(NEXSTAR) – Certain aspects of American culture are apparently coming as a shock to foreigners visiting for the World Cup, with some expressing wonderment about the enormity of our superstores, the prevalence of our air conditioning, and the taste of our ranch dressing.
The biggest surprise, though, might be the size of our meals.
“The portion sizes for meals here are literally insane,” one Reddit user wrote in mid-June. “I ordered a medium drink and it looks like a whole bucket.”
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Similar statements have racked up thousands of upvotes on likes and upvotes on social media. One British tourist compared the size of his Chipotle burrito to a “little baby,” while another soccer fan was stunned to learn about the existence of “bottomless” chips and salsa.
“The food culture is wild in the best way,” another European tourist wrote on Reddit. “Buc-ee’s blew my mind, ranch dressing should be a human right, and the portion sizes are hilarious.”
It’s not entirely shocking, however, that food portions in the United States are perceived as larger than those overseas. Visitors to the USA have been telling us as much for years, and a couple of studies have backed up their claims. A 2003 study, conducted by researchers at the University of Pennsylvania and France’s National Center for Scientific Research, found significant portion discrepancies between dine-in restaurants in the USA and Paris. Decades later, another study published by Brazilian researchers in 2024 came to a similar conclusion, with US portion sizes generally outweighing those in France and even Brazil.
A pair of studies published by New York University researchers Lisa Young and Marion Nestle, published in 2002 and 2021, sheds some light on the reason for America’s growing appetite for larger meals. The two found that restaurant portions began increasing significantly in the 1970s, thanks to the growth of the restaurant industry and Americans becoming more willing, interested, and economically able to eat out. Competition prompted restaurateurs to begin offering more food for their money, but larger meals also meant higher profit margins for the eateries’ owners themselves, Young and Nestle concluded.
Even with larger meals now offered in many parts of Europe, the NYU researchers found in 2021 that portion sizes — at fast-food restaurants especially — were still generally larger in America.
There is some pushback on these findings, though. On social media, visitors from the U.K. have claimed there isn’t much difference in portions between the U.S. and their hometowns, while others have said food sizes are steadily growing in Europe, too. Some viewers reacting to recent viral TikTok videos about American portion sizes are also theorizing that foreign TikTok creators are exaggerating or faking their reactions and experiences to gain likes and views.
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In any case, Americans on Reddit and TikTok are offering their best advice for any World Cup visitors trying to navigate our culinary landscape.
“Not all of us eat that much,” one person wrote. “I usually take half my dinner home for lunch the next day when we eat out.”
“You can share food,” another bluntly suggested.
Locals also recommended that World Cup visitors request a mini fridge for their hotel rooms to keep leftovers fresh, and even shared their own reheating techniques. But they didn’t have quite so many tips for foreigners who were overwhelmed not by their dinner portions, but simply by the sheer size of the restaurant menus themselves.
“Bro, look how thick it is,” one Scottish visitor said of the Cheesecake Factory menu during a trip to the Boston location in mid-June. “This place has every single food that’s ever existed, in the history of the world, on the menu.”
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