18 Things American Expat Miss the Most

Although Americans have a rule of treating everyone equally with a smile. But being an Expat will always have to face the issue of people, culture, diversity, language. And it always makes a difference being with people whom you know and being with people you don’t know. Being an Expat and living in a place completely surrounded by a stranger who is showing intrusive courtesy will make you remember your times in America and the friendliness that you had while interacting with people you know in your streets and meet and greet people while walking across the street lanes.

Who would not like the juicy taste of a roasted crunchy bread with juicy meat inside? But yes, there is no doubt about it, Americans love the fried chicken most. Sometime back, American apple pie was very popular, but now American fried chicken is the most popular food in the country. Americans claim fried chicken is a native recipe of America, but there is another story that tells that fried chicken is a Scottish dish where it was started to deep fry rather than conventional boiling of chicken. It came with their immigrants from Scotland.

Let the stories be a part, but can’t deny the fact that the real taste of fried chicken would remain in your taste buds.

To list quite a few:

Prince’s Hot Chicken Shack – Nashville, Tennesse - 11 AM – 10 PM

Love and Honey Fried chicken – Philadelphia. – 11 AM – 8 PM Friday Hours

Parsons’s Chicken and Fish – Chicago. – 11 am – 12 am on Thursday, Hours.

The Usual – New York City – 3 PM – 12 PM

The concept of Drive-Throughs came into America in the 1930s. But today this concept of Drive-throughs can be seen in most of the fast-food chains. This day’s Drive-throughs are not only limited to food outlets, but we can also see some of the banks, Post services or even a pharmacy has a drive-through. Of course, when your day is filled with tight schedules the time is really important. Would you like to waste time coming out of your car and buy things when everything is served from the window of your car? American expats residing in different countries might have an option of Drive-in, which consumes more time. But they would miss Drive- throughs. Hence US Expats will certainly miss the concept of drive-through being outside America.

Shopping on Black Friday is something Americans would be waiting for a long time. And feel that it’s worth the wait, Thanksgiving Day is formally called as Black Friday in America. Expats who are staying away from their native land will have heart breaks for not being in America on Black Friday and buying things that could have been bought more cheaper during Black Friday sale.

The American expats would miss the most popular apple products and which will be sold at discounted prices, and girls would miss shopping for their lovely brand “forever 21, Victoria Secret” and many more.

Even though a lot of entertainment apps are coming around. There is some television content you can’t skip watching. To list some of them are popular American television series like an American horror story, Unbelievable and Peaky blinders, Game of thrones.

Our loving series and that is absolute “FRIENDS” which are not available on any entertaining apps, although not all the series are globally released, and one who is following the local series would miss watching it. And of course, sitting on a couch relaxing and watching your favorite show is something that an Expat cannot do.

The average temperature of America is from a low temperature of -30 deg to highest to 21.5 degrees, So I would say one thing that an American will miss most is when he has planned his holidays in traveling a hot climate abroad. Even though an American could cool himself while his accommodation in a hotel or office but during his day out, it would be a tough time for his body to adjust to the climate of that region. The beauty of SNOW in autumn will be missed by an expat when he is an indifferent country.

American Breakfast:

The history of having American breakfast started somewhere in the 19^th century, where the idea of eating that is easily available. A typical American breakfast will include two eggs, sliced bacon or sausages, sliced or toasted bread with butter or jam to makeover, pancakes, cornflakes, and coffee or juice. And American breakfast will at least have 700-800 calories in it but who cares if you’re foody and enjoy eating then typical American kind of breakfast in difficult to find other parts of the world and you will eventually miss having typical American breakfast.

Barbeque is a method of cooking where meat, fish, or a meal gathering is cooked on a rack over an open fire. Barbeque has become a stable culture in America, especially in the southern parts of America. Some of the best barbeque foods in America that make your mouth wet are Burnt Ends Sandwich at joe’s Kansas City Bar-B-Que, BBQ Chicken with white sauce at Big Bob Gibson Bar-B-Que, and the Pork Ribs at The Bar-B-Que. Most of the weekends are well spent having BBQ food.

Cattleack BBQ. Dallas Texas – 10:30 AM -2 PM Thursday hours

Feges BBQ Houston, Texas – 6:30 – 9:30 AM & 11 AM – 3 PM

The Love towards the Mexican food to Americans is something which they would not find it in their daily cooking recipe. It's authentic, vibrant, delicious, fresh, and fun. It’s the spicy flavored with an amazing array of chilies with both fresh and dried mixture of oregano.

In the 19^th century, American soldiers first came in to contact with Mexican flavors during their military endeavors. And some reports that the Mexican staple foods were popular in 1893 in Texas.

The pleasure of having Mexican food in the cold season would bring fun to Americans.

It makes the taste buds to have something spicy, which gives the beautiful taste of Mexican flavor. And run towards the Mexican cuisines though they are many other Mexican cuisines around the world. The taste of this would be the most missing element for American expats.

During Christmas Halloween or Thanksgiving Day, Americans always like to celebrate their vacation with decorating their houses and stuff. Halloween day is an event for which they shop and dress up like their horror heroes such as Hulk, Maleficent, and many more. For Décor, most favorite shopping sites are Amazon, Walmart, Wayfair. Even though this website might offer to ship abroad with My US but because of their time duration as well as limited shipping constraints, most of the American Expat would miss the thing of Holiday Décor concept when they are abroad.

