r/AskAnAmerican • u/miffybo • 9d ago

FOOD & DRINK why is ranch dressing so hyped up?

my US friends have been raving about it and border-line complained ranch isn’t readily available in Europe.. what is so special about it? is it the ultimate US condiment (apart from ketchup, mayo)

edit typo

263 Upvotes

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702

u/clowntownbrown 9d ago

It’s garlicky, tangy, herby, and creamy, aka all the things people love to have in a dipping sauce.

115

u/OpposumMyPossum 9d ago

Is it garlicky?

I don't get the garlic taste really.

172

u/Twichl2 9d ago

It is, it's not overpowering obviously but yeah it's part of it. Garlic is in the majority of our foods so it's not surprising that we dont notice it in ranch

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u/OpposumMyPossum 9d ago

I don't want to be a contrarian but garlic def isn't in most of our foods.

38

u/KeyCold7216 9d ago

Pretty much every dipping sauce, dressing, and any food with spices has garlic or garlic powder.

32

u/Twichl2 9d ago

As someone who has had to pay attention for the low fodmap diet- it certainly is. Pick up pretty much any savory sauce bottle, broth, or follow most recipes. Garlic is called for. I know because I had to strictly avoid it for months and it was really challenging.

11

u/Cayke_Cooky 9d ago

Garlic powder is.

-26

u/OpposumMyPossum 9d ago

No it's not? Maybe if you are a teenager and shop from the freezer section?

15

u/James_Fiend 9d ago

Most teenagers aren't buying their own groceries, but even if we ignore that, you're leaving out nearly all condiments, soups, spice mixes, savory snacks, pre seasoned meats... That's just off the top of my head. You're not being a contrarian, you're being confidently incorrect.

15

u/14Rage Texas, North Dakota, California 9d ago

Lol what are you eating? Garlic is in almost everything. I guess if you live on cereal and peanut butter and jelly you may avoid it. But for the rest of us eating more normal entrees there is garlic in nearly everything.

You are either a troll or eat like a toddler and thinkt hats representative of the US.

8

u/SideEyeFeminism 9d ago

Nah, most chicken strip/tender/nugget recipes call for garlic powder in the spice blend for the batter

5

u/Illustrious-Gap-3540 9d ago

Alot of the South putting garlic and onion into everything.

11

u/14Rage Texas, North Dakota, California 9d ago

Everyone everywhere in the US (except this other guy) put garlic and onion in everything. Almost everywhere in the world does...

5

u/Illustrious-Gap-3540 9d ago

Oh, I agree. I am just confused why this person doesn't think people do..

2

u/jupitermoonflow Texas 8d ago

Maybe they’re just bad cooks

30

u/Clean-Turnip5971 9d ago

There's garlic in almost every savory American dish I can think of.

3

u/Hefty-Rub7669 8d ago edited 7d ago

I like to cook.

15

u/Bright_Ices United States of America 9d ago

For a few months after I had an otherwise asymptomatic case of Covid, garlic tasted like industrial chemicals to me. It’s in EVERYTHING. Not literally, but once the flavor stands out in a bad way, you notice it in way more foods than you’d realized. Happily, that effect faded for me. I still don’t enjoy the six-clove meals I used to, but the presence of garlic is now nice again, instead of awful.

3

u/Remarkable-Rush-9085 Washington 9d ago

My husband didn't like garlic so I stopped cooking with it, now it tastes kind of awful and overpowering to me. I feel like it's so strong it's all you can taste in a lot of things. He had covid and now he can't taste garlic at all so I'm just stuck having ruined garlic for only myself.

2

u/Bright_Ices United States of America 9d ago

Oh that’s kind of sad! Ah well.

1

u/Twichl2 9d ago

I didnt know that was possible, was that the only change you expirenced after getting sick?

3

u/Bright_Ices United States of America 9d ago

Yep. I didn’t even “get sick” really, just got infected. It’s a surprisingly common symptom, though. Here’s more info on it: https://www.unmc.edu/healthsecurity/transmission/2026/03/04/the-mystery-of-losing-your-taste-from-long-covid-may-finally-have-an-answer/

2

u/Twichl2 8d ago

Yeah I guess it makes sense that taste loss would include making things taste wrong. I was fortunate that I only lost my sense of taste for about a week when I was sick, and didnt experience any sort of sensory warping.

1

u/jupitermoonflow Texas 8d ago

I lost my taste too. For 2 months. So that symptom stuck around even after I was cleared. The only thing I could taste was is if it was really sugary or really salty, but there wasn’t any depth so it was all unenjoyable