# What country would you starve in? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 31, 2010, 1:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-country-would-you-starve-in/552075 "2010-08-31T01:19:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![pbbth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f9ae1b/32.png) [@pbbth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pbbth)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2010, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-country-would-you-starve-in/552075/81 "2010-08-31T20:53:40Z")
> [@GHO57](#): > > > [@pbbth](#): > > > > What kind of weird stuff? I am going to Finland soon and I want to be prepared ahead of time! > > …but that would ruin the surprise. But when you get here… there’s something you have to try, the “[Sisu Horna](http://www.flickr.com/photos/hmch/3581751231)”-sweets… well, not actually \*sweet \*as such, but candy. > > Also, did you check out the Wiki page? Try Mämmi (easter section) or mustamakkara (under other specialties)… or the potentially lethal yet tasty Korvasieni (Gyromitra esculenta) The Wiki page has some delicious looking stuff there but you can keep the mustamakkara for yourself. I have no interest in blood sausage. ---
**Author:** ![Death\_of\_Rats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a6a055/32.png) [@Death\_of\_Rats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Death_of_Rats)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2010, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-country-would-you-starve-in/552075/82 "2010-08-31T21:24:16Z")
[quote=“Sitnam, post:20, topic:552075”] > [@silenus](#): > > No shit. KFC in China isn’t fried, it isn’t chicken, and it sure as hell didn’t come from Kentucky. 2/3 of that is pretty much true at KFC in America, too 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Morbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morbo/32/389_2.png) [@Morbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morbo)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2010, 10:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-country-would-you-starve-in/552075/83 "2010-08-31T22:00:57Z")
> [@Chefguy](#): > > By far some of the worst food in Europe is in Portugal, but I wouldn’t starve there. What?! We travel to the Costa Del Sol in Spain quite a bit, and always add time in to go over to Portugal, just to eat. To the OP: based on a [book](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Sex_Lives_of_Cannibals) I read recently, probably Kiribati. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2010, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-country-would-you-starve-in/552075/84 "2010-09-01T00:33:11Z")
> [@lindsaybluth](#): > > This can easily be remedied by a few persuasive words in Hindi, or if you’re in the US/Cananda by saying “oh I have a relative/cousin/I eat Indian food often”. Pronouncing the names of food correctly also helps. Honestly, 99% of white people can’t handle it. At my favorite Indian place, months ago I watched white people consistently leave 90% of their food because they asked for it “medium” or “spicy” and can’t handle it. Boy, must not have been me. Bring it to me spicy, and I do mean spicy. I’m as white as they come but I’m forever asking in Indian places, “Where’s the SPICY food?” The places I couldn’t eat would be Norway, Sweden et al., where the traditional dishes are boring, spiceless fish. Oh, look, another herring. How can you eat such boring food so often? ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2010, 4:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-country-would-you-starve-in/552075/85 "2010-09-01T04:19:57Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Quoth **Siam Sam** : > > > [@](#): > > > > The smart people in Nepal eat Indian food. Nepali food is pretty disgusting, the staple being this cruddy gruel-looking shit. I’ve had some good international cuisine in Kathmandu and Pokhara, but if I had to subsist on Nepali “cuisine,” I would probably lose a lot of weight. > > You mean daal bhat? That stuff’s great. Don’t judge it by appearances; it’s mostly just lentils and rice (plus veggies and spices). Have you tried it in Nepal? We found it to be disgusting sewer sludge. ---
**Author:** ![even\_sven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/dfb087/32.png) [@even\_sven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/even_sven)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2010, 4:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-country-would-you-starve-in/552075/86 "2010-09-01T04:50:36Z")
I agree. Nepali food is exceptionally repetitive and bland, especially if you are comparing it to India. Maybe people spice it up in their homes, but the stuff you get at truck stops and small restaurants (where you can find much of India’s best food) is uninspiring. Much of west African food is indeed not very good. Meals center around a large lump of paste-like starch, that you can dip into a variety of sauces. Where I lived the sauce was leaves, peanut butter, and disgusting little dried whole fish. Blech. Some of the snack food and street food, however, is excellent. And some parts of west Africa, like Senegal, have pretty good food. As for me, I could eat anywhere just fine. ---
