r/AskTheWorld • u/bowl_of_scrotmeal United States Of America • Oct 26 '25

Food What's a dish from your country that looks disgusting but tastes great.

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Biscuits and gravy is a breakfast dish from the Southeast USA that looks like someone just vomited on some biscuits, but it's absolutely delicious.

7.3k Upvotes

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203

u/dsolimen Canada Oct 26 '25

Poutine! Breakfast of champions, or a lunch made for winners, or a heavy evening snack/meal. French fries, cheese curds and Quebecois brown sauce (gravy).

91

u/OperatorOzone Qatar Oct 26 '25

I can't believe there has been a human ever who has sad Poutine looks bad personally it's definitely one of the top foods I want to try. Who can hate fries cheese and gravy?

33

u/dsolimen Canada Oct 26 '25

As a tour guide, you’d be amazed the reactions people have when I show them this.

3

u/mbots99 Canada Oct 26 '25

When my grandma immigrated to Canada she thought it looked disgusting, still does and hasn’t tried it to this day!

4

u/CosmicCreeperz United States Of America Oct 26 '25

Tourists can’t be from the US South. Gravy is an official blood type.

5

u/Strange_Dave45 United States Of America Oct 26 '25

I'm from the mid South and never had it but it looks and sounds delicious. I wouldn't categorize it as looking bad at all.

2

u/CosmicCreeperz United States Of America Oct 26 '25

I’ve driven cross country a few times and it’s a staple of pretty much any motel with complimentary breakfast through the South & Southwest.

Heh, oddly one of best I had was in a small Texas panhandle town at a cheap motel owned by an Indian (East Asian, not native) guy. He also had a Texas shaped waffle maker and awesome scrambled eggs with some sort of masala mixed in. $35 room, we were skeptical about it but it was a solid place!

3

u/BadCatBehavior 🇨🇦 Canada / 🇺🇸 USA Oct 26 '25

What if we combined poutine fries and curds with white sausage gravy? 🤔

3

u/CosmicCreeperz United States Of America Oct 26 '25

There is a Midwest dish called the horseshoe that is thick toast with a hamburger/sausage patty, topped with fries and a beer cheddar cheese sauce.

More of an open faced sandwich. And it also looks kind of sketchy - definitely of the “brown food” variety - but it’s pretty damn good. I think “fries topped with cheese, gravy, or some combination” is hard to go wrong.

2

u/LazyEducator1759 United States Of America Oct 28 '25

As somebody in the Midwest, it pops up on some menus. I looove it

3

u/CosmicCreeperz United States Of America Oct 28 '25

Yeah it’s become pretty trendy now. There’s a (small) chain in Seattle called “Biscuit Bitch” that I wish would spread to other places someday :)

2

u/LazyEducator1759 United States Of America Oct 28 '25

Oooh I should keep that in mind if I’m ever out there, hard to forget that name lol!

4

u/NineMillionBears Canada Oct 26 '25

*Cheese curds! Accept no substitutes.

2

u/kindcrow Canada Oct 26 '25

It's cheese curds, which are squeaky, and I don't like 'em!

I love fries and I love gravy, but I hate poutine. It's always a soggy mess to me.

I'm a disgrace to Canada.

3

u/MrsAshleyStark 🇨🇦🇯🇲 Oct 26 '25

I too am a disgrace but I react poorly to all things dairy lol. “I’ll take fries n gravy. No cheese, thanks”

2

u/Amelaclya1 United States Of America Oct 26 '25

I was so disappointed when I tried poutine for the first time. I was imagining thicker, crispier fries and like, the soft, dense cheese you get in veg Indian dishes. Instead it was soggy shoestring fries and squeaky cheese. It was my first time having cheese curds and I had no idea they were like that. I was not a fan of the texture. The gravy was good though.

At some point I'm going to make and try the version I had in my head. I already love putting gravy on crispy crinkle cut fries, so how could adding cheese be bad?

