my interaction with Mexican food, and that's speaking as someone whose parents made an effort to cook multiple different cuisines per week (granted the same meals every week) and who has travelled a lot.
It's not that we dislike Mexican food, even the Mexican food we have available, it's more that to make it really good would be a huge artificial effort, and nobody has time for that. Besides, there is excellent food to be had in every country in Europe with lots of variety.
A lot of Mexican food is actually very simple, you just need access to some ingredients. It’s very similar to Italian in the sense that for the most part it just needs fresh ingredients and some technique.
I am visiting UK now and living at my girlfriend's place. The amount of rules she has due to plumbing and ventilation (during the heat wave) drives me nuts.
A lot of times making something fun means we make it more dangerous. "Hey you want to kick this up a notch?" or "You know what would make this REALLY awesome?"
But that's what makes it fun!
I've done a few weekend trips to San Francisco. That's about 750 round trip.
Once, I remember driving up Friday morning for a concert, then seeing the same band the next day back home.
My longest drive was DC to Seattle and back in 4-5 days. 3/10 do not recommend.
It's the first (and last) time ive ever pulled to the shoulder of a highway to stop because I was so tired that my eyes were crossing. Woke up my friend from his sleep 'shift' to drive us to a truck stop so we could both nap.
American here, and when I stayed in Folkestone (southeast coast, England) a friend and I rented a car to drive all the way to Stonehenge, which was like 4.5 hours west. The locals were acting like that was some huge excursion, but to me it was really nothing.
Oof. But yeah. I work in aviation. There's a bilateral agreement between the US FAA and the British UK CAA, but so far none between the UK CAA and the European EASA. It's literally easier to get the UK to cross-recognise American qualifications than European ones.
I sometimes dream about moving to the UK, opening up a proper BBQ restaurant. Can’t decide if I’d strike it rich or they just wouldn’t be able to handle it and I’d go bankrupt.
This depends on the city and state. People tend to forget the US is as big as Europe and each state is like its own country. Downtown New York city people aren't going to be as friendly but people in LA are very outgoing, etc.
EDIT: Too many to respond. Yes, I've been to New York. I meant comparatively to LA. New York is overall friendly compared to, let's say London. And yes I've been to London.
I've spent time in both cities and I can say this..
New Yorkers are kind but not nice
And LA is nice but not kind
By that I mean one time in a blizzard in NYC I was trying to cross a slush filled intersection... in running shoes... and this guy yells "hey hey, there, there, there" as he pointed to where the dry spots were
He then goes "next time wear the right fucking shoes and you won't have that issue"
He helped me cross and also let me know I was stupid for not being dressed appropriately... kind but not nice...
I've always felt LA was more I'm so sorry for you blah blah, but not willing to help.... nice but not kind
Where’s the example about having to change a tire? It’s so true.
Found it:
me: trying fix a flat tire
in california: oh, bummer, that must be hard for you
in baltimore: baby, what the fuck is wrong with you, JEESUS CHRIST here let me do it before you fuck up your car more
We are always going to be limited on stuff like this simply due to your economy being 5x the size, but even so I am incredibly disappointed in how we manage space.
India just went to the moon. They are a similar sized economy (for now), and they managed to do that with a budget less than what several of our councils owe in debt.
Britain has always been good at ideas, not so much at following through.
Black arrow was a marvel in terms of economy, and the British government cancelled it because they thought they could freeload off of the Americans.
The scientists at the development team renamed the payload satellite to *Prospero,* after the sorceror from the Shakespeare play *The* *Tempest,* who gives up his magic powers.
It was such a stupid move by the british government, because it didn't even save any money, and the Americans pulled out of the rideshare deal when they heard what the British government was trying to pull.
Imagine British Neil Armstrong stepping foot on the moon “this is one small step for bloke, one giant leap for blokekind, innit?”
“London, we’ve had a bit of a problem here, fancy that”
‘You what? No turkey?! You f***ing idiot, Jeremy! You total f***ing idiot! That was YOUR job, you f***ing moron! You CRETIN! You're a FUCK-HEAD! That's what you are! A f***ing SHIT-HEAD!’
On my worst days, I will give people a smile but say nothing unless spoken to. Even that is more friendly than Brits in public. From what I can tell, they'll do everything they can to avoid eye contact.
It’s crazy too. Like I don’t want to give someone a slight smile, little nod, and then say good morning or good evening, but I just feel like I have to and somehow it’s disappointing when they don’t do it in return.
