Best food in the world

[Zanza]

I think Italian, Thai, Vietnamese, and Japanese food is my top tier.

[Jacob]

I love food... so all of 'em

What is it that make a cuisine "the best in the world"?

Refined cooking techniques, quality of ingredients, innovation? Depth of history?

And is it about the very best restaurants and chefs of that cuisine? The average quality of cooking in local homes? The level of quality in randomly selected restaurants in that country? Or about how well that nation's food is represented in other countries? About winning "best restaurant in the world"?

Or is it about how much you (we) personally like the core ingredients of that nation's cuisine?

Basically I'm just asking those questions because I can never make up my mind when picking "bests" for these questions 

Personally I've really been enjoying New Nordic cuisine in recent years also, in addition to what's on the list.

Some other random comments:

One thing Japan does really well is that it's hard to go wrong. Pick a random restaurant or food stall in Japan, in a random region and it's likely to be good.

I think French food is under rated a bit these days simply because it's been top tier haute cuisine for so long people have become bored of it. But the techniques and approach of Nouvelle Cuisine have filtered out and informed beyond the bounds of the national cuisine.

[Barrister]

I think Italian, Thai, Vietnamese, and Japanese food is my top tier.

I think I may have mentioned this anecdote before, but still...

I went to law school in the late 90s.  I got a summer job after 1st year working for a young-ish sole practitioner Vietnamese-Canadian lawyer who had recently gone out on his own.  His work was 75% residential real estate, 25% doing whatever for Vietnamese clients (he might have been the only Vietnamese-speaking lawyer in Winnipeg at the time).

A few times he took me out for lunch - always to one of his client's restaurants.  Back then Vietnamese cuisine was pretty unknown outside of the immigrant community (at least in Winnipeg).  I'd never had it before, the meals were pretty unknown to me - but very very good.

It's just amazing to me how in 25 years (which I guess is not a small amount of time) Vietnamese cuisine can go from being unknown to being so incredibly popular. 


I do wonder what nation's cuisine is going to be next (and not that Vietnamese is the most recent - probably Korean went big more recently, if not others). 

[Josquius]

:

One thing Japan does really well is that it's hard to go wrong. Pick a random restaurant or food stall in Japan, in a random region and it's likely to be good.

Washoku.
Seriously, fuck plain cold rice. And what the hell is the point of konjac.

[Sheilbh]

I think French food is under rated a bit these days simply because it's been top tier haute cuisine for so long people have become bored of it. But the techniques and approach of Nouvelle Cuisine have filtered out and informed beyond the bounds of the national cuisine.

Yeah I think Japan and France - for me, where I live and fancy restaurants I've eaten at - have the highest impact.

One thing Japan does really well is that it's hard to go wrong. Pick a random restaurant or food stall in Japan, in a random region and it's likely to be good.

I really want to go but I also really love the idea of the guy who has absolutely perfected one thing - so just does that one thing really really well which, from what I understand, is big in Japan.

I do wonder what nation's cuisine is going to be next (and not that Vietnamese is the most recent - probably Korean went big more recently, if not others). 

I think the breakthrough in London at the minute is probably West African. Nigerian and Ghanian places especially have been around for years as restaurants and food places that are basically relatively low-key, pretty cheap and for the diaspora community and local fans - but there's now a fair few that have opened that are very haute cuisine places. I desperately want to go here: https://ikoyilondon.com/ but it is very expensive (and it's very London/British food scene of fashionable combos right now - Nordic style foraging and "micro-seasonality"/local produce, big Japanese influence and West African flavours). There's a few other amazing looking restauurants like that I have my eye on (for when I win the lottery ).

I think the next step is probably mass market, democratised, everyone gets to try it and restaurants pop up all over the place. I feel like that's the route Vietnamese, Korean and Thai took.

Edit: Also in terms of change - again I only really know London - but Sri Lankan and Burmese food have both had really popular mini-chains planting the flag over town. I suspect that'll spread.

[The Larch]

Let's settle the question once and for all.

After my trip to Italy, I think I'll have to concede the issue. The food there is absolutely ridiculously good.

Yup, the bastards know what they're doing. And it's far more varied that its stereotypical representation. It's not just pasta and pizza.

An Italian bakery recently opened near my home. Its... 

[The Larch]

Gotta agree, Italy >>> Spain. Seems all you guys eat is jamon, jamon, jamon.

We really don't eat it that much...

Maybe it's over represented in the takes on Spanish cuisine you guys get abroad?

[The Larch]

Other, Southern Croatian - a fusion a Italian, French and Balkan cooking - it is absolutely fabulous.

If I had to pick a region that is well known to the rest of the world, it would be Italian.

French influences in Croatian cuisine? First time I've ever heard that. What kind of stuff do they make? I would have guessed that coastal Croatian cuisine would be more similar to Italian/Greek than to French, and for it to incorporate more fish and seafood into it, which is absent almost in the rest of the region.

When I visited Slovenia its cuisine seemed really interesting to me, a mixture of Balkan, Italian and German, like the country itself.

Balkan cuisine has some really stellar stuff but it's not super varied, and really heavy on meats, at least what I've been able to experience from it.

[Barrister]

I think the breakthrough in London at the minute is probably West African. Nigerian and Ghanian places especially have been around for years as restaurants and food places that are basically relatively low-key, pretty cheap and for the diaspora community and local fans - but there's now a fair few that have opened that are very haute cuisine places. I desperately want to go here: https://ikoyilondon.com/ but it is very expensive (and it's very London/British food scene of fashionable combos right now - Nordic style foraging and "micro-seasonality"/local produce, big Japanese influence and West African flavours). There's a few other amazing looking restauurants like that I have my eye on (for when I win the lottery ).

I think the next step is probably mass market, democratised, everyone gets to try it and restaurants pop up all over the place. I feel like that's the route Vietnamese, Korean and Thai