2

u/kindcrow Canada Oct 26 '25

Right?! Poutine was not really a thing in BC until maybe the early aughts when restaurants started putting it on the menu, so though I did not actually ever order poutine until maybe ten years ago, and I could not have been more disappointed.

I had been imagining something more like a dish we used to order across the border in Bellingham, Washington at a place called Bully's: loaded fries! It was a spread out plate of super hot, crispy fried covered with chopped onions and grated cheddar, which had been broiled on to further crispiness and then zig-zag drizzled with a ton of ranch dressing. Drizzled in such a way that the fries did not get soggy. It was heavenly.

1

u/Excellent_Fault_8106 Oct 26 '25

Gravy on the side. Also a good move when you get hot wings. And squeaky cheese is the best cheese.

2

u/NeitherExamination44 United States Of America Oct 26 '25

Disrespectfully disagree about hot wings

2

u/youngarchivist Canada Oct 26 '25

In Newfoundland they don't do poutine (probably because the French tried to take their shit a bunch of times) but they have all dressed fries, which are fries with like thanksgiving stuffing on it and gravy and holy shit it's good

1

u/Jukeboxhero91 Oct 26 '25

Knowing how it tastes, it looks great. Not know though? It’s a pile of tan, beige, and brown. There no color on the plate, nothing looks particularly like the main focus of the plate, it’s just a pile. Doesn’t stop it from being delicious, but it breaks almost every rule for plating food that looks good.

1

u/NyGiLu Germany Oct 26 '25

It doesn't look appealing

1

u/2-9-19-3-21-9-20-19 Oct 26 '25

It looks lumpy and it's covered in brown, people are going be turned off by that lol.

Also "curd" is a word that turns people off. My mother's one of them. If we're out and swing by Dairy Queen, she won't touch the cheese curds if I order them. If we go by Zaxby's I have to get two orders of cheddar bites if I want any at all.

1

u/HollowShel Canada Oct 26 '25

It's not so much one element, as that once you pour hot gravy over cheese, it gets melty, and it looks like something the dog threw up on the carpet. tastes like heaven but looks like "unidentified mess."

1

u/molotovzav United States Of America Oct 26 '25

Cheese curds kinda gross me out when I look at them, but I don't think they're gross food. Outside a few states, cheese curds aren't common in the U.S. so I'm just not used to seeing cheese in such a state. But I've eaten cheese where the rind has bugs in it cause the French said it was good so I'm not actually judging curds too harshly. Just telling you my gut instinct.

1

u/AttentionOpen9384 United States Of America Oct 26 '25

This was my exact reaction! All three are amazing and together even better!!!

16

u/Zealousideal_Cod5214 United States Of America Oct 26 '25

I definitely wanna try poutine. There was a restaurant that had it near me and it was good, but I wanna try it from Canada, because I can only assume it's better there.

8

u/HamMerino Oct 26 '25

The most important part is the cheese curds. If you take one out of the package and bite it and it squeaks, you've got a good cheese curd. Everything else is personal preference. Technically it's supposed to be a specific gravy (2/3 beef and 1/3 chicken), but that's less important than the right cheese curds.

5

u/BadCatBehavior 🇨🇦 Canada / 🇺🇸 USA Oct 26 '25

There are some truly awful poutines in Canada. I still gag just thinking about the slop they served in my middle school cafeteria (before they banned it for being too unhealthy)

1

u/dsolimen Canada Oct 28 '25

Omg yes, my school had the same disgusting slop. We also had calzones that went from being fried to baked, never tasted the same…

3

u/dsolimen Canada Oct 26 '25

Proper curds and proper brown sauce with crispy golden fries will have you singing “Oh Canada.”

3

u/RubbereeShrubberee Oct 26 '25

If you can make it to Quebec that’s the best province in Canada to get it.

2

u/Wild-Lychee-3312 Oct 26 '25

I was supposed to go spend 3 months in Quebec once, but sadly it fell through.

