Which country has the worst food?

The UK.

Yuk!

Germany. Lived there 8 years and the food was dire.

South Africa - Bad English cuisine combined with the flesh of desert creatures and seasoned by angry Dutchmen.

R3, I liked bobotie -- a sort of egg and spiced meat breakfast dish -- but that is about the extent of my South African cuisine knowledge.

How would you summarize "American food?" Like what is classically American?

I'm thinking Soul food/Southern food; various casseroles; hamburgers - what else?

I'd say "meat and potatoes" - simply cuts of meat paired with starch - potatoes, rice, veggies - like pot roast , roasted chicken, things put on the grill. And these meals can range from "meh" to wonderful if the food is fresh and prepared well. But, is that distinctly American?

Tex-mex and American-Italian I'd consider American cuisine. The lasagna my mother made, while I loved it, I wouldn't consider it "Italian" cuisine.

China - dog stew

R5, maybe dishes involving preparation of New World ingredients -- roasted turkey, cornbread, succotash, bison steaks, etc.

I'm not a fan of Vietnamese food, which I know sounds blasphemous.

Russia-disgusting

Sweden - just revolting, fish heads covered with goo and the like

Germany - awful

Nigeria - like putting a ball of play dough covered with hot chilies down your throat

Places like Israel, Iraq etc. They live in wastelands so there's nothing to cook with. They also SUFFER from being too damn fucking religious which affects their food negatively.

What is food?

[quote] Places like Israel, Iraq etc.

Ok then.

There are some great Russian dishes but in general Russian food is typical of Eastern European cuisine. Fatty/ rich, heavy, under-seasoned with little use of herbs yet over-seasoned with salt.

I’m part Russian and I can’t say that I like most Russian food. The only dishes I like and can make well are kulibiaka, dark rye bread, cold appetizers, and assorted Russian tea cookies. Kulibiaka is a baked fish pie made with yeasted dough, white fish, sour cream, butter, onions, mushrooms, rice, dill/ parsley, and hard boiled eggs. I know it sounds weird but it’s delicious. Even people who say they hate Russian food love it at least when I make it.

But Russian dumplings and meat dishes are bland and forgettable.

South Indian food is like...Step 1) empty out your entire spice rack into a pan..add potatoes. Enjoy.

Indonesian.

I have to say that I did eat at a Russian restaurant in Portland, Oregon -- Kashka -- and the food was quite good. I'm not sure how authentic the food was, but it came recommended as one of the better restaurants in the city.

I stayed in Costa Rica years ago one summer and had to say the food was quite bland after awhile; then again, I expected that it would have some of the bold flavors/ingredients of nearby Mexican food.

Indonesian food is delicious as is Malaysian.

Russia and Eastern Europe are the winners here by far IMO.

.

Russia had the worst of anywhere I’ve visited. Have never eaten so many beets. Yuck

Any of these places:

For being surrounded by countries with great food, Cambodian food is a bit lacking.

Indian food. Overuse of spices and overcooked vegetables. Everything is mushy and taste of spices instead of the actual main ingredients.

I ate great food in Cambodia...granted it was in Siem Reap, so maybe it's different outside the tourist area.

Iceland was dire, Denmark too. Nordic food just isn't for me. Give me all the spice.

Chinese cuisine varies a lot across provinces and regions. There isn't one monolithic "Chinese food"

China. CHIII NAH

I may be the only person on Earth that doesn’t like Mexican food

R25, no,I know many people who don't, many times it's due to all the corn.

Corn, raw onions, and beans in Mexican food are the ultimate combo for inducing gas in many people. When I eat Mexican food I have to avoid those three together in a dish.

R13 I would eat the fuck out of this delicious sounding Kulibiaka you make. I don't mean that in a dirty way, but I could if meant you would share your recipe with me....

I had really good food in Moscow. Blinis with sour cream and caviar served with pepper vodka is divine.

Jesus Christ there’s some nasty shit out in this world

Czech food is no picnic

And Israeli food is really good. Very fresh.

Surprisingly, the food in Argentina was very bland. Mostly bad Italian food. But when you go have a drink at a bar, they bring you a small plate of munches, that get better with each drink, and they have empanadas, and good beef, so they are forgiven

Probably any country's food can be elevated - the "best" of any country is probably pretty good. It's more about the everyday food.

