Weird Things about Europe

[ChipWrecked]

Well, to start with you're calling American cheese a dairy product. It's pretty much water and oil.

And secondly, we know you're very civilized snobs, so STFU about how great your cheese is.

[LittleOldLady]

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European mayo =/= US mayo. The mayonaise that goes on fries is much fatter and flavorful than the mayonaise that goes on salads as they do in the US. We have seperate mayonaise to put on salads, we do not put that stuff on our fries. Also, this is a Dutch/Belgian thing I think.

Showers - I absolutely hate the handheld showers in France etc, I would like my showerhead to be up on the wall, removable when I would like it, and besides having a bathroom that can handle ALL the water, I prefer having a cell too, just because it handles heat better. I don't care much about waterspillage.

As for cheese... wth? American cheese is the single worst dairy product I've ever had. There is nothing good about it. How the hell can you call European cheese bad? I can imagine you not liking the moldy french cheeses, as they require peculiar taste, but Dutch Gouda cheese and the other brands completely own American Cheddar etc. It's not even close. It's not even close to being close enough to being comparable.

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In the Netherlands every supermarket has a wall of numerous wheels of Gouda. You tell the lady exactly what sort of Gouda you want--percentage of fat, sodium content, pittig of niet pittig (sharp or mild), and then she goes to the right wheel (there are dozens and dozens) and cuts you the size wedge you want.

BTW I grew up north of the Mason-Dixon line (in Pennsylvania) and when I moved south in 1976 (where I have been almost all of the time since), I was totally freaked out by all the strangers saying hi and have a nice day. To this day I consider all the have-a-nice-dayers to be at best insincere busybodies and at worst one step removed from muggers. Where I come from anyone who as much as makes eye contact with a stranger, never mind speaking, is considered as likely to be up to no good.

One thing I miss terribly now that I have travel limitations due to my health problems is the European sidewalk cafe (terras). WHat a pleasure it is to sit there chatting with a friend and drinking Grimbergen and watching the people walk by. In New Orleans (as it used to be) coffee shops had a couple of plastic chairs stuck in a parking lot--not the same.

One thing that I found weird in the parts of Europe that I frequented (mainly the Netherlands and FLanders) is the indulgence of dogs. Dogs can go everywhere--on the buses, in restaurants (do I want someone's huge canine sniffing my food before I can get it into my mouth?), in department stores, and even in the ancient historical buildings. In Nijmegen where I lived the biggest civic problem was the ubiquity of hondenpoep. All the indulged pooches out for walkies, and no pooper-scoopers in the hands of owners.

[Kirg]

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One thing I miss terribly now that I have travel limitations due to my health problems is the European sidewalk cafe (terras). WHat a pleasure it is to sit there chatting with a friend and drinking Grimbergen and watching the people walk by. In New Orleans (as it used to be) coffee shops had a couple of plastic chairs stuck in a parking lot--not the same.


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Oh man, do I miss terraskes. It's rare enough to find one here and even then they have to have a fence or obstruction around them.

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In Nijmegen where I lived the biggest civic problem was the ubiquity of hondenpoep. All the indulged pooches out for walkies, and no pooper-scoopers in the hands of owners.

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I can't speak for Holland but in Belgium poopscooping is now expected and being caught not doing it will result in a serious fine which has relieved a lot of the problems. Although still not as poopfree as here, it's getting there.

[adsman]

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Where I come from anyone who as much as makes eye contact with a stranger, never mind speaking, is considered as likely to be up to no good.


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In Australia it's grounds to start swinging, which made Italy particularly difficult at first. Here, everyone not only looks at you as you walk down the street, they stare you out, even so far as turning their heads as you pass and continuing to stare at you as you continue on. This is considered so normal as to be strange if you even mention it. I still consider it rather off-putting.

[Mark L]

haha the very first thing that weirded me out in europe was seeing a bathtub just like that. i mean wtf. i guess i got used to it eventually. also there are small fridges.

[Mark L]

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Germany: they don't have any regular trash cans. They are all divided up into like 8 sections, one for paper, one for plastic, one for metal, etc...

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its just 4 sections its garbage, paper, packaging, and plastic/cans/etc. i think its awesome.

[Victorvdb]

I am from the Netherlands, but just decided to keep the cheese thing easy. And yeah, New Orleans was the only US city which had a bit of a European feel to it when I visited it (been to NYC, Chicago, Boston, NO, LA, LV, Atlanta, Seattle, Houston and Charlotte). Nothing quite like having a beer in the sun, while watching people stroll by doing shopping etc [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

[Mark L]

oh also and the dogs [censored] all over the place in Berlin. that wasnt cool.

[Kirg]

Something that's rather weird about Belgium, Holland and I think France to Americans is that we eat raw hamburgermeat. Either plain with salt on bread or on the side with a salad.

Even more amusing is that this is called Filet Americain (american filet) considering Americans tend to be paranoid of eating raw meat (at least used to be since this is becoming more and more acceptable). I remember my grandmother's first husband saying this totally freaked him out when he came over during WWII.

Also the availability of horsemeat at butchers, whether cured or a steak is much more abundant then here.

And yeah, a properly made Mayo is very fatty and flavourful. It's just raw eggyolks, lemonjuice, salt and pepper blended together while pouring in oil.

[Fabian]

Reading this thread reminds me of how happy I am that I'm from Sweden.