[besson3c]

My wife and I find that we generally eat far more non-American food than we do American, and we definitely avoid the chain restaurants. We have tried and enjoyed everything listed in this poll, or at least the versions of these cuisines available in our area, but I'm wondering what I should try when given the opportunity that is not in my list?

Also, I cook very little but now have the opportunity to cook more. If I were to learn to cook stuff from these lists which would you think would be some of the easiest and most satisfying starting places for a cooking novice such as myself?

[Doofy]

No mention of British? Food that fuelled the largest empire the world has ever seen?
I voted Italian. Hmmm. Pizza.

[besson3c]

Also, if the polls allowed for more options I would have included Greek, Cajun/Creole, and Korean.

[besson3c]

Originally Posted by Doofy 

No mention of British? Food that fuelled the largest empire the world has ever seen?
I voted Italian. Hmmm. Pizza.

Honestly (addressing your white text), Italian food kind of bores me. I kind of suffer from having to have food that really jumps out at me and grabs me by the balls. The nuances of great Italian (and French food) are just too subtle for me.

As far as British food, I guess I should add it on to my list... It would be near the bottom of my list of favorites though, no offense patriotic Brit!

[Doofy]

Originally Posted by besson3c 

Honestly (addressing your white text), Italian food kind of bores me. I kind of suffer from having to have food that really jumps out at me and grabs me by the balls. The nuances of great Italian (and French food) are just too subtle for me.

Ahh. I smoke, so I've got barely any taste buds anyway. Italian is convenient though - a whole meal on its own little dough plate! Plus I lived with an Italian chick for a year so I kind of got into the whole thing that way and it just stuck.

Originally Posted by besson3c 

As far as British food, I guess I should add it on to my list... It would be near the bottom of my list of favorites though, no offense patriotic Brit!

No offence taken. You know I'm probably the least patriotic Brit alive, no?

[Rumor]

Puerto Rican.

[CharlesS]

You need to have an option on there for "Other." My favorite cuisines aren't on your list.

[SVass]

50 years ago, Hungarian was considered number one. It still is except that the uneducated have no taste buds.
sa,

[Phileas]

Originally Posted by besson3c 

Italian food kind of bores me.

You haven't had great Italian food. Tuscan food in particular.

[besson3c]

Another one that would be in the list if I could have added more options: Mexican.

[Chuckit]

You have Tibetan and Ethiopian food and not Mexican? What the heck is Ethiopian food even like?

[AKcrab]

Originally Posted by Chuckit 

What the heck is Ethiopian food even like?

Very, Very, Very small portions.

[besson3c]

It's very good. I've had it here and in Chicago. Their most distinctive (AFAIK) part of their food is a doughy pancake like bread called Injera that the family style food platters sit on top of. You use the Injera as a fork (traditionally you eat with your hands only) sort of like eating a fajita, and like I said, you usually eat family style. There are veggie and meat dishes of varying levels of spice.

It's awesome.

[CharlesS]

Originally Posted by AKcrab 

Very, Very, Very small portions.

Not in the Ethiopian restaurants I've been to. Not only do you get huge portions, but the food is delicious, and a fun experience besides.

[Oisín]

Originally Posted by SVass 

50 years ago, Hungarian was considered number one. It still is except that the uneducated have no taste buds.
sa,

… and the Hungarians don’t cook Hungarian food anymore. Or at least, if they do, they hide it well.

I can’t decide between Chinese, Italian, Mediterranean/Middle Eastern [though technically, I’ve only ever had the Danish versions of these], and Japanese [though I’ve only had the Danish, English, American, and Chinese versions of this]. I love them all equally.

And Finnish food is surprisingly awesome, too.

[Rumor]

Originally Posted by besson3c 

It's very good. I've had it here and in Chicago. Their most distinctive (AFAIK) part of their food is a doughy pancake like bread called Injera that the family style food platters sit on top of. You use the Injera as a fork (traditionally you eat with your hands only) sort of like eating a fajita, and like I said, you usually eat family style. There are veggie and meat dishes of varying levels of spice.

