# You Can Eat Only One Kind Of Food For A Year - Which? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 30, 2010, 8:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-can-eat-only-one-kind-of-food-for-a-year-which/551980 "2010-08-30T08:37:30Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![TruCelt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/trucelt/32/523_2.png) [@TruCelt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TruCelt)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2010, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-can-eat-only-one-kind-of-food-for-a-year-which/551980/21 "2010-08-30T16:01:51Z")
I picked Chinese because I can get a lot of vegetables, and use basically any protein I want. It’s also easy to find, so I wouldn’t have to go without if I forgot to pack my lunch. I’d also probably lose a lot of weight that year, which woudl be a good thing. I’d rather pick Italian, but I’d gain so much weight if I did that, I’d probably be unable to walk by the end of it. Not that healthy choice aren’t available, it’s just tht the combination of tomotoes and cheese is my primary weakness. ---
**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:** [August 30, 2010, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-can-eat-only-one-kind-of-food-for-a-year-which/551980/22 "2010-08-30T16:21:18Z")
This was a really, really tough choice. I ended up siding with Thai, although I could do an entire year with any of those cuisines. They’re all interesting and varied enough that I would have no issue settling down for a year with them. My favorites would be Thai, Chinese, Mexican, and Indian. The only one I don’t really get cravings for is Greek, but I do enjoy Greek food and wouldn’t mind spending a year to more intimately explore the cuisine. ---
**Author:** ![chela](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chela/32/21582_2.png) [@chela](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chela)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2010, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-can-eat-only-one-kind-of-food-for-a-year-which/551980/23 "2010-08-30T16:25:13Z")
I’d have to go Greek, not crazy about their desserts but I could easily eat Greek cuisine the rest of my life. ---
**Author:** ![pravnik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8edcca/32.png) [@pravnik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pravnik)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2010, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-can-eat-only-one-kind-of-food-for-a-year-which/551980/24 "2010-08-30T16:26:25Z")
> [@Maserschmidt](#): > > I was about to vote for Indian or Thai, but then I wondered: what am I eating for breakfast? Anyone? I’ve heard that Thais tend to eat the same food for breakfast as they do at other meals. ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2010, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-can-eat-only-one-kind-of-food-for-a-year-which/551980/25 "2010-08-30T16:47:38Z")
I chose American, and here’s why: I love all the others, but to me there’s not much variation within a single cuisine. For instance, I love vindaloo, tikka masala, and korma, but to me they all taste kind of the same. It’s a certain set of spices with limited variation. I also love tacos, burritos, and enchiladas, but once again it’s all kind of the same stuff. (At this point you may be tempted to argue with me and say that there is vast variation in “real” Mexican or Indian food. I’m not talking about the real stuff. I’m talking about what’s commonly on the menus at places around here.) But in American cuisine, there is huge variation. One could argue that American cuisine is, in fact, at least seven different cuisines. In any given week I could dine on lobster and corn on the cob, fried chicken and biscuits, BBQ pork ribs, tacos, meat loaf, avacado salad, and kailua pork. All of those are American. One could even argue that Chinese food is really American. ---
**Author:** ![Fried\_Dough\_Ho](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a88e57/32.png) [@Fried\_Dough\_Ho](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fried_Dough_Ho)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2010, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-can-eat-only-one-kind-of-food-for-a-year-which/551980/26 "2010-08-30T16:54:57Z")
> [@Sigmagirl](#): > > Cheese. That was my first thought. My second was Dairy in general. My third thought was Fried Dough (surprise there!) Lastly, to follow this poll, it would be Japanese. I live near Japantown in San Francisco and I already dine there two and three times a week. There is so much more than sushi and tempura and I love it all… Also, there are more Michelin-starred restaurant in Japan than anywhere else (even France!) so I think the Japanese are doing more interesting and exciting things with food than anyone else is doing. ---
**Author:** ![cckerberos](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f0a364/32.png) [@cckerberos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cckerberos)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2010, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-can-eat-only-one-kind-of-food-for-a-year-which/551980/27 "2010-08-30T17:09:30Z")
> [@tdn](#): > > One could even argue that Chinese food is really American. In the sense that the Chinese food in America has been altered/invented to suit American tastes, sure. But surely that’s true of all of the categories listed in the poll? ---
**Author:** ![Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e47c2d/32.png) [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffy_the_Elephant_Shrew)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2010, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-can-eat-only-one-kind-of-food-for-a-year-which/551980/28 "2010-08-30T17:12:45Z")
> [@Leaffan](#): > > Indian food is the best food in the world. Yep. This was easy. ---
**Author:** ![MovieMogul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f08c70/32.png) [@MovieMogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MovieMogul)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2010, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-can-eat-only-one-kind-of-food-for-a-year-which/551980/29 "2010-08-30T17:18:31Z")
> [@Sigmagirl](#): > > Cheese. As tempted as I was to pick Thai, Indian, or Japanese, the large absence of cheese from most of their food items compelled me to fall back on Mexican. ---
**Author:** ![Gagundathar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a183cd/32.png) [@Gagundathar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gagundathar)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2010, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-can-eat-only-one-kind-of-food-for-a-year-which/551980/30 "2010-08-30T17:19:34Z")
I voted Japanese because sashimi is my favorite food in the world, and there are a lot of other choices besides sashimi/sushi. I did not know that there are more Michelin starred restaurants in Japan than anywhere else. Interesting information. Thanks, **Fried Dough Ho** ---