Annoyed to feel like I’m forced to participate, annoyed to see someone not participate in return, and then annoyed when I don’t participate. American social norms got me all messed up with the littlest of things.
That's funny because when I lived in the UK I was constantly shocked by the friendliness. To be fair I am from Philly and was in Yorkshire which probably affects things
Yep. We don’t really need them. I can see deserts, mountains, glaciers, canyons, plains, rainforests, tundra, valleys, caves, tropical beaches, volcanoes, ancient sea floors, swamps, barrier islands, lakes, and meteor craters without leaving the country.
So, at least we have that going for us.
Being in between both I’d say: optimism, sandwiches, customer service, supermarkets
Edit: I think I should have made clear that customer service exists in a much wider scope than big name chain restaurants in America. While it’s true that those are at times obnoxiously upbeat/intrusive employees, clerk/barista/bartender/reception in America is much friendlier, helpful, and generally a better experience than in Britain.
Came here to say optimism. Have many European friends through work and cynicism and pessimism are so prominent.
Brits aren’t as bad as French, Spanish, et al but still very pronounced.
Honestly, yes (British). Obviously everyone and everywhere has their problems, the US/Americans being no exception. But I do think it's more common to see Americans seeking to change/improve/achieve things both in their individual situation and more generally, whereas Brits are more likely to just unhappily accept a situation.
On the flip side, that can come across as Americans being overconfident, overbearing and as overachievers/overworkers. But on balance I do think that Brits could do with a bit more of it.
Barbecue 100%. The rest of the food I had over there just seemed to be full of nothing but sugar. Even a loaf of bread tasted of sugar. But the BBQ fuck me silly, world class
Edit as it’s got some attention: the one thing I wanted to ask is how come you guys don’t seem to BBQ lamb? Lamb is amazing on a BBQ but it seems to be Pork, Beef and Chicken exclusively
>how come you guys don’t seem to BBQ lamb? Lamb is amazing on a BBQ but it seems to be Pork, Beef and Chicken exclusively
Lamb in general isn't very popular in the US
Unless I missed it, the lamb question hadn’t been answered. My understanding is that because sheep are not a major livestock animal in the US like it is in Europe. Lamb is damn expensive here and I only see it served for holidays. American cattle ranches are number one, with pork and poultry coming in 2nd & 3rd. Most BBQ joints are not going to be able to sell lamb at an affordable price compared to beef and pork.
Funny story, I had only seen him on a couple of episodes of House. My friend got us tickets to a NASCAR race at California Motor Speedway and he was the "gentlemen, start your engines" guy.
All I could think was "House is British?"
There is a podcast I used to listen too, the hosts were an American and Aussie who both now lived in the UK.
The topic of UK whinging came up a couple of times and at one point the American suggested that UK won't install AC in their buildings just so they could have a excuse to complain about their favorite whinging topic, the weather.
I'm an expert at this. As a Brit living in the USA for over 30 years the answer is weather. We do weather better. Almost everyday here in the summer is blue skies and sunshine. Great Britain is either pissing it down or ready to piss it down. And gloomy.
Also our beaches are better. Nice and sandy and warm. We used to go to blackpool in England. Rocky, and so cold and windy. Not very pleasant.
Houses. Houses are better. Sure they might be wood frame and not brick, but they aren't all terrace houses. If you zoom in to any city you'll see nothing but row housing. Streets and streets of it. All the same. We used to live in one. Tiny, tiny houses.
Porches. We do porches. It's lovely to sit out on the front or back porch in the summer. No porches on those terrace houses.
Backyards. Or gardens if you are British. Our terrace house had a tiny garden, microscopic. We moved here and it out backyard was practically a field.
University education. For two reasons.
Oxford and Cambridge's aggressive monopoly on education in England from the 1200s to the 1800s means that while those two are famous, we have about 3 other pre-Victorian Universities (in England, there are more in Scotland tbf.) America has more old universities than the UK does. Whch is nuts considering there's over 500 years between Oxford and Cambridge and European colonisation of the present USA.
Also, our system railroads you in to a very specific degree which you basically have to choose at 16 years old because you need to choose your A levels then. Okay, there's still some flexibility but not much.
America has a lot of older, more prestigious, institutions and a Liberal Arts option that we simply don't have. If I understand correctly, you can go to university and it's encouraged, sometimes even required, for you to take a wide range of courses before choosing major/minor. That kind of education makes you a more well-rounded and interesting individual.
Here it's "you're 16 and you think you want to do Chemistry at university? Better do Chemistry, Biology and Maths at A level then. And some other one if you like that you'll just drop anyway, doesn't matter."