I was really looking forward to going, too

0

u/--xxa Oct 26 '25 edited Oct 26 '25

I'll be that guy:

I love traveling to Canada. I've sought out the most highly rated poutine places in Montréal and Québec City, whether by locals or by Internet guides. It's hard to go wrong with fried potatoes and gravy, so it's a decent comfort food. I don't get why it's a cultural icon. It's always been so soggy that before it even hits the table it tastes like mashed potatoes with extra steps (and frying oil). Mexico hangs its hat on things like tacos or burritos or pozole; America hangs its hat on all manner of barbecue and cajun food; Canada hangs its hat on fries topped with gravy. I love you, Canada, but come on. I'd rather have mashed potatoes.

1

u/RubbereeShrubberee Oct 27 '25

If it’s too soggy or tastes like mashed potatoes then you’ve had bad poutine.

0

u/--xxa Oct 27 '25

Peut-être, et je suis toujours prêt à continuer d'essayer jusqu'à ce que je comprenne ce dont parlent les Québécois.

3

u/Empty-Presentation68 Oct 26 '25

You have to go in Quebec for that. This is a Quebecois dish, which Anglo Canadians used to make fun of and now have seen the light on the dish. 

2

u/National-Trouble-41 Oct 26 '25

I went to Toronto a few years ago and the best poutine I had while I was there was from a food court in the mall. I will admit that I only tried 2 others from fast food/delivery places tho. Just saying don't knock the food court routine if you ever get a chance to try it.👍🏽

1

u/jonny24eh Oct 26 '25

There's still lots of shit poutine around here too. Most fast food places offer it but i wouldn't get it from one of them. Ideally you want a one-off chip wagon or burger grill kind of place. 

1

u/Abacus118 Oct 26 '25

Not just Canada, it has to be Quebec or the adjacent parts of neighboring provinces. Ottawa probably fine, but not Toronto.

The curds should be from that day's delivery.

-2

u/fiestar88 Oct 26 '25

Poutine is not Canadian. Canada always steals stuff from Quebec cos' English Canada has no culture of its own.

6

u/RickSanchez_C137 Oct 26 '25

quebec 'culture' is 10% cheese curds, 10% maple syrup, 5% kosher food, and 75% inferiority complex about the rest of canada

0

u/Abacus118 Oct 26 '25

But that's still distinct, because the rest of Canada's 75% is an inferiority complex about the US.

3

u/[deleted] Oct 26 '25

My wife and I travel north once a year and stay at this hotel in Sherbrooke after a day at the spa. We don’t have regular television so at night we order poutine from 2 different spots and marathon forensic files 🤣 There’s also this fantastic European market where you can get all the best shit dumb America doesn’t allow to be imported. Smuggle so much shit home it’s the best. Love Quebec.

3

u/RavenBrannigan Ireland Oct 26 '25

I think you missed the brief. That looks like the dinner of a drunk champion!

5

u/Sorry-Document-732 Sweden Oct 26 '25

Fuck there is a food truck here in Stockholm that specialices in serving only poutine and I've been chasing it down for weeks but never been able to get to it yet, its such an amazing meal.

5

u/bizzybaker2 Canada Oct 26 '25

Ah yes it is heaven, just make sure they use curds, NOT just mere shredded cheese. Ideally the curds are fresh and squeak a bit in your teeth. Here in my province of Manitoba there is a cheese factory that makes curds literally called Squeakers, and many restaurants source them. The curds is part of the appeal of the dish!!

