Too late: ETA: I mean, look at the Wikipedia list of Peruvian food. Doesn’t most of that look fantastic? We have several very good Peruvian restaurants here in Chicago. Slamming Peruvian cuisine for cuy (guinea pig) being considered a delicacy is as silly as slamming American food because some consider Rocky Mountain oysters/bull fries (testicles) a delicacy here.
Which is weird, since there is nothing in matzo ball soup that is the slightest bit indigestible, even when I still had a gall bladder.
Ach! The Sterns! I bailed out of that site just before it sucked me in. Roadfood was the first book I bought because of its association with All Things Considered.
Yeah, I’d say nearly half of my friends here in East Hollywood are Peruvians, and in close to two decades they’ve never served me cuy. Lot’s of marinaded chicken and papas a la huancaina, but never cuy. (Also, never alpaca.)
IMO, Spanish and Greek both rank underneath the barrel. They can’t even make it to the bottom of the barrel.
OK, with the appearance of Greek, the thread has now reached the point: I could happily live the rest of my life eating only the “worst” national cuisines.
Greek? Really? Greek as in fabulous chicken, egg and lemon soup and delicious lentil soup? Luscious dips like tzatziki? Olives? Grilled meat perfection? Good feta? Spanakopita and skordalia? Baklava yummyness? That Greek food? What the freaking freakity freak? On what planet is that awful food? Planet Bad Greek Diner?
Yeah, I would say that about probably 95% of the cuisines listed in this thread. If I’m somewhere where Greek or Indian or Mexican or Thai (etc) is the worst food available, then I must be in heaven. Seriously, these are like some of the world’s best cuisines.
Speaking as one who has never been to Greece, but whose hometown has a Greek 'hood : when Greek food is good, it’s very good. When Greek food is bad however, it’s really fucking disgusting.
You eat the mouldy vine leaves you’ve witnessed roaches crawling onto, I double fucking dare you. Wash it down with nine months-old lemon juice ! (nobody drinks the lemon juice. Nobody.)
Really? Those two are some of the best cuisines in the world. Have you ever spent time there?
Thank you for an honest assessment. I will return the favor now.
I have only eaten Greek food once in my life and it was truly disgusting. There was a Greek restaurant in my city and my room mate had been wanting to try it. So one day we went there and tried it.
I must admit it may not have been fair for me to base my conclusion on a single outing and I thank you for explaining that in your post. I am certainly willing to stand corrected and admit I may be wrong because I based my conclusion on a single outing.
But, oh my! What a disgusting experience that was. What I remember was the food was greasy and oily and disgusting. I suppose that may have been due to a poor chef more so than a poor cuisine.
Thank you for a good post. You criticized me in a way that did not bash me and made me feel OK about admitting the truth to you.
Well done.
So far as “national” cuisines go, none of them are bad, unless you define “American” cuisine as fast food, convenience foods, and processed foods. In that case, American cuisine is the worst.
I’d like to add that since my only experience eating Greek food was so disgusting, I think it was pretty reasonable that I would not try it again.
Some of you might say it’s wrong to base an opinion on a single experience and I admit the validity of that POV. But if your first experience is truly disgusting, would you got back for more of the same?
I sure wouldn’t.
I think any cuisine can be bad if not prepared well. However, I think we can kind of distinguish between food that is bad just because it was not cooked well and food that is likely to be seen as disgusting by most people. If your national cuisine consists of large quantities of starch and little else, it is likely to be seen as less than ideal by other people. If it consists of say risotto, pizza, lasagna and cannolis, most people are going to agree it’s damned good.
Not listed above but the beans and rice cheap meals in Central America, ugh, especially compared with the street food in SE Asia.
Newfoundland, I presume.
For worst national cuisine, to me it’s a tossup between Japanese, Korean, and British.
Despite having tried what feels like every Filipino restaurant in Queens and Brooklyn, and at least half in Manhattan, and a wide variety of home cooked Filipino meals from family and friends of family, I’ve yet to visit. But I will be going for New Years. I’m a little worried about eating on a budget (and yet more home-cooked meals).
I see you didn’t mention dolmas. I’ve never acquired the taste for those either.
As for guinea pig, I wouldn’t have any issues with eating it, and my sister has kept several as pets. The Heifer Project actually gives those to partner families.
Yup. Saying this from someone who once worked at one of those iconic Greek “family restaurants” that freckle Chicagoland, and, I gather, New Jersey and thereabouts…home of the 20 page menus, jack of all dishes and master of none…
Skimming the rest of the thread, as a prodigious trencherwoman; I rather enjoy good Pinoy or Filipino cooking. It can comprise the best of Chinese and Spanish. But I may be biased, as my aunt was a wonderful Filapina cook. Sinagang, longanica, lumpia, chicken adobo…what’s not to like? These dishes are in my regular rotation.
Someone early on mentioned Croatian as seeming unappealing. Well, that’s basically my familial heritage. You have the best of Sicilian seafood cuisine plus Germanic/Austria-Hungarian soul food. So dishes akin to cioppino, scampi, delicate pastas, plus hearty salads, spit-roasted lamb and pork, kebab, salty cheeses, wonderful preserved veggies and fruits, knock-your-socks-off liqueurs, and extravagant Russian or homely Turkish inspired desserts (see Dobos torte or baklava).
For my part, I have yet to be super impressed with Spanish cuisine, but I have never been to Spain. As far as what has reached my palate, I find their cheeses a bit insipid, likewise the charcuterie. Paella is the Emperor’s new clothes, as it was intended to be (a dish borne of frugality), and gazpacho leaves me cold. I believe that the best inspiration from Spanish dishes flourished in Mexico and Peru, perhaps beyond. (Similarly, I did not enjoy the cuisine of Puerto Rico too much, except where they were aspiring to the French side of things. I have somewhat the same feeling about “New Orleans” cuisine as it stands now, but that merits its own thread.)
A chacun à son goût!
I’ve enjoyed (and failed to enjoy) a wide variety of cuisines; let me describe my own [del]ignorances[/del] tastes. Chinese restaurants in the U.S. range from disgusting to exquisite, probably strongly correlated with price. For me, Mexican food, OTOH, ranges from inedible to tasty-but-gives-me-indigestion.
When I lived in Paris I preferred North African cuisine to French: very cheap and very delicious. (My North African girlfriend OTOH preferred the $25 Fruits de Mer appetizer at French restaurants. :smack: )
Cuisine X is very different in U.S.A. than it is in country X is probably generally true; certainly it’s true when X = Thai. In Thailand I usually order fish with any of the delicious sauces (herb, or garlic, or 3-flavor). Since the different sauces are all delicious I have trouble deciding so check to see if Fish for the Fickle-Hearted is on the menu: you order one sauce for the left half of the fish, a different sauce for the right half. (As a fringe benefit, the cook helps with the deboning when he separates the two halves!)
But sometimes the simplest food is best. Order sticky rice and papaya salad like Northeastern Thailand peasants eat, with abit of sweet basil and beef jerky (or fried chicken kidneys) on the side – Delicious!
Uh … reported? 
If it’s the type of place I think you’re thinking about, I don’t really consider that “Greek” food. It’s just American diner fare, owned by Greeks. It may have a couple of Greek-ish dishes, but it’s not like dolmas, moussaka, spanikopita, octopus, and stuff like that. Certainly not the kind of food you’d get at one of the restaurants in Greektown. It’s just casual family diner fare.