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30 Foods That Foreigners Consider To Be Delicacies But For Locals They’re Common, Shared In This Online Group
I guess we can all agree that now it’s easier to get whatever you can think of: accessories, clothing, shoes, electronics, books, magazines, etc., from all around the world. However, there are still some things that are hard to get in a certain country. Especially when we talk about food and drinks.
Reddit users were asked: “What common foods in your country are considered delicacies by foreigners?” The list of things that people love but find hard to get in their country goes on and on, from common things such as tap water or bread to caviar, rare meat, or maple syrup. These not only include products but also various dishes that are hard to make right. One of the things that some people named were French pastries. Even though you can find a baguette or croissant in almost every country, people still find these pastries to be best made by the French. And it seems that people who find them seize the opportunity to savor them as much as possible. So, if you are French, don’t be surprised to see a person with 12 or so baguettes going down the street. Also, some people were surprised to find that caviar is found as a delicacy, while for them, it’s a common food. The question that has almost 47k upvotes received many more funny yet understandable answers.
Do you have any foods that didn't make it to the list? Then don’t forget to leave them in the comments down below!
More Info: Reddit
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#1
Stroopwafel
Hilary Mol 3 years ago
I'm part Dutch, and I found a small market here (US, Michigan) that sells them. Michigan has a fairly large Dutch population, and I'm starting to see Stroopwafel more regularly. They're lovely.
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#2
French here so, a lot of our food. If there's one thing we know how to do, it's exporting our food as fancy delicacies.
The truth is, apart from pastries/desserts which can be pretty complicated to put together (the effort to make even just twelve croissants...), most French food is just peasant stuff spruced up for the modern times. The logic is almost always:
Take a cheap-ish cut of meat
Cook it either in wine or in broth for a few hours with a bunch of onions and whatever herbs grow nearby
Add carrots/potatoes, enjoy
That's the basis for bœuf bourguignon, coq au vin, gigot d'agneau, pot-au-feu, blanquette de veau, etc. If you want to get fancy you can wrap it in pastry, and that's another dozen French specialties right there.
There's not really a way to f**k it up, really. It's meat, cooked at low heat over several hours, with a bunch of aromatic herbs; as long as you've got a sturdy pot and you don't let it dry, you'll get something in the range from edible to delicious.
#3
Water, our tap water is perfect and no local ever buys bottled (iceland)
A lot of people are mentioning the sulfur smell of the hot water, and that depends on the area. For example where I live the hot water comes directly from a nearby hot spring area so naturally its gonna have a smell. Locals dont smell it though.
For drinking water you just need to run the tap for a bit, that will get any hot water outta the pipes and bring you spring water.
ThePracticalSarcastic 3 years ago
i lived in Alaska for awhile and the tap was better than anything bottled
#4
We had some Japanese exchange students at our university in the US, and when they saw the cubed melon on the salad bar (the standard watermelon/cantaloupe/honeydew mix), they thought we were living like royalty. Apparently melon is a really expensive, special occasion food over there.
#5
Hmm, forest berries perhaps.
I live in Finland. We have a lot of forests, so lot of berries such as blueberries and lingonberries. Everyman's Rights mean that you can just go and pick as much as you can find. It's kinda one of those things where if you live near any forested area, and are willing to spent time there come late summer, you'll probably have enough to last until next year in your freezer.
We have so much berries that people from poorer countries (Thailand is a common one for some reason) are hired to pick them up, because doing berrypicking enough to actually profit monetarily is heavy work, and apparently the pay isn't worth it for most Finns.
At the same time, forest berries are considered a superfood around the world, very healthy and trendy. Dunno about actual delicacy status, but definitely a difference in how we think about them.
Stacy s 3 years ago
It is a delicay because they aren't abundant and only in certain climates. I lived in the area around Lake Superior (only u.s. ares with majority Finnish heritage) and tourists are surprised they can just almost wherever they want, and pick berries and mushrooms while they do it. (Though locals don't tell them all the spots, lol) Sigh... miss it.
#7
a good baguette. I've seen american tourist walk out of a bakery with like 12 of them. Slow down dude, they are made all day long, you don't need that many
Hilary Mol 3 years ago
I have yet to find a local bakery that makes a good, crusty baguette. The last time I had truly good, crusty bread was in France almost 30 years ago.
#8
Hawaii has somehow turned spam into a sought after food, especially by visitors from Japan.
#9
I worked for a charity in Iraq for a year and we'd buy a dozen lamb chops for the equivalent of $5. That's like $60 to buy in the US and it's worse quality.
Steve Barnett 3 years ago
UK here. I used to love eating cheap cuts of meat, oxtail etc. However, because TV chefs championed these cuts, it drove the prices up.
#11
Good french pastries and stuff like croissant and "pain au chocolat", we call them "viennoiserie" in french, no idea if there is a specific word for it in english.
Obviously in France they are super easy to find in any bakery and they are cheaper. It's so common that honestly not a lot of people do go buy some croissants every day.
Macarons are also relatively easy to find, usually they are made in special shops but some bakery do make them.
Oh, and if you go to France or go to a (GOOD) french bakery in your country, try a Paris-Brest . You will not regret it.
#12
Speculaas/Speculoos/Biscoff cookies. Delicacy might be a big word but people seem to loose their minds over these cookies.
They're originally from Belgium & the Netherlands.
#13
Jamón serrano, here in Spain is really common and you can find very good product for a very affordable price.
#14
Halloumi cheese. It's a huge staple in Cyprus and we eat it all the times but in the US I only ever see it as Barbaques and sometimes at exotic cheese plates.
