The world came to America for soccer and discovered ranch dressing.
As the FIFA World Cup has drawn hundreds of thousands of international fans to host cities across the U.S., a secondary tournament has broken out online — a cheerful, calorie-dense competition to see how much American food visitors can consume before their flights home. The meme has a name: the FIFA 15, a riff on the dreaded “Freshman 15” that college students famously pack on during their first year away from home. Swap a dormitory dining hall for a Raising Cane’s and a Whataburger, and the math stays roughly the same.
The breakout star is German soccer superfan @FreddyLA7, whose road trip from Georgia to Texas has captivated hundreds of thousands of followers eager to watch him discover America one chain restaurant at a time. Taco Bell was described as “the holy land,” a late-night Waffle House visit earned a glowing review, and Buc-ee’s left him in disbelief—he posted excited dispatches from Walmart, Wendy’s and Chili’s, while marveling at Atlanta’s greenery and struggling to choose a drink from a Coca-Cola Freestyle machine. As one observer noted on X: “Man is having the most regular time and loving it.”
A group visiting Texas from Japan raved about the steak and Caesar salad. A Whataburger pilgrim deemed it “the best dining experience of my entire life.” A Norway fan tried the impossibly Bostonian combo of clam chowder with a Dunkin’ drink on the side. Houston attorney Jimmy Ardoin captured the collective mood on Threads: “He walked into a Buc-ee’s and I genuinely think he saw the face of the divine. This man is experiencing America for the first time with the wonder of a newborn and the stamina of a Navy SEAL.”
