I wouldn't really say asking for letover food to be taken away is strange. I do it all the time and I live in Cluj and I've never had someone be weird about it. But anyways, it's so interesting seeing my culture and my home city seen through your eyes and through an American perspective ! Love it
I personally consider it as being cheap...You didnt finish? well, go back next time and order a new meal...doggie bags, as they call it in the States, are leftovers for the family dog...dont cheap out...
It’s super interesting because I rarely remember a time growing up in American where I didn’t have leftovers when eating at a restaurant. I always felt wasteful leaving food on the table if I didn’t eat it all (maybe how I grew up?) I didn’t really think good portions were that different between America and Europe- but being back in the states, the US portions sizes are definitely bigger
If you smile at someone, they might just stare at you! 😄 Diet Coke and Coke Zero use different sweeteners because those in the US are not approved in Europe and vice versa. Also, the normal European version uses normal sugar, and the American version uses more corn syrup, which in Europe is not used at all. This is where the differences in taste come from, as well as the concentrations!
Servers will ask you if you didn’t like the food because they wants you to enjoy your meal. In Europe, eating is about relaxing, socializing and enjoying good food. That’s also why it’s uncommon to ask for leftovers.
I love that Europe is more slow paced when going out for a meal! I think as well the US usually has large portions too, so I wonder if that makes a difference!
I did hear that in Europe about the bread in the United States everything is filled with preservatives. As for the air conditioning your 100% on the money I absolutely hate air conditioning I've always freezing. I don't know what the reason is in America with all this AC I could see if it's very hot outside but even so if it's too cold and you go to an air conditioning place that's too cold and you go outside where it's too hot you can get sick. As for the shopping bags I know some states ban plastic bags you can still get them but you have to pay for them. The state of Delaware is one of those
The bread is absolutely crap in the US 🤣 Even the “healthy” bread is not good… 😟 Also, I don’t know what the obsession with AC is either, it will freeze you to your bones 😅
It is funny to hear you saying "in Europe..." and then realise that sometimes you actually mean "in Romania". 😅 There is a big cultural difference between estern and western Europe. Western Europe is more similar to US culture (unlike Romanians, Brits queue very nicely, they smile more, they have the horrendous refill Coke in restaurants and so on). In Romania queueing is quite bad and my guess this is because during the communism when certain foods (meat) and basic necessities were hard to find and rationed, pushing in a queue could've made a difference between getting a shitty cut of meat or starving. Now, although we have plenty of food, some people still lack the manerism of queueing, either because they are too old to change, either because although they haven't lived during communism, this is how they've seen their parents queueing.
That is so true about the UK- it seems like it’s own place over there 😂 Sometimes I forget it’s apart of Europe, because it is so different! I’ll try to be more specific in the future! Also, very interesting about queuing 🤔
@@sierramarie well USA bread has around 13gr of sugar per 100 gr of bread. in Romania, we have between 5-7 gr sugar at most. The USA uses a lot of sugar because they take advantage of a biological trait of our body. when we evolved up until 17th-century sugar was really hard to find in foods so the brain developed to release endorphins so that when you find it you eat as much as possible, so in order for the food industry to appeal to that trait they add more sugar to make you consume more. In RO/EU we have regulations on what is our food, the US has a more "relaxed" attitude to it. there is a lot more to talk about this, but that is the broad explanation.
@@sierramarie The topic of differences in food and what they contain is so vast. I think we should start with the most important aspect: WHY. It all has to do with politics and how the USA system works and Ro/EU. I`m going to stick mainly comparing to Ro because every country has small differences but at large are kind of the same. In Romania, our political campaigns get their money from the national budget. So companies can`t give huge donations to the parties. What you call lobbying we call bribes. and that is illegal. So because the people's opinions matter more, and their health and security amount to more, we have our politicians giving a bit more than 2 cents on us. That is why we have 23+ paid vacation days, 13 days of national paid "bank holidays" 2 years of paid maternity leave, and so on. So because big companies can`t get involved in politics their influence is not that big. In the USA most of the policies are oriented towards the well-being of the corporations and not the people. For example, in food, we have a ban on animal growth hormones rGBH and GBH used in cattle, both because it is not good for humans and cows, but also because they make the cows vulnerable to a lot of infections, thus resulting in lots of treatments with antibiotics that will be ingested by people when they eat the meat. ADA is another ingredient banned in the EU, it is used in the USA to "bleach" bread (making it more white) and is the substance used to make bubbles inside foams. Also in the USA chlorine is used to wash chicken in processing factories. no need to tell you why we don`t do that. and the list is huge. I`m sure you noticed the difference in the taste of fruits and veggies, especially the ones that are in season, between the ones in the USA and from here. If you have any questions on why and how we do things here, please don`t hesitate to ask me, no matter what it is. I`m happy to answer you!
