# Which country has the worst cuisine? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 24, 2011, 7:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-country-has-the-worst-cuisine/575821 "2011-03-24T07:16:11Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Peremensoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ce7236/32.png) [@Peremensoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peremensoe)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2011, 2:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-country-has-the-worst-cuisine/575821/61 "2011-03-24T14:38:20Z")
> [@dawson](#): > > The idea of a traditional national cuisine is rapidly disappearing. Lord, take me and mine before that comes. The multiplicity of human culture–not limited to, but assuredly including food–is a good chunk of what makes life worth living. ---
**Author:** ![SeldomSeen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/7ba0ec/32.png) [@SeldomSeen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SeldomSeen)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2011, 2:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-country-has-the-worst-cuisine/575821/62 "2011-03-24T14:40:02Z")
It’s too bad that America’s primary contribution to world cuisines is fast food. Some of it is pretty tasty, to be sure (think Wendy’s double cheeseburger), but most fast food is both unhealthy and mostly tasteless. Real American home-style comfort food can rise to great heights, though…New England pot roast, Texas chicken-fried steak with cream gravy (makes my arteries harden just to think about it, but boy is it good!). Northwestern wild game preparations like grilled salmon, elk steak diane, etc. In terms of questionable cuisine, the UK has some dishes that perturb the imagination…haggis, brawn, jellied eels, black cake, blood pudding :dubious: The main source of meat for Peruvian peasants is guinea pig…never tried it, but eating rodents just doesn’t seem right. And we aren’t even mentioning the various ethnic beverages…Pulque (even the name sounds like violent regurgitation), jugo de cana, pombe…the list goes on… ---
**Author:** ![Kyla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/eada6e/32.png) [@Kyla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kyla)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2011, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-country-has-the-worst-cuisine/575821/63 "2011-03-24T15:01:28Z")
My friends who were Peace Corps Volunteers in West Africa have a lot of negative stuff to say about the local cuisine. I’ve been to Britain. The food was fine. Had delicious Indian food, especially. ---
**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:** [March 24, 2011, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-country-has-the-worst-cuisine/575821/64 "2011-03-24T15:04:41Z")
This has been done before, and I’m sticking with my vote for Nepal. Nepali cuisine is basically some sort of foul lentil gunk. I ate Indian or European whenever I could in Nepal. And Kathmandu has some surprisingly nice Italian food. ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2011, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-country-has-the-worst-cuisine/575821/65 "2011-03-24T15:10:12Z")
When I was a kid we frequently spent our summers in Ireland, and I would come home skinny, because I couldn’t bear to eat anything I was served. Until about 15 years ago, the Irish seemed unaware that there was anything you could do with food besides boiling it. As Conan O’Brian likes to ask, have you EVER heard ANYBODY say, “Man, I’m starving- let’s go out for some IRISH food”? That said, despite their recent economic setbacks, Ireland is far more prosperous and far more cosmopolitan than it once was. Even in country towns, you’ll see stores selling woks, which means even Irish rustics are doing Chinese stir fryng! And there are all kinds of great restaurants in Dublin and Galway now. So, generalities don’t always hold true any more (if they ever did). ---
**Author:** ![amanset](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8dc957/32.png) [@amanset](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amanset)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2011, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-country-has-the-worst-cuisine/575821/66 "2011-03-24T15:18:52Z")
> [@SeldomSeen](#): > > In terms of questionable cuisine, the UK has some dishes that perturb the imagination…haggis, brawn, jellied eels, black cake, blood pudding :dubious: Well, the first two are unusual, I’ll give you that. Brawn and “blood pudding” (please, it is called Black Pudding if you are refering to the British food) are pretty much available Europe-wide so I’m not sure why the UK is being singled out. Black Cake I had to look up. So it is generic fruit cake. I’m a bit lost as to why that should “perturb the imagination”. I’ve always maintained that British food’s reputation is purely down to the British sense of humour. Unlike inhabitants of other countries we don’t tend to get all precious about things, so when people said our food was shit, citing rarely eaten things like jellied eels, we generally laughed and said “too right, that shit’s grim”. Because that’s the way we work. We laugh at ourselves. Unfortunately the rest of the world - and especially Americans - thought “well, if even they think it is shit it must be”. And a vicious circle was born. You see, frankly, British food _in general_ is a lot better than many other (especially