What Cuisines/Dishes Are You Not Willing to Try?

MypinchofItaly said:
I deliberately avoided tourist restaurants and the Italian ones - as I always do when abroad- it would have been an absurd nonsense to go and eat in an Italian restaurant without understanding and tasting a cuisine completely different from mine. Or so I thought. When I found on my plate the meat I had ordered and other things, I had a culinary dejavù that took me to Northern Italy, and yes, to Piedmont in particular (famous also for meat).
Its cuisine is rich and hearty, lots of cream, hearty cheeses, hearty risotti and butter, at least as much butter as its neighbor Valle D'Aosta, followed by the mountainous part of Lombardy and then Trentino Alto Adige. These are regions where it has always been very cold and I remember the particularly pungent one when I was studying in Turin. The dishes must be substantial to fight the cold and frost that comes directly from the Alps. Milan is more protected, that's why it's not as cold as in Turin.
I have a cousin who has lived in Holland for many years now and when he came back to Milan he brought us some Dutch food to try. I already had an imprinting :)

I think you'd like Piedmont.
Click to expand...

Sounds like I should go there. But as you know, Italy is high up my list of desitinations I still want to visit so one day I think I will surely visit
 
Windigo said:
Me too since I lived there, British food is also much better than it's reputation. The produce is great.
Click to expand...

Absolutely agree,
and I'm sorry they have such a low reputation. There are dishes, recipes, products that wow, really deserve to be taken more seriously by other countries (mine first included, but it's a tough fight).
And as I've already said, I am also really impressed by the cheeses, wonderful ... in fact every time I take some away from the UK to take to Italy and believe me, from my parents to my friends, everyone says 'but are they really English cheeses? Wow, they're good!'
 
Last edited:
MypinchofItaly said:
Absolutely agree,
and I'm sorry you have such a low reputation. There are dishes, recipes, products that wow, really deserve to be taken more seriously by other countries (mine first included, but it's a tough fight).
And as I've already said, I am also really impressed by the cheeses, wonderful ... in fact every time I take some away to take to Italy and believe me, from my parents to my friends, everyone says 'but are they really English cheeses? Wow, they're good!'
Click to expand...

Yeah the English cheeses are great, I love me some good cheddar . The dairy/cheese section is one thing the Dutch are famous for, but it's unfortunate Gouda is our best internationally known cheese. I mean Gouda is good, but we've got much better around here.
I love Dutch farmer's cheese, especially 'graskaas' which is cheese made from the spring milk of cows, when they eat only grass. Our butter is also really good.
 
MypinchofItaly said:
Sweetcorn as well they put on pizza? Oh my :(
Click to expand...

Many pizza travesties have occurred since it became mainstream here. Although early Italian immigrants made pizza (early 19th century) it remained within their communities. WWII changed the way many European foods were introduced and extended outside of their small communities, becomming more mainstream USA. Of course Americans just can't seem to leave well enough alone. Then again, immigrants had to adapt to what was locally available, which intern changed their cuisines from the homeland.
 
MypinchofItaly said:
you have an incredible dairy production
Click to expand...
Thank you, but I think we are still learning from the French, but we are not far behind now with our cheese.
Windigo said:
British food is also much better than it's reputation
Click to expand...
One of the many reasons I hate Brexit. Our farmers and producers have invested heavily in high standard ethical production methods, and this may now be at risk without EU regulated protection.
 
epicuric said:
Thank you, but I think we are still learning from the French, but we are not far behind now with our cheese.

One of the many reasons I hate Brexit. Our farmers and producers have invested heavily in high standard ethical production methods, and this may now be at risk without EU regulated protection.
Click to expand...

Yes, I am really sad to see it a) become very expensive or just unatainable for import due to overseas taxes and no more EU subsidy and B) indeed because the standards the EU upholds may be compromised .
 
Windigo said:
However, our reputation is bad in general due to how our cuisine was 50 years ago. But that was when our country just came out of a war, the famous story where the American president came over and was only allowed one biscuit with his tea and therefor started the marshall help plan.

But slowly and surely, the Dutch have progressed to become a very inclusive cuisine with flavors from all over the world. The time of overcooked veg with meat and potatoes is behind us. Most kids these days prefer pasta or pizza to potatoes, and Indonesian food is as Dutch as Curry is to the British.
Click to expand...

Interesting to learn this. I have no idea what Dutch cuisine is, and I am eager to learn.

We have Pennsylvania "Dutch" in certain regions of the US, but it is really evolved from the German rather than from the Dutch.
 
Windigo said:
I mean Gouda is good
Click to expand...
36 month old Gouda is food of the gods.
45356
 
epicuric said:
I realised I owe you an apology - when I said north and east of Germany I was referring to the eastern block (as was) and Scandinavia. I was not referring to the Netherlands, although I realise that parts of it are north of parts of Germany. I should have realised - I spent some time in Bracht. No offence intended :)
Click to expand...

Gentleman 🎩
 
Windigo said:
I guess I just like fat lol .
Click to expand...
:highfive:
Mountain Cat said:
Interesting to learn this. I have no idea what Dutch cuisine is, and I am eager to learn.
Click to expand...
When I was a kid in Ohio, we had not one, but two Dutch-themed casual family restaurant chains.

One was Pannekoeken Huis, and was like an IHOP, focused on pancakes, and the waitresses all dressed in kitschy Dutch clothes, and the other, a really mash-up, was Dutch Pantry, which couldn't decide if the "Dutch" in the name meant "from The Netherlands," or if it meant "from the Pennsylvania Dutch," (which, as was pointed out earlier, is a whole nuther thing), as they included components of both cultures. :)
 
Mountain Cat said:
Interesting to learn this. I have no idea what Dutch cuisine is, and I am eager to learn.

We have Pennsylvania "Dutch" in certain regions of the US, but it is really evolved from the German rather than from the Dutch.
Click to expand...

Pretty hard to avoid the stereotypes on the internet I am afraid. Culinary history is a particular obsession for me, so I can say some things about it. Unfortunately most books on Dutch culinary heritage are on my shelf but written only in Dutch. Though www.tasteatlas.com has a very broad selection of Dutch dishes available for viewing if you want a general idea.

I would describe traditional Dutch cooking as a hearty, rustic type of food comparable to British, Northern French ( Britanny, Normandy) , High German and Belgian cuisine.
It has a lot of seafood based food and small game like rabbits and hares, and a lot of dairy. Bread , butter and cheese are an ancient staple food, because before Columbus grains and dairy were our main staple foods.
Now, the potato is a staple food too but mainly in the shape of home fries or mash. Plain boiled potatoes are out of fashion.

Pancakes and poffertjes ( takoyaki in Japan) are also very popular foods as TastyReuben mentioned. We even have pancake only restaurants .
As a side mention, the Japanese traded only with the Dutch in the 16th century. Through us they have their dishes named Takoyaki ( poffertjes) and Korokke ( kroketten) and birru ( beer) and chizu ( cheese) .

Edit; mispelled takoyaki
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom