A German has garnered a lot of attention after documenting his love for Waffle House and Taco Bell, gaining over 500,000 followers, including NFL great JJ Watt.
World Cup fans gather at American convenience store
John Arnold explains how Fort Worth Tourism is encouraging World Cup visitors to stop by the popular Buc-ee’s convenience store chain.
As soccer fans around the world descend on American cities for the World Cup, they’re falling in love with much of American culture: the Crunchwrap Supreme, Big Macs, Triple Dippers, and ranch dressing, a condiment that even the pickiest of American foodies love.
Visitors from Ireland, England, Scotland, Germany and more are documenting their whirlwind food tours around the United States in social media posts, instilling a healthy dose of American pride in American audiences just in time for the nation’s 250th birthday.
“I’m a British woman from In-N-Out trying a double-double cheeseburger for the first time,” Leah Ray said in an X post that has been viewed more than 100,000 times. “It’s cute, it’s in this little tray.”
Ray said the cheeseburger was “huge” before sharing his official review. “Crispy, salty, fluffy, all in one.”
Ray has thoroughly documented his travels in America, to the delight of many new followers. She thought Chipotle was “very good” and enjoyed chicken and waffles with ranch dressing for the first time at IHOP. At first she thought the butter garnish was ice cream, much to the delight of American commenters who are still teasing her about it.
A German who goes by the handle @FreddyLA7 has garnered a lot of attention for documenting his love for Waffle House and Taco Bell, amassing over 500,000 followers, including NFL great JJ Watt, who apparently just invited him to a luxury hotel room in Houston ahead of Germany’s game against Curacao on Sunday, June 14th.
“Welcome to Houston Freddy,” Watt posted on June 14.
Although his last name is unknown, the phrase Freddie coined has been widely spread on social media. Freddie posted a photo of a huge stadium in Auburn, Alabama with an amazing sunset in the background and wrote: “European minds can’t understand this.”
The phrase is now used to describe the greatness of things that are uniquely American, from the size of Buc-ee’s gas stations to Walmart’s vast selection of electric fans.
At the beginning of the trip, Freddie posted a photo of the feast he ordered at Taco Bell, captioning it, “Holy place.” “Life-changing,” he wrote in another post featuring Raising Cane chicken tenders and fries.
Other posters praised America’s air conditioning, the general kindness and generosity of its residents, and how seeing things like school buses and Twinkies was “just like something out of a movie.”
Americans, on the other hand, relish the positive attention from countries known for teasing their much younger neighbors across the pond.
“Do I care about football, no,” one woman wrote in one of the posts. “I love World Cup content now because it makes me feel patriotic, yes!”
“It made me realize that we have a culture. Some of it is weird, but it’s still a culture,” said one Texas lawyer.
Sam Mandel, an American content creator from Winchester, Virginia, was so entertained by foreign tourists sampling American cuisine that he even created an incredible parody of Chick-fil-A by pretending to be a Brit trying it for the first time. This post has been viewed approximately 650,000 times.
He expects there will be more gourmet reviews from foreigners as the World Cup continues until the July 19 final at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey.
“I’ve been seeing it all over my feed,” he told USA TODAY on June 14. “Honestly, I can’t stop watching it. There’s something so captivating about it.”