Germanic and Eastern) European foods. I know. I’ve been there. My nomination for worst cuisine is the country I have live din for the past eleven years, Sweden. The food here is fucking dreadful. The Swedish idea of seasoning something is to add dill. Their contribution to world cuisine has been a meatball. A _bland_ meatball. Their idea of fusion cookery is Kåldolmar, cabbage filled with meat which (I believe) is based on something Turkish. Yet these people routinely tell me that my own country’s food is shit? To be honest I usually giggle a bit and mention that, being half-Scot, I have eaten haggis and it is a bit mental but also quite tasty. And why the “especially Americans” bit? Well - all in my humble opinion of course - the myth has been permeated by American film, TV and comedians. But yes, we deal with it as, just like Alexei Sayle said whilst standing in front of a mirror pissing himself, “that’s the the thing about us British. We can laugh at ourselves”. ---
**Author:** ![Wallenstein](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/b5a626/32.png) [@Wallenstein](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wallenstein)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2011, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-country-has-the-worst-cuisine/575821/67 "2011-03-24T15:21:59Z")
> [@astorian](#): > > As Conan O’Brian likes to ask, have you EVER heard ANYBODY say, “Man, I’m starving- let’s go out for some IRISH food”? Pretty common among my friends. Steak and Guiness pie with colcannon and greens and a pint of stout is perfect winter-time “sit by the fire in a pub for the afternoon” food. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2011, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-country-has-the-worst-cuisine/575821/68 "2011-03-24T15:22:16Z")
Japan. By far Japan. Yak butter is a delight compared to what the Japanese eat on a regular basis. ---
**Author:** ![amanset](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8dc957/32.png) [@amanset](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amanset)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2011, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-country-has-the-worst-cuisine/575821/69 "2011-03-24T15:23:02Z")
> [@astorian](#): > > As Conan O’Brian likes to ask, have you EVER heard ANYBODY say, “Man, I’m starving- let’s go out for some IRISH food”? The Irish are canny, just like the British. No, people don’t say that. You also rarely see British or Irish restaurants. Yet in any major city in the western world I can get British food. You see, we smuggled it in via the concept of pubs. Those Irish and British pubs all over the world sell British and Irish food. We sneeked it all in, under your noses, and you never realised. ---
**Author:** ![Claverhouse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/13edae/32.png) [@Claverhouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Claverhouse)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2011, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-country-has-the-worst-cuisine/575821/70 "2011-03-24T15:26:48Z")
> [@Autolycus](#): > > Worst cuisine in the world? Papa New Guinea. Just kidding, I don’t even know wtf they eat over there. I’m sure it’s just normal stuff mostly, but they used to eat people a bit. That doesn’t phase me. It was the fact they left the body to hang like game until it liquified like a fine wine, and then drank it… ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Scud](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f08c70/32.png) [@Tom\_Scud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Scud)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2011, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-country-has-the-worst-cuisine/575821/71 "2011-03-24T15:38:01Z")
The worst ethnic restaurant food I’ve had was West African - it was a little hole-in-the-wall; they were showing this awesomely hilarious Nigerian (I think, maybe Ghanaian or from some other country in the region) soap opera on the TV; we were the only non-Africans in the place; and the food was horrible. Worst native cuisine I’ve had in-country is probably Egyptian - much less varied than other Middle Eastern food I’ve had. ---
**Author:** ![Duke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e8c25b/32.png) [@Duke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duke)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2011, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-country-has-the-worst-cuisine/575821/72 "2011-03-24T15:41:11Z")
> [@anu-la1979](#): > > However, if I had to pick one country, I’d say iceland, excepting skyr, which is wonderful. Iceland has to be my pick as well. My ex lived there for a month and other than skyr and the dried fish snacks (my ex was strange with that) she hated the food, and survived mainly on spaghetti with plain tomato sauce. Some of the “delicacies” she tried and hated: Rotten shark (“smelled like cat pee”) Brennevin (a liquor, “tasted like distilled licorice”) Sausage made with horse meat (she didn’t look at the ingredient list until she’d tried a bite, found that the first entry under the list in French was “cheval”) Something called “slaughter” in Icelandic, sounded like a blood pudding Liver sausage (she liked liver, but apparently this was white and tasteless and had a consistency “like chewing gum”) Also a whole lot of stuff was boiled in lye or lactic acid because that’s how they preserved food in the old days. “We have refrigerators now!” she quite logically said. ---