**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:** [August 30, 2010, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-can-eat-only-one-kind-of-food-for-a-year-which/551980/31 "2010-08-30T17:26:40Z")
> [@tdn](#): > > (At this point you may be tempted to argue with me and say that there is vast variation in “real” Mexican or Indian food. I’m not talking about the real stuff. I’m talking about what’s commonly on the menus at places around here.) I don’t think that’s a fair comparison, then. My judgment above is based on the broad range of foods and cuisines available in these countries. Here, in Chicago, for example, yes, you have generic “Chinese” restaurants and “Mexican” restaurants, but you also have plenty of places specializing in regionalized ethnic food. You can go Szechuan, Cantonese, Hunan, etc., for Chinese food and Jaliscan, Yucatecan, Veracruzan, Oaxacan, etc., for Mexican. And there is a lot of variety in these cuisines, so I don’t think it’s really fair to compare American cuisine to middle American takes on ethnic cuisines. I mean, you do have a good argument for American cuisine–it is a great and varied one. But the comparison should be apples to apples. ---
**Author:** ![Aspidistra](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aspidistra/32/3894_2.png) [@Aspidistra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aspidistra)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2010, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-can-eat-only-one-kind-of-food-for-a-year-which/551980/32 "2010-08-30T17:28:04Z")
Do we have to cook it ourselves? If not, I vote Indian. Got both healthy options (dahl, veggie curries…) and decadent ones (mmmm…butter chicken!). But the prep is pretty time consuming. If we’re cooking oursleves, I’m going Greek. ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2010, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-can-eat-only-one-kind-of-food-for-a-year-which/551980/33 "2010-08-30T17:29:24Z")
> [@cckerberos](#): > > > [@tdn](#): > > > > One could even argue that Chinese food is really American. > > In the sense that the Chinese food in America has been altered/invented to suit American tastes, sure. But surely that’s true of all of the categories listed in the poll? That’s true, but it’s not really the point that I was making. Chinese food was available in America (and being altered to suit American tastes) as far back as the 1840s. Barbeque wasn’t around back then. Chili con carne dates back to the 17th century, but I don’t think it really became an American food until the 19th. Hamburgers didn’t appear until the 20th. Cajun and Creole go back a bit further. But Chinese food has been a staple food of the US for most of our history. One could argue that yeah, it’s been around in another country for far longer, but so were the precursors to most American foods, in some form or other. ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2010, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-can-eat-only-one-kind-of-food-for-a-year-which/551980/34 "2010-08-30T17:32:19Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > I don’t think that’s a fair comparison, then. My judgment above is based on the broad range of foods and cuisines available in these countries. Here, in Chicago, for example, yes, you have generic “Chinese” restaurants and “Mexican” restaurants, but you also have plenty of places specializing in regionalized ethnic food. You can go Szechuan, Cantonese, Hunan, etc., for Chinese food (snip) Sure, but I don’t live in Chicago. We’re a little more limited here. If I could have all the range of a nations food, in all its authentic forms, I’d still go with American, though I’d be very tempted to go with French. ---
**Author:** ![Emily\_Litella](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/emily_litella/32/3370_2.png) [@Emily\_Litella](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Emily_Litella)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2010, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-can-eat-only-one-kind-of-food-for-a-year-which/551980/35 "2010-08-30T17:42:32Z")
I’ve been trying to eat healthy, so that ruled out American and Italian for me, I only like the fattening recipes for these cultures. I picked Japanese; if I could live on Miso soup I would. I don’t like sushi, but I love tempura. If I had to eat at our local Japanese restaurant every day for a year I could do it. Greek would have been my second choice. ---
**Author:** ![MeanOldLady](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/meanoldlady/32/10737_2.png) [@MeanOldLady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MeanOldLady)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2010, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-can-eat-only-one-kind-of-food-for-a-year-which/551980/36 "2010-08-30T17:51:50Z")
Hell, I think I _have_ eaten nothing but Mexican food for a year. I know for sure I’ve gone over a month subsisting on nothing but food served from LA taco trucks. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2010, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-can-eat-only-one-kind-of-food-for-a-year-which/551980/37 "2010-08-30T17:54:00Z")
Much as I love international cuisine, I wouldn’t want to go with any one nationality for an entire year. So I’d do American. ---
**Author:** ![tr0psn4j](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/958977/32.png) [@tr0psn4j](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tr0psn4j)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2010, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-can-eat-only-one-kind-of-food-for-a-year-which/551980/38 "2010-08-30T18:02:50Z")
I picked Japanese without even thinking about it much. It seems like a pretty simple decision. I can probably live of sashimi and rice for the whole year, but I also have kobe beef, fried foods in the form of tempura, soup (miso), heartier soups (udon and such) and a variety of noodles. I think breakfast would be the only meal that would sort of suck, but it’s an easy one to skip. I can probably do any one of those, except for Italian. Too much carbs and cheese! ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2010, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-can-eat-only-one-kind-of-food-for-a-year-which/551980/39 "2010-08-30T18:04:34Z")
> [@BigBadWolf](#): > > Cajun for me. I voted Chinese, but if Cajun had been a choice I would have had to worry over it. ---
**Author:** ![wonky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonky/32/393_2.png) [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2010, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-can-eat-only-one-kind-of-food-for-a-year-which/551980/40 "2010-08-30T18:07:04Z")
The standard “American” cuisine is really a “German” cuisine, isn’t it? If my digestive system could handle it, I’d pick Mexican or Italian. But it can’t. Blah. I guess American. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-can-eat-only-one-kind-of-food-for-a-year-which/551980.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-can-eat-only-one-kind-of-food-for-a-year-which/551980.md?page=3)