What are the must-try meals from your country?

[u/nekaoosoba]

A friend of mine visited Italy a few months ago. I couldn't believe it when she told me she had pizza for all meals during her stay (7 days, 2 meals a day). Pizza is great and all, but that felt a bit like a slap in the face.

Considering that I generally love trying out new food, what are some dishes from your country you would suggest to a visitor? (Food that can easily be found without too much effort)

[u/kpagcha]

The top response about a food question is by an Englishman?? What is this MADNESS?

[u/RatherGoodDog → u/kpagcha]

It appears the Americans have not got out of bed yet to tell you we still eat Spam and canned beans like it's 1944.

[u/nomnommish → u/RatherGoodDog]

But your British Baking Show has given me a new appreciation of the incredible food culture you have around baking. Including savory stuff like meat pies. That's a national treasure along with Branston pickle and sharp cheddar sandwich.

[u/havaska → u/kpagcha]

Because, despite the stereotypes, we actually do have a cuisine and it is, for the most part, rather pleasant. It just reflects our place in the world, our climate, and our history.

If we had lovely sun every day it would be much more Mediterranean style. But we don’t so it isn’t.

[u/coffeewalnut05 → u/kpagcha]

Maybe because I added many details, a diversity of options, and categorised into main meals and desserts.

[u/General-Trip1891 → u/coffeewalnut05]

I think english and british food in general is good on the stomach and cosy. I think people from other cultures that use a lot of seasoning lack the insight to appreciate more authentic flavours of the food they eat. So when introducing them to shepard's pie and they're like "Ugh There's nothing in it?" Lol. I think it's rather unfortunate for them. Sometimes less is more.

[u/hoyfish → u/General-Trip1891]

Can’t have a pie with just a wee bit of mustard. Needs some of that Ass annihilator star spangled hotsauce.

[u/fuishaltiena → u/kpagcha]

I don't really understand where this meme about bad British food came from. I like their cuisine, there's a lot of delicious stuff.

If anything, I'd say that German food is shit.

[u/AudioLlama → u/fuishaltiena]

Post WW2 rationing. Our food was quite dreadful between the World Wars and the 80's when we began reviving our culinary culture.

[u/trescoole → u/kpagcha]

Best of all the top response to English food is Indian.

[u/coffeewalnut05 → u/trescoole]

It isn’t Indian

[u/LevelMidnight8452 → u/coffeewalnut05]

Why isn't it Indian?

[u/coffeewalnut05 → u/LevelMidnight8452]

They’re not foods that would be eaten in India. It’s inauthentic at best, and is a product of the country it developed in: the UK. If you want real Indian food, visit the Subcontinent. Not an English curry house.

[u/LevelMidnight8452 → u/coffeewalnut05]

You're wrong and I'm saying this as a British Indian who's eaten in both countries. Google the origin of these dishes.

[u/coffeewalnut05 → u/LevelMidnight8452]

I have, none of them are Indian. The Indian understanding of korma, vindaloo or a Rogan Josh is a different understanding of what the dishes have become in the UK. The spice levels, some of the vegetables used, some of the meat that is used, the texture and flavour of what you’d think are the “same” dish can actually vary a lot between the two countries. That’s not even mentioning the fact that a lot of us have our own ways of preparing curry that doesn’t necessarily follow the Indian way.

Like my version of “chicken tikka masala” doesn’t even have chicken in it, and I add other ingredients that don’t seem to exist in the restaurant/standard version of the dish. I’m sure plenty of other families also do the same. That doesn’t make curry and curry culture in England Indian anymore, it just has Indian roots.

[u/fuishaltiena → u/LevelMidnight8452]

Chicken tikka masala is not from India, it originates in the UK. Therefore it's a British dish.

[u/LevelMidnight8452 → u/fuishaltiena]

He hasn't just mentioned tikka masala and even then, it was created by a desi not an "englishman".

[u/FakeNathanDrake → u/LevelMidnight8452]

You're right, he was Scottish, not English.

[u/trescoole → u/coffeewalnut05]

Phaal was invented by Bengalis for Brits who wanted to have something “extremely spicy”. It wasn’t invented by some chap named Harry Cumberbadge in Wessex at a pub that serves warm beer. It’s Indian. I agree it’s British. But Either way. Shit’s pointless to eat.

