I'd call it a New England thing. My office mate at work is from Massachusetts, and she loves brown bread.
Yes, that is what I was going to say.
As for the exchange students:
We had a college student from France who stayed with us for a month back in 2001.
These two girls are from Portland's "sister city," -- Shinagawa (a suburb of Tokyo). They are 15 and 16 1/2. They have both been studying English--hopefully we can communicate! They'll be here for 10 days. I'll report on how it goes!
L