The American Ethnic Food Section In A German Grocery Store (VIDEO)

The video below has been making the rounds, and for good reason. In it, an American tourist (YouTube user simoneharuko) visits what she calls, "pretty much the coolest grocery store of all time" in Alexanderplatz, Berlin, and found something she had ever seen before: an American ethnic section. As Eater pointed out, "most of this stuff seems to be there for expatriates who want brands they recognize."

Our tabulation of the products included in the "U.S.A" ethnic food section:

• Swiss Miss Hot Chocolate mix
• Cans of V8
• Hershey's Chocolate Syrup (original and "Shell" style)
• Maple syrup
• Regular old syrup
• Betty Crocker Baking Mixes: Blueberry, Chocolate Chip Cookie, Brownie, Cake, Muffins, Bisquik,
• Betty Crocker frosting: Vanilla and Chocolate
• Five (5) Pain Is Good Hot Sauce varieties
• Jim Beam Barbecue Sauce, Steak Sauce, Hot Sauce, and Mustard
• Four (4) Jack Daniel's Barbecue Sauces
• Paul Prudhomme "Magic" Seasoning blends
• Paul Newman salad dressings
• Hellman's Mayonnaise
• Wish Bone Blue Cheese Dressing
• Marshmallow Fluff (original and strawberry)
• Kraft Macaroni & Cheese
• Cheese Zip (cheese whiz)
• Head Country Barbecue Sauces
• Bull's Eye Barbecue Sauce
• Hunt's Barbecue Sauces
• Cheddar, Nacho, and Jalapeno-flavored squeeze-bottled cheese
• Mustards
• Heinz sweet relish
• Crisco shortening
• Marshmallows
• Campbell's Soups

UPDATE: This entry was posted not to take issue with the term "ethnic," nor to criticize the grocery store. What's interesting here is the (yes, almost nearly processed) food that, unfortunately, we've become most associated with. And probably, accurately.

Comments

[neurolux]

03:08 AM on 07/20/2010

I'm surprised there are no peanuts/peanut butter or American candy bars.

[JavaJosh]

06:04 PM on 07/09/2010

While watching this video, I started thinking why is this store singling out the american products. Does Germany not have a McDonalds? Does Germany put their McDonalds on the ethic road too. Stupid comment, maybe so, something just doesn't seem right with this. The products are right on (for most americans), but why have a special isle for them, or for any country for that matter. Just mix items with the rest of the germany products.

[santiago sherwood]

06:18 PM on 07/06/2010

considering some of the great achievements from the south, New England, The southwest or the pacific coast. We will only be known for s&!+

[johnmorgan]

03:48 PM on 07/05/2010

I do NOT think it's "awesome."

Almost nothing in this American food section is nutritious. And how much

[Ella13]

09:06 PM on 07/02/2010

Im not American (Canuck here!) but I assume that we have many of the same foods. Anyway, when I was living in France, I remember missing certain foods that I didn't necessarily eat all of the time when I was home, but I was craving them because it was a weird source of comfort and familiarty. The big one? Sour Patch Kids and Swedish Berries. Good lord. I had to have my mom send me bags of the stuff.

I remember the ethnic food isle too. It was hilarious. Peanut butter and Oreos. Yum!

[cef911f1]

11:20 PM on 07/01/2010

What, no A1? No frozen pizza? No ice cream? No watermelon? Just a bunch of sauces?? From my experience in Germany, they like their sauces as well. I think they are projecting.

Once, while traveling through London, my friend and I stayed at the Heathrow Hilton. They had an "American" Grill off their atrium. We decided to eat there to see just how "American" it was. The steak sandwiches were pretty good as were the fries. However, the Michelob was warm. The lovely lass behind the bar was kind enough to put the rest of the six pack in the freezer for us.

Before we could order a second round, she delivered a nice bottle of Burgundy. Two chaps at the other end of the bar (from Dublin) had sent it to us. They said they couldn't stand to see us "Yanks" eat like "barbarians". It was a great way to start a conversation and a nice gesture but I know they drink beer in Ireland. (lol - maybe if it had been Guinness)

[JerseyHooligan]

10:14 AM on 07/06/2010

my question is, why were you drinking michelob in England when you have the best ales at your disposal

[cef911f1]

01:47 PM on 07/06/2010

Oh, we drank plenty of their ale. We were at the "American Grill". All they had was American beer. Personally though I prefer the pils in Germany (and they chill their beer).