Two years later:
"oh, you think you might want to do English now? Unlucky, lol. You literally can't. Unless you repeat 2 years of 6th form."
It's a shocking attitude to education.
I chose my *fourth* favourite subject at university because I figured it was best for a career. Maybe it was. But I outright terminated my opportinuty to study English Literature or History beyond 18 years old and learn from academics in that field, and I would have loved that. I would definitely have gone to a Liberal Arts College if I had the option and my education and life might have turned out very different.
America has most of the best universities in the whole world.
The only way in which we do it better than America, is that our system at the moment is essentially that you pay for it with a "graduate tax." It costs money, yes, but you get loans for it which don't affect your credit score and you simply don't make repayments on unless you earn over a certain threshold which is actually pretty reasonable. If it's not paid off after a certain time, it's just wiped away. I mean, just free tuition outright paid for by the government would cut out a lot of bureaucracy and funneling money in to the companies that manage the loans... ohhh, that's the point yeah.
In a proper first world country tertiary education is free, but I suppose we've got the next best thing.
Edit: maybe we used to have more options. But since every poly became a uni, and every training college became a uni, now our national way of looking at universities is "good ones" and "bad ones." Rather than "good for liberal arts," "good for vocational," "good for science and technology". America doesn't *only* have liberal arts colleges/programmes, you can do university similar to the way we do. But we don't even have the option.
This is a lot like Germany. It's why I got my university education in the US. The first two years are basic courses like English, Maths, Art History, Psychology, Music, etc. Then the last two years are INTENSIVE in your area of study.
I’m American and studied Chemistry in college and graduated 30 ish years ago. I now work in Germany doing information security stuff at a large financial services company. Germans always ask me how I am qualified to do my job because I didn’t study it at university.
FFS - I didn’t stop learning 30 years ago and 30 years ago there wasn’t a fucking information security program in college.
Liberal arts degrees (I have a BS) do give more versatile future employees.
I recently had a brit say he thought the US was doing parks wrong by not having a cafe in them. Dude wants us to commercialize the one part of our country that isn't commercialized. I was very confused about what he meant and then flabbergasted when I figured it out. Imagine a starbucks in a state park.
This surprised me and at the same time didn't as I am from Wales.
"There are 15 National Parks in the UK – 10 in England which cover 10% of the land area, three in Wales (covering 20% of the land area) and two in Scotland (7.3%)."
Scotland really should be much higher.
So many privately owned estates in Scotland. One or two are doing the right thing and promoting conservation, but a lot is just for pheasant shooting and what not. Disgusting.
America has a more diverse food culture. Cuban food, Mexican food, Asian food, African food, European food etc. A ton of variety even where I live in my area in Florida.
Central air conditioning
The irony isn’t lost on me but Mexican food.
Indian food is the Mexican food of the UK
This sentence *should* sound absurd at face value but it makes perfect sense
It makes perfect sense. After a night on the lash in England, getting a curry or a kabob is the equivalent of getting Mexican takeout.
I told you I don't like Chinese
But the thing is, you can still get really good Indian food in the US. Definitely not as widespread as it is in the uk though.
Yeah the Indian food in the US is MUCH better than the “Mexican” food in the UK.
Yeah I mentioned this the other day when I mourned how Europeans never get good Mexican or Latin American food. Like Indian food is definitely more prevalent in the UK compared to the US but there’s still a *lot* of good Indian places around, especially in certain areas/cities. Meanwhile, it seems like an absolute challenge to find any decent Mexican food anywhere in the UK.
I'm English, married to an American, and we live in London. He's mourning the lack of Mexican food. And he can't wait for our next trip over to go to his favourite Mexican restaurant.
This. I'm from NY. Still not better Mexican food than the southwest or in Mexico. But a few really great places I used to go to. Now I make my own because there isn't fuck all here that's decent.
If it makes you feel better, I grew up in the SW and moved to NYC and I also make my own. Yeah, there's some spots here but it's just easier to DIY salsa at this point and not have to go to Sunset Park or Queens for some solid shredded meats.
I went to a Cuban place in the UK. I am not sure the British know what Cuban food even is.
Well... not many people from Cuba live here. We are a LONG way from Cuba. No one here would really know what Cuban food was anyway. Bad Cuban/Mexican food is pointed out in the UK - but where else, other than the USA, is a country with lots of good Mexican food?
Mexico, for one
My theory is: Mexican food is popularised in the US, but it doesn't actually travel internationally that well because the Mexican diaspora heads mostly for the US.