It's awesome.

Is it similar to naan?

[ShortcutToMoncton]

Not at all. It's actually kinda like Russian blini (or bliny, or blinches elsewhere) but lighter and more rubbery. I've only had ethiopian a few times, but it was delicious every time - and some dishes were hot as hell, too. Not a big fan of the ethiopian beer I paired it with, though...

German and English food is just terrible, and I've never considered Russian food to be tops. Other than that, there is so much fusion going on around the food world that I find it very hard to just "pick one." I love mediterranean and middle eastern food (I kinda include Greek in there, although that's dubious), Japanese food is incredible, Italian is amazing, as is French, so is Thai and Indian, and no one does meat over fire like the Americans...!

greg

[Shaddim]

1. Cuban
.
.
.
.
2. Mediterranean/Middle Eastern
3. US (me fixing steaks at home)
4. Japanese (Kobe beef, pls)
5. Thai

[besson3c]

Originally Posted by Oisín 

… and the Hungarians don’t cook Hungarian food anymore. Or at least, if they do, they hide it well.

I can’t decide between Chinese, Italian, Mediterranean/Middle Eastern [though technically, I’ve only ever had the Danish versions of these], and Japanese [though I’ve only had the Danish, English, American, and Chinese versions of this]. I love them all equally.

And Finnish food is surprisingly awesome, too.

What is Finnish food like?

[besson3c]

Originally Posted by ShortcutToMoncton 

Not at all. It's actually kinda like Russian blini (or bliny, or blinches elsewhere) but lighter and more rubbery. I've only had ethiopian a few times, but it was delicious every time - and some dishes were hot as hell, too. Not a big fan of the ethiopian beer I paired it with, though...

German and English food is just terrible, and I've never considered Russian food to be tops. Other than that, there is so much fusion going on around the food world that I find it very hard to just "pick one." I love mediterranean and middle eastern food (I kinda include Greek in there, although that's dubious), Japanese food is incredible, Italian is amazing, as is French, so is Thai and Indian, and no one does meat over fire like the Americans...!

greg

Yeah, plus Injera is sort of pizza crust like in that it spreads across an entire pizza pan sized platter in one piece, whereas naan is cut into smaller pieces.

[besson3c]

Russian is another food that I've had, but I also wasn't too keen on it. Never had Cuban though. What's it like?

[besson3c]

Originally Posted by Doofy 

Ahh. I smoke, so I've got barely any taste buds anyway. Italian is convenient though - a whole meal on its own little dough plate! Plus I lived with an Italian chick for a year so I kind of got into the whole thing that way and it just stuck.

You really should quit your smoking, Doofy. For one, it is bad for your lungs, can cause cancer where you will die, but also did you know that it is the leading cause of forest fires?

No offence taken. You know I'm probably the least patriotic Brit alive, no?

Yeah, just teasin'.

[moonmonkey]

Originally Posted by ShortcutToMoncton 

German and English food is just terrible

That's a strangely uneducated statement, English food is fantastic if done properly.
The UK produce some of the finest meat and cheese varieties in the world, Angus beef, Cheddar cheese, Cornish Cream, where do you think this stuff comes from? Check out the latest Michelin guide to see how popular British food is at the moment.

German food also rocks, particularly some of the Bavarian and Swiss / German dishes, pork knuckle with mashed potato, sauerkraut and a litre of beer, has got to be one of the best meals in the world.

[CharlesS]

Indeed. If you made the choice "Central European" so it could include Polish, Czech, Hungarian, etc. instead of just German, then that choice would be pretty close to the top of my list.

[besson3c]

German beer is the best there is, plus if you get the right sausage action + the right mustard action + the right sour kraut, you have a meal to recon with!

Plus, I like those funny looking oompa guys.

[AKcrab]

Originally Posted by besson3c 

... did you know that it is the leading cause of forest fires?

Now where did you get this tidbit from? I believe it's completely false.

I guess I forgot the in my post about ethernopian food... I've never had it, it was supposed to be comedy.

