This guy definitely did not get enough exposure to American food. It's a huge country with a vast variety of regional cuisine as well as international dishes melded by the immigrants to match the American tastes.
I went to grad school in Boston. Many foreign students complained about how homogeneous American culture is, how there are no restaurants besides McDonalds and Burger King, etc. But most of them formed these impressions by driving, or taking a bus, to NYC and back. If you don't get off the freeways, you really don't see what real life is like.
Similarly, I visited a friend in France once. On the way there, I took the TGV from Paris. I don't remember anything special about that leg of the trip, and learned nothing about France. On the way back, we drove, and passed through a bunch of little towns. I have a fond memory of helping a boater open a gate to a canal lock, and I still have a strong impression of how contained French villages are compared to American ones.
"There is almost nothing special to eat based on the different seasons of the year. Basically, they like sweet, high fat, high calories things."
Go to U.S. supermarkets or restaurant chains, you will find this is mostly correct.
Went to Olive Garden a couple of days ago, had some pork that was nicely cooked, but drenched in some kind of sugary syrup. It would have been much improved by eliminating the sauce entirely.
You even have to look closely at the ingredients when buying "Mexican" salsa or hot sauce. I sometimes get these home before discovering sugar on the ingredient list. Adding sugar to something meant to be hot and spicy totally perplexes me.
They might be talking about cooking at a home stay, for example. And you could argue that mashed potatoes, boiled/steamed vegetables, casseroles, etc. are not exactly flavorful. Certainly they don't have the subtlety in flavor like Japanese food does.