[JulieDole]

06:42 PM on 07/01/2010

Holy frijoles! I just had to add this link - hopefully no one here will get a heart attack just reading: the 50 fattiest foods in America:

http://www.health.com/health/gallery/0,,20393387_1,00.html

[medicontheedge]

05:45 PM on 07/01/2010

That shelf correctly sums up our dietary habits of a HUGE percentage of our population....truth hurts, sometimes!

[MarcEdward]

11:51 AM on 07/01/2010

When in Madrid I was stupidly surprised to see a bunch of Taco Bell and Old El Paso "burrito kits". Somehow I thought the Spanish would know how to cook Mexican without having a "kit" made in the USA.

[LaBurladora]

08:52 AM on 07/04/2010

Most Spaniards I know don't care too much for Mexican food, as so many of them do not like spicy foods.

[Riley73]

10:59 AM on 07/01/2010

All that sugar...; ugh.

[farmerlady]

11:29 AM on 07/01/2010

oh well, Germans spread pure lard on their bread (schmalz in its different forms) so I guess we're not going to make their eating habits worse anytime soon.

[OopsieDaisie]

10:37 AM on 07/01/2010

I'd love to have a American section in our grocery store that offered peanut butter and fluff so I don't have to travel to Sweden for them.

[Nyc Labrets]

10:34 AM on 07/01/2010

I'm an Ex-Patriate American, Dual German Citizen, living in Munich, Germany and I touched off a Firestorm of Sheer Unbridled Hate, to include Physical Threats against my person, on a local German Board of English speaking and American Ex-Pats over this video.

All because I said that this woman, (who has an MBA in International Trade and Business from a top American Graduate Business School, oh the Irony), who, by posting this video made my life as an American in Germany so much harder because she made us Americans look utterly foolish to the rest of the world, and that she's a Textbook Example of where the phrase:

'Ugly American'

(as well as Willfully Ignorant American), comes from.

That's due to her utter astonishment that she *could not* believe that the World Does Not Revolve Around The USA, which was the whole point of this video piece of Dreck of hers.

Check out the comments here:

http://www.toytowngermany.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=180495

My best guess as to why people are so angry at me for writing that is because they're exactly just like her, (they might have even gone to the same B School that she did), and just don't like that being pointed out to them the way I did.

[farmerlady]

11:37 AM on 07/01/2010

Hello fellow Munich expat! I agree with you if its any help! And I'll check out that Toytown thread when I get home tonight.

Frankly, I don't use Toytown very much because of exactly the sort of thing you're talking about.

They recently had a thread about "weird people we see on the subway" and they actually took pictures of various trannies and mentally ill people and POSTED them publicly on Toytown. Apparently because they were German this was okay???? I was appalled.

The very name, "Toytown" is a "cute" diminutive for the "adorable little" city of Munich. Which tells you everything about the mentality of the people who use the site.

Anyway, hello and welcome to Huffpost :)

[MongoMongo]

11:39 AM on 07/01/2010

I think you should try an anger management program. How could you conclude she believes the world revolves around the USA from this video? Deutlich, bist du etwas verruckt und paranoid!

[farmerlady]

11:41 AM on 07/01/2010

Mongo, you need to brush up your German.....

[MarcEdward]

12:07 PM on 07/01/2010

Having now watched the video, I have no idea how the poster got so bent out of shape over the nice, soft spoken woman in the video. I think somebody has problems, and it's not the girl.

[satanlite]

10:29 AM on 07/01/2010

Where's the frozen pizza?

[newtom]

10:44 AM on 07/01/2010

Aisle 5.

[Pj661]

06:39 PM on 07/01/2010

What about the Hot Dogs?

[Trina Roach]

09:12 AM on 07/05/2010

In the freezer bins with the rest of the frozen food...

[FalstaffsMind]

10:16 AM on 07/01/2010

I think it's funny that the prominent American food was something called "Swiss Miss".

[Chaling]

10:08 AM on 07/01/2010

you mean Swiss Miss isn't Swiss? even with the cute fraulein Heidi on the package? (j/k)

Hilarious, though, American foods/condiments in an 'ethnic' section. See, it's all relative