[ThinkInsane]

I didn't pick anything in the poll as I probably couldn't pick a favorite. My favorites tend to change on a whim, so I don't bother trying to nail one down. There's definitely some that others have mentioned that should be in the poll (I know you were limited) like Cuban, Puerto Rican, other regional Caribbean faire (I'd gladly eat jerked human if you serve it up with plantains). I'm not huge on German, never really cared for much of the cuisine. My only experience with Russian food was in the USSR in 1987, so I'm not sure if it's fair to judge as having to wait in line for a week to buy a potato may have influenced what was offered. I do agree with the others about blini though- yum. I don't have strong feelings on French either way, it does tend to be a little richer than I prefer but that doesn't stop me from enjoying it on occasion. And I too will chime in on the righteousness of Ethiopian grub. I've only had it a couple of times while traveling, but it's most certainly worth giving a try.

For the most part, I'll try anything, and usually find that I like it. My tastes are pretty eclectic, and wherever I go I give the regional cuisine a shot and almost always find myself satisfied.

[besson3c]

Originally Posted by AKcrab 

Now where did you get this tidbit from? I believe it's completely false.

Explain this Washington state sign then?

I guess I forgot the in my post about ethernopian food... I've never had it, it was supposed to be comedy.

I've never had ethernopian food either. Do things escape into it or something?

[besson3c]

I suppose I'll be adding to this list between now and the end of time, but Vietnamese is another kind of food I have had a little experience with.

Has anybody here ever had Tibetan mo mos?

[CharlesS]

Originally Posted by besson3c 

German beer is the best there is, plus if you get the right sausage action + the right mustard action + the right sour kraut, you have a meal to recon with!

Get a half duck, Czech-style, plus some sauerkraut, red cabbage, and knedlicky with some Czech beer on your recon mission, and you'll get even better intel.

[turtle777]

Originally Posted by Doofy 

No mention of British? Food that fuelled the largest empire the world has ever seen?

The poll is about best eats. Feel free to nominate British food for the worst eats poll.

-t

[besson3c]

Originally Posted by turtle777 

The poll is about best eats. Feel free to nominate British food for the worst eats poll.

-t

Prediction: somebody is going to whoosh graphic your ass.

[Gavin]

A friend of mine runs a program that hosts high school exchange students from all over the world. Before they leave for home they are asked "what will you miss most about America?"

Almost every single one answers: Mexican food.

[Rumor]

Originally Posted by besson3c 

German beer is the best there is, plus if you get the right sausage action + the right mustard action + the right sour kraut, you have a meal to recon with!

Plus, I like those funny looking oompa guys.

I have to disagree. While German beer is good, there is no German beer available in the States that can top California.

This is, of course, excluding micro brews in Germany that we cannot get here.

[besson3c]

I also find that the best eating restaurant wise is not the most expensive. In fact, I literally can't think of an expensive meal that would be worth paying for again if all I wanted was a great meal somewhere. Agreement here?

[besson3c]

Originally Posted by Rumor 

I have to disagree. While German beer is good, there is no German beer available in the States that can top California.

This is, of course, excluding micro brews in Germany that we cannot get here.

Well, I guess my claim was rather iffy. Micro brews always complicate matters. I will say that if you want a good beer from your local beer store or wherever you go that has a good selection of different beers, the German varieties hold their own.

Last place: American (non Micro brewed) beer. I don't know how anybody can drink that piss in such large quantity.

[ThinkInsane]

Originally Posted by besson3c 

Last place: American (non Micro brewed) beer. I don't know how anybody can drink that piss in such large quantity.

It can be drank in such large quantities because it's basically piss flavored water. I could drink a twelve pack of Michelob and feel nothing more than a general sense of self-loathing for having done so, but half a dozen pints of Racer 5 or Hop Devil (or Henepin or Obsidian Stout or Cascazilla or Gumballhead or Wailing Wench or a full metric ****load of other top-notch domestic beers) will leave me happy, refreshed and tipsy. Mass produced lagers tend to be ass, no matter where they come from. Coors, Labatts, Bud, Busch, Miller, Fosters, Corona, Spaten, it doesn't matter, they are all gross. I love it when someone says that American beer sucks and professes to only drink "good beer" and then promptly tips back a Molson. There are plenty of good beers made here (and pretty much everywhere else for that matter). No lame-ass lager should ever be described thusly.

