The French widely mistrust their politicians.
I was also coming in to say I envy the French tendency to fuck shit up when their politicians act like scumbags. In the US we just drool and watch fox news tell us it’s actually for our benefit that we sacrifice our lives for billionaires.
Not enough, apparently.
I’m not a big fan of India, but their cuisine and especially its focus on vegetables instead of meat is something I always thought was great
I’m not vegetarian or anti-meat or anything like that, but eating more vegetables and less meat is good not only for your health, but also the planet IMHO
In general I’m jealous of countries where the norm is for them to eat healthier food. I grew up eating the typical crap 'Murican diet and it’s left me very unhealthy. I’ve been trying desperately to change that, but it’s such a slow process to change what you’re used to. I get repulsed by things that people in other countries just look at as at worst a normal part of their diet or sometimes they even actively like it. I wish I had grown up being socialized on that before things got so out of hand.
Post soviet and balkan countries are similar, because meat consumption (and being fat in general) used to be a status symbol, especially pork, which is particularly unhealthy compared to e.g. chicken
Luckily this started drying up in the early 2010s, but you can still find (or rather, accidentally run into) restaurants by the thousands where the whole point is that they put a truckwagonload of food on your plate for you to “enjoy” and nothing else (food that’s typically mediocre at best, and sub-mediocre and unhealthy at the usual)
You can also find people, typically older or rural folks who, if asked how a particular restaurant or meal was, 95% of their answer would be about the portion itself, and rarely about the quality of ingredients, preparation/serving style, atmosphere, etc.
So overall food has started becoming much better over the last decade and half, but most restaurants are still very much afraid of putting smaller portions of higher quality food on your plate because of potential backlash or criticism
Japanese not wearing shoes indoors / providing slippers for guest’s and picking up after yourself or just making sure the space is clean before you leave. Also bath house culture.
We don’t do the slippers thing but here in Canada we don’t wear shoes indoors either. I shake my head when I see people in American TV shows laying on a bed with their shoes on lol.
It’s one of the very few major cultural divergences between the two. As in one severe enough it could cause a misunderstanding. Maybe the only one, IDK.
The food culture in France. Eating lunch for 2-3 hours (not every day naturally), enjoying tasty, well-prepared food and enjoying fine company.
I like the cultures that have leaned more into socialism. Not just for the practical benefits to society, but because they just seem to be more caring and community oriented in general. In the US I always feel so isolated. There are all sorts of norms that put up barriers between people and can make people feel like they’re on their own when they need help. I’d like to live somewhere where people would care and do something if their neighbors needed help or where I wouldn’t feel so weird talking to strangers. Maybe this is too idealized. I know no culture is a monolith, but there seem to be some better tendencies in other countries.
EDIT: For all the time I’ve spent watching anime (including 2 trips to Japan), I have a hard time thinking of much I actually admire about actual Japanese culture. They’ve got the toxic work culture, they’ve got the confucian family thing going on, there’s the xenophobia, and then there’s their… suspicious obsession with some other questionable countries like the US, UK, and Germany. I guess anime can be funny and they have nice trains. So at least they have that. Oh I guess they also seem to be more chill when it comes to religion. Like it’s still there, but it doesn’t seem like the intensity of it is enough to cause regular problems like it does in the Western world.
German humor. (Yes, seriously)
They joke about efficiency/optimization etc. One of them is a man visiting a small grocery shop with the intention of buying some olives.
It start by him asking the price for a glass of olives. What about two? What about 5? etc. prices per glass goes down for each increase.
Then you see him leaving the shop with several large boxes of olives.
Portuguese desenracanço - inventiveness to make something out of nothing, or get by in difficult circumstances.
Songkran in Thailand.
Live in hot country, so New Year celebration is to hit the streets and have an all in waterfight!
“Celebrations are known for public water fights, which symbolize ritual cleansing.”
So much fun. It takes place during the hottest time of the year.
Dutch cycling culture
French long lunches
Spanish siestas
Portuguese late dinners
Italian punctualityI don’t remember what it’s called, but in Japan there is a tendency to repair things rather than replace them; and further than that, a repair made properly can be see as enhancing the beauty of an object. I like that.
Slow, mindful, deliberate living and working.
And which culture is that?
There are several, mostly indigenous.
I have always found saris really exquisite. But as a white lady from the Midwest USA, and no people in my life at all from cultures that wear them, it would be weird to have or wear one. I’d never want to wear it like a costume but they are so beautiful.
Similarly, bunad here in Norway where I live now. I didn’t grow up here and I only skate by on languages most of the time, I’m not tied to the culture by marriage or children. I just love it here. But because I’m just an immigrant, I’d feel strange wearing one. But one of my absolute favorite parts of 17 May celebrations (Constitution Day) is going out in the city and seeing all of the various bunad from different regions of Norway. I don’t know if I’ll ever feel Norwegian enough to wear one without feeling like an impostor/appropriator.
Punjabi drinking. Party hard or don’t party at all, I say!
Ayurveda, Curry.
Vietnamese: The absolute bonkers way they combine a turbocapitalistic hustle culture with slow living / enjoying life