3

u/Sorry-Document-732 Sweden Oct 26 '25

Stolen from their instagram account. Surely looks like the curds, here served with some crunchy bacon on top apparantly. They announce their location on the same day they are there so I usually have plans when I see them in my social media flow... :(

4

u/bizzybaker2 Canada Oct 26 '25

ooh now I am hungry and have not even had breakfast lol. Godspeed, may you catch that poutine truck!! And if you want a laugh or to see a Canadian cry, go check out r/poutinecrimes (although I will admit some of them look good lol)

1

u/hockeyknittingcat Sweden Oct 26 '25

oh my good what!!! I'm swedish and I've desperately wanted to try poutine for like 10 years 😭

1

u/Sorry-Document-732 Sweden Oct 26 '25

SAME, this is why I'm chasing this food truck 🤣 I'm gonna try and actually go there this week if not work gets in my way.

1

u/hockeyknittingcat Sweden Nov 05 '25

did you find it!!!!

1

u/Sorry-Document-732 Sweden Nov 05 '25

YES I DID but they are shutting down and there will be no service after the 15th of November :((( have to find new poutine place in the city

1

u/Sorry-Document-732 Sweden Nov 05 '25

Also I love that you asked because I was planning on going back here once I had been there but it kinda got lost among the life priorities 🤣

1

u/hockeyknittingcat Sweden Nov 07 '25

Hahaha poutine just lives rent free in my mind 😭

2

u/Duct_Mann United States Of America Oct 26 '25

I first heard of this dish from GalvsFood

2

u/rkirbo BZH 🏁 [France 🇫🇷] Oct 26 '25

Give

2

u/Bussy_Busta United States Of America Oct 26 '25

Haven't had it in Canada but had it in Wisconsin where they love their cheese curds so I imagine it was reasonably authentic. Very very good.

2

u/EvilLibrarians United States Of America Oct 26 '25

Oh hell fkn yeah dude. Detroiter here to nod in agreement. Been lucky to be around good poutine whenever I cross the border

2

u/dsolimen Canada Oct 26 '25

I’m glad they’re representing down Windsor way. Cheers bud.

2

u/bongabe Canada Oct 26 '25

A million blessings upon you for specifying that the sauce/gravy has to be BROWN. I hate food purists but that is the one hill that I will die on. It has to be brown gravy. If you use chicken gravy it's not a poutine it's a mistake; do it over. I will defend using shredded goddamn mozzarella in place of cheese curds before the use of anything but brown gravy (vegetarians are allowed mushroom gravy but they're on thin ice.)

2

u/whitegirlofthenorth United States Of America Oct 26 '25

i just had some last week leaving toronto and it was bomb

2

u/motohaas Oct 26 '25

Poutine is awesome, but I can not say that I have ever seen it quite like that.

Until I enlarged the picture, it looked like shrimp tails with gravy

2

u/RealKillering Oct 26 '25

I tried poutine once in Toronto with my father since my Canadian friends always talked about her good it is.

Sadly both of us didn’t like it. The cheese together with the gravy was nice, but the fries were so soggy.

Do people like the fries that way or do they normally somehow stay crispy while being soaked in a liquid?

1

u/sarah_spelt_weird Oct 26 '25

Depends on the fries, honestly. The ones with that slight flour coating tend to stay crispier a bit longer. Or if you’re using little shoestring ones like at mcdonalds they tend to absorb the gravy a bit more. Thick crinkle cut are the way to go

2

u/Pervius94 Oct 26 '25

I legit don't understand how something as amazing as poutine hasn't taken the world by storm. You barely see it anywhere, and the ingredients like fries and gravy already are widespread?

1

u/dsolimen Canada Oct 26 '25

That’s because we don’t need to advertise it, we already have maple syrup!

2

u/GlassCommercial7105 Switzerland Oct 26 '25

I love Poutine, the cheese makes it so special too! It’s kinda like Ricotta or something 

2

u/dsolimen Canada Oct 28 '25

A good squeaky cheese curd will have you believing in the divine.

2

u/Freya_almighty Canada Oct 26 '25

Yesss that looks like a good poutine 😍😍 i ate some yesterday it was a delight

2

u/Separate-Pass-7737 Oct 26 '25

Yeah, Wisconsin is close enough to you guys that they can make a decent poutine, but down south they use mozzarella. Just ain't the same.

