Due to the recent comments made by Mr Chirac about British cuisine, and all the grief ive been getting in chat about our food, i want to know......

Which country has the best cuisine?????

I love my English food but none of my fellow countrymen seem to agree (traitors)!!!

Tell me who you think is the best and worst and why!!!

Mic

I hate to say it, but probably France...

But it really has no meaning anymore since excellent restaurants of all traditional and new cuisines exist in all major international cities. Here in New York, which probably has the best food available in this hemisphere, has fantastic food in New American, Classic French, Asian Fusion and other 5 star restaurants.

From ample experience I would have to confirm that French cuisine is infinitely superior to English, whether or not haughtiness is served as a condiment.

Although I do enjoy a good "English" vindaloo, LOL.

[edit on 6-7-2005 by MaskedAvatar]

I have to say English.....

People from the US have probably never had a nice steak and kidney pie with mashed potato, or a gorgeous lamb roast at a pub on a sunday, or even fish and chips.

When you have you can decide whos is best.....

I don't care how good you may think that is, I bet a nice slice of terrine de foie gras with toast points followed by steak frites with bearnaise sauce must be better...

texmex
and that be in the country of Texas!

I like Chinese Cuisine the best, closely followed by Indian Cuisine

My least favorite has to be Mexican, Peruvian, Guatamalean (sorry, no offence but my pallette doesn't find it that enjoyable)

I love Indian food, but Chinese, while tasty, doesn't seem like a great cuisine to me.

Anyway, I think all the Asian cuisines hit you over the head with spices while the experts at food preparation use subtle flavors to make excellent food, therefore French is usually considered the master cuisine of the world.

You do know Britaints favourite dish is a curry :p

Thai Food!!!!

Yes, I love Thai food. Mhh Hmm Roaches!!!

Knew this was coming!

Personally, I prefer fusion cooking. That's the style I usually use when I actually make an effort to cook something beyond pizza rolls. It's perfect, in my opinion, to an individuals palliate because you combine favorable aspects of everyone's cuisine into one dish. I love the Japanese raw or near raw cooking styles of meats, but don't like how bland the dishes tend to be and am also allergic to shell fish, which knocks a lot out for me. I also love French cheeses and their wines (though Australian are also pretty darn good, and some Napa Valley), and usually try to incorporate cheese into my meals, which is a no-no typically in Japan. Boiling is a fantastic method to tenderize meat, create a fantastic stock for soups or marinades, and it can be used to add flavor to various meats by adding veggies and spices to the water. From my understanding, throwing a bunch of stuff with some meat in a pot is a UK tradition. Then there's Mexican spices, (can't stand cilantro, but besides that...) and Italian spices, which can add awesome elements to meals which otherwise would taste incomplete. Chinese stir frying techniques can be applied to all of the above, and some of their veggie choices are amazing, along with various sauces. Then there's the American BBQ and kill something and eat it ideas. Fresh meat, if you've never had it, is infinitely better than store bought.

This is just a few examples, if I were to go into the details of every regions cooking that I really enjoy, this post would be comparable to a single liner. However, the point is, taking elements from all cuisines and combining them has created the best meals I've ever had. Cooking doesn't have to be regional.

So I would say the best cooking out there comes from Earth. And seriously, if you've never killed something and ate it, or had someone else kill something and you shared in it, I highly recommend it. It is unlike any meat you've ever had in your life. If you live in the Oshkosh area, there is a restraunt there (can't remember its name, it's been about 7 and a half years) that gets fresh steak from a nearby butcher. They handle the whole cow, not a neighborhood butcher, the restraunt is just an extension of a national meak packing plant. It's on the south end of town right off of 41. Have a steak, and savor every taste experience! Fillet mignon, baby, fillet mignon.

Golly I like to cook!...Hmm...I think I actually started a thread of JJ's recipes a while back...Gonna have to go and bring that guy back to life with my latest creations, I think...

EDIT: Oh my gosh, I completely forgot Indian food! Curry is one of my favorite spices, and MAN do they have some awesome ways to spice up your dish! Anything that requires a gallon of water and a salt shaker full of salt to kill the spice after you're done is A-OK in my book!

[edit on 7-6-2005 by junglejake]

It's really a matter of taste. Growing up in the Chicago area, I developed a taste for flavor explosions. Strong, spicy flavors. You can do much the same effect with spice, though, adding subtle spices to bring out the other spices' flavors, or the meat's natural flavor or whatever, and add things enhancing the after tastes.

I agree some great dishes use subtle flavors, and the spice approach isn't the best for everything. A fillet mignon has a fantastic flavor of it's own, so just cooking it on its own, but adding an olive oil, garlic and thyme rub to it brings out the natural flavors of the meat without corrupting them. (We're talking very little garlic and thyme, usually left in the oil for a couple days before applying the rub).

The worst food I've had is the typical Wisconsin restraunt's food. Just bland. Not subtle, but bland. Bleh. I don't want to talk about it anymore, I'm starting to feel sad thinking about it.

And yes, Iron Chef (the original, haven't seen much of Iron Chef America) is one of my favorite shows I've even earned a nickname with some of my friends that I won't share in public

actualy my friend is of scottish decent. iher mom makes rather good steak and kidney pie. although for some of us she replaces the kidney with some sort of sausage man is it awsome. also haggis is an awsome food to eat.

overall though i have to go with the old canadian staple beef and potatoes, as i can eat that prety much any time with turkey following close behind.

real mexican food (as opposed to the crap that styles it's self as mexican) is also great. stewed pepperes are awsome but have one hell of a kick to them.

as for asian food sorry i absolutely detest both rice and fish.

My absolute favorite cuisine is Cajun, although its not a 'national cuisine' it is really good!

I like pretty much all nationalities food fare (except the dishes that have fish in it, YUCK!)

Funny thing though the best Chinese food I ever have had was in Zambia, go figure...

American is the greatest. We have Cajun, Texan, New England, Southern, Western, Chinese, French, Mexican, Belgium, and every other country for we are the melting pot of people and food.

Fish and Chips... you call yourself British (I think)... Try a KEBAB!!!!!!

Mexican, Indian and French!

Well....I think most of the culinary world officially recognizes the French methodology of cooking as the most successful....As to whether or not their [cuisine is the best, I think that's left up to the taste-tester....

I enjoy it all to be quite honest.....From Vietnamese to Italian....

But who can honestly say that they've tired all nationalities of cuisine? Or for that matter - There are many people with false conceptions of what "Chinese" or "Mexican" are....

junglejake said it best.....Fusion is an incredible function of cooking that can draw your taste buds together from all corners of the globe.....

Yes.

But personally, when I say Mexican, I mean real Mexican.
I like real chinese, too, but it's not one of my favorites.

One I forgot though, Lysergical Entity mentioned it: Tex Mex

Where's that drool smiley? (make note lys and enron )

And by that, I mean real tex mex. Let's not get into what taco bell is.

That is a hard question -- I think that whatever food I am hungry for at the moment. I may dislike certain things about different dishes (like kidneys bleech-- I have tried them - sorry - but bleech) but overall I love all types of food. Although I have to admit to having a special love for spicy things.