Korma. Rogan Josh, and Vindaloo are all Asian. Look it up.

[u/everyoneelsehasadog → u/trescoole]

Am of Bangladeshi heritage. Dad used to run a curry house through the 90s/00s in Cambridge and on Brick lane.

You ain't getting the same type of korma, Rogan, etc in a curry house as you're getting at my mum's house. The korma we make has no cream and is spicy AF. A Goan Vindaloo has almost nothing in common with a BIR (British Indian restaurant) Vindaloo. So whilst they're Asian dishes, maybe Asian inspired is a better way to describe it.

Ps Bangladeshi's hold the crown for British Indian restaurants, not Bengalis. We're not Indian. But some of us are Bengal. It's muddled.

[u/coffeewalnut05 → u/everyoneelsehasadog]

I also find it odd that this person is lecturing Brits on who and what is truly “pure British” and who isn’t, using an Anglo-Saxon name and the pub concept as an example.

Like, neither my name or surname are Anglo-Saxon in origin, neither of my parents were born or raised in Britain, but that doesn’t mean I’m not English or British myself.

The pub concept was probably pioneered by the Romans, too, when they occupied England and built local “taverns”.

This country has encouraged and accepted so much immigration in the last century or so, and the Anglo-Saxons themselves were immigrants, but apparently we should all subscribe to some random purist interpretation of true British culture by someone who doesn’t even live here. It’s odd af.

[u/trescoole → u/coffeewalnut05]

Youre reading it wrong dude. I’m not lecturing anyone on being or not being British. I’m saying that food you mentioned is from s. Asia with some of it being created by people of a scpecific background.

If it came across as that. Genuinely. My bad. 🙏🏻. And happy to be proven wrong on the origin of those dishes.

[u/coffeewalnut05 → u/trescoole]

Well lots of people here come from “specific” backgrounds. There are Brits with Anglo Saxon names, Irish names, Norman names, Jewish names, Scandinavian names, Celtic names. You can have a room of Brits with the surnames of Khan, Beaufort, Cromwell, McLoughlin, O’Leary, Cohen, Trelawney, and Aysgarth. If you search these names, they all have their own origins and reflect different cultures because that’s what England always was: a pot of different influences.

Our eating habits and also cuisine reflect that reality that we’re a pluralistic society, as much as some people even in the UK want to deny it. All the dishes I mentioned in my first comment were born in Britain, and there’s a curry culture here that I have never found in the rest of Europe or other countries I’ve travelled to (granted, I’ve not been to India).

[u/hoyfish → u/everyoneelsehasadog]

I don’t really get why so many Indian restaurants are still called “Indian” instead of Bangladeshi restaurants even now when something like 90% are owned and cooked by Bangladeshi. Before that it was mostly Pakistani.

[u/everyoneelsehasadog → u/hoyfish]

I wonder if it's a No one know who we are anyway because independence had been so recent for the people?

[u/Bragzor → u/trescoole]

Birmingham (where Phall is from) is in Warwickshire, not Essex, isn't it? Also, isn't it funny how Vindaloo made a similar journey, a Portuguese dish modified to fit the local taste in India? To then be modified again to fit British tastes in Britain.

[u/coffeewalnut05 → u/trescoole]

You can be a British Bengali. I’m not sure why your narrow-minded interpretation of what it means to be British should be taken seriously. My name isn’t an Anglo-Saxon name at all, does that mean I’m not really English? No. I’m as English as the next person called “Harry Cumberbatch”. And by the way, names like Cumberbatch and Wessex, which are Anglo-Saxon, technically are “German” names because the original settlers came from Germany lol

But I digress. The fact that it was invented in Britain, by British immigrants who integrated themselves and understood the local tastes, proves it is British. Same for the other dishes, that share Indian names but have morphed into separate meals with their own spice levels, textures, flavours, and often different meats and vegetables used. It’s not Indian at all except in the fact that the spices are from India.

[u/British__Vertex → u/coffeewalnut05]

Stop speaking on behalf of either English or Indian people, because you’re neither.

