‘We have always seen it in movies’: Italian man goes grocery shopping in the U.S. Then he spots something ‘legendary’ in the dairy section

One of the greatest selling points of travel is its ability to cross-pollinate people from varying cultures and walks of life. When that cross-pollination reveals some major cultural differences, it's inevitable that the internet will react to it.

Two Italian content creators, who traveled to the United States, are experiencing virality thanks to a bit of “culture shock” at a grocery store.

‘Biggest culture shock'

Italian language teachers Matteo Salvatori and Emiliano Santoro, who run a joint TikTok account for their online Italian school Lionfield (@ciaoitalianschool), posted a video that has more than 2 million views. In it, Santoro marveled over an American grocery phenomenon he'd only previously witnessed on the big screen.

“We have always seen it in movies and finally, we saw it in real life,” Santoro said to the camera as he stood in the milk aisle of a large grocery store.

Opening one of the refrigerator doors and hauling out a gallon of cow's milk, he said, “The legendary gallon of milk.”

Laughing, Santoro showed the size of the milk carton to the camera.

“In my case, would last for one year because I drink this much milk every day,” he said, holding up his pointer finger and thumb close together to indicate how little milk he drinks. “Just for the cappuccino before 11.”

In their caption, Salvatori and Santoro wrote, “How long is it supposed to last?”

Commenters react: ‘Does Europe not eat cereal?'

Many Americans expressed their surprise that the humble gallon of milk could be such a source of delight for people from other countries.

“I did not realize a gallon of milk was not universal,” one commenter said.

“I didn't realize a gallon of milk was so iconic!” echoed another viewer. “We go through a gallon of milk in like 4 days.”

“What size milk is in other countries?” asked one commenter. Another responded, “1 litre max.”

Some viewers tried to offer explanations for the practices of their respective countries, with both Americans and Europeans chiming in.

“There is not one household with kids that doesn't have that gallon of milk in their refrigerator,” wrote an American. “We drink it, we cook with it, have our cereal with it and bake with it. I don't understand the shock.”

Meanwhile, a European commenter shed light on the other side of the coin.

“Just to clarify for Americans, as a European immigrant that's been here for a while, in Europe grocery shopping is a daily thing,” they wrote. “You go get fresh bread, milk, meat and produce daily, maybe every other day. We don't really do large shopping unless it's dried goods. So seeing everything on a large scale like this is usually sold in EU version of Costco.”

@ciaoitalianschool How long is it supposed to last? #usa #italian ♬ audio originale – Ciaoitalianschool

Do Americans drink more milk than other nationalities?

Despite the preponderance of gallon-sized cartons in American grocery stores, the size of U.S. milk containers doesn't correlate to the amount of milk in each container. According to the World Population Review's 2022 global milk consumption analysis, the United States was only the 21st most milk consumption-heavy country in the world.

Topping the charts instead were Denmark, Montenegro, Estonia and Ireland. Italy was ranked only one slot lower than the U.S., placing it at the 22nd most milk consumption-heavy country in the world.

So if U.S. citizens are not drinking more milk, why are U.S. milk containers bigger?

While experts don't seem to have arrived at a consensus, people online certainly have theories. In response to a British Redditor wondering why “Americans buy those massive bottles of milk,” commenters pointed out the one thing America has in spades: space.

“We generally have more space in our residential houses/condos/apartments, including large enough fridges to handle larger items,” wrote one Redditor. “Particularly our kitchens are more dedicated to kitchen/food and don't have a clothes washer in them. So that's one less appliance in a kitchen that you have that we don't.”

“I think fridge space is the primary answer,” another person said. “You could fit two UK fridges (from what I have seen) in my current fridge.”

British culture website I Heart Britain adds, “while there are plenty of small American kitchens, they are, on average, quite a bit bigger than standard British kitchens.”

Buzz News reached out to Salvatori and Santoro via email.