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Depending on where you live, it's much easier to find an ethnic cookbook than fresh, quality, ethnic ingredients. My relatives who were raised in Southern California and now live in Germany complain about the lack of good Mexican food and the inavailability of the right ingredients. If you cannot get fresh tortillas and the right chiles and herbs, etc., in your area, your Mexican food is not going to be very good no matter how authentic your recipes are.
Chinese, Japanese, Korean and Vietnamese people in my area, of which there are many, shop at Asian markets rather than generic supermarkets for a reason. There are many areas in which those markets and ingredients are not available, and that's exactly why the Asian food there is not so good.
You can still purchase the same ingredients as those used in Mexican recipes unless you live in the countryside and even then you can order them via internet. There would be a problem only if the good which was requited had a short expiration date.
Ethnic shops are a bless and so can be restaurants but they mustn't come at the expenses of local cuisine and neither should people be obsessed with diversity in the same way they are in the Anglosphere. People here in Europe wouldn't freak if they couldn't find a decent kebab somewhere bang in the middle of the Midwest.
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Originally Posted by Natnasci
Maybe the type of immigration historically has something to do with it? We have always had a certain amount of diversity and are used to it. It has increased over the years in Canada, especially because of immigration.
The true domestic cuisine of Canada would be of the indigenous people, the rest has always been " imported ".
I don't see any shortcomings in domestic cuisine, since domestic ( except for the indigenous ) at least for Canada and the US, has always been a mixture of other countries.
Have you been to the US, UK or Canada? I left out Australia because I haven't been.
There are a lot of farmers markets with fresh everything and excellent quality goods.
I do agree though that the difference in the regulations of quality do differ, but they differ between the countries of the Anglosphere as well.
Canada is closer to European regulations in a lot of areas.
This doesn't mean that people who like good quality food in the US can't get it. You may pay more for it, but it's there.
I haven't been to Europe since 2008, and the food scene was a little more diverse in the bigger cities than it was back in the 1980's, but for someone used to variety, it can get boring quite quickly.
Also certain Asian cuisines in Europe were horribly prepared and not authentic. The only exception was Indonesian in Amsterdam...why?...because of the immigrants. The Dutch LOVE Indonesian food, as much at The British love Indian.
I have never heard Dutch talk about Indonesian food, anyway we have several Chinese, Sri Lankan, Bangladeshi, Pakistani and Indian immigrants here in Italy but authentic restaurants are still often hard to come by outside of large cities. Don't know why that is but a large of the restaurants they open offer low quality products.
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Originally Posted by forgotten username
We're pretty well off around here, although I have to admit I don't really understand the italian concept of bakeries where bread is not visible.
What do you mean?
That bread isn't exposed in bakeries? If it's that, i think it is because most bakeries just prefer showing goods that would be harder to sell instead and who most people wouldn't order otherwise.
it depends on where they are in the country. i'd think that you could get passable mexican in the largest cities. i had some very good italian food in berlin.
I never had passable Mexican food in Europe, it was quite disgusting actually. It was a poor copy of Tex-Mex food and some very outlandish creations. I'm not sure if things have changed, but I sure hope so. I was offended by what I ate. Lol
Mexican food is very similar to Italian food in that we take huge pride in freshness, taste and presenting the best rendition of our dishes. It doesn't matter the time it takes, if you have to boil and stir for 2 hours, you boil and stir for 2 hours. Also, you don't just thrown in a jalapeño to a dish to make Mexican food. There is an art and a certain order to using all of the different types of chiles used to make dishes. Certain sauces and salsas are used with specific meats. It's a rich complex cuisine that many have cheapened.
Last edited by rosa surf; 03-09-2016 at 06:54 PM..
I never had passable Mexican food in Europe, it was quite disgusting actually. It was a poor copy of Tex-Mex food and some very outlandish creations. I'm not sure if things have changed, but I sure hope so. I was offended by what I ate. Lol
Mexican food is very similar to Italian food in that we take huge pride in freshness, taste and presenting the best rendition of our dishes. It doesn't matter the time it takes, if you have to boil and stir for 2 hours, you boil and stir for 2 hours. Also, you don't just thrown in a jalapeño to a dish to make Mexican food. There is an art and a certain order to using all of the different types of chiles used to make dishes. Certain sauces and salsas are used with specific meats. It's a rich complex cuisine that many have cheapened.
how long ago was that, and where? i would think that somebody could at least produce decent tex mex. just goes to show how wrong you can be.
