[AskEurope] Fellow Europeans, what is the aspect of USA lifestyle that surprises you the most?
[AskEurope] Fellow Europeans, what is the aspect of USA lifestyle that surprises you the most?
First of all, let's try to avoid American-bashing, and stay respectful to everyone.
I'll start: for me it's the tipping culture. Especially nowadays, with the recent post on !mildlyinfuriating@lemmy.world with the 40% tip, it just seems so weird to me to have to pay extra just so that menu prices can stay low.
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This is obviously not a hilot take, but i don't understand how people get that fat. The most common argument is that fast food is that much cheaper, which i just don't believe, sorry. A quick google search tells me that a big Mac is around 5.50, and that is not a meal, that is some garbage snack. You can cook a vetter an healthier meal for whatever you spend at a fastfood chain that lasts you longer than one meal. Combine that with drinking water instead of the soda you drink there you might actually live healthy. I also read a lot that it's jot their fault that even bread has a ton of sugar, which is disgustig, but also bread is like 3 to 5 ingredients to make your self.
When i browse tinder and run out of people, women from Thailand and america start to show up, and this is no joke or to shit on people or whatever, but 80% of the women there are fatter than the fattest people i have ever met irl.Have you spent time in rural or poor areas or the US? Try eating the local food. It's not good. As an american who moved abroad, I can say american food is just shockingly low quality. High fat and/or high sugar, lots of highly processed food. Very common attitude that "I have never and will never like vegetables". I mean I'd expect some people live off a diet like sugary cereal, soda, milk, wonder bread, mac and cheese, mayo, ground beef, eggs, candy, fries, pizza, etc. Keep in mind the most common vegetable that americans eat is the potato.
That being said, it is absolutely not the individuals fault for being obese. I'm convinced there are effects that are hormonal, chemical polutants, or epigenetics that push the population to being fatter. The lack of education, and knowledge of how people live in other parts of the world does not help either.
Its a problem for sure. A large portion of the obese tend to be poor people who are working 40-80hours a week with half and hour to 2 hours commute every day who possibly have kids to take care of and may or may not be a single parent household, fast food isn't the cheapest option, but its the cheapest option they have time or the energy for. Also, since most fat food (and most other processed or prepared food sources) know how addictive high calorie and high salt foods can be they will happily take advantage of under educated and over stressed people by cramming as much as they can afford into their food. That of course doesn't apply to everyone and plenty of people who have no excuse are still fat but that applies to a rather large chunk of the overweight people. That also exposes a whole bunch of other issues that need to be addressed as well.
Fast food isn't cheap anymore. Getting two Big Mac meals will cost you almost $30. Subway Sandwiches has 6" subs that cost $10 now. It's ridiculous.
Its a problem for sure. A large portion of the obese tend to be poor people who are working 40-80hours a week with half and hour to 2 hours commute every day who possibly have kids to take care of and may or may not be a single parent household, fast food isn't the cheapest option, but its the cheapest option they have time or the energy for. Also, since most fat food (and most other processed or prepared food sources) know how addictive high calorie and high salt foods can be they will happily take advantage of under educated and over stressed people by cramming as much as they can afford into their food. That of course doesn't apply to everyone and plenty of people who have no excuse are still fat but that applies to a rather large chunk of the overweight people. That also exposes a whole bunch of other issues that need to be addressed as well.
Making bread by yourself is tedious, and you need a big enough kitchen to do it comfortably.
I've found meals in US restaurants very big, and the food and drinks either very fat or very sweat, much more than in France. I'd be overweight in the US with only 2 meals per day and I don't even talk about desserts.
You may not realise it but cooking by yourself require many privileges: you need education, you need a large kitchen with all the tools and ovens, and you need time. Also, you can easily cook unhealthy food, which means you also need good eating habits, which you learn while a child or with a lot of pain and efforts.