**Author:** ![Kyla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/eada6e/32.png) [@Kyla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kyla)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2010, 5:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-country-would-you-starve-in/552075/87 "2010-09-01T05:04:47Z")
> [@even\_sven](#): > > Much of west African food is indeed not very good. Meals center around a large lump of paste-like starch, that you can dip into a variety of sauces. Where I lived the sauce was leaves, peanut butter, and disgusting little dried whole fish. Blech. Some of the snack food and street food, however, is excellent. And some parts of west Africa, like Senegal, have pretty good food. A friend of mine who was a PCV in Mali told me the story of how when she arrived in her village, the people wanted to welcome her, so they made sure she got a WHOLE LOT of the fish-stuff. And because she knew it was a big expense for them, she had to eat all of it. And act like she loved it. Mmmmm…dried fish stuff. Made me glad that my first meal with my host family as a PCT was peppers stuffed with spiced rice with a side of yogurt. Delicious. And despite my best efforts, something I’ve never been able to replicate perfectly. ---
**Author:** ![Leiko](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Leiko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leiko)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2010, 5:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-country-would-you-starve-in/552075/88 "2010-09-01T05:57:54Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > > [@ianzin](#): > > > > Either this is a repeated whoosh, or I’m missing something. I’ve visited Tokyo and there are many McDonalds restaurants there. Some of them have dual language menus on the counter - Japanese kanji on the front, English on the back. > > It was a reference to the “Italian” restaurants, not McDonalds. I wouldn’t trusy an Italian place in Japan any more than I would a “Genuine Texas BBQ” joint in Naples. Italian food is one of the big “guest” cuisines in Japan. There was even an Iron Chef Italian on the classic Japanese Iron Chef. The pizza places are internet-famous for having odd toppings like mayo and corn, and I’ve read on bento blogs that the mainstream spaghetti dishes are overly sweetened (just like in America!), but the fancy sit-down Italian restaurants are supposed to be really good. ---
**Author:** ![foolsguinea](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foolsguinea/32/14751_2.png) [@foolsguinea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/foolsguinea)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2010, 10:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-country-would-you-starve-in/552075/89 "2010-09-01T10:48:08Z")
While I loathe Creole “cuisine” (too. much. pepper.) there are things available in the Caribbean I can & will actually eat. I might end up eating a lot of fruit & sweets but I’d survive long enough to start finding & cooking my own protein dishes. Not that hard to find eggs, there are chickens everywhere. Actually, that’s one thing. I wouldn’t likely starve in any civilized country as I can cook for myself. But I’d be leery of anywhere that’s too into curry. Oy. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2010, 1:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-country-would-you-starve-in/552075/90 "2010-09-01T13:42:23Z")
> [@Anne\_Neville](#): > > I haven’t been to Spain, but Mr. Neville has, and he said he had problems finding food he could eat there. It wouldn’t work for any dish that was slow-cooked, but yeah, a lot of dishes would require a warning of “no pork, and that doesn’t mean ‘take it out before bringing it to the table’.” You might do better looking in tapas bars than in actual restaurants, if you were willing to drop the restrictions on cooking utensils. ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2010, 2:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-country-would-you-starve-in/552075/91 "2010-09-01T14:18:58Z")
> [@Siam\_Sam](#): > > Have you tried it in Nepal? We found it to be disgusting sewer sludge. While I agree, no one goes to Nepal for the food, it was edible and nutritious. We had daal baht most days while trekking, and it could be spiced up with local veggies and some hot sauce. It’s not fine cuisine, but it certainly wasn’t sewer sludge. ---
**Author:** ![lieu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c2a13f/32.png) [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2010, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-country-would-you-starve-in/552075/92 "2010-09-01T14:35:58Z")
Some co-worker friends were in Egypt for a couple of weeks and apparently had a great deal of trouble finding anything acceptable to eat, and this on a upscale, well-funded business trip. Their descriptions of Nile Perch about turned me off or ever wanting to travel there myself. I’m no priss and will try most anything but it’ll take some serious pre-convincing to get me to ever travel there w/o a suitcase full of beef jerkey and crackers. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2010, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-country-would-you-starve-in/552075/93 "2010-09-01T15:40:42Z")
> [@tr0psn4j](#): > > I don’t know how to answer this question. All types off food are delicious. Yeah, I think I’d be happy pretty much anywhere. While I may be opinionated about food, I will eat just about anything. I really doubt there’s any place I’d be so put off by it that I’d starve or resort to eating bread/rice and water. The first thing I do when I explore a new country is to hit the street food stands or at least the restaurants serving the local cuisine. For me, that’s the most fun part of traveling: eating the local grub (and drinking the local firewater, should there be any.) It’s how I get to know the culture, and everybody loves a guest who will happily eat their food. ---
