- American culture as it relates to food can be different from what you find in other countries.
- A LinkedIn software designer named Aniruddh Chaturvedi moved to the US from India in 2011, and listed what he found to be the most surprising things about the food industry in the US.
- He was struck by the huge portion sizes at restaurants, Americans' obsession with coffee on the go, and the phenomenon of free soda refills.
America's relationship with food can be a surprise for people who have never been before.
Aniruddh Chaturvedi, a senior software designer at LinkedIn, came to the US from India in 2011 and noticed several things about American food culture that were different from his native country.
Chaturvedi detailed his most surprising observations in a Quora post, drawn from his experience as a student at Pittsburgh's Carnegie Mellon University and his time working in the San Francisco area. He emailed additional thoughts to Business Insider.
Here are the things he found most bizarre, from the size of restaurant portions to the phenomenon of free soda refills.
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'Unfortunately, it is expensive to be healthy in America.'
"Rich people are thin/well maintained, poor people are fat. This stems from the fact that cheap food is fatty, rich people don't eat cheap food — they tend to eat either home-cooked food which is expensive or eat at expensive/healthy places. Unfortunately, it is expensive to be healthy in America."
'American serving sizes are HUGE!'
"American serving sizes are HUGE!"
I am by no means a small eater, but it usually takes me at least 1.5 meals to finish the entree."
Americans tend to 'waste a lot of food.'
"Americans waste a lot of food. It is very easy to buy in bulk because it's so much cheaper and as a result a lot of wastage occurs."
See the rest of the story at Business Insider