For the halloumi lovers out there try white bread, halloumi and strawberry jam. You are welcome
Try halloumi with watermelon. A groundbreaking combo that is the staple of many summer evenings
#15
It was supposed to be caviar, but now it's also unaffordable for us. cries in Russian
Agnes Jekyll 3 years ago
A friend of mine went to Russia probably 15 years ago--they stuffed themselves with caviar, and they said it was cheap, cheap, cheap, cheap. I'm sorry to hear this has changed.
#16
Fried Chicken, it's actually become a special holiday meal in countries like japan where you have to reserve your bucket weeks in advance! (mainly because of clever marketing)
But here, people would laugh so hard at that, cause it's just fried chicken!
RoseTheMad 3 years ago
Not exactly true it isn't really a special occasion meal, you can get Karaage chicken or KFC at any time any place in Japan, but it is true that for some reason it has become a popular tradition to have Fried Chicken (often KFC) at christmas time, and yes, people do order and reserve their buckets well in advance. xP
#17
I'm from Russia and I had an acquaintance who was going to marry an Irish guy. They lived in Russia for some time the guy went completely bonkers for caviar of capelin fish. It's not really a delicacy, it's not rare or expensive at all (probably approx $2.5-3 a can) but he liked it so much he wanted to bring a crate of it for their wedding in Europe. Needless to say his soon to be wife wife was not amused (imagine wanting to bring a crate of peanut butter or something to your wedding).
Samantha Lomb 3 years ago
Russians used to ask me to bring peanut butter from the states all the time before it was available in stores
#19
Do maple syrup or poutine count? I know at the least, in university I had a friend who came up from the US and thought poutine was the greatest thing ever. Honestly, I'm kind of surprised more of the US hasn't adopted it. Fries, cheese curds, and gravy, sounds more like an American thing. Not sure what other country's opinions on it are.
#20
Reindeer meat, wild blueberries and cloudberries.
RoseTheMad 3 years ago
Finland, I presume? I've had venison before, but not had reindeer meat/venison until visiting finland, oddly enough the first time I had it was on a pizza at Kotipizza in Helsinki, the first time I flew over there to meet my now-fiance.
#21
Barbecue.
I live in Texas and any time anyone comes from out of state we HAVE to go get barbecue.
#22
I live in Japan but I’m from the US. Whenever I go back home I buy a few bags of Lindt chocolates from the drugstore as souvenirs. They’re dirt cheap in the US, but for whatever reason they’re a luxury chocolate in Japan, and the same bags would cost $30 here.
#23
As Italian living in Germany I can say that basically every food from my culture is considered fancy here.
A couple of days ago I saw an Arancino ( cheap fried rice cake ) sold for 5€
In Italy a good Arancino is 1€
#24
Butter Chicken.
As an Indian staying in Europe, I hate butter chicken because it has taken over Indian cuisine in Europe and noone wants to try the real stuff.
Aliquid A 3 years ago
Depends on how you define "the real stuff". The version of Butter Chicken you are eating in Europe has existed almost as long as the ones in India. The dish has only existed since the 1950s. It isn't like it is some sort of traditional food that pre-dates European contact.
#25
Depending on where in the US you live, lobster, king crab, Dungeness crab, abalone, spotted prawns, geoduck, etc. can be pretty cheap, normal food but for foreigners they go nuts over these things because they are so expensive elsewhere.
ThePracticalSarcastic 3 years ago
Right? When i lived in Alaska, things like crab/salmon were dirt cheap. we used to just go to the docks and buy it for literally nothing. but elsewhere....$$$$$
#26
Krainer wurst or carniolan sausage, protected by EU for being slovenian speciality that can only be made here but loved and eaten by milions of germans and austrians.
It's the name that can't be used if made outside of Slovenia and sold commercialy not the actual sausage.
#27
An indian prepared bajji on master chef Australia
Bajji is available at every 5 blocks or so.
The whole recipe is cut onion/potato, coat it with gramflour and spice and fry. Indians who saw that surely laughed
(In south indian states bhaji is called bajji)
Auntriarch 3 years ago
We used to do the same but with wheat flour. Called them scallops. Yes we were poor and inland. But bhaji and pakiras are good stuff. Though I usually grate the potatoes.
#28
Pheasant. I grew up in South Dakota and we hunted pheasants every day during the season. In college it was a cheap source of food and ate it all the time. In Central and South American countries it is a delicacy and people could not believe I ate it every day.
RoseTheMad 3 years ago
Once upon a time, the same could be said for the UK - pheasants are still everywhere, but it seems like it's not exactly a popular dish unless you're one of those "uppity" rich country folk like that...
#29
Especially in my region its called "blutwurst" roughly translated as "blood sausage" or "black pudding" and i hate it
RoseTheMad 3 years ago
Black Pudding or blood sausages are common in the UK too, I think it's common all over Europe and some asian countries, such as Korea with it's "Sundae" have equivalents, I personally love it!
#30
are quail eggs delicacies? because I could just buy them at a grocery store here like normal eggs but I rarely ever hear of them anywhere else
What do you think ?
Kristin Ingersoll 3 years ago
I gave up reading this list. Why would you leave a comment about "here" without telling us where "here" is? It's not a guessing game. I'd be interested in your entry if you just told me which freaking country you're talking about. Basic writing 101. WHOOOSH!
Kristin Ingersoll 3 years ago
I gave up reading this list. Why would you leave a comment about "here" without telling us where "here" is? It's not a guessing game. I'd be interested in your entry if you just told me which freaking country you're talking about. Basic writing 101. WHOOOSH!
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