**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:** [March 24, 2011, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-country-has-the-worst-cuisine/575821/73 "2011-03-24T15:47:21Z")
Ye gads I forgot Cuba. That’s got to be some of the blandest, most monotonous food to be had anywhere. I don’t know if it’s changed in the last 50 years or so what with communism, US sanctions and wotnot, but on the two trips I took there, the choice in every eatery across the country was: Pork, Chicken or Fish. That’s it. They didn’t bother with menus. All served fried with a side order of plain boiled rice, plain boiled potatoes and, if you were really lucky, refried beans. Not a vegetable, herb or spice in sight. And MAN do they have scrawny chickens. And don’t ask me what the ‘fish’ was as they never specified. (By the way, haggis is delicious). ---
**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:** [March 24, 2011, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-country-has-the-worst-cuisine/575821/74 "2011-03-24T15:52:48Z")
> [@Wallenstein](#): > > Pretty common among my friends. Steak and Guiness pie with colcannon and greens and a pint of stout is perfect winter-time “sit by the fire in a pub for the afternoon” food. > [@amanset](#): > > The Irish are canny, just like the British. No, people don’t say that. You also rarely see British or Irish restaurants. Yet in any major city in the western world I can get British food. You see, we smuggled it in via the concept of pubs. Those Irish and British pubs all over the world sell British and Irish food. > > We sneeked it all in, under your noses, and you never realised. Indeed. Some of the best eating in Bangkok is the Sunday carveries at the several Irish pubs. ---
**Author:** ![Ann\_Hedonia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ann_hedonia/32/319_2.png) [@Ann\_Hedonia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ann_Hedonia)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2011, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-country-has-the-worst-cuisine/575821/75 "2011-03-24T16:08:40Z")
> [@NineToTheSky](#): > > This seems to be turning into a war between the US and the UK. As the great Harry Hill says: ‘There’s only one way to sort this out: FIGHT!’ Lotsa good food in the USA And I’m proud of my good teeth and daily shower, too. ---
**Author:** ![IvoryTowerDenizen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ivorytowerdenizen/32/17937_2.png) [@IvoryTowerDenizen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IvoryTowerDenizen)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2011, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-country-has-the-worst-cuisine/575821/76 "2011-03-24T16:17:19Z")
Austrian cuisine I could only take for so long- salads slathered in mayo, no fresh fruit or vegetables to speak of, cured meats at every meal. Some food was very tasty, but after a week I longed for a fresh apple or carrot. One thing I love about American cuisine is the availability and expectation of fresh produce if you want it. ---
**Author:** ![Floater](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/dc4da7/32.png) [@Floater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Floater)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2011, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-country-has-the-worst-cuisine/575821/77 "2011-03-24T16:19:36Z")
> [@PookahMacPhellimey](#): > > I’ve never lived in Scotland, but have lived with Scots on more than one occasion and have looked on in horror at what they were “cooking”. I understand you have never dined at the Scottish Malt Whisky Society in Leith or a Loch Fyne seafood restaurant. > [@stpauler](#): > > While I haven’t had Somalian per se, I’ve had Ethiopian and it is definitely my least favorite. I’ve only eaten Ethiopian food once and I found it very delicious. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2011, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-country-has-the-worst-cuisine/575821/78 "2011-03-24T16:22:24Z")
From the point of view of inexpensive, convenient, nutritious, and tasty food, the U.S. has the worst record for the countries I’ve been to. Every other country’s version of fast food is a hundred times better than ours. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2011, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-country-has-the-worst-cuisine/575821/79 "2011-03-24T16:24:18Z")
> [@IvoryTowerDenizen](#): > > One thing I love about American cuisine is the availability and expectation of fresh produce if you want it. Really? Because I’ve always found U.S. fruits and vegetables to be decidedly mediocre. They’re all big, pretty and tasteless. ---
**Author:** ![Bakhesh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/3da27b/32.png) [@Bakhesh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bakhesh)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2011, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-country-has-the-worst-cuisine/575821/80 "2011-03-24T16:27:03Z")
[![](https://workbench.cadenhead.org/media/jimmy-dean-pancakes-and-sausage-on-a-stick-chocolate-chip.jpg) ](https://workbench.cadenhead.org/media/jimmy-dean-pancakes-and-sausage-on-a-stick-chocolate-chip.jpg) Thread over. Brits win [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-country-has-the-worst-cuisine/575821.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-country-has-the-worst-cuisine/575821.md?page=5)