When you move from the UK to the US, most people would expect the degree of culture shock to be minimal. To a certain extent, they are right. But the fact that you don’t expect it makes those little things all the more surprising!
Early on in my American adventure, I suffered from such a shock that I like to call Surprise Peanut Butter.
Let me set the scene. In universities, most students are pretty poor so any promise of free food is likely to draw quite a crowd; that’s basically the only sure-fire way to guarantee a full auditorium of participants at a potentially very boring science lecture. So at my first such science talk, we were treated to a full spread of cookies and coffee (the Princeton Chemistry department is certainly not shy about putting money into free food). I grabbed a plate of cookies and headed into the venue. I had grabbed a few of my favorites, oatmeal raisin included, as well as some unidentified plain cookies.
Getting the cookies I didn’t fully understand was a huge mistake, but I figured, “How wrong can this go?” Apparently… very. The first bite was…
SURPRISE! Peanut Butter!
To Americans, this occurrence is nothing strange but I’m sure my British kin can attest that biting into a cookie or biscuit from a varied platter and discovering peanut butter is very jarring. Not only is nut allergies a real possibility, and the tray was not labelled with a warning, but peanut butter seems to be one of those things that you either love or you hate…
I personally hate it!
So my delicious plate of sugary treats was turned to disappointment and broken dreams, and there was not enough coffee in the pot to drown out that flavor.
Needless to say, I won’t be diving into any unknown cookie trays from now on.
As a bonus feature, this is not an isolated incident…
Everyone knows, at least in England, that purple is the best flavor. Loosely based on the concept of blackcurrant (although a poor imitation) in a mixture of colored treats, always choose purple, closely followed by red.
So imagine my surprise when in the U.S., purple means GRAPE!
What the hell is that all about! Grapes barely have a flavor anyway! why the hell would that even be a flavor, and why would anyone want to choose it on purpose! Needless to say, that candy ended up in the trash! And the candy-based disappointment is continued.
Yet another jarring flavor experience, like when you are the passenger in a car and know where you’re driving to, then the driver decides to take a different route and at a T-junction takes a left turn when your whole body was expecting a right. It’s unsettling.
