I love eating my way through a new city. But even with the best intentions — an open mind, a well-thumbed phrasebook and a hearty appetite — it’s surprisingly easy to slip up.
The truth is, even seasoned travelers commit faux pas when it comes to dining abroad. We don’t mean to be rude — we just carry our American dining habits with us. And while those habits feel totally normal at home, they can come across as clueless, inconsiderate or just plain odd overseas.
I talked to chefs and well-traveled food lovers about the biggest menu mistakes Americans make abroad — and how to eat better, smarter and more respectfully while exploring the world. Their stories are funny and humbling, and their advice might just help you avoid becoming the punchline in someone’s staff meal story. Because food is one of the most intimate and illuminating parts of travel.
1. When You Order Like The Chef Works For You
In the U.S., we’re used to being the boss at the table. Dressing on the side? No problem. Gluten-free, dairy-free, medium well? Done and done.
But abroad, that kind of micromanaging doesn’t always fly. “For a long time, one of the key parts of dining in America has been the idea that the customer is always right,” said Casey Corn, a chef and food anthropologist based in Atlanta. “This is very much NOT the standard throughout the rest of the world, which can make dining as an American challenging while traveling.”
Corn says American diners often stand out by how much they ask to change. “The biggest misstep American diners make while traveling is expecting things to be American, or what they are used to at home,” she said. In some cultures, asking for a change to a dish can be interpreted as an insult — as though you know better than the chef. “Diners abroad tend to trust the kitchen more than Americans do,” Corn said.
Sometimes, that deference can go a long way. Corn recalls dining in the south of France and asking, sheepishly, for parmesan with her seafood pasta — a major no-no in French dining culture. “I reassured the waiter that I knew it was wrong, but I would really appreciate it,” she said. “When the dish came out, it was the chef who brought it, telling me that it was only because I admitted that I was wrong for asking for it that he allowed it to be served.”
2. A Lesson In Letting Go (Of Control)
When Kelsey Shipman, a Texas-born writer who’s lived and worked on six continents, was 19, she moved to Accra, Ghana. Eager to stay vegan, she ordered a beloved Ghanaian dish called Red Red, a rich black-eyed pea stew traditionally made with white fish — but asked for it vegetarian.
“They brought it out with fish, and when I sent it back and asked for a vegetarian version, they brought it out with fish again,” she remembered. “I didn’t eat, and will never forget the look of irritation and confusion on the face of my Ghanaian friends.”
The mistake wasn’t asking for a vegetarian dish, but trying to customize a deeply rooted traditional one. “This isn’t to say that you can’t find vegetarian food abroad,” she said. “It is more to say that you likely need to go to places that are explicitly vegetarian, instead of trying to shape a menu to fit your personal preferences.”
Dining abroad often means relinquishing the control we’re used to at home — and trusting that what comes out of the kitchen is meant to be that way.
3. Big Bills, Big Volume, Big Mistakes
Cultural cues aren’t limited to what’s on your plate. Sometimes, it’s the way you talk about it. Or pay for it.
“Americans often approach restaurant dining with cultural assumptions about abundance and control,” Shipman said. “They pay with large, fresh bills in countries where small change is a constant battle and talk embarrassingly loud about how cheap everything is — especially when locals are struggling with inflation and gentrification.”
She’s seen servers walk blocks just to get change for a tourist’s oversized bill. And she’s overheard more than one venting session. “Mexicans are too nice to express annoyance to your face,” she said. “But trust me, when they get together after their shift, they exchange horror stories.”
4. The Cocktail You Thought You Ordered
Even the simplest drink order can go sideways. Becky Ellis, a Virginia-based cocktail writer who’s traveled to more than 30 countries, recalls a night at a hotel bar in Sofia, Bulgaria, when her friend ordered a martini.
“The bartender, using very broken English, asked her, ‘Martini? Nothing else?’ Assuming that he was asking about vermouth, she said, ‘No vermouth please, just a martini.’ He shrugged his shoulders and brought her a large martini glass full of Martini and Rossi vermouth.”
Lesson learned: “From then on, we ordered vodka or gin and tonics.”
5. Cold Beer? Big Ice? Not Here.
The sooner you can let go of American expectations about portion size, speed and temperature, the better your dining experience will be.
“Most likely you won’t find ‘super sized’ food and drink in Europe like you do in the United States,” Ellis said. “And for heaven’s sake, don’t do what we’ve seen so many Americans do. … The orange juice served at breakfast is usually a ‘petite glass.’ So many times we’ve heard American guests say, ‘What’s this? In the states we get a big glass of orange juice,’ loud enough for the entire restaurant to hear. Embarrassing.”
White wine and beer are often less cold than they are in the U.S.; warm food is more likely lukewarm than piping hot.
Even ice — a beloved American beverage accessory — can be tricky. “When I order ice in a foreign country, I am often served a small ice bucket with tiny tongs,” Ellis said. “I find this to be so civilized, I love it.”
6. Beware Of The ‘Authentic’ Trap
One of the more subtle faux pas? Getting too fixated on eating the “authentic” thing — as if there’s only one way locals eat.
“Abandon your misguided desire for the ‘authentic’ dish,” Shipman said. “The word ‘authentic’ almost always flattens a cuisine into something static, as if cultures don’t evolve and cooks don’t experiment.”
That taco shop you found on a blog? It’s probably just one version of a million. “Brilliant chefs take inherited family recipes and filter them through their own creative lens,” she said. “If you insist on some Western fantasy of ‘what the locals eat,’ you’ll miss out on the living, breathing reality of what’s being eaten right now.”
How To Actually Eat Like A Local
“Observe the locals before you eat, or ask them for advice,” Shipman said. “Then, practice humility and accept what comes.”
“Do your research in advance and learn some key phrases,” she added. “It stresses servers out to have to try and mime your order or parrot your language. Give them a break, and put the burden of language on yourself.”
And if you do mess up? Don’t panic. “Most bartenders or servers will laugh with you, not at you,” Ellis said. “They want you to enjoy your cocktail experience while you are visiting.”
In fact, there’s one American habit that goes over surprisingly well: gushing. “Cooks and servers everywhere love to hear that their work is appreciated,” Shipman said. “A little extra exuberance in your praise can go a long way.”