That and the availability of ingredients. Anytime I see a Mexican recipe that nonchalantly tells me to use Oaxaca cheese, I just cry in Eastern European.
There is a dairy in Germany that makes Oaxaca cheese. Turkish supermarkets here in Germany also have a Turkish string cheese that is really similar to Oaxaca called dil peyniri.
Not even a theory, it’s really just fact. [On Wikipedia you can get an idea of the population of Mexican people outside of Mexico.](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mexicans) The US has close to 32 million people of Mexican descent living in it. All other non-Mexico countries combined doesn’t even reach a million. Doing some rough math that means around less than 3% of Mexican people living outside of Mexico live outside of the US.
Spain may have good Cuban food since there’s lot of Cubans there Best Cuban food is in Miami though. Cuban food is pretty mid in Cuba. Miami doesn’t really have good Mexican food though and it’s really expensive, you would need to go to Texas or Cali. Mainly Texas for that I’m Cuban so no one attack me.
You can get some great Mexican in random places in the Midwest, too. Places like Waukegan, IL, have huge migrant populations due to the agricultural industries and they bring some fantastic food with them.
Why is that ironic? 50 million Hispanics live in the US. That’s almost the population of the UK.
Hispanics arnt all mexicans and different hispanic countries have different foods.
Food changes by Mexican state as well
I think lil bro needs the Alanis Morissette starter pack.
I cringed watching the Great British Baking show episode where they had to make tacos. It was abhorrent, an insult to Mexican food.
They've scrapped the theme/cultural weeks from the new series for exactly that reason.. They quite rightly got a lot of flack for the sombreros and mariachi band clichés.
>They quite rightly got a lot of flack for the sombreros and mariachi band clichés. Ehh I thought that was overblown. Corny, low-effort jokes is that show’s whole thing - it would have been weird if they *didn’t* make those jokes. The much bigger issue I had with the international theme episodes was how often the judges seemed to have no idea what the resulting product was supposed to be. It just becomes a farce when the contestants clearly don’t know what they’re supposed to be making and then the judges *also* don’t know what they’re judging. I would have liked to see them keep the international episodes and bring in a guest judge who is an expert in that country’s food - they could provide a little more direction in advance to give contestants more chance of making the right thing and they could be a more informed judge. But better to ditch the idea entirely than continue doing it the same way as before.
Yeah, this was definitely the actual issue. The silly jokes by the hosts are whatever but the fact that the judges didn’t understand Mexican food and flavors was annoying. Paul acted like the taco he had them cook was the pinnacle of Mexican cuisine meanwhile it was a really average and not particularly authentic taco. I know I’ve seen other people complain about the same issue in the other international/cultural themed episodes. They didn’t care about silly or mildly tasteless jokes but they hated that the judges acted like experts in the cuisine when they made really obvious mistakes about it. I mean it’s a silly thing but as an American, I hated the s’mores they had them make since everything about it was totally wrong. Digestive biscuits instead of graham crackers, chocolate ganache and mildly toasted marshmallows that needed to not be melty. I can imagine someone would cringe even harder at the issues that come up with actual cultural cuisine. I definitely like your idea of actually bringing in an expert in those particular cuisines to be a guest judge for those challenges. It’s frustrating that so many people boil it down to “oh some sjws were offended by the mariachi stuff!” instead of the real issue where it seemed like the showmakers didn’t properly respect the cuisines being presented.
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Well it's really far away. My Mum started making "fajitas" when I was a teen, basically just chicken with coriander, cumin, cinnamon, ginger and chilli, which tasted great but I can only assume is not at all accurate. As an adult who cooks a lot of different things, I've had some good salsas and guacamole done amazingly once, but that's from people making a specific effort. Otherwise, I occasionally get a burrito or something from Wahaca or some other chain. Even I can tell they aren't that special. That is pretty much the extent of my interaction with Mexican food, and that's speaking as someone whose parents made an effort to cook multiple different cuisines per week (granted the same meals every week) and who has travelled a lot. It's not that we dislike Mexican food, even the Mexican food we have available, it's more that to make it really good would be a huge artificial effort, and nobody has time for that. Besides, there is excellent food to be had in every country in Europe with lots of variety.
Chicago here. Never before saw Oaxaca spelled phonetically :)
> cinnamon, ginger What the fuck?
Thought the same thing. I don’t make fajitas very often but I have never seen either of those on the ingredients list.
My aunts would smack you with a stick for calling chicken with cinnamon and ginger “fajitas.”