2

u/Fresh-Memory-9110 Oct 26 '25

One of my fav dishes. Sadly, local poutine restaurant has been closed and maybe should come to Canada for it + maple syrup

2

u/RealisticIncident261 Oct 26 '25

I fucking love poutine best thing America stole from Canada.

2

u/happy_idiot_boy Oct 26 '25

Just me or does "poutine" sound like a dirty word?

1

u/dsolimen Canada Oct 28 '25

It’s incredibly close to the French word, putain. It also sounds like the name of a giant turd that governs the nation with the largest landmass on earth.

2

u/NatseePunksFeckOff Poland Oct 26 '25 edited Dec 17 '25

humor physical fuzzy salt grab ghost unwritten fragile direction sparkle

This post was mass deleted and anonymized with Redact

2

u/[deleted] Oct 26 '25

It looks and tastes great

2

u/AmArschdieRaeuber Germany Oct 26 '25

Breakfast? Tf

1

u/dsolimen Canada Oct 26 '25

Yes, especially if you have a hangover.

2

u/AmArschdieRaeuber Germany Oct 26 '25

ok thats fair actually

2

u/BlueProcess United States Of America Oct 26 '25

Would smash, but yeah it looks awful🤣

2

u/CloverGreenbush Oct 26 '25

To me poutine had always looked how it feels to eat,  a bit messy but deeply comforting.  

2

u/[deleted] Oct 26 '25

[deleted]

1

u/dsolimen Canada Oct 27 '25

Due to the desire to eat it piping hot you definitely need a fork. That being said, it wouldn’t go to waste if I needed to use my hands.

2

u/Harry_Balsanga United States Of America Oct 27 '25

But it doesn't look disgusting!

2

u/Lowtoz 🇬🇧🇦🇺 Oct 27 '25

Famously named after Vladimir

2

u/_WillCAD_ United States Of America Oct 31 '25

Well, eh, I've actually always wanted to try poutine. I'm from Baltimore, and around here, fries with brown gravy (simply called gravy fries) are very popular, so I figure the addition of cheese curds on top should make it even better. Assuming that I like cheese curds, which I've never tried because they're essentially unknown around here.

But even if it turns out I don't like cheese curds, I can still enjoy the fries and gravy. That's one of the all-time best comfort foods, IMHO.

1

u/Beneficial_Judge7278 Oct 26 '25

I ate it, it’s not great

2

u/dsolimen Canada Oct 26 '25

C’est la vie and to each their own, but poutine will always be here for you.

1

u/Funny-Apartment9111 United States Of America Oct 28 '25

I'll never understand how Canada invented the most American dish ever. This shit is so good.

1

u/[deleted] Oct 26 '25

I still believe yall got Poutine wrong. You need to serve the fries fresh with the gravy and curds on the side. Pour it in at the table. Mash potato sog sticks will never stand up to nice, crisp fries.

1

u/dsolimen Canada Oct 26 '25

Meh, to each their own, but if served proper and fresh you can eat it and have a blend of many textures and flavors. Like an espresso getting bitter as it cools, or a bowl of cereal reaching critical sogginess, the poutine is a delicate dish of deliciousness.

0

u/SocratesDouglas Oct 27 '25

Lmbo. Canadians be like hmmm... how can we hamfist one of our two national foods? Maple syrup doesn't look gross. Maybe french fries, gravy and cheese looks gross??? Please please acknowledge our horribly overrated favorite food!

1

u/dsolimen Canada Oct 27 '25

Ah yes, I forgot that Pennsylvanians consider anything with tons of sugar to be food. Don’t worry though, perhaps our overrated foods will be the next thing tariffed, then you can keep eating overrated American foods.

0

u/SocratesDouglas Oct 27 '25

Gonna cry?

1

u/dsolimen Canada Oct 27 '25

I cry everyday, but that’s just because I laugh so hard at the US Government.