:eek::eek:
I would experience this once. Maybe twice. Ever after I would leave the room when he was eating.
As a fat American, I really have to thank you for this mental image. I do believe that the next time I’m feeling peckish<shudder> I will not in fact, eat food. I may instead throw myself off a tall building.
I will be thinner…over a larger area.
Depends on who’s cooking it.
I can personally make a very nice Jewish meal of really good matzo ball soup with light matza balls and richly flavored chicken broth with dill and rice. Then followed by stewed brisket with tomatoes, thick, oniony potato pancakes and a light salad. Add in some store bought rugalach and you’ve got a good meal. Go to the Second Avenue Deli in NYC for much the same though not quite as good this Jewish mamma’s meal.
I think almost any kind of cuisine can be good or awful depending on multiple factors. For example, I’ve heard nasty things about Russian food. While I’ve never actually personally been to Russia, I grew up in Brighton Beach where there are a lot of Russians and a lot of Russian places to eat. You can get a really good meal there. Start with piroshkis, pelminis or some smoked fish. Try the Chicken Kiev and some pickled vegetables or one of the many Russian cheeses and sausages on local bread. Then stroll around the neighborhood for a cup of tea and some Russian chocolate.
Delicious!
In my neck of the woods in NJ, we have some great places to eat. You can get drool worthy pizza and lasagna, authentic Indian, dim sum weekend breakfasts, homemade ramen and great bagels – all within about twenty minutes of my house. So while I’ve never been to India, China, Japan or Israel, I’m pretty damned satisfied with our local New Jersey native cuisine.
But that’s always true. Some people are judging foreign cuisines by what they’ve experienced in US restaurants. That’s generally inauthentic. It’s really unfair, for example, to judge Chinese food by the food available at the typical Chinese restaurant in America. I think someone upthread modified the requirements to include that we’re talking about a country’s food when it’s prepared well.
True that.
A good cook can take nearly anything and turn it to gold. Nearly of course being the modifier. I’ve had freshly prepared asparagus risotto in Italy that was so delicious we swooned with happiness. Then I’ve had “risotto” in other places that was just plain white rice with a bit of cheese or overcooked peas thrown in. Yuck.
i wouldn’t judge Italian food by the dog food that Dominos pretends is Italian food. Then again mutton and yak tea are probably always going to be just bad by most people’s definition no matter who cooks them. It does seem to me, however, that much of it is a matter of personal preference. I’ve personally tried Thai food four times and hated it every single time. It just didn’t work for me – the flavors were odd, the spices unpleasant and the cuisine too reliant IMO on rice noodles that I do not like. But I’m sure Thailand has great food by most people’s definition. My husband, otoh, loves the cuisine and adores dishes like massaman curry and tom yam soup. Like raw fish it’s just not to my taste.
Ah, New Scandinavian Cooking. Where it is shot varies by the host’s native country: Andreas is Norwegian, Tina is Swedish, Claus is Danish, and Sara, though she grew up in and hosts in Finland, shows why we wish they all could be California girls, in her case Santa Barbara.
When you are nursing a bad gallbladder it’s best to go on a white diet, like Wonder Bread, noodles, and such. Except no lard.
You mean Choucroute Garnie, from the Alsace? Because wars have been fought over whether that is a German or a French dish.
I could live on Pad Thai alone, but my wife hates fish sauce, so I have to sneak out for a little strange. Or I did until our favorite Chinese takeout started serving it.
I don’t get that shit. Over here you get a nice, basic broth, but the matza ball is the size of a baseball and tasteless. Smaller dumplings cooked in the broth would absorb some flavor and become tasty.
And sweet. Much, much too sweet.
Baseball sized!? What the hell?
Matza balls should be golf ball sized at best, and preferably no larger than one inch in diameter. I have no idea what kind of crap they’re trying to feed you.
Agreed. I’m a full fledged Italian, and pasta is important, but we don’t serve**anything ** on a bed of pasta. And there’s a helluva lot more food than pizza. We don’t make meatballs, we don’t bread and deep,fry eggplant. You’re thinking the Olive Garden.
That’s akin to saying all Chinese food is just like the food one gets at a food court at a mall somewhere in the middle of this country. If local cuisines aren’t any good, it’s most likely because the owners of the restaurant had to adapt to fit the American palate and not because they aren’t any good…although I can’t see the purpose of any type of yak
I know I’m in the minority, but I can’t eat Indian food. There is just some spice they use that makes me nauseous just to smell it, let alone put it in my mouth. I have great respect for their culture and people, but damn I wouldn’t last a week living there if I had to eat their food.
I haven’t much liked any Indian food I’ve had either, but I’m not quite ready to write off an entire subcontinent just yet. The wife loves Indian, so I’ll keep trying.
Alessan - Baseball-sized matzo balls are traditional to the point of cliche over here. I agree, it’s the wrong way to make them. But every commercial for upset stomach remedies will feature at some point in its advertising a gigantic matzo ball.
To give you an idea, look at the second picture here. ETA: Actually, this may give you a better sense of scale.
Yeah, when I make matzah ball soup, it’s golf-ball sized portions at the largest. I did not grow up with Jewish cuisine, so I don’t really have a reference point, but that’s the only size that makes sense to me, and that’s basically the size they have on the matzah meal packaging, so I’ve always made it that way. Man, I love me some matzah ball soup.
Sadly, Filipinos tell me that the food in Filipino restaurants is authentic with better quality ingredients (for the most part). Doesn’t help.
I just spent a year and a half in mainland China (and a day in Taiwan). You know how some Americans come back from Asia all high-hat about how great “real” Chinese food is? Not me. “Real” Chinese food involves deep-fried chicken heads and feet, roasted pigeons, donkey and turtle meat, lukewarm soggy vegetables and other crimes against God and man. I prefer mall Chinese (PF Chaing’s or whatever) to the real stuff, and mall Chinese isn’t that great to begin with.
There’s a neighborhood in Seoul with the best Chinese restaurant I’ve ever been in, the best Russian restaurant, the best Mexican restaurant, the best Austrian, Turkish and Pakistani restaurants, and two of my favorite whiskey bars in the world. That neighborhood is Itaewon. So my favorite cuisine is Itaewon Korean whatever.
I like Filipino food. I stayed in a family home, and we had simple meals of fish, rice and vinigary salads every daay. I could eat that forever.
You’re not a cilantro-hater, are you? About 25% of the population is, and it is indeed a genetic thing.
There’s a lot of variation in “real” Chinese food, and I tend to avoid all of that nasty stuff that you describe. My Chinese friend did rather enjoy the meal at something called “Panda Express” at a Las Vegas casino recently, though.
I don’t particularly like most of the Jiangsu food (where I live) and really dislike Shanghai food. It gets really good in the northeast, and out west, and down south, though.
Not the worst by taste but pretty boring and repetitive- Iran(Persian cuisine), perhaps?
I wonder how it’s chelokebabs compare with donerkebabs found n Turkey and elsewhere? Maybe fellow Dopers can assist and shine a light?
Four pages and no mention of South America? Let me just say this, then:
Peru. Guinea pig is considered a delicacy.
Give me lutefisk any day.
They also have delicious aji de gallina, among other wonderful dishes. Peruvian food is quite good.