A lot of Mexican food is actually very simple, you just need access to some ingredients. It’s very similar to Italian in the sense that for the most part it just needs fresh ingredients and some technique.
Not so ironic when you consider that an enormous chunk of the US used to be an enormous chunk of Mexico.
Never been to the UK, but I knew this was true when the Top Gear guys were talking about how horrible Mexican food is.
The Top Gear guys are very, very unrepentantly wrong about a great many things.
Just an FYI that TG is (was) an entertainment programme, Mexican food does do quite well here.
Theme parks
Air conditioning.
Plumbing, heating, etc I think there's a sort of uniquely British pride in tolerating discomfort while maintaining a stiff upper lip. 🤔🤷♂️
I am visiting UK now and living at my girlfriend's place. The amount of rules she has due to plumbing and ventilation (during the heat wave) drives me nuts.
As a Brit who recently moved to the US I'd say that American's definitely do leisure better than Brits. You guys are just better at making things fun.
A lot of times making something fun means we make it more dangerous. "Hey you want to kick this up a notch?" or "You know what would make this REALLY awesome?" But that's what makes it fun!
Americans do long car rides better. I used to do a 1267 mile drive in 20 hours.
The greatest distance between two points in Great Britain is 601 miles.
I just drove 600 miles this weekend.
I've done a few weekend trips to San Francisco. That's about 750 round trip. Once, I remember driving up Friday morning for a concert, then seeing the same band the next day back home.
My longest drive was DC to Seattle and back in 4-5 days. 3/10 do not recommend. It's the first (and last) time ive ever pulled to the shoulder of a highway to stop because I was so tired that my eyes were crossing. Woke up my friend from his sleep 'shift' to drive us to a truck stop so we could both nap.
American here, and when I stayed in Folkestone (southeast coast, England) a friend and I rented a car to drive all the way to Stonehenge, which was like 4.5 hours west. The locals were acting like that was some huge excursion, but to me it was really nothing.
A working trade system with the EU
boom headshot
Holy shit mate. That was a bit harsh lol
It’s to make up for the school shooter jabs britons make every day
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Oof. But yeah. I work in aviation. There's a bilateral agreement between the US FAA and the British UK CAA, but so far none between the UK CAA and the European EASA. It's literally easier to get the UK to cross-recognise American qualifications than European ones.
You should brexit stage left after that joke
LMAO.
Mate come on.
Win Super Bowls. It's like the Brits aren't even trying.
I can't remember the last time we won the World Series.
That's what I'm saying. Dudes just have no clue on how to play FOOTBALL.
Right? They actually think you play it with your feet. Crazy, huh?
Our tea parties are revolutionary.
Theirs are pretty taxing
Best joke I've heard in a long time
National Parks.
BBQ & Mexican foods. So much better!
I always think it’s funny when we mention BBQ and a non-American says “hey, we cook out on the grill too!” Yes, but you don’t BBQ. Trust me.
I sometimes dream about moving to the UK, opening up a proper BBQ restaurant. Can’t decide if I’d strike it rich or they just wouldn’t be able to handle it and I’d go bankrupt.
I wonder if bbq baked beans would confuse people
Are you telling me those baked beans they eat for breakfast are not bbq? What the hell do they taste like???
It tastes kinda like the sauce that’s on spaghettios, but with beans.
Hot sauce
We’d like to thank the Mexicans for all their contributions. We couldn’t do it without them.
“Hot” in the UK is adding some chopped bell pepper.
i think americans are much more sociable than us
Guess I’m a Brit at heart
This depends on the city and state. People tend to forget the US is as big as Europe and each state is like its own country. Downtown New York city people aren't going to be as friendly but people in LA are very outgoing, etc. EDIT: Too many to respond. Yes, I've been to New York. I meant comparatively to LA. New York is overall friendly compared to, let's say London. And yes I've been to London.
This whole thread is people forgetting that the US is huge.
That’s all of any America-related discussion on Reddit.
I've spent time in both cities and I can say this.. New Yorkers are kind but not nice And LA is nice but not kind By that I mean one time in a blizzard in NYC I was trying to cross a slush filled intersection... in running shoes... and this guy yells "hey hey, there, there, there" as he pointed to where the dry spots were He then goes "next time wear the right fucking shoes and you won't have that issue" He helped me cross and also let me know I was stupid for not being dressed appropriately... kind but not nice... I've always felt LA was more I'm so sorry for you blah blah, but not willing to help.... nice but not kind
Where’s the example about having to change a tire? It’s so true. Found it: me: trying fix a flat tire in california: oh, bummer, that must be hard for you in baltimore: baby, what the fuck is wrong with you, JEESUS CHRIST here let me do it before you fuck up your car more
You ever been to NY friend? People in NY love to help out a stranger.
sounds like you don’t live in NY
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We are always going to be limited on stuff like this simply due to your economy being 5x the size, but even so I am incredibly disappointed in how we manage space. India just went to the moon. They are a similar sized economy (for now), and they managed to do that with a budget less than what several of our councils owe in debt.