**Author:** ![BetsQ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/fbc32d/32.png) [@BetsQ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BetsQ)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2010, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-country-would-you-starve-in/552075/94 "2010-09-01T15:45:03Z")
> [@Dr.Woo](#): > > For me it would be Japan and probably Southeast Asia. I eat pretty much everything except seafood (and, on preview, unwashed anuses of any kind), so like **silenus** I’d have a tough time there. > > In contrast to other posters, I LOVE Indian, Indonesian, Thai, Szechuan (non-seafood) and Ethiopian food and could eat that stuff all day long for the rest of my life and be happy. I apparently also have iron guts so absolutely nothing except pathogens bothers me. Huh? If you like Indian, Indonesian, and Thai, you like SE Asian cuisine. Personally, I’m not a very adventurous eater, but only went through about a third of my Power Bar supply on my trip to India, and I did just fine in SE Asia. The best vacation meals I had were in Vietnam. I’m not real excited about the cuisine of the Deep South. ---
**Author:** ![SanVito](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sanvito/32/2805_2.png) [@SanVito](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SanVito)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2010, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-country-would-you-starve-in/552075/95 "2010-09-01T16:44:32Z")
I don’t know when you went there, but this certainly wasn’t true last summer. We had a variety of extremely well cooked and imaginative dishes, both traditional and based around other cuisines, all over the island, including a wide range of fruit and vegetables as well as fresh meat and seafood (all totally recognisable and delicious). [/QUOTE] About ten years ago, so it must have improved considerably! ---
**Author:** ![MegaBee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f0a364/32.png) [@MegaBee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MegaBee)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2010, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-country-would-you-starve-in/552075/96 "2010-09-01T16:45:03Z")
Anywhere that it’s hard to get full nutition on a vegetarian diet, I would starve. If we go post-apocalyptic, I’ll force myself to be able to eat meat again, but it’ll be rough going. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2010, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-country-would-you-starve-in/552075/97 "2010-09-01T19:07:55Z")
> [@](#): > > Huh? If you like Indian, Indonesian, and Thai, you like SE Asian cuisine. India is South Asia, not Southeast Asia, and Vietnamese and Korean food are nothing like Thai (or each other). ---
**Author:** ![DMark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@DMark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DMark)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2010, 7:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-country-would-you-starve-in/552075/98 "2010-09-01T19:24:44Z")
I am sure there are countries that simply have little food and limited variety, but going off the countries I have actually visited: The old adage about Britain (“If you like the weather, you’ll love the food.”) was true for me. I used to have to go to the London area every year for two weeks on business and I always lost weight there. Would try to find Indian restaurants or anything other than pub food or fish and chips - they were disgusting. And yes, I had locals take me to their favorite pubs and still couldn’t eat 90% of what was being served. Also, although I loved living in Berlin and went all over Germany, even most Germans don’t eat German food all that often. By that, I mean the traditional sauerbraten or schnitzel or whatever. Too heavy, too much thick gravies and sauces, too many potatoes with even more sauces - many might eat that for Sunday dinner, but otherwise, they will eat pastas, salads, sandwiches, soups, etc. like most Americans do - plus, younger Germans now really like going to more exotic restaurants and eating other ethnic foods. I have never been to Japan, but not being a big fan of raw fish (unless it is Chicken Of The Sea in a can), I doubt I would be gaining any weight there either. ---
**Author:** ![Superfluous\_Parentheses](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8edcca/32.png) [@Superfluous\_Parentheses](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superfluous_Parentheses)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2010, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-country-would-you-starve-in/552075/99 "2010-09-01T19:25:47Z")
> [@RickJay](#): > > The places I couldn’t eat would be Norway, Sweden et al., where the traditional dishes are boring, spiceless fish. Oh, look, another herring. How can you eat such boring food so often? Herring boring?! It doesn’t even need anything, just serve it to me raw. ---
**Author:** ![SciFiSam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/47e85d/32.png) [@SciFiSam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SciFiSam)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2010, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-country-would-you-starve-in/552075/100 "2010-09-01T19:31:09Z")
I’m still surprised that so many people think Japanese food = fish (probably raw fish). [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-country-would-you-starve-in/552075.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-country-would-you-starve-in/552075.md?page=6)