[shifuimam]

Originally Posted by besson3c 

Prediction: somebody is going to whoosh graphic your ass.

I'm guessing it'll come from Laminar.

Japanese is probably my favoritest cuisine, due to dating a genuine Japanese guy for two and a half years.

In more recent times, though, I've been rediscovering my appreciation for a big, bloody steak. Nothing says "mmmm" like red meat...preferably wrapped in a thick slab of bacon.

I'll try any cuisine once, though, provided that it's not spicy or horseradish-laden (which pretty much keeps Indian food out of the running).

[PB2K]

difficult, some thai streetvendors sold better pad thai than the big restaurants. it really depends on the cook.
i like sri lankan rice&curry most i guess.
but a traditional dutch stew with a sausage can make me happy too

worst food : eastern europe. black sausages ! ewww.

[TETENAL]

Why is Mediterranean and Middle Eastern the same category?

[ctt1wbw]

Originally Posted by Phileas 

You haven't had great Italian food. Tuscan food in particular.

Obviously never eaten in Italy. The crap you get at The Olive Garden is nowhere near what you get in Italy. I've been to Naples and Trieste, and thought I had died and gone to Heaven.

[Hawkeye_a]

Thats such a tough question for me. i was thinking of such a poll but gave up, cause my preference changes almost on a monthly basis.....

I was in India over new years and loved the food..... so many different distinct flavors to discover. (i prefer the north indian and Goan cuisine).

In Europe, the Italians take the prize (although the pizzas n calzones were pretty disappointing..... Papa John's ftw)

So i guess..... for variety Indian, for indulgence Italian.

Cheers

[OreoCookie]

Originally Posted by Rumor 

I have to disagree. While German beer is good, there is no German beer available in the States that can top California.

This is, of course, excluding micro brews in Germany that we cannot get here.

That's because the exported beer is second rate (I'm serious, the Italians do the same with pasta). Plus, there are some beers that aren't exported (Augustiner, hmmm ).

Nevertheless, I was positively surprised what kind of beer you can get in California … very good stuff indeed. (Not like the pee water you have to drink in other parts of the US.)

[ShortcutToMoncton]

Originally Posted by moonmonkey 

That's a strangely uneducated statement, English food is fantastic if done properly.
The UK produce some of the finest meat and cheese varieties in the world, Angus beef, Cheddar cheese, Cornish Cream, where do you think this stuff comes from? Check out the latest Michelin guide to see how popular British food is at the moment.

Sorry, not seeing it. Saying "Angus beef comes from UK" is laughable; I'm from North America remember, meat on fire is truly a way of life here. Hell, we probably have beef farms bigger than your country. If you want beef, you've got to go with American/Canadian or Japanese.

As for cheese; everyone makes great cheese. US, British, French, Spanish, Italian, Swiss and even Canadian cheeses are all world-renown. Making great cheese hardly counts as a barometer of "great cuisine" though, IMO.

That's not to say that food in Britain isn't good; I'm more inclined to imagine that it's not that British food is being exported, but rather that British chefs are importing more from elsewhere.

In fact, my theory is usually reinforced when I meet British people who've moved elsewhere years ago. I generally find that their taste in good food sucks. A great example I found hilarious was in Iceland; I ran into some British folk who were expressing their disgust at the "recent trend this past decade" of undercooking seafood. In particular they noted that whale meat (tastiest done rare and bloody) was best soaked in milk for a day or so, which "helped get rid of a lot of that wild taste of the meat"....

German food also rocks, particularly some of the Bavarian and Swiss / German dishes, pork knuckle with mashed potato, sauerkraut and a litre of beer, has got to be one of the best meals in the world.