R5, America has no culture, America has IMMIGRANTS. American food comes from other countries/cultures. It's ALL from elsewhere. Native American food was ignored.

[quote] Native American food was ignored.

R34, a lot of the Native American staples (turkey, corn, legumes, cranberries) were incorporated into what is now the standard Thanksgiving meal.

American food is fairly disgusting.

American cuisine isn't food; it's feed.

Agree with R17 the food I had in f.e Czech Repulic was disgusting.

Peru. Hands down.

Papua New Guinea

I went to a Russian restaurant in Germany some decades ago and they had a cold beetroot soup called Chlodnik on the menu, which was wonderful!

I later found out that it's a typical eastern European soup, very popular in hot summers.

What the hell is that thing at OP?

R40... Yes, that's the very famous "Venus de Milo Bisque"! You win!

Mexican food is comfort food. I like it. But it is not a great cuisine.

Philippine food smells like a cadaver and looks as appetizing as their men...Nuff said.

Russian food is disgusting mush.

Speaking of Filipino food: ever wonder why there are so few Filipino restaurants?

There are some great filipino dishes--especially pork adobo. And their egg rolls are much better than Chinese ones. But overall, their food is wayyy to sweet.

R42, I believe that is a potato-beet salad.

I'm always surprised why British food is cited so often in these "worst food" discussions. My birthday treat growing up was roast beef with Yorkshire pudding - yummy yum yum ! I also ate sausage rolls, shepherd's pie , taffy apple pudding, trifle - all delicious and all part of my current diet I would agree that England's first foray into fast food was sick-making - a Wimpy's Burger made McDonald's Big Mac taste like haute cuisine. As far as Russia goes - I told a Russian colleague once that I enjoyed borsht (spelling ?) and he told me it was Ukrainian not Russian.

I'm always surprised why British food is cited so often in these "worst food" discussions. My birthday treat growing up was roast beef with Yorkshire pudding - yummy yum yum ! I also ate sausage rolls, shepherd's pie , taffy apple pudding, trifle - all delicious and all part of my current diet I would agree that England's first foray into fast food was sick-making - a Wimpy's Burger made McDonald's Big Mac taste like haute cuisine. As far as Russia goes - I told a Russian colleague once that I enjoyed borsht (spelling ?) and he told me it was Ukrainian not Russian.

The American prejudice about British food was formed during WWII and the gray decades afterwards, when rationing, shortages, and low standards of living were rampant. The sort of person who bashes British food has never been to Britain or eaten a Yorkshire pud or a serving of trifle, they've just mindlessly repeated what other Ugly Americans have been saying about British food since the 1940s.

Because yes, traditional British food is good hearty tasty food, if it's done well. Not one of the world's great cuisines, but as you can sample all the world's great cuisines in Britain, it's all good.

Can Canadian food be listed if nobody knows what it is?

No.

NONE!!

I think you can distinguish between "which country's native cuisine is the worst" and "which country has no access to high quality food"?

Traditional English food is pretty mediocre, but you can get great food there. I remember I spent some time in Denmark for work, and my preconceptions was horrible "Nordic" food from smorgasbords of my youth. Raw fish in mustard... But I had meal after meal of fresh, creatively prepared and presented meals.

So using both measures, native cuisine and availability of good food, yeah, it's gotta be Russia. (Maybe Poland near?)

I think you can distinguish between "which country's native cuisine is the worst" and "which country has no access to high quality food"?

Traditional English food is pretty mediocre, but you can get great food there. I remember I spent some time in Denmark for work, and my preconceptions was horrible "Nordic" food from smorgasbords of my youth. Raw fish in mustard... But I had meal after meal of fresh, creatively prepared and presented meals.

So using both measures, native cuisine and availability of good food, yeah, it's gotta be Russia. (Maybe Poland near?)

[quote]What the hell is that thing at OP?

It's Russian Shuba Salad, aka 'Herring Under Fur Coat.'

Yes, and it’s delicious r57.

Norway is a rich country with terrible food.

Not true that's it's just Americans who hate British food R51. My uncle married a French woman and I overheard her talking with my mom about my cousin's study abroad in England (my cousins were raised in France and are French). She said my cousin really loved it but said, "Mom, the food was terrible!"