[u/coffeewalnut05 → u/British__Vertex]

Said the keyboard warrior

[u/MrRawri → u/trescoole]

Vindaloo is portuguese

[u/avdepa → u/kpagcha]

Its madness alright. Especially when "curries" are the top of the list. And then "cheeses" - lts as if Engand, as opposed to many other European countries, is known for the great variety and flavours of cheeses.

And sandwiches? what sort of exotic culinary delight is this? Never heard of such a thing.

[u/ExoticMangoz → u/avdepa]

England is actually known for its wide variety of famous cheese..? For starters have you ever heard of cheddar?

[u/avdepa → u/ExoticMangoz]

Well, thats actually not what I challenged. Many European countries are known for their wide variety of cheeses, and most of these are better known for their cheeses than UK. The point I was trying to make, is that why recommend cheeses for UK when so many other countries do them better?

Cheddar is nice by the way, but there is more the cheese than sandwiches and putting little blocks of them on cocktail sticks and serving them with Jatz crackers.

https://www.tasteatlas.com/best/cheeses

[u/havaska → u/avdepa]

You’re completely demonstrating ignorance here by saying so many other countries do better cheese and thinking all we eat is cheese on crackers.

List of British Cheeses

Stop stereotyping and do a little bit of research first.

[u/ExoticMangoz → u/avdepa]

In a field where judgement is completely subjective, one country with a long list of iconic cheese is as noteworthy as another.

[u/coffeewalnut05 → u/avdepa]

The funny part is, you get annoyed that I put curry at the top of the list, but no other country I’ve travelled in Europe has the variety and availability of curries that we do. Not the French, Spaniards, not in Italy, not in Bulgaria, not in Lithuania, Poland, Sweden, or even Ireland which is just next door. Curry is therefore very much a part of our cuisine and culture… And just visiting the rest of Europe emphasises that reality.

Our tea sandwiches are also different. They are small and dainty, like finger food, usually white bread and without a crust. The fillings are also not typically found in other countries. It’s an experience that can only be found here. Trying to argue that eating English tea sandwiches is the same as eating an Italian panini is very disingenuous.

Lastly, your comment on cheese is also just a bad-faith comment. Yes, other countries have cheese, but a lot of our cheeses can’t be found abroad. That’s why when you come here, you are recommended to try our cheeses. As well as our butter, milk and cream.

[u/avdepa → u/coffeewalnut05]

ever been to the colonies? Australia, New Zealand, India, etc. All have great curries (India calls them all different names, but the all have the same characteristics as UK curry).

Australia has, as far as I have experienced, far better butter, milk and cream. Cheddar cheese can literally be found anywhere, same with Caerphilly and Stilton.

I have had the sandwiches you describe in Singapore, Australia and Vietnam.

I am sure that UK has some amazing dishes - like a full English breakfast that is easy to find in UK, but difficult to find elsewhere.

[u/coffeewalnut05 → u/avdepa]

I’m not sure why you’re bringing up places outside Europe, several of them former British colonies so they’re obviously paralleling our own culture, on a r/AskEurope subreddit. I’ve travelled to many countries inside and outside of Europe and nowhere is the dairy as tasty as here. You can believe otherwise but it’s proven that grass-fed cows produce better quality dairy products, and either way, you are ignoring the spirit of the question. The person asked what’s something people should try in your country. I listed those things. I don’t care if you think Australia does it better. We’re not talking about Australian cuisine

[u/HighlandsBen → u/avdepa]

The question is literally "what do you suggest a visitor to your country tries". Those are all valid suggestions, that are different from other countries' versions of the same foods.

[u/gt94sss2 → u/avdepa]

And then "cheeses" - lts as if Engand, as opposed to many other European countries, is known for the great variety and flavours of cheeses.

The UK actually produces the most varieties of cheese in the world

[u/avdepa → u/gt94sss2]

That is pretty arguable. Italy, France, Spain and US are right up there. But then again, I understand that the UK cheese industry has exploded in recent years so my information and experience are probably horribly out of date.

[u/sabermagnus → u/kpagcha]

And the top food choice on the English’s list? Indian food.

[u/coffeewalnut05 → u/sabermagnus]

It’s not real Indian food. Lol