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What did they expect?

The funniest & most seething Italian reactions to McKennie & Weah insulting their cuisine

Nestor Watach •

If you want to be popular with Italians, don’t slag off their food. USMNT duo Weston McKennie and Timothy Weah are finding that out – to their peril.

Somehow, McKennie and Weah sitting in on a media briefing with Donald Trump might not be the most controversial part of Juventus’ Club World Cup trip.

“You guys don’t have variety, it’s pasta, pizza, fish, steak,” said McKennie in a video posted on Juventus’ YouTube channel.

“You know what the problem is with Italian food? It’s great, it’s good specific food that you do very well, but in America, if I go to a burger joint or a steak house, then I go to another place 10 minutes down the street, I’m still eating a burger, but it’s a completely different taste.

“In Italy, I go to this restaurant and get a pesto pasta, I go 10 minutes down the street and order a pesto pasta, it’s the same thing.”

Weah, showing his stripes as the son of a politician, was more diplomatic and reluctant to voice his true feelings, but he did concede he prefers “American Italian” food.

They evidently didn’t pay attention to Scott McTominay, who alongside his Scudetto-winning exploits on the pitch, has greatly endeared himself to the people of Naples by raving about their cuisine.

“Oh my goodness,” McTominay told The Athletic. “The tomatoes.”

“I never ate them at home,” he says. “They’re just red water. Here, they actually taste like tomatoes. Now I eat them as a snack. I eat all the vegetables, all of the fruits. It is all so fresh. It’s incredible.”

We’ve rounded up some of the funniest reactions from Italians:

Emiliano Viviano

“The United States is the country with the worst food in the world,” shot back the former Italy international and one-time Arsenal loanee, speaking on TV Play.

“They would even deep-fry the soles of their shoes. If I was [Italian Prime Minister Giorgia] Meloni, I wouldn’t let him back into Italy!

“How can you say there’s no variety in Italian cuisine? His very definition of ‘variety’ irritated me. McKennie, there are 200 million of you Americans and all you ever eat are hamburgers.

“The truth is, all the food in America was brought there by other nations. I just want to tell McKennie that he has achieved the incredible feat of managing to unite all of Italy against him.

“It is not about fans anymore, he can be insulted by absolutely everybody.”

Italian Twitter

“The combination of footballer + American already gives a rough indication of the cognitive abilities of Weah and McKennie. I remain convinced that interviewing them about the quality of Italian cuisine would be like interviewing me about string theory.”


“McKennie and Weah in front of a plate of seafood spaghetti: 🤢🤮

“McKennie and Weah in front of whatever this garbage is: 😍”


“McKennie and Weah say that Italian food “isn’t a big deal,” that it’s just “pizza, pasta, meat, and fish” and that they prefer American food.

“Come on, THEY DON’T EVEN KNOW WHAT A KILOMETER IS AND THEY’RE GOING TO TALK ABOUT FOOD? And they talk about “American food” when NONE OF THAT actually comes from the USA.”


“The variety of America: McDonald’s, Burger King, Bobs, Subway, KFC, Mr Beast’s Hamburger”


“I’ve travelled enough to tell you about a hundred cuisines, but about American cuisine, except for some exceptions, I don’t have any memorable recollections.

“And if you want to agree with McKennie, who pontificates about hamburgers compared to pesto, which for him is always the same, I’m out.”

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