Am i the only one who dislikes Japanese food? Too... Fishy and squidy... Ick.

Russian, British, German and Swedish

Went to an Ethiopian restaurant years ago in silver springs because my sister is far more culinary adventurous / "naive". I couldn't finish, let alone ingest a single thing. I felt bad for my sister and staff but I'm pretty sure that wasn't the first time.

Italian

Kangaroo steak anyone ?

Norway

Hungarian. If it weren't for the excellent paprika, the food would be even worse.

R14 - you forgot the coconut milk.

R59 Their big tall hunky men make up for the bad food. Plus if you are a bottom you should not eat much when you visit there anyway.....

Samoa, Nigeria ,Russia take the cake. What do Canadians eat by the way?

Ethiopian Food. I went to a restaurant in the Fairfax district with my sister and her client.

Imagine a big sour pancake accompanied by nastiest watery curry that looks like dirt. I expected it to taste like naan with some masala. Boy was I wrong.

America's leftovers r70

Israeli. Ugh. No greens. All breaded meats and bad breath.

Dutch food is just terrible. I do a lot of work there and at lunch everyone eats this weird meat paste that they smear into a bland white roll. There are different varieties that r brightly colored. Washed down with a milky yoghurt drink. All of it disgusting. It’s ironic, as they grow so much of the produce for Italy and France.

Pilipino

R75 Yes! I forgot about the Phillipines. Even their pastries are disgusting.

I don't find Filipino food to be bad at all. They have some good dishes -- lumpia and pancit.

Greek food is boring and basic.

Filipino food is nasty.

Middle Eastern and Turkish food

Ethiopian food is find if you like spicy stewed dishes food served with flatbread, at least the kind of Ethiopian food that's served in America is fine. I understand that raw steak is a traditional part of Ethiopian cuisine, ideally still twitching, but that isn't legal and wouldn't sell in the US.

Filipino food is boring compared to the cuisine of southern Asia and the Pacific islands, but that doesn't mean it's bad or anything. It's perfectly palatable and can be good if not great, it's just not exciting.

How about Hawaiian food? it's really pretty lame except for the slow-cooked pork, and now I've gone vegetarian and won't be eating any more of that. Taro, noodles, fruit, meh. Very basic and boring stuff, made with necessarily limited ingredients, plus Spam.

Russian Food can be wonderful.

The worst....the US has the absolute worst, which is not to say it does not have great food but of all cultures it has the largest amount of gross factor. Ketchup, American plastic, oreos, there are so many disgusting staples.

American fast food

I was in the Philippines several times during my stint in the military. The food can be nasty and they use garlic in EVERYTHING! Let the bathroom air out before you go there after a Filipino uses it.

Ethiopian food isn't bad it's just boring. There's a handful of recipes where you just change the main ingredient and use the same spice blend over and over and over.

Ethiopian seems somewhat similar to some Indian dishes to me. Yeah, the injura bread is a bit spongey, so the texture is probably polarizing to some. I find it inoffensive. I do like their honey wine.

[quote]And Israeli food is really good. Very fresh.

There is no "Israeli" food. There's Middle Eastern food which shockingly existed before 1948. Jesus Christ, is there nothing they won't steal?

[quote]Tex-mex and American-Italian I'd consider American cuisine.

Don't forget the Chinese food so much of the world eats is in fact Chinese American. And typical deli food, supposedly Eastern European or German, is really a Jewish way to serve food that was developed in the USA.

Beside the ethnic offshoots, American food is hand food -- fast, fun stuff like barbecue, fried chicken, burgers and hot dogs.

I agree on Ethiopian food. It's gross. No wonder they're starving. If I lived there I wouldn't eat it either.

r87 is right -- the food eaten is Israel is basically Arab or Turkish food.

[quote]the food eaten is Israel is basically Arab or Turkish food.

The food eaten all over the "Arab" world is the result of 600 years of Ottoman occupation. So the "Arabs" stole their food from the Turks.

R84 Well now you know why even rice queens refuse to rim filipino bottoms.

Witchetty grub on the menu

Aside from a couple of dishes, Filipino food is greasy, bland, and devoid of interesting textures. It’s why Filipinos go crazy over American fast food, because it’s a slight improvement over their own cuisine.