I spent a few days driving through Bavaria and up through central Germany last summer, sampling nice little restaurants along the way. While I certainly retract my comment that "German food is just terrible" (I'm not sure what I was thinking with that one), and I had some great meals, I'd never classify it as more than "hardy and homely." We'd also visited Austria just before that, and had a particularly great sausage-and-beer lunch at an outdoor market in Vienna one day, but again: it was a great meal, but I thought the OT was "which nationality has the best eats?"

(As an aside, I actually had one of the best meals of my life on a castle terrace overlooking Hirschhorn and the river Nekar: my main course was "medaillons of deer with juniper-sauce, stuffed pear broccoli with almonds and potatoe croquettes." Delicious? Oh yeah. Representative of German cuisine? Maybe, but I doubt it.)

Plus, we arrived in Austria straight from Naples, after wandering down through Italy from Venice. I'm sorry, there can be no comparison.

greg

[ShortcutToMoncton]

Originally Posted by besson3c 

I also find that the best eating restaurant wise is not the most expensive. In fact, I literally can't think of an expensive meal that would be worth paying for again if all I wanted was a great meal somewhere. Agreement here?

Not from me. I've got a great selection of fantastic cheap, dirty and great-tasting spots that are just phenomenal (see: Doner Kebab and Little House of Kebab just north of Yonge-Gerrard in Toronto, oh so fantastically good), but for the most part the best meals of my life have all laid a severe beating on my poor wallet.

Originally Posted by besson3c 

You really should quit your smoking, Doofy. For one, it is bad for your lungs, can cause cancer where you will die, but also did you know that it is the leading cause of forest fires?

Humans are definitely the leading cause of forest fires, but lightning is the worst offender by far when it comes to damage done. For some stupid reason it doesn't have a respect for geography.

greg

[Spheric Harlot]

Originally Posted by besson3c 

German beer is the best there is, plus if you get the right sausage action + the right mustard action + the right sour kraut, you have a meal to recon with!

Plus, I like those funny looking oompa guys.

To note:

Bavaria, to this day, has not signed the German Constitution (though it did ratify a text that stated de facto acceptance if more than two-thirds of the German states ratified the Constitution, which obviously has come to pass).

Bavaria is a free state. Their relationship with the rest of Germany is sort of like Great Britain with the rest of Europe: They'd love to think they're independent and have a special role and are only extremely integrated when there's something to be gained or mooched off it, and the rest of the time the rest of us just nod and smile.*

They make good beer, though (the Bavarians).

[Doofy]

Originally Posted by ShortcutToMoncton 

As for cheese; everyone makes great cheese. US, British, French, Spanish, Italian, Swiss and even Canadian cheeses are all world-renown.

Oh please. Everyone outside North America knows that the US can't make cheese.

Originally Posted by ShortcutToMoncton 

That's not to say that food in Britain isn't good; I'm more inclined to imagine that it's not that British food is being exported, but rather that British chefs are importing more from elsewhere.

In fact, my theory is usually reinforced when I meet British people who've moved elsewhere years ago. I generally find that their taste in good food sucks.

I was joking up there, but this is a reasonably serious question. What is "good"? How are we defining "good"? Is this "good" as in "appeals to the taste buds of a desk jockey"? Or "good" as in "will stop you from freezing to death on a Welsh mountain better than a French salad will"?
If we're using the latter, there's something to be said for having a "full English" first thing in the morning.

[SpaceMonkey]

Originally Posted by TETENAL 

Why is Mediterranean and Middle Eastern the same category?

And yet Turkish food gets its own category.

[besson3c]

Originally Posted by TETENAL 

Why is Mediterranean and Middle Eastern the same category?

I don't know why, but there are a lot of these fusion restaurants around here... Souvlaki is similar enough to Shishkabob, for instance?

[Gavin]

Chinese, French, and Japanese rise above the rest as full cuisines with great variety of tastes. Each has a professional chef class with university level education leading to a broad understanding of food, preparation and presentation. They have a philosophy of food that when properly done results in a meal complete in balance, flavors, taste, textures, portions, timing, and nutrition that leaves you satisfied in a way that is unequaled.

On the other hand sometimes you can't beat cheap tacos from the back of a truck.