Foreign Flavors Of Popular Foods That Need To Be Brought To America

If you think the companies who make your favorite foods only make the small selection of flavors you see in your local grocery store, think again. All the big brands sell their products all over the world and often times in flavors tailored to a specific region. Just like people in America go crazy for red velvet Oreos, green tea is a popular Oreo flavor in China. Not all foreign flavors sound great (Asia's seaweed-flavored Pringles sounds particularly vomit inducing), but there are plenty that sound so delicious they absolutely need to be sold in America.

The Mojito is a classic cocktail that hails from Cuba that takes full advantage of its homeland's fields of sugarcane. By combining rum, mint, lime, plenty of sugar, and a splash of club soda, Cuba invented one of the most refreshing drinks to get drunk to. Pepsi used the Mojito as the basis for a soda flavor that sounds so delicious and so refreshing that is truly a wonder why it isn't sold stateside. Mojito flavored Pepsi Max just sounds like a perfect cocktail mixer. Add a little rum and ice and you've got a fantastic cross between a Mojito and a Cuba Libre, which is Coke or Pepsi mixed with a little bit of rum and lime. By adding a little alcohol you're getting two delicious cocktails in one. Mojito flavored Pepsi Max would be a hit every party in America.

Say what you will about Taco Bell but you have to admit that they are innovators. For decades they've reinvented the wheel that is Tex-Mex cuisine time and time again, and in the silliest ways possible. Every time you think they've reached the mathematical limit of variations on the meat/tortilla/cheese combination someone in their research and development department has an epiphany, a vision from high above, of a brand-new, never before conceived way to present the same three ingredients. They even carry over this approach to the dessert options on their menus. Throughout Spain and various South American countries, for example, Taco Bell sells the Chocodilla, a flour tortilla filled with chocolate chips that has been folded in half and grilled like a quesadilla. It's a simple innovation but we absolutely needed in America. On top of that, Taco Bells in the UK sell a variation of the Chocodilla, and theirs takes its inspiration from Taco Bell's crunch wrap rather than the quesadilla. It's a grilled tortilla hexagon filled with chocolate and fluffy pink marshmallows. Let's amend this entry by saying that Taco Bell needs to bring both of these desserts to America.

When it comes to donuts of course China is going to have some weird flavors. Seaweed and pork is one of them, and that sounds like the least appetizing donut of all time. The racks of Chinese donut stores are filled with gross out items that sound almost specifically designed to turn off American eaters. But Chinese Dunkin' Donuts fans gobble up a flavor that plenty of Americans would love to see at their neighborhood donut shop: Mango pudding. The name is pretty self-explanatory, but let's paint the food picture anyway: it's a normal glazed doughnut that's topped with a thick creamy helping of soothingly sweet mango pudding. And we mean thick. In Singapore they sell a slight variation on the mango pudding donut that has a base of a dark chocolate cake doughnut and on top is what appears to be a full freestanding inch of gorgeous mango pudding. Your teeth have to sliced through a whole lot of mango deliciousness before they even reach the donut. Dunkin' Donuts, please bring this to America. If anything just sell it in cities with high Latin populations. They've grown up with mango throughout their lives and would quickly deplete all mango pudding donut resources in short order.

Oreos are internationally renowned for being awesome. Hardly anyone can resist the temptation of two dark chocolatey cookies with a delicious cream between them. If you've ever had a chocolate covered blueberry you know firsthand how great a blueberry ice cream flavor Oreo can be. Usually sold in Asian countries, specifically Japan, the blueberry ice cream Oreo is a crazy attempt to capture three distinct flavors of dessert in one package you can buy at a grocery store. Why settle for a blueberry or ice cream or an Oreo as separate experiences when you can combine them all one delicious Frankenstein of the cookie? Often times the flavor profile missing from an Oreo is refreshment, that sense of cooling you get from a bowl of ice cream. No, blueberry ice cream Oreos aren't stuffed with literal ice cream, it's just a flavor profile designed to emulate the ice cream experience, but the base experience, we imagine, would remain the same. A light and sweet bitterness cut with chocolate and all with an added level of creaminess – c'mon, Americans would love that.

It's no secret that Kit Kat spoils Japan with a bounty of flavors, while in America we are stuck with a measly two or three, at most. While it would be cool if Nestlé started selling their entire line of Japanese can flavors stateside we understand that may not be the most realistic prospect. So let's just pick one. There are a lot of good candidates, like cinnamon cookie, and others that Japan can keep, like red bean sandwich, whatever that is. But the two flavors of Kit Kat that would be perfect for American palates are the cheesecake flavors, blueberry and strawberry. They'd be huge in America. We even have a chain of restaurants called The Cheesecake Factory erected in honor of a beloved dessert item. If you had been told these were sold exclusively in Japan you would've figured they were already being sold in America. So come on Nestlé: stop holding out with the cheesecake Kit Kats!

It's been all but scientifically proven that Cheetos contain a higher concentration of artificial cheese flavor than any other substance on Earth. So it might be weird to think that Cheetos can have another flavor other than "cheese powder" and "spicy cheese powder," but if it's going to venture outside of the realm of orange cheese dust avocado is a good flavor to turn to. Avocado has a natural creaminess to it, a flavor and texture closely related to the traditional cheesiness of a Cheeto. But notice that is called avocado salad. That means it's going to have a creaminess but also a crisp fresh vegetable flavor. Seeing as this Cheeto flavor is found primarily in Asia you can imagine it would taste as refreshing and light as a Chinese spring roll or a Japanese cold noodle salad.

