I was watching a video the other day that mentioned the cassava plant, and how it’s a staple food in many parts of the world. I may have had it once or twice, but for some people it’s something they eat every day. This got me thinking - how many things do I assume that everyone else in the world must come in contact with and take for granted, because they’re so ubiquitous in my life? It’s very easy to take a self-centred view, and particularly when you assume that we live in a totally globalised world. But the experience of life for someone elsewhere may be completely different.
One silly example, in the UK nearly every house would have an electric kettle for brewing hot drinks. But a lot of countries don’t.
What items, food, clothing, buildings do you have that other people may never come across in their lives?
Pretty much everything. The world wide median per-capita household income is less than 3k USD per year. It is easy to forget how insanely wealthy we are in western Europe.
I recently read that rather than “global south” and “global north,” some people opt for “global majority” and “global minority.” I like that, it reflects how I’ve always tried to think of it.
Trams. Half of the world is urbanised, but I don’t think big portion of the world’s cities have trams.
Asparagus is almost as big a hype here as I assume cherry trees are in Japan.
Kale is also a big thing here, but I think many folks have access to kale, so I’m not sure about this one. People sometimes gather with a handcart full of alcohol and music, going on a tour to a place where they eat Kale (Kohlfahrt).
Döner, obviously.
Bottle deposit explains more of a non-existence of bottle littering.
Getting drunk and eating kale sounds fun! And I wish more places had trams - there are a few cities in the UK with them but not enough.
.22LR rounds and shells. Everywhere.
Being a rimfire cartridge, I’m always bringing duds home in my pocket and placing them wherever. Or, I get home from camp and unload to clean something, there’s another. They’re tiny and roll off tables and countertops. When my kids go to camp they pick up shells and splatter them all over the house.
Plus, when shooting semi-auto they pop and fly everywhere. .22 shells are the glitter of the shooting world.
Wow, seeing bullet shells would be very strange here. Occasionally you might find a shotgun shell in a farm where pheasant shooting has taken place but that’s about it
I live in Atlantic Canada so the obvious answer is anything snow-related.
Maple syrup. We always have at least one can in the house.
Growing up in Norway, I didn’t believe it when my dad told me when I was 5 or so that there were people in this world who’d never experienced snow.
There are people who spend their whole lives never seeing the ocean or sea too. Mind-blowing when you consider the world’s mostly made up of water.
Can? Your maple syrup comes in cans?
Yep in Ontario too. You just punch a hole into it to drizzle out of. Perfectly normal. I sent my friend in South Africa some and she said she never tasted anything like it.
It’s even better if you punch two holes, diametrically opposed. A big one for pouring and a small one for venting. Perfect drizzles everytime without the sudden “gulps”.
Yup although to be fair it’s a Quebec brand that my parents bring whenever they visit. ;) the little fancy glass bottles are too damn expensive.
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Something I noticed on vacation once as a child was that the house we stayed in only had a bath, no shower. I’ve always been a shower lover and hated baths. It genuinely is one of the only things I can remember about that vacation, it was so frustrating to me!
Slippers. It’s weird to me how people go barefoot or wear socks inside the house.
I’ve always changed depending on the weather. Slippers in the winter, socks 80% of the time and barefoot when it’s (occasionally) warm enough. Is wearing slippers just what you grew up with, or is there a reason?
Yeah it’s just a culture thing. I grew up wearing slippers at home all the time, so I’ve been doing it my entire life.
Malt vinegar for French fries.
In the Oregon Trail episode of Tasting History with Max Miller (YouTube), he mentioned a root plant kind of like an onion that natives showed to some trail followers. It was a major staple of their diet, and I can’t even remember it’s name.
Update: it’s “Camus root”
The camas root? https://www.fs.usda.gov/wildflowers/plant-of-the-week/camassia_quamash.shtml
Common camas bulbs were considered a delicacy by the Native American tribes within the range of the species including the Blackfoot, Cree, and Nez Perce. Bulbs would be steamed or pit cooked for one to three days breaking down complex carbohydrates into ample amounts of the sugar fructose. A full one third of a bulbs cooked weight becomes fructose when prepared in this fashion. Native Americans would dry out the cooked bulbs and grind them into a meal. The meal was used in variety of ways. At times it would be mixed with water to form a batter and then cooked like a pancake. Often the meal would be mixed with water and formed into large bricks and then cooked and stored for future use.
Correct. I looked at the video to check.
Art supplies
Love
Toilets and toilet paper are everywhere.