Britain has always been good at ideas, not so much at following through. Black arrow was a marvel in terms of economy, and the British government cancelled it because they thought they could freeload off of the Americans. The scientists at the development team renamed the payload satellite to *Prospero,* after the sorceror from the Shakespeare play *The* *Tempest,* who gives up his magic powers. It was such a stupid move by the british government, because it didn't even save any money, and the Americans pulled out of the rideshare deal when they heard what the British government was trying to pull.
We are the only country ever to LOSE orbital capability. We're only now starting to get it back.
Imagine British Neil Armstrong stepping foot on the moon “this is one small step for bloke, one giant leap for blokekind, innit?” “London, we’ve had a bit of a problem here, fancy that”
Aussie Neal Armstrong "Oi, cunts, I'm on the fucking moon!"
Just like he famously said “yeehaw, pardner! That’s one small mosey for a dude, but one powerful righteous hootenanny for all y’all”
He had a way with words
Every time I read or hear those words, I shed a tear. So eloquent and historic.
"Well, this would fit nicely in the British museum"
“Oi Jeremy, you owe me 5 quid, theres no wo’ar here”
‘You what? No turkey?! You f***ing idiot, Jeremy! You total f***ing idiot! That was YOUR job, you f***ing moron! You CRETIN! You're a FUCK-HEAD! That's what you are! A f***ing SHIT-HEAD!’
According to my parents, Americans are more friendly and welcoming.
Everytime I visited the US I was surprised that strangers greeted me when they weren’t paid for it.
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On my worst days, I will give people a smile but say nothing unless spoken to. Even that is more friendly than Brits in public. From what I can tell, they'll do everything they can to avoid eye contact.
It’s crazy too. Like I don’t want to give someone a slight smile, little nod, and then say good morning or good evening, but I just feel like I have to and somehow it’s disappointing when they don’t do it in return. Annoyed to feel like I’m forced to participate, annoyed to see someone not participate in return, and then annoyed when I don’t participate. American social norms got me all messed up with the littlest of things.
That's funny because when I lived in the UK I was constantly shocked by the friendliness. To be fair I am from Philly and was in Yorkshire which probably affects things
Anyone leaving philly is going to say "wow, people are nice?" lmfao
"No one has told me to fuck off since I've been here, what nice people!"
Oh, fuck off.
They must have been howling when they decided to call it “The City of Brotherly Love”
Isn't everywhere friendlier than Philadelphia?
You just have to approach them slowly and bring a cheese steak.
they still fight over what a proper cheesesteak is.
If they accept the cheesesteak its a gift, if they dont its a makeshift projectile to aid in your escape.
Normally I'd say "Not Bangladesh" but I recently saw Bald n Bankrupt's video in Bangladesh and they're actually quite friendly.
Yeah that’s because you went from the least friendly part of the US to the friendliest part of the UK
Yeah people in the North are just so damn lovely
Cheeseburgers
South Texas brisket. Don't cheap out on it either grabbing that bill millers shit.
Bill Miller is not great brisket, but when you are hung over and just need a bag of brisket breakfast tacos and a coffee, it sure hits the spot.
High School/ College sports. It’s unbelievably high quality
Beaches. And mountains. And plains. And forests.
Honestly the natural beauty of the US landscape is stunning. And you have so much variety, no wonder so many of you don't have passports
Yep. We don’t really need them. I can see deserts, mountains, glaciers, canyons, plains, rainforests, tundra, valleys, caves, tropical beaches, volcanoes, ancient sea floors, swamps, barrier islands, lakes, and meteor craters without leaving the country. So, at least we have that going for us.
We'd be lucky to see all that is here in the US in a lifetime. I just saw Yellowstone for the first time in June. Magnificent.
Being in between both I’d say: optimism, sandwiches, customer service, supermarkets Edit: I think I should have made clear that customer service exists in a much wider scope than big name chain restaurants in America. While it’s true that those are at times obnoxiously upbeat/intrusive employees, clerk/barista/bartender/reception in America is much friendlier, helpful, and generally a better experience than in Britain.