Wow! Thank you so much for that thoughtful and insightful response! There is so much to take in. First, I'm not surprised that the US puts so much sugar in its bread. The foods I've found sugar added to sometimes blow my mind. The first eye-opening experience was when I moved to Romania and noticed the difference people had in their relationship with sugar! For example, not adding tons of sugar to coffee, doughnuts, and pancakes is considered a dessert, not breakfast (most of the time). I think the US has normalized a sugar addiction! I know that my response is a generalization, based on my experience, and that some people probably do eat like that in Europe. I think ingredient education is something that is finally getting brought to the surface, but I feel like we're just at the tip of the iceberg. I have definitely noticed a difference in the food quality since moving here, especially fruits and bread. OMG, the bread is SO good here and pretty affordable! It's very interesting to me, as I research and hear more about the differences in food culture between the US and other parts of the world. I heard before that the US has the least amount of banned ingredients that have been proven to have terrible health benefits. I am not surprised that it is political. It is so cool to have the opportunity to be in Europe and experience the wonderful things provided- as you mentioned above, PTO, maternity leave, etc. I want to digest this conversation more and do some more research, I am VERY intrigued! Thank you for taking the time to type out all of this information and for being available for any future questions! I really appreciate that!
@@sierramarie no, i am the one that needs to be thanking you! for several reasons, the most important one is this: thank you for showing people that living in Romania is not as you see in the media... that it is a safe, welcoming, and friendly place to live. That we don`t live all in huts and scavenge our dinner to eat by the road. And for me (and most people that i know) anyone coming from other countries especially from "the west" to live here is reaffirming our reasons to stay here, and not get out of this country. Sure we have problems, and sure we still have a long way to go, but we are trying to do our best, and what I am most proud of as a Romanian is that we managed to get to this point despite our gov. doing close to feck all to help.
Thank you for being here to experience life, learn and grow with me!! XOXO
I wouldn't really say asking for letover food to be taken away is strange. I do it all the time and I live in Cluj and I've never had someone be weird about it. But anyways, it's so interesting seeing my culture and my home city seen through your eyes and through an American perspective ! Love it
I personally consider it as being cheap...You didnt finish? well, go back next time and order a new meal...doggie bags, as they call it in the States, are leftovers for the family dog...dont cheap out...
It’s super interesting because I rarely remember a time growing up in American where I didn’t have leftovers when eating at a restaurant. I always felt wasteful leaving food on the table if I didn’t eat it all (maybe how I grew up?) I didn’t really think good portions were that different between America and Europe- but being back in the states, the US portions sizes are definitely bigger
If you smile at someone, they might just stare at you! 😄
Diet Coke and Coke Zero use different sweeteners because those in the US are not approved in Europe and vice versa. Also, the normal European version uses normal sugar, and the American version uses more corn syrup, which in Europe is not used at all. This is where the differences in taste come from, as well as the concentrations!
I’m used to the stare now 😂 Not bad, just different ☺️ Also, I knew the taste was different so I’m glad you gave some context!! Thank you!!!
In US even the sodas are 80 % water down .
So true! 😟
Servers will ask you if you didn’t like the food because they wants you to enjoy your meal. In Europe, eating is about relaxing, socializing and enjoying good food. That’s also why it’s uncommon to ask for leftovers.
I love that Europe is more slow paced when going out for a meal! I think as well the US usually has large portions too, so I wonder if that makes a difference!
I did hear that in Europe about the bread in the United States everything is filled with preservatives. As for the air conditioning your 100% on the money I absolutely hate air conditioning I've always freezing. I don't know what the reason is in America with all this AC I could see if it's very hot outside but even so if it's too cold and you go to an air conditioning place that's too cold and you go outside where it's too hot you can get sick. As for the shopping bags I know some states ban plastic bags you can still get them but you have to pay for them. The state of Delaware is one of those
The bread is absolutely crap in the US 🤣 Even the “healthy” bread is not good… 😟 Also, I don’t know what the obsession with AC is either, it will freeze you to your bones 😅
take away box is the solution 👍😜
It is funny to hear you saying "in Europe..." and then realise that sometimes you actually mean "in Romania". 😅 There is a big cultural difference between estern and western Europe. Western Europe is more similar to US culture (unlike Romanians, Brits queue very nicely, they smile more, they have the horrendous refill Coke in restaurants and so on). In Romania queueing is quite bad and my guess this is because during the communism when certain foods (meat) and basic necessities were hard to find and rationed, pushing in a queue could've made a difference between getting a shitty cut of meat or starving. Now, although we have plenty of food, some people still lack the manerism of queueing, either because they are too old to change, either because although they haven't lived during communism, this is how they've seen their parents queueing.
