Foods You Thought could be Found Anywhere

When you think pure American food, what is it that you imagine?

Personally, I had always imagined any fastfood staple such has hamburgers, cheeseburgers, french fries and soda. I've also imagined pizza. I've even imagined Mexican food, but I soon realized that it's called Mexican food for a reason even though I practically grew up with it.

(Though the Swiss do have their Mexican restaurants here. Which certainly does not fit my perception of Switzerland.)

I've discovered a few things though.

Sliced bread is American. There is no such thing as sliced bread in Switzerland. Except for one exception.  They call it "Toast" in English. Why? Because it's bread especially made for the toaster. It's not used for anything else.

There is a very rare thing called Peanut Butter here. It's only been introduced to the grocery stores here within the past five years. So peanut butter and jelly sandwiches? Totally American.

Brown sugar can only be found on American military bases. They don't have it anywhere else. So have a recipe that calls for brown sugar? You'd better have a lot in your food storage or you make it yourself. Here there is only sugar and raw sugar.

Hamburger buns and hotdog buns. Also another food item you have to really know where to look in which grocery stores to find. Oh, and remember me saying there is no such thing as store bought sliced bread? This applies to the hamburger and hotdog buns. You slice it yourself.

Sloppy joes. Doesn't exist here. Meat isn't supposed to be sweet.

However, hamburgers and cheeseburgers are made at certain restaurants. But I wouldn't recommend buying and eating any from anywhere other than McDonald's and Burger King. It's like drinking water thinking it's Sprite.

The Swiss have an addiction to soda and energy drinks. I truly wasn't expecting that. Though I was expecting their addiction to tea. Oh, and you know Starbucks? In the States it's more used for it's coffee. In Switzerland it's more used for it's tea.

But, the Swiss do have their awesome cheese that makes any recipe that calls for cheese that much richer. I had no idea cheese could have so much power in food! They also have their amazing rich chocolate that I adore. They have chocolate pudding, that is chocolate pudding. They have their chocolate bread. Which is in the picture on top of the toast bread. It's a croissant with a chocolate filling. Love those. They may not have really sweet cookies, but their bread and their chocolate makes up for that.

Another interesting thing to note is that in Switzerland it is very difficult to not get non-organic fresh fruits and veggies. I honestly didn't know the difference until I was told.

But to tell you the absolute truth? I'm loving the food here.