Imo as someone who has done a lot of international travel:
European food is a higher quality than that of American and Asian foods as the ingredients tend to be better.
American foods tends to be more diverse as so many different cultures reside here and (again IMO) taste better because of it.
Asian foods tend to be very filling even in moderate amounts. Atleast in China it seemed to me that food rarely goes to waste in both cooking and eating.
An interesting share. Thank you. And for what it is worth if by and large agree. I’ll also mention, since I can’t really add much to what you already expertly summed up what I’d agree are the sort of generalities of world food- America has huge diversity of food and the types of food and diversity vary by location. Comparing coasts (in my experience) the West coast has huge abundance and variety of “Asian” food of almost all cultures and from traditional to “Americanized” to “new age” or “fusion” with many varieties and it just “Chinese” But various provinces and other ethnic groups of China- Uyghur, Cantonese, Shandong, so on and on- as well as representing many other “Asian” cuisine in fine slices. West coast also has not just “Mexican” food but a variety of styles from Mexico City to Michoacán to Yucatán and Baja... and then there is “Cal mex” and “Tex mex” and “Americanized” and “fusion...”
The east coast on the whole (especially the north east) doesn’t have as much “Mexican” food in style or quantity- but has some. The east coast has “Asian food” and some great places- but you again won’t find the quantity, not quantity of high quality and varied styles of “Asian” food on the east coast in general. But the easy coast has a MUCH better representation of South American, Central American, Caribbean and other “Latin” adjacent foods. Jamaican, Cuban, Salvadoran, Puerto Rican, etc etc. it isn’t that the west coast doesn’t have these places- it does. And some very good ones. But it doesn’t have as many and they are more spread out- in the CT/NYC area you can have a plethora of choices in this vein as opposed to the west coast where it can often be harder to find places that serve these foods- or good places- unless you are in an area with strong communities of these groups- and even then.
Finishing up- my unpopular opinion... the biggest Pizza snobs I’ve ever met are east coast and “mid west but really just east coast in the wrong zip code” folks who swear on a stack of whatever’s- that they know the “spot” for the “best pizza” and that you can’t get anything like it anywhere else because the water and air are different and.... ok. I’ve had pizza from all over. Cheap, expensive, renowned and unknown. The pizza back east just isn’t that special. It’s good- most pizza is. But... no.
Through experiments I discovered that many transplants from the region I talked to said that west coast pizza was just not good. So I started to think on it and realized they were going off yelp. Where people give objectively good pizza good reviews. Next time I was on the west coast with a group of New York pizza snobs- I brought them pizza from a dive with $2 slices of “pizza” near a laundry mat with a 2 Star yelp average. They LOVED it. Said it wasn’t quite as good as NYC- but the best they’d had in the west. I had previously taken this group to a renowned pizza parlor ran by an old Italian on an over he brought from Italy and they’d given it a “meh.”
So my closing advice to east coast pizza snobs on the west coast is: go find a dive place. A place a local likely would t take you to and that doesn’t have good yelp reviews. If you taste the lousiest pizza the west has to offer it should do better to the standards of the elite NYC pizza pallet than the finest crafted and amply topped pie in the west.
I haven't travel THAT much but in an immigrant and many of my friends are and have been in a few countries. In america we have great diveristy, and quality in the since that supermarkets worry about how produce look and size of produce. With that said, in my experience ingredients (fruit, vegetables, seafood),have much more flavor even in latonamerica and Europe. There are certain ffuits I do not eat in USA but I love toneat when I go to another country for example.
I'm looking forward to the day I can travel to Latin America. I may have the chance to go to Brazil in the coming year but the job has experienced several setbacks so unfortunately it isn't set in stone yet
Seems to be. The state (or province idk how Brazil is governed) in which the site is meant to be came under heavy scrutiny by the federal government over corruption so all the money towards the project dried up. It seems now that stuffs getting back to normal so here's hoping the virus doesn't derail it anymore
Having been to Italy twice and eaten pizza both there and in the US I would have to say it's different. The pizza's I had there tended to be baked in stone ovens and wood fired. The quality was great but the trend for less cheese when you're used to more can be disconcerting. You can get the same thing in the US but it's not as common.
When I traveled Europe, I thought Italy had the worst food. I was so surprised since everyone talks about how good "real" Italian food is, but my husband and I were both VERY disappointed by it (and we are not picky eaters or food snobs). I will admit that we were mostly in tourist areas while we were there, so it wasn't like we were in the remote foothills with nonna in the kitchen all day. Maybe that is why? However, we though the food in France and Germany was amazing. I don't think we were in Switzerland long enough to give an opinion on the food.
The best greek food I've ever eaten was in Paris. The wienerschnitzel I had in Vienna was awesome. Probably the best goulash I'll ever eat was in a B&B in Salzburg. The one thing that Italy beat all the rest in was gelato. I must have eaten that at least once per day I was in Italy and in every town I visited. Rome and Florence seemed to have the best while the worst was in Verona. Granted, I didn't care much for Verona as a whole. The best plan for meals in Europe that I found was by sticking to two rules. First never get fast food. We have plenty of that in the US and it's just more expensive there. Second always find the places the locals eat at or shop at while staying away from anyplace designed for tourists. The food is almost always better and way cheaper.
@chabgetheworld that's sad when I went that was my favorite thing. The food!! I felt like anywhere you can find good pizza and pasta. I was surprised how simple it was. Pasta can be just tomatoes and basil and I loved it. Not that heavy sauce we are used to in here.
@lucky11 We also had gelato in Florence, and I wasn't impressed. It wasn't bad or anything, but it wasn't any better than gelato from home. And I totally agree about finding local places. We definitely tried our best with that and almost always went to out of the way places. @itsamemaria Glad you had a good experience! I only had pizza once while we were there and it was disappointing, and the pasta was fine but not amazing or mindblowing or anything (and I do like the fresher/lighter sauces). Were you in major cities when you went?
I believe gelato over there is more "icy" because I guess that's how is supposed to be but idk. We were in Rome, naples, and positano. My favorite things were a gnocchi and a ravioli I had in positano. In Rome our favorite thing we ate was brusccheta which yes it is just tomato basil and bread with olive oil but again we felt the tomatoes over there were so sweet and fresh that we just loved it and ordered it all the time (even my husband noticed and he is not into food that much) and had the best pasta in my life in Naples. It wasn't even a restaurant it was in a wine tasting/ food paring in a vineyard. Again realy simple but so fresh and yummy. We went on our honeymoon, and I sooo want to go back. We had a good experience using trip advisor to check were to go before. We had a day trip to capri and had fish which was very good too. But yeah specially in capri and rome you have to be careful of touristy places.
@licky11 my husband always likes to eat fast food while in another country because it tastes different so he wants to test it,so he does it for his own little research lol
Yeah, theirs things that're never the same again! For me sausages in general in Switzerland far outclass sausages here in the states because of that I can't eat most sausages here in the states anymore
As a tourist I've had pizza in almost every European country. Exceptions include Switzerland and Austria and a few other places I've not visited. Imo, and I know it's not going to be popular, the best pizza is made in Croatia.
I feel like this post was maybe mocking people that do that, and the comment section has become a share -your - trip- experience group. But I'm not mad at it.
European food is a higher quality than that of American and Asian foods as the ingredients tend to be better.
American foods tends to be more diverse as so many different cultures reside here and (again IMO) taste better because of it.
Asian foods tend to be very filling even in moderate amounts. Atleast in China it seemed to me that food rarely goes to waste in both cooking and eating.