Some europeans in France Spain and Italy mainly they think that is not enough because Americans have a tradition of U K,. And in UK never has a good gastronomy. and the average American man according seen in travel to USA he abused hot dog and the like burgers and junk food precooked etc
?
It occurred to me that perhaps the easiest/quickest form of cultural change is food-quite simply, adding recipes to your repertoire.
I never had passable Mexican food in Europe, it was quite disgusting actually. It was a poor copy of Tex-Mex food and some very outlandish creations. I'm not sure if things have changed, but I sure hope so. I was offended by what I ate. Lol
Mexican food is very similar to Italian food in that we take huge pride in freshness, taste and presenting the best rendition of our dishes. It doesn't matter the time it takes, if you have to boil and stir for 2 hours, you boil and stir for 2 hours. Also, you don't just thrown in a jalapeño to a dish to make Mexican food. There is an art and a certain order to using all of the different types of chiles used to make dishes. Certain sauces and salsas are used with specific meats. It's a rich complex cuisine that many have cheapened.
Really, i think that you can have decent Tex Mex in several places now, for example there's an Italian newly born and successful chain called Old Wild West that does more than decent Tex Mex food. Most of the ingredients are grown locally and only particular herbs and spices are acquired from Mexico.
Despite being a chain not different from McDonald (139 franchises make it the second most widespread chain after Micky D), the quality of the products that are used make it much more expensive but it seems to be paying off.
Answering this ad means such a minefield to trespass. How do you compare the cuisine of a country like the US with over 310 million people to a much smaller one?
While I am not going to claim the US is best (none of the Anglo countries have been famous for good food in the past), despite all the fast food and processed food here, we have a country of stupendous variety unlike anywhere else.
We can talk about New England and Low Country seafood, Southern food, New Orleans cajun, California cuisine, Southwestern food with its Hispanic and Indian origins, Texas BBQ, and on and on (I don't want to slight any one region).
And we have some of the best restaurants in the world as well. So all of that counts for something.
I couldn't agree with this post anymore. In spite of all the fast food garbage we have here there is some really good quality food here in the US. I would hope visitors to our country would try some of this good authentic American food you have listed. Our food is so much more than Big Macs and Whoppers.
I couldn't agree with this post anymore. In spite of all the fast food garbage we have here there is some really good quality food here in the US. I would hope visitors to our country would try some of this good authentic American food you have listed. Our food is so much more than Big Macs and Whoppers.
Except the US is one single (big and varied with many influences for sure) country, where Europe is made of 30 countries.
There are already vast differences between what is eaten here and down in Sicily, I guess if I visited the baltic states or Ireland I would find it pretty different.
I do not doubt there is amazing food in the US and that it's incredibly varied if you look out for it, but Europe is a bunch of countries with lots of regional food traditions.
That bread isn't exposed in bakeries? If it's that, i think it is because most bakeries just prefer showing goods that would be harder to sell instead and who most people wouldn't order otherwise.
Around here I have trouble finding bakeries because the bread is usually hardly visible from the exterior and it does not smell like it in the street. I guess usually it is made in a factory and brought to the store, but the fact that the bread is hidden behind the counter is kinda strange because it makes it hard to judge it.
Maybe it's different in other parts of Italy though.
I do not doubt there is amazing food in the US and that it's incredibly varied if you look out for it, but Europe is a bunch of countries with lots of regional food traditions.
Yes, Europe has many local food traditions that go back thousands of years and that have aged gracefully.
The U.S. goes back a few centuries, but certainly packs in a lot over that time.
Yes, Europe has many local food traditions that go back thousands of years and that have aged gracefully.
The U.S. goes back a few centuries, but certainly packs in a lot over that time.
I certainly do not doubt it, I just find the argument "Europe is tiny / it's only white european people / therefore there's only one type of food" a bit limited.
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