It's interesting nobody said French or Italian. Well 1 or 2 for Italian, so I guess by default they are among the best. I can't imagine Italian food being the worst. What would life be like without spaghetti...

R95 There’s always noodles

Beets taste like dirt. How does anyone eat them.

I love beets, especially roasted.

The Netherlands. A cuisine as boring and bland as the people who inhabit the land.

I only like canned beets

R98 Dutch men are tall and hung to make up for being bland..

Unless you rely strictly on restaurants, street food, and the like, if you're a good and imaginative cook and have access to decent markets and grocery stores you can eat well in almost any country. You'l find good ingredients almost anywhere if you make the effort.

^^Not everyone is a good cook even with the best ingredients

A better pic of the Russian Shuba salad..looks tasty actually.

"The Netherlands. A cuisine as boring and bland as the people who inhabit the land. "

I liked the Dutch food, when I visited the Netherlands. Sure, the overcooked white Asparagus isn't missed, but most of the meals I had there were lovely. Great big varied breakfasts, lovely fresh broojjies (sp?) for lunch, lovely simple food for dinner, when I wasn't having Indonesian or Greek or some other ethnic cuisine. But then, I like Scandinavian food in general, as I'm fond of fish and good dairy products and carbs. Mmmm… fish, dairy, and carbs!

R28 My kulibiaka recipe is based from the recipe from Please to the Table, a widely praised Russian cookbook that I’d bought in my early 20s in homage to my Russian great grandmother whom I’d never met. The cookbook is out of print but available used and some recipes are available online, like this one. I did make some tweaks to the recipe. I use 2 types of white fish instead of white fish and salmon. Also I increased the amount of sour cream and mushrooms in the pie filling by about 1/4 cup and double the amount of chopped dill and black pepper. Make sure you use a really good white sherry wine because it really makes a difference. For the rice I’d suggest Uncle Ben rice because it holds up well as filling; but don’t be tempted to use more rice than called for in the recipe.

There are other great recipes in Please to the Table that are not Russian but former USSR nations. The author, Anya Von Bremen also writes historical background or reminiscent stories about the recipes, which makes for great read besides the recipes.

Forgot to add, for white fish choose firm flesh white fish. I always use cod and another type such as halibut, bass, or tilapia. You can also just use cod.

Russian. Meat jelly, everything fermented (even fermented bread juice)...

I've never tasted disgusting fruit or vegetables except there due to how they're prepared.

That looks disgusting R107

Russians have poor hygiene. Would not eat any food they prepared.

Poor Russia most of it is still stuck in the 1940’s and that is a huge step up since they were still in the 16th century up till the 1920’s.

Canadian here with 1 set of French Canadian grandparents (the other set is from U.K.). French Canadian side would eat "boudin" - My grandmother would cook this sausage filled with pig blood, onions, port meat etc. Gross. Couldn't even look at them eat the stuff. The rest of the food was great but boudin, not so much. My English Canadian grandmother (from Yorkshire originally) on the other hand would make incredible Yorkshire muffins, and roast beef dinners.

Yorkshire pudding, sorry ^^^^^

R75 Have you ever had an ensymada?

I'm rather shocked to not see my country mentioned yet.

North Korea probably has the worst food for the most people.

All cuisines are worth trying. The fact that someone has experienced some bad meals in a nation that runs halfway across the world is not surprising, but to claim Russian "food" is the worst is absurd.

What cuisine do I like the least?

Lebanese, Danny Thomas style.

There's a restaurant in my area that serves "authentic" British food. The vegetables are pitiful; wilted and soggy. It that what they're like in Britain? I kind of get the impression that meat is the staple food there and that nobody much eats vegetables, hence when they're served they're of poor quality.

The Philippines has better egg rolls? You mean those greasy lumpia things? Ha ha ha...

I always wanted to try that Ethiopian restaurant in the Fairfax district and never got around to it before we moved away.

I really dont like traditional eastern european foods. I find it to be bland, salty and soggy

I lived in Romania for four years, and while I won’t say it has the worst food, it certainly has some that’s unusual. I think every American is taken aback until you get used to it.

THANK YOU R105 !!!!

Drooling as I type...nothing new, I know, seriously, thanks!

r111 I adore blood sausage. I find it doesn't taste like blood or at least what people think as blood--that coppery/bad penny taste. It is very rich. Think port wine undertones.