The Big-box store refers to everything for any merchandise or to a family to buy groceries and household things, and the Big box store is a large retail establishment. The big-box stores can also be called Supercenter, Superstore, or Mega Store. There are many Big Box stores in America such as Walmart, Best Buy, Toys “R” Us and many more. These are the stores that Americans prefer to shop during their weekends and ensure they are getting right things in their list with a good discounted price especially in season. Many people shop at big-box stores to save money. Buying large quantities would be getting it a low price, which we cannot again expect in other countries. And list again says one of the facts that the US expats would miss while shopping in other countries.

The average consumption of peanut butter by a European is 1 tablespoon, whereas Americans will consume more than 3 pounds of peanut butter a year. This itself is an example of American's love towards peanut butter. As peanut butter tastes like sweet chocolate. Americans use peanut butter on their routine daily consumption like bread, desserts, brownies and soon. Regular peanut butter found in supermarkets are sweet and have lots of sugars in it. And if you are kind of person who adds sweet to your daily meal, then probably you will miss the taste of peanut butter during your stay as Expat.

Avocados have a long history of about 10,000 years, but it came to America around 5000 years ago, making avocados as old are invention of wheel. And unfortunately, US government had banned imports of avocado in 1990 which lead the use of Guacamole in the US. Guacamole is made by mashing ripped avocados and salt. The majority of avocados are grown in California and Florida. Avocados have good fat, which means the fat that you get from this fruit is not harmful to your body. And if you want to be skinny and beautiful then even doctors recommend having avocados. Also, you should agree with the fact the avocados are wonderfully tasty, and one can’t resist eating avocados if you are in America, and Expat will miss this fruit if they are in a place where they don’t get avocados.

Salad is a wide variety of dishes having different combinations of vegetables. Salads are such as combination pasta, legumes, or grains or sometimes with a mixture of incorporating meal poultry or seafood. Many Expats have an opinion that everywhere in Europe we can have delicious salads, but that’s not true. Europeans restaurants having large salad options are very few and Expats would end up eating salads with the limited options available or will be compromised with their eating style. However, the American salad with a Mexican touch would bring that essence with a combination of variety inclusions that would bring the mesmerizing taste, which is always missed by the US expats.

When Americans think of having a regular and common breakfast, then the first thing that comes to their mind is Bagels and Cream cheese. It is also called as cuisine of New York. Bagels and Cream cheese are very simple to make, consists of an open-faced sandwich and a spread with cream cheese on it. It can be served as it is or can be roasted and served. The Creamy layer on the sliced bread will add a water liking taste to your mouth, which you cannot afford to have in Europeans. And end up with disappointment and wishing to have typical countryside Breakfast.

The miracle whip is a sauce condiment layer by Kraft foods and sold throughout in the US. It is developed an alternative for mayonnaise with its beautiful taste essence. Let’s imagine how can the daily sandwich or burger can end without miracle whip. The miracle whip is made up of corn syrup, vinegar, eggs, salt, and natural flavor of spice and dried garlic. Of course, we choose the one which has less fat in our morning breakfast, and yes, the Miracle whip has less fat and fewer calories than Mayo. The tastiest alternative to Mayonnaise, which we cannot expect in other countries would be Miracle whip, and most of them love to have it without adding it with a sandwich or burger. Again, it’s one of the most missed things that cannot be expected in other countries.

Well, traditionally, sour cream was made by letting cream that was skimmed off the top of milk ferment. It’s mostly used in a potato dish. Sour creams were originally added to soups, but later the sour cream is used in much more delicious recipe as well. The sour cream is an extremely versatile, tangy taste. It gets melt with any flavor you add to it. It provides a hint of acidity that adds a characteristic sour note and smooth texture to a dish without letting out other flavors. It’s one of the secret weapons while cooking. The usage of sour cream with the cake, doughnuts, pizza. The Christmas or in an occasion people would love to buy this and prepare their delicious cake and lovely joyful ice-cream. Yes, we agree again that American expats miss sour cream in any other country.

The cost is the main factor that matters to any citizen of the country. And the benefits would also matter with the cost when we are talking about American prices. If we compare to other countries, American consumers have benefited from cheaper imports and less expensive foreign travels. Goods produced abroad and imported to the United States will be cheaper if the manufacturer's currency falls in value compared to the dollar. There are many manufacturing units in America, which helps them to borrow in their country instead of an export, which makes the price more reliable for Americans. Employees and senior citizens are more benefitted in this aspect. This gives them an added advantage to their family in cost-wise, so we would again say the manufacturers are more in America. Hence, the cost of the process is reliable and cost bearable, which the other countries might lag, and we wish to say that the Americans expats miss this.

As a saying “You Miss something to gain many things,” I would say When you Come out of your comfort zone and be an Expat, it will teach you the real value of things you missed in your life. The food culture comforts and the benefits are the most, which we miss in our life, and would dream of having it again. So never let your dreams fly away. Keep traveling; keep exploring new things in life.