Argentina is one of, if not the, steak capitals of the world. The quality of their beef is unparalleled. So when Burger King wanted a regional sandwich that fell in line with Argentinian taste sensibilities they turned to a cut of meat the Latin American world adores: the churrasco, aka the skirt steak. If you've never grilled up a churrasco and usually grill yourself some New York strips or rib eyes, you're really missing out on one of the best, juiciest, and just overall most flavorful cuts of meat you can get, and usually for a fraction of the price as those other cuts. A churrasco sandwich, even one sold from a fast food restaurant, sounds like a great idea. How can you go wrong? Two grilled pieces of incredibly flavorful churrasco covered in cheese and slapped onto a sub role. Delicious.

The world certainly isn't lacking in Skittles flavors. They've got tropical, they've got dessert flavor, they got sour, they even got Skittles with a kind of pop rock candy coating around them. Surprisingly the one flavor Skittles has an even touched is mint. At least not in America. But other countries, mostly throughout Europe, are already familiar with mint skittles. Rather than coming in the traditional easily torn-open plastic bag, mint Skittles came in a hard plastic tube with a fliptop that can be re-sealed. In classic Skittles tradition there are different sub-flavors of mint, and each one had its own corresponding color. Peppermint is white where spearmint is dark green and cool mint is blue. Why this isn't currently being sold in America is a mystery. Instead America got stuck with those disgusting chocolate flavored Skittles. How can you play us like that, Skittles?

Chinese hot pot soups are a thing of beauty and genius. Throw a bunch of vegetables, herbs, and spices, into a pot with some chicken stock and a whole bunch of Sichuan peppercorns and dry red chilies, boil it all together for a while, dip in your meat of choice and boom — a delicious, spicy, brothy meal that'll fill you up and clear out your sinuses better than any decongestant on the market. Lays has taken this beloved Chinese flavor and distilled into a chip so that people in China can experience the mouth scorching deliciousness of a Chinese hot pot as a snack instead of a whole meal. But unlike a lot of international flavors that Americans just don't have the taste for (including an alternate version of his very same flavor, the Hot and Sour Fish Soup flavor, also sold in China) the hot pot is right up our alley. Americans love spiciness and the hot pot is quickly becoming just as iconic to the American version of Chinese cuisine as fried rice and eggrolls. A hot pot flavored chip would be an absolute winner stateside.

A few cups of milk, a cup and a half of sugar, a little baking soda, and some vanilla. Put it in a pot, slowly boiling until it reduces down to a sticky thick caramel-like substance and you have the incredible, multipurpose dessert that Latin America goes crazy for. It's called dulce de leche, which loosely translates to "dessert made of milk." One spoonful can send you into a diabetic coma. It's super sweet and super delicious. So it only makes sense that when Oreo moved into the South American market they added dulce de leche to their cherished cookies. They paired the timeless caramel flavor with banana cream for their duo line of cookies. One half of the cream is dulce de leche the other half a banana cream. If your mouth is watering after reading that you are broken.

Fanta soda already comes in at dozen flavors readily available in the United States. Maybe even more than that. It's hard to keep track. The best way to sum it up is to ask, are their fruits of the world? Well, then there's a good chance the people at Fanta have turned them all into a flavor of soda. But there is one flavor sold in the Middle East and is particularly popular in Iran that sounds so delicious and so refreshing it would immediately be blamed for the rapid weight gain of Americans across the country if it were released in the United States: apple and pear flavored Fanta. Soda companies often try to sell you their drinks based on the idea of refreshment. That somehow there fizzy tar-black sugar drink will not only hydrate but will offer a relief from stubborn mouth dryness. Apple and pear soda is the only soda flavor that sounds like it could actually achieve that goal. Apples and pears are two fruits that are almost synonymous with refreshment. There naturally crisp and have clean, smooth tastes. Put them together with some carbonation that you've got one of the most refreshing drinks ever made.

Yogurt and mint don't immediately sound like they belong on Doritos tortilla chip. But given a little bit more thought, you become aware that it's a perfect pairing. Mint and yogurt are cornerstones of Mediterranean and some Middle Eastern cuisines. If you've ever eaten at a Greek restaurant, for example, you may have already enjoyed these flavors, and you can find multiple restaurants serving the same flavors in any city in America. These flavors are popular for a reason – Americans love them. And besides, Americans already love cool Ranch Doritos which, as the name suggests, gets its flavor profile from the cooling refreshing flavors of ranch dressing. Mint and yogurt is basically a Mediterranean version of a cool Ranch Doritos. If you like one you'll probably like the other.

Do you like Nutella? Do you like Snickers? Do you salivate at the idea of the two things being fused into one? Well, in the UK such a thing almost exists in the form of hazelnut Snickers bars. While this Snickers variation isn't exactly filled with Nutella, it's filled with hazelnuts instead of the traditional peanut or it's almond variation. Hazelnuts, along with a healthy heaping of sugar and cocoa, are what give Nutella its signature sinfully addictive flavor. Now imagine that in a Snickers bar. It's basically a solid, portable form of Nutella. No more standing alone in your kitchen related night spooning heaping helpings of Nutella into your desperate mouth. Now you can carry your savage Nutella addiction around with you wherever you go...assuming they ever decide to sell these things in America full-time, rather than the extremely rare instance that they sell it as a limited edition bar.