What Is It About Ranch Dressing?
It has become, deservedly or not, a great American export during the World Cup.
Opening excerpt (first ~120 words) tap to expand
CultureWhat Is It About Ranch Dressing?It has become, deservedly or not, a great American export during the World Cup.By Ellen CushingIllustration by Akshita Chandra / The Atlantic. Source: Getty.June 23, 2026, 5:27 PM ET ShareSave As far as I can tell, patient zero was a Swedish 24-year-old named Elsa Thora. “Why did no one tell me ranch sauce is like crack?” she posted to X earlier this month, apparently hours after landing in Indianapolis for a monthlong World Cup trip. “EUROPE WE NEED RANCH ASAP.” The post received 49,000 likes and propelled Thora to a very specific kind of fame. (“I guess I’m that Ranch girl now,” says her bio on Instagram, where she is also doing sponsored content for a Curaçao-based online casino that takes only cryptocurrency.
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Excerpt limited to ~120 words for fair-use compliance. The full article is at The Atlantic.
