One German has gotten so much attention documenting his love of Waffle House and Taco Bell that he's gained more than half a million followers, including NFL great J.J. WattShow Caption
As soccer fans from around the world descend on American cities for the World Cup, they're falling in love with a huge part of U.S. culture: Crunchwrap Supremes, Big Macs, Triple Dippers and the condiment beloved by even the snobbiest American gourmand, ranch dressing.Visitors from Ireland, England, Scotland, Germany and more are documenting their whirlwind food tours of the U.S. in social media posts that are going viral and injecting U.S. viewers with a healthy dose of American pride, just in time for the nation's 250th birthday."I'm an English girl in In-and-Out and trying the Double Double cheeseburger for the first time," Leah Ray said in a post on X that has more than 100,000 views. "Look how cute, it comes in this little tray.""It is massive," Ray said of the cheeseburger before sharing her official review. "It's crispy, salty, fluffy. Everything in one."Ray has been thoroughly documenting her American travel to the delight of her many new followers. She thought Chipotle was "soooo good" and enjoyed chicken and waffles and ranch dressing for the first time at IHOP, where she initially thought a side of butter was ice cream, much to the amusement of American commenters who are still teasing her about it.One German whose handle is @FreddyLA7 has gotten so much attention documenting his love of Waffle House and Taco Bell that he's gained more than half a million followers, including NFL great J.J. Watt, who apparently just hooked him up with a luxury hotel room in Houston ahead of the Sunday, June 14, match between Germany and Curacao."Welcome to Houston Freddy," Watt posted on June 14.Freddy, whose last name is unclear, has coined a phrase being spread far and wide on social media. "The European mind can't comprehend this," Freddy wrote on a post of a picture of a massive stadium in Auburn, Alabama, with a jaw-dropping sunset in the background.The phrase is now being used to describe the awesomeness of things that are uniquely American, from the size of a Buc-ee's gas station to the huge selection of electric fans at a Walmart.Earlier in his trip, Freddy posted a picture of a feast he had ordered at Taco Bell and captioned it: "The holy land." In another post showing chicken tenders and fries at Raising Cane's, he wrote: "Lives were changed."Other posters have praised the U.S. for its air conditioning, the general kindness and openness of its residents and for how seeing things like school buses and Twinkies is "just like the movies."Meanwhile, Americans are loving the positive attention from nations that have been known to poke fun at its much-younger neighbor across the pond."Do I care about soccer, no," one woman wrote on one of the posts. "Do I love the World Cup content right now because it makes me feel patriotic, yes!"One Texas lawyer observed: "It's made me realize we do have culture. Some of it's weird, but it's still culture."Sam Mandel, an American content creator living in Winchester, Virginia, has been so entertained by the foreign tourists trying U.S. food that he even created a believable parody about it, pretending to be a Brit eating Chick-fil-A for the first time. The post has nearly 650,000 views.With the World Cup lasting until the July 19 final at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey, he expects there to be plenty more foreigner food reviews."I've been seeing it all over my feed," he told USA TODAY on June 14. "Honestly I can't stop watching. Something about it is so riveting."