My brother spent some time in motherland Russia. He took several jars of peanut butter with him. Said it was the only way he survived. This was about 30 years ago. I hear things are better these days.

At the risk of sounding like DL's reviled Boris and Natasha, Moscow (population of nearly 12 million) has restaurants that rival those in Tokyo, Paris, New York, London or any other major city in the world. Denying that only reveals your ignorance. Where do you think all the oligarchs, billlionaires, and gangsters eat?

The campy BBC spy series Killing Eve has several Russian characters talking in over-the-top Russian accents and saying things like: "Russia has vegans now, you know that? You go into a restaurant, you ask for a Stroganoff, they're going to laugh in your face."

DL needs to update its infantile and cartoonish image of Russia and Putin. Read the bilingual, bicultural and brilliant Masha Gessen's latest book, which is brutal on both Trump and Putin:

[quote]Having lived under authoritarian rule, Gessen was quick to see the similarities between Trump and the Russian president. Americans, who consider Vladimir Putin some kind of political mastermind, may be surprised to know that, according to the author, he is not only megalomanic and vain, but also intellectually dull and incurious. As they write in the book, Putin’s ambition “is vastly out of proportion to his understanding of the world”.

R116 maybe immediately after WWII but that was 70 years ago. What you’re getting served is slop.

A good number of posts on this thread consist of Tom in Union City, Iowa and Phil in Cape Girardeau, Missouri exchanging, with childish glee, pictures of the most unappetizing-looking food they can find, supposedly consumed in countries they've either never visited or haven't visited in 30+ years. Never change, DL!

R60, never believe what college girls say about food. They all complain about whatever food is served where they live, but when they get to the cafeteria, they shovel it in like they are field hands.

R49 and R51 Yorkshire pudding is fucking disgusting. The majority of traditional Brit food is disgusting trash. Modern Brit food is much better now that they've incorporated flavors from around the world

Scandinavian food consists 80% of raw fish, smoked lamb heads, hard boiled eggs and vinegar.

Kenya

Scotland. Everything there tastes like sheep.

Indian - Spoiled meat and vegetables over-seasoned with some nasty curry concoction in order to cover up the rancid flavors.

I've never had boudin R111 (even though I live in Quebec right now) but blood sausage is very much a thing in the UK, often to be found as part of a fry-up and honestly if someone told me it was vegetarian I would believe them. It has no blood or flesh taste at all, very oaty.

Disagree with:

1. German. Germans cuisine may not be exciting or innovative (I find the Germans even more invested in the traditional 'right' way of doing things than the French or the Italians) but that they do is the best i've ever had. Never had better butter, bread or sausages than in Germany. The long, thin sausages in Regensburg are the best I've ever had in my life.

2. Nigerian. Shito (unfortunate spelling, pronounced shee-toh) is better than the currently everywhere and pretty tasty chili oil. You have to make sure you get the kind that has dried shrimp in it so it's flavourful as well as hot. And I like pounded yam.

Whoever said Yorkshire puds are trash has had their tastebuds burned off in an industrial accident. Not complex or difficult, no. You won't need to develop a taste or reach adulthood before coming to enjoy them. But delicious. Absolutely delicious.

Nigeria. The food is bad and the criminal activity is even worse.

[quote] (I find the Germans even more invested in the traditional 'right' way of doing things than the French or the Italians)

Which is the most German quality ever

If ever in Germany, go into any large grocery store and check out their meat dept. You will see hundreds of cuts and kinds of pork and almost no beef or chicken.

R136 that has changed somewhat.

Every Friday there will be a line up of roasting chickens and Aldi has a few cuts of beef. I even recently saw Rindbrust (brisket) for the first time.

We do not have hundreds of cuts of pork, even in a big store, more like 30.

Russian cakes and desserts are the best!

As Catholic as the Queen of England.

German's need to learn to obey us Americans.

Stupid fucking lazy Krauts

Israel

Israel

R142 Israel has not food, none of it's own anyway. They have appropriated the Palestinian diet.

[quote]Kenya

They go overboard with the spices and don't care about presentation, but they actually have one of the most delicious rice recipes I've tasted.

R122, 30 years ago, food in Russia was traditional but generally good. At certain times of the year there was not much variety, but the food was tasty and healthy.