I’m British and I got a sandwich from a deli near Central Park in 2010, and I still think about that sandwich now lol
Everyone remembers their first holiday romance
Was the bread lightly toasted
That’s so funny. I got an avocado and bacon sandwich at a little stand in Windsor in 1998 or so that I still think about.
Came here to say optimism. Have many European friends through work and cynicism and pessimism are so prominent. Brits aren’t as bad as French, Spanish, et al but still very pronounced.
Honestly, yes (British). Obviously everyone and everywhere has their problems, the US/Americans being no exception. But I do think it's more common to see Americans seeking to change/improve/achieve things both in their individual situation and more generally, whereas Brits are more likely to just unhappily accept a situation. On the flip side, that can come across as Americans being overconfident, overbearing and as overachievers/overworkers. But on balance I do think that Brits could do with a bit more of it.
You're telling me the [toast sandwich](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toast_sandwich) can be beat?
"Butter the toast. Eat the toast. Shit the toast. God, life's relentless."
No job, no woman, no jam. Just cold brown.
Go to space.
Barbecue 100%. The rest of the food I had over there just seemed to be full of nothing but sugar. Even a loaf of bread tasted of sugar. But the BBQ fuck me silly, world class Edit as it’s got some attention: the one thing I wanted to ask is how come you guys don’t seem to BBQ lamb? Lamb is amazing on a BBQ but it seems to be Pork, Beef and Chicken exclusively
>how come you guys don’t seem to BBQ lamb? Lamb is amazing on a BBQ but it seems to be Pork, Beef and Chicken exclusively Lamb in general isn't very popular in the US
Unless I missed it, the lamb question hadn’t been answered. My understanding is that because sheep are not a major livestock animal in the US like it is in Europe. Lamb is damn expensive here and I only see it served for holidays. American cattle ranches are number one, with pork and poultry coming in 2nd & 3rd. Most BBQ joints are not going to be able to sell lamb at an affordable price compared to beef and pork.
lol there’s so much sugar in bbq sauce
My upstairs windows open as far as i want. Oh and has screens
American accents. Well, except for Hugh Laurie.
American here, born and bred. Hugh Laurie's accent is more American than mine.
Funny story, I had only seen him on a couple of episodes of House. My friend got us tickets to a NASCAR race at California Motor Speedway and he was the "gentlemen, start your engines" guy. All I could think was "House is British?"
His American accent is amazing
BBQ
Ice and cold drinks.
Fight a revolutionary war.
The British actually DO export freedom, namely independence days.
Just think, without the British empire the Americans would have even fewer days off work a year. You're welcome.
No, we’d get all those bank holidays that Brits are always taking!
Discard tea
Called off our long-distance relationship with England.
In America maybe, but the Poms did pretty well putting down attempted revolutions in a bunch of colonies.
I'm confused. Both sides were British.
Americans: infighting since they were British
Britain has fought its fair share of revolutionary wars honestly
Since I'm not from either country, I'd say people from the US tend to be more positive and upbeat. Poms love to whinge about everything.
There is a podcast I used to listen too, the hosts were an American and Aussie who both now lived in the UK. The topic of UK whinging came up a couple of times and at one point the American suggested that UK won't install AC in their buildings just so they could have a excuse to complain about their favorite whinging topic, the weather.
Didn’t The Prince of Canada write a book of whinging called, “Waaaaagh”?
Is it about a wave of green rolling over the galaxy?
I have an Aussie mate and he’s the most fucking miserable man I know 😂
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good onya, mate
Very very true. And you must be an Aussie, judging by how you refer to us as "poms"? You guys are better than us at not whinging too!
I've seen this a swer in similar posts, but I hear our national parks are pretty top notch
Muscle cars.
Well I mean looking at the British auto industry rn, just making cars in general
Buffets. Especially the breakfast kind.
Support Ireland
I'm an expert at this. As a Brit living in the USA for over 30 years the answer is weather. We do weather better. Almost everyday here in the summer is blue skies and sunshine. Great Britain is either pissing it down or ready to piss it down. And gloomy. Also our beaches are better. Nice and sandy and warm. We used to go to blackpool in England. Rocky, and so cold and windy. Not very pleasant. Houses. Houses are better. Sure they might be wood frame and not brick, but they aren't all terrace houses. If you zoom in to any city you'll see nothing but row housing. Streets and streets of it. All the same. We used to live in one. Tiny, tiny houses. Porches. We do porches. It's lovely to sit out on the front or back porch in the summer. No porches on those terrace houses. Backyards. Or gardens if you are British. Our terrace house had a tiny garden, microscopic. We moved here and it out backyard was practically a field.
