Top 10 Things That ONLY Exist in America
#10: Garbage Disposals
Who needs a garbage can when you can toss your food in the sink? Waste units attached to kitchen sinks are quite popular in the United States, as they are installed in approximately 50 percent of homes across the nation. However, if you’re outside of the USA, you’ll have trouble finding one! In a ton of countries in Europe, garbage disposals are actually banned for their negative environmental impact. While most waste disposal is generally bad for the Earth, using a disposal pumps trash through the water system– which wastes water as well!
#9: Spray Cheese
Who would have guessed that American cheese is strictly American? While this sliced delicacy is exclusive to the United States, it isn’t the only cheese that other countries can’t get their hands on! While some folks treat cheese like an art form, others don’t mind a more mechanical approach to the food. Cheese in a can, or spray cheese, or easy cheese, is an extremely American snack food. And let’s be real, it’s a super weird product that probably shouldn’t exist anywhere. Why are we spraying our food onto other foods?
#8: Free Refills
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Oh, waiter, we’ll have another round. While Americans are accustomed to having their drink of choice constantly replenished, this isn’t commonplace in restaurants outside of the United States. In fact, it’s a bit of a unique luxury for visitors! However, for others, it’s too gluttonous to be enjoyable. New York and Massachusetts have even attempted to limit the prevalence of free refills as a way to make residents more conscious of their sugar intake. Wait, drinking an unlimited amount of soda is bad for you? We need to make some calls.
#7: Everything “Super Sized”
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Wouldn’t the “super size” just be a size large? Or maybe an extra large… or an extra-extra large… Okay, we’ll stop. This American food trend is most notably used by the fast food chain McDonald’s, which added the additional size option to upsell their meals for a small fee. While this may seem like a bargain, the quantity of the super-sized portions is clearly unhealthy. This has become a food retail trend that is unique to America, although there has been a push to eliminate this abundant option from restaurants.
#6: Black Friday Madness
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If you’ve ever rushed out after Thanksgiving dinner to snag a good deal, you may be an American. The United States isn’t the only country in the world to have some version of Black Friday, but America did originate the unofficial holiday in 1952. And for that reason, US Black Friday is by far the most intense. Each year, countless people get into physical altercations over sales and items in stores. Some folks will even line up the day before to get into their favorite stores instead of spending time with their families on Thanksgiving!
#5: White Bread
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This entry is the best thing since sliced bread… because it is! Sliced, white sandwich bread is a rarity in any country other than the United States, and quite frankly, most people who didn’t grow up eating it usually aren’t its biggest fans. Traditional white bread is softer and more sweet than other types of bread, which may be an unwelcome change for some. Similarly to the spray cheese in comparison to real cheese, white bread can be viewed as a lesser-than form of the baked good. But if you’re in America, you’re likely to find a pack in most households!
#4: Girl Scout Cookies
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We’ll take two boxes of Thin Mints, and a plane ticket to the States! These delicious treats are sold exclusively by the Girl Scouts of the United States of America, and that’s the only place that they’re distributed as well. The cookies have become extremely popular and profitable for the organization, as they sell around 200 million boxes each year! Some brands have emulated the flavors of the traditional Girl Scout cookies, but if you want to try the real thing you’ll have to take a trip to the USA.
#3: Voting Before Drinking
This math doesn’t quite add up. In the United States, the legal drinking age is 21, while the national voting age is 18. This is a very uncommon disparity since most countries around the world allow consumption of alcohol at 18 years old– along with the right to vote. Why is America so different? Well, at the time that Prohibition had been repealed in 1933, the voting age had also been 21. This kept things simple at the time until the voting age was lowered in 1971 following the draft of the Vietnam War. Perhaps we’ll see another amendment adjusting these age restrictions in the future!
#2: Imperial Units
Okay, the United States isn’t the only place on Earth to use the Imperial Measurement System, but it’s pretty close! The only other two places in the world to use imperial units are Liberia and Myanmar. If you’re an American, it may be shocking to learn that most of the globe doesn’t measure in inches, feet, and miles! But in reality, everyone who lives anywhere else has been using the metric system for decades. It seems silly not to adjust to the most common system, but in reality there are many ways Americans use the metric system every day– drinks come in liters, and five kilometer runs are super popular!
#1: Pharmaceutical Commercials
America has some of the most expensive healthcare in the world, to the point where many people struggle to pay for basic medical needs. But this isn’t the only oddity in respects to medical care specific to America. Besides New Zealand, the United States is the only other country that legally permits drug companies to advertise on television. Pharmaceutical ads have put lots of money in the pockets of these companies, but have caused a slew of misdiagnoses across the country in return. We’d like to hope this practice ends sometime soon, and that it doesn’t spread anywhere else!