That is so true about the UK- it seems like it’s own place over there 😂 Sometimes I forget it’s apart of Europe, because it is so different! I’ll try to be more specific in the future! Also, very interesting about queuing 🤔
well in all fairness the amount of sugar that US bread has makes it in Europe fall under the cake category.
That is so shocking! Like why?????? 😨
@@sierramarie well USA bread has around 13gr of sugar per 100 gr of bread.
in Romania, we have between 5-7 gr sugar at most.
The USA uses a lot of sugar because they take advantage of a biological trait of our body.
when we evolved up until 17th-century sugar was really hard to find in foods so the brain developed to release endorphins so that when you find it you eat as much as possible, so in order for the food industry to appeal to that trait they add more sugar to make you consume more.
In RO/EU we have regulations on what is our food, the US has a more "relaxed" attitude to it.
there is a lot more to talk about this, but that is the broad explanation.
@@sierramarie The topic of differences in food and what they contain is so vast.
I think we should start with the most important aspect: WHY.
It all has to do with politics and how the USA system works and Ro/EU. I`m going to stick mainly comparing to Ro because every country has small differences but at large are kind of the same.
In Romania, our political campaigns get their money from the national budget.
So companies can`t give huge donations to the parties.
What you call lobbying we call bribes. and that is illegal.
So because the people's opinions matter more, and their health and security amount to more, we have our politicians giving a bit more than 2 cents on us.
That is why we have 23+ paid vacation days, 13 days of national paid "bank holidays" 2 years of paid maternity leave, and so on.
So because big companies can`t get involved in politics their influence is not that big.
In the USA most of the policies are oriented towards the well-being of the corporations and not the people.
For example, in food, we have a ban on animal growth hormones rGBH and GBH used in cattle, both because it is not good for humans and cows, but also because they make the cows vulnerable to a lot of infections, thus resulting in lots of treatments with antibiotics that will be ingested by people when they eat the meat.
ADA is another ingredient banned in the EU, it is used in the USA to "bleach" bread (making it more white) and is the substance used to make bubbles inside foams.
Also in the USA chlorine is used to wash chicken in processing factories. no need to tell you why we don`t do that.
and the list is huge.
I`m sure you noticed the difference in the taste of fruits and veggies, especially the ones that are in season, between the ones in the USA and from here.
If you have any questions on why and how we do things here, please don`t hesitate to ask me, no matter what it is. I`m happy to answer you!
Wow! Thank you so much for that thoughtful and insightful response! There is so much to take in. First, I'm not surprised that the US puts so much sugar in its bread. The foods I've found sugar added to sometimes blow my mind. The first eye-opening experience was when I moved to Romania and noticed the difference people had in their relationship with sugar! For example, not adding tons of sugar to coffee, doughnuts, and pancakes is considered a dessert, not breakfast (most of the time). I think the US has normalized a sugar addiction! I know that my response is a generalization, based on my experience, and that some people probably do eat like that in Europe.
I think ingredient education is something that is finally getting brought to the surface, but I feel like we're just at the tip of the iceberg. I have definitely noticed a difference in the food quality since moving here, especially fruits and bread. OMG, the bread is SO good here and pretty affordable! It's very interesting to me, as I research and hear more about the differences in food culture between the US and other parts of the world. I heard before that the US has the least amount of banned ingredients that have been proven to have terrible health benefits. I am not surprised that it is political. It is so cool to have the opportunity to be in Europe and experience the wonderful things provided- as you mentioned above, PTO, maternity leave, etc.
I want to digest this conversation more and do some more research, I am VERY intrigued! Thank you for taking the time to type out all of this information and for being available for any future questions! I really appreciate that!
@@sierramarie no, i am the one that needs to be thanking you!
for several reasons,
the most important one is this:
thank you for showing people that living in Romania is not as you see in the media...
that it is a safe, welcoming, and friendly place to live.
That we don`t live all in huts and scavenge our dinner to eat by the road.
And for me (and most people that i know) anyone coming from other countries especially from "the west" to live here is reaffirming our reasons to stay here, and not get out of this country.
Sure we have problems, and sure we still have a long way to go, but we are trying to do our best, and what I am most proud of as a Romanian is that we managed to get to this point despite our gov. doing close to feck all to help.
i eat pizza like a true teenage mutant ninja turtle but with lots of ketchup :P i do have a microwave oven and AC. cowabungaaaa
😂😂☠️☠️ 🐢
Read ''Lord of the flies'' and all of Americas history will suddenly make sense to you...
I haven’t read that before. I will check it out! 😊