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As to China there are five provinces.. The food is very different. The least is very mild in texture and flavor from Canton to the hottest perhaps from Szechuan (sp?). The American buffet may well offerm Kim Shee from Korea as wells Gen Tzo's chicken both of which are very hot. You can find it if you know where to look. Most 'Chinatown" such as the one in Chicago is a city within the City of Chicago. The food is as authentic as the Chinese bank, Chinese Methodist Church, and Chinese druggist who sells herbs and roots as well as FDA drugs.
In America if one wants world class food stop in Manhattan Borough in NYC. America, as a whole, is a melting pot of cultures, religions and foods that are often regional. It is very difficult to find authentic Boston Clam Chowder in a can or in Dallas. Chicago and Cook County are very large and densely populated. I do not know how many actual neighborhoods are in Chicago. If you want the real ethnic foods you go into the neighbor restaurant, or bar, or local grocery when your find authentic English butter, Irish brew, Indian, Polish, etc.. Yes, American food is diverse, and it can be found in larger cities, but it is rare to find in the hundreds of very small, isolated communities, that dot the American landscape.
Okay, but that's not really American cuisine, per se. I am talking about REAL American cuisine. It's essentially street food at best.
Cajun is the rare occurrence, but I wouldn't really call that American cuisine either. Louisiana has it's own unique thing going on. Cajuns are a distinct ethnic group from mainstream Americans, and a lot of their cuisine was inherited from the melting pot of heritages they synthesized into.
Mainstream American cuisine is chicken wings, corn dogs, grits, etc. Garbage food.
Mind you, my interest in the US is very minimal. I have only been to Grand Forks, North Dakota, and that was enough for me.
Americans prefer quantity over quality I have noticed. They probably have more variety in greater bulk than any other country in the world. When it comes down to savory taste though, I'd be surprised if anywhere in the US would be in the top 10.
Lol, what? That would be like someone going to Thunder Bay, Ontario and judging Canada on that one place...
Well, you got the "demonstrably ignorant" part right, but that lies on the part of the question itself though, not any of the responses. Americans are too introspective. To believe authentic American cuisine is a top world cuisine you'd have to have trouble looking past the nose on your face. I am willing to cut you slack though, and admit that in terms of quantity America is the best place going. I can, if I look hard enough, probably find about 100 distinct styles of Thai food in the US, where to get more variety than that I would have to go to Thailand itself. In that case the US is a place to admire.
The US is the best place in the world to eat delicious food that isn't native.
I guess it really all comes down to what you want. I never said food in America sucks, I said authentic American food sucks, and if you're someone who wants your fork to take you around the world, there is no better place than America for it to do that. It's variety vs authenticity i guess.
I think few are touting American cuisine as the best, but many want to count all the foreign cuisines you can find in the US as part of America's food scene...I guess it depends whether you mean native cuisine or just what you can get there.
Needless to say, American has a rich and varied native cuisine that compares well with many other countries, even if it's food tradition isn't as old as China or India.
As to China there are five provinces.. The food is very different. The least is very mild in texture and flavor from Canton to the hottest perhaps from Szechuan (sp?). The American buffet may well offerm Kim Shee from Korea as wells Gen Tzo's chicken both of which are very hot. You can find it if you know where to look. Most 'Chinatown" such as the one in Chicago is a city within the City of Chicago. The food is as authentic as the Chinese bank, Chinese Methodist Church, and Chinese druggist who sells herbs and roots as well as FDA drugs.
In America if one wants world class food stop in Manhattan Borough in NYC. America, as a whole, is a melting pot of cultures, religions and foods that are often regional. It is very difficult to find authentic Boston Clam Chowder in a can or in Dallas. Chicago and Cook County are very large and densely populated. I do not know how many actual neighborhoods are in Chicago. If you want the real ethnic foods you go into the neighbor restaurant, or bar, or local grocery when your find authentic English butter, Irish brew, Indian, Polish, etc.. Yes, American food is diverse, and it can be found in larger cities, but it is rare to find in the hundreds of very small, isolated communities, that dot the American landscape.
Westernised Chinese is mostly based on Cantonese, with a few others thrown in. There are far more than 5 provinces in China, of course, each with their own regional cuisine.
If you actually go to China you can find food that resembles Middle Eastern food more, like Chinese kebabs/burgers, among many others.
No, I have been in the restaurant business for a long time and know what good food is. Southern food doesn't fall under the parameters of what good food is in my experienced and knowledgeable opinion. No one is going to spend $80 for a bowl of grits.
It's simple food meant to feed a lot of mouths. That's it.
I do not know where you were in the restaurant business. Grits & Shrimp well done with fresh local ingredients holds it's place on upscale restaurants menus just fine.
I do not know where you were in the restaurant business. Grits & Shrimp well done with fresh local ingredients holds it's place on upscale restaurants menus just fine.
Hahahaha in the elegance of four star Appalachia perhaps. That is funny though. Do those same restaurants also have toilets for seating and eat off hubcaps?
Needless to say, American has a rich and varied native cuisine that compares well with many other countries, even if it's food tradition isn't as old as China or India.[/quote]
I have to disagree with the latter paragraph. It's rich and varied to American palates. To foreigners it isn't. There is a reason there are no Cracker Barrels outside of the US. American cuisine is like an ugly kid, it has a taste only a local could love.
Foreigners eat American cuisine when they are starving or lazy. If they want to get funky (often literally) they will grab a greasy KFC order or a corn dog or what have you. That's it's universal reputation and it stands to reason. Perhaps visitors who go to America also do as the Romans do, again, to get funky, but no one takes that cuisine seriously.
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