R71 yes Ethiopian food wasn’t good, the sour pancake.. ugh.

Polish was really bland.

What I really like are the many types of central Asian / Persian rice-meat dishes. Plov? With saffron and carrots and raisins and big chunks of soft meat.

Here's the recipe for r145. It's delicious. I make it all the time.

R148 delicious

I don't dislike Czech food, r31, if I'm in the mood for a hearty stew. I just can't stand the people walking around absolutely reeking of garlic.

Also visited a large supermarket in St. Petersburg and everything, including the 'fresh' food, looked like it was made out of plastic.

R150 like your brain ?

OMG R133 I am from Regensburg! Well, very close to it! What else did you eat there? And did you sample some local man-sausage :P ?

You could have come to my place, I would have loved to fill your big American belly with my delicacies!!

Korean

The food in Finland was pretty disgusting.

lol, sure, whatever, r151. Awww, did I hurt your feelings?

R124 Sorry, but anyone who insists on being referred to as “they” is too mentally and emotionally unstable for me to trust their judgment. The notion of listening to that person’s opinion on anything is absurd.

I hope R87 is a top or gives fair warning to any potential Jewish tops if he decides to bottom just in case there is half a bomb in there...

Also, conversely, Germans are very into vegetarian/heath foods. Not necessarily by adding more leafy green vegetables into their diets but they are very fruits-of-the-forest/70s-health-nut. In small town Germany in 2006, I could get espresso with almond milk, coconut milk, oat milk. In France it was cow milk or nothing, not even soy milk.

[quote]Ketchup, American plastic, oreos, there are so many disgusting staples.

American plastic, R82? I'm pretty sure plastic isn't meant for eating. What exactly did you mean? American plastic bread, ie wonder bread?

[quote]American fast food

Then why is it a big success all over the world, R83?

R156: I was disappointed to find out Masha Gessen "identifies as non-binary"; I thought she was far too intelligent for that. Nevertheless, as a fully bilingual and bicultural person with years of experience living and working in both Russia and the US (and a pretty astute political mind, and even, for a lesbian, a good sense of humor) she does have something to contribute to the debate on the current US political climate, authoritariansm, and US-Russian relations.

Now, back to food.

Nigeria. This is disgusting.

R152 - aș long as you don't bottom I am happy to come.

The Philippines. They manage to ruin roast pork. How is that even possible?

Excuse me R163 but *I* am R133. I am also a woman and not American so apologies to R152, who I have probably badly disappointed.

But yes, I did sample the local man-meat (blonde, name of Wilhelm AKA Willy, big dick and great body but kind of boring and stolid in bed, also wanted to talk about US politics way too much). I preferred the actual sausages (you know the ones I'm talking about, right? Long and thin? What are those things? And can I get them outside of Regensburg? they were one of the top 5 things I have eaten in my whole life). Other than sausages I ate bread and butter. And drank beer. We were staying in a place just across a road from a bakery so every morning we would go to the bakery, buy a bunch of fresh/warm out of the oven bread, and slather butter all over it. Germans also made me drink a lot of disgusting Schnapps. Blergh.

I also went to Barcelona and Rome on that trip. After Barcelona my pants fit fine. After Rome my pants fit fine. After Germany my pants were noticeably tight and I had to go on a month long diet when I got home.

R161 what I don’t get is why "they“? It makes them sound schizophrenic.

R166: I know. Sometimes I think celebrities do it just to fuck with journalists. Imagine having to write an entire celebrity profile or more serious article entirely in the third-person. As DL likes to say: exhausting!

And then there are the Wikpedia articles that need to be entirely rewritten:

*Third-person plural, sorry

R154 I had roast suckling pig in the Philippines and it was awesome.

Please explain how you think they ruin it.

Lucky you Every time I tried it, it was dry and tasteless.

I don’t like the looks of British desserts on the Great British bake off. Too much fucking jam, for one thing. But I also don’t like the looks of sticky toffee pudding or trifle. And they load too many tastes into their desserts like “John is making an orange cardamom prune cake with passionfruit & bacon cream filling alternating with lemon curd and cherry & chive meringue, drizzled with chocolate caramel allspice ganache.”

“I also made a few peppermint lavender cinnamon currant biscuits with a sage and peach royal icing.”