I write novels, mainly. They are set in the real world and apart from one published and one in the pipeline, in the UK. I use a writers' site for beta reading, and there is ONE regular there...
One of my two current novels in progress has a teen girl as a lead character. She and her friends are on holiday in Tenerife, as I write. My last section contained references to paella, sangria, tapas and doner kebabs. An American reader, who has form for this, and who is happy to use USAnian terms like homecoming, sophomore, fifth grade and so on, is demanding that I rewrite my work.
I have a comment from a character: "We're off out in a few, to a place Sue found on the net. They do all sorts of paella, as well as really cheap sangria! Tapas place as well, so Col can bugger off on his own if he wants a bloody kebab"
The version they would prefer would read something like:
"We're off out in a few, to a place Sue found on the net. They do all sorts of paella, which is a rice dish from Valencia, a region in southern Spain (etc) and they do really cheap sangria, which is a wine-based long drink including fruit (etc)
Bloody USAnian exceptionalism. I am within a whisker of replying FOAD, but I am staying polite.