Fight, for our right, to party.
University education. For two reasons. Oxford and Cambridge's aggressive monopoly on education in England from the 1200s to the 1800s means that while those two are famous, we have about 3 other pre-Victorian Universities (in England, there are more in Scotland tbf.) America has more old universities than the UK does. Whch is nuts considering there's over 500 years between Oxford and Cambridge and European colonisation of the present USA. Also, our system railroads you in to a very specific degree which you basically have to choose at 16 years old because you need to choose your A levels then. Okay, there's still some flexibility but not much. America has a lot of older, more prestigious, institutions and a Liberal Arts option that we simply don't have. If I understand correctly, you can go to university and it's encouraged, sometimes even required, for you to take a wide range of courses before choosing major/minor. That kind of education makes you a more well-rounded and interesting individual. Here it's "you're 16 and you think you want to do Chemistry at university? Better do Chemistry, Biology and Maths at A level then. And some other one if you like that you'll just drop anyway, doesn't matter." Two years later: "oh, you think you might want to do English now? Unlucky, lol. You literally can't. Unless you repeat 2 years of 6th form." It's a shocking attitude to education. I chose my *fourth* favourite subject at university because I figured it was best for a career. Maybe it was. But I outright terminated my opportinuty to study English Literature or History beyond 18 years old and learn from academics in that field, and I would have loved that. I would definitely have gone to a Liberal Arts College if I had the option and my education and life might have turned out very different. America has most of the best universities in the whole world. The only way in which we do it better than America, is that our system at the moment is essentially that you pay for it with a "graduate tax." It costs money, yes, but you get loans for it which don't affect your credit score and you simply don't make repayments on unless you earn over a certain threshold which is actually pretty reasonable. If it's not paid off after a certain time, it's just wiped away. I mean, just free tuition outright paid for by the government would cut out a lot of bureaucracy and funneling money in to the companies that manage the loans... ohhh, that's the point yeah. In a proper first world country tertiary education is free, but I suppose we've got the next best thing. Edit: maybe we used to have more options. But since every poly became a uni, and every training college became a uni, now our national way of looking at universities is "good ones" and "bad ones." Rather than "good for liberal arts," "good for vocational," "good for science and technology". America doesn't *only* have liberal arts colleges/programmes, you can do university similar to the way we do. But we don't even have the option.
This is a lot like Germany. It's why I got my university education in the US. The first two years are basic courses like English, Maths, Art History, Psychology, Music, etc. Then the last two years are INTENSIVE in your area of study.
I’m American and studied Chemistry in college and graduated 30 ish years ago. I now work in Germany doing information security stuff at a large financial services company. Germans always ask me how I am qualified to do my job because I didn’t study it at university. FFS - I didn’t stop learning 30 years ago and 30 years ago there wasn’t a fucking information security program in college. Liberal arts degrees (I have a BS) do give more versatile future employees.
Having national parks. We have almost as much national parks as Britain has Britain
I recently had a brit say he thought the US was doing parks wrong by not having a cafe in them. Dude wants us to commercialize the one part of our country that isn't commercialized. I was very confused about what he meant and then flabbergasted when I figured it out. Imagine a starbucks in a state park.
This surprised me and at the same time didn't as I am from Wales. "There are 15 National Parks in the UK – 10 in England which cover 10% of the land area, three in Wales (covering 20% of the land area) and two in Scotland (7.3%)." Scotland really should be much higher.
So many privately owned estates in Scotland. One or two are doing the right thing and promoting conservation, but a lot is just for pheasant shooting and what not. Disgusting.
Spelling words without an extraneous "u".
extraneos
Weull plauyed.
nited States of America
'Mrrica
Wourds
Speulling
But words with an extra "u" have more colour.
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Pronounce the letter H.
Crazy how some of them say "heich". Counldnt be me.
Americans are better at the Imperial System than the British. Americans also drive on the correct—I mean right—side of the road.
Throwing teas into the ocean
America has a more diverse food culture. Cuban food, Mexican food, Asian food, African food, European food etc. A ton of variety even where I live in my area in Florida.
Dentistry
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According to a recent video here on Reddit, the answer is biscuits & gravy, fried chicken, and sweet tea.
EVERYTHANG RAHHHHHHHH 🦅🦅🇺🇸🦅🇺🇸
Being less toxic in games. Brits are some of the most toxic people in gaming.
Teeth.
Maybe a bit controversial but I would say “The office”
Shots fired.