If you had to choose the cuisine of just one country or culture what would it be?

Bit of a daft question but not as easy as you think.

One country or culture's food for the rest of your life and nothing to eat that is not traditionally part of that cuisine?

I thought at first Italian would be a sound bet, lots of pasta, pizza but lots of roasted meats and vegatbles, great soups and fantastic fish but....

I am English and the Italians do not traditionally eat bacon sandwiches or fried egg sandwiches and certainly not with brown sauce.

So what would you choose and no cheating by saying US cuisine has everything, you get hamburgers and pizza and pot roast whatever that is and all those hashes and stuff. And donuts, might be worth it just for the donuts now I think about it...

a reply to: nonspecific


American because it is a combination of every culture that has come here.

And I don't care if I'm cheating because I'm a Mason.

a reply to: AugustusMasonicus

I have to agree. I don't think I could live without cheese burgers.

originally posted by: Autorico
I have to agree. I don't think I could live without cheese burgers.

American cuisine, via Italian food, completely changed the world culinary scene in the 1970's to supplant French, which had dominated for two centuries, to become the leading cuisine in the world.

I guessed you might.

But you do not have everything do you?

Your nation was invented by the us Brits but when did you last have tinned baked beans on toast? Or some jellied eels or a pork pie with Branston pickle?

originally posted by: nonspecific
Your nation was invented by the us Brits...

And then the immigrants came and fixed the food and booze.

originally posted by: AugustusMasonicus
a reply to: nonspecific


American because it is a combination of every culture that has come here.

And I don't care if I'm cheating because I'm a Mason.

American cuisine doesn't exist. Italian American cuisine sucks.

a reply to: Trueman

Mac and cheese and hamburgers are definitely american cuisine.

originally posted by: Trueman

American cuisine doesn't exist. Italian American cuisine sucks.

American cuisine very much does exist and has existed since the mid-1800's. At one time it was heavily French influenced but it is now more Italian influenced. Additionally, despite being of Italian ancestry, I can say I have dined at restaurants here that rival anything I have had in Tuscany or the Veneto.

originally posted by: Autorico
Mac and cheese and hamburgers are definitely american cuisine.

This is a perfect example of an Italian influenced American staple that has been on menus since the first real sit down restaurant in the United States, Delmonico's*, opened in the 1820's.


*French themed, run by Italians.

Definitely Thailand.

a reply to: AugustusMasonicus

What culture are burgers ripped off from? Mac and cheese I can see the Italian influence.

originally posted by: AugustusMasonicus

originally posted by: Autorico
Mac and cheese and hamburgers are definitely american cuisine.

This is a perfect example of an Italian influenced American staple that has been on menus since the first real sit down restaurant in the United States, Delmonico's*, opened in the 1820's.


*French themed, run by Italians.

Choosing american would definatley get you mac and cheese as I would guess it is so far removed from what Italians would call traditional food.

The same would go for a lot of European foods from Germany and the like.

You cant have Mexican stuff unless you have bastardised it to the point it would make a Mexican weep.

Like what you did with Pizza.

a reply to: nonspecific

"Like what you did with Pizza" and "chinese" food.

originally posted by: Autorico
a reply to: AugustusMasonicus

What culture are burgers ripped off from? Mac and cheese I can see the Italian influence.

I think they were invented in the 1800's in the USA.

originally posted by: Autorico
a reply to: nonspecific

"Like what you did with Pizza" and "chinese" food.

Yes exactly like that.

And indian curries, we really butchered some fantastic curries to make the great british takeaway.

a reply to: nonspecific

Yea in Texas. Mac and cheese was supposedly created by Jefferson.

originally posted by: Autorico
What culture are burgers ripped off from? Mac and cheese I can see the Italian influence.

Apocryphal, but the name is said to be taken from Hamburg, Germany as New York had a large German immigrant population which ate minced meat mixed with breadcrumbs (and other items) to stretch the meat.

It also appeared on Delmonico's menu as Hamburg Steak but the burger itself came around later, towards the late 1800/early 1900's when it was customary to serve it in two slices of bread.

originally posted by: nonspecific
Like what you did with Pizza.

There's pizzerias here that would beat the snot out of places in Italy.

English food. Contrary to the insulated townies inside the M25, if you actually go out into the sticks and regions you can find some really good English food. It's not all fish and chips and stodge that the snobs have convinced themselves is the only fare. Ah, plus (Western) curry is a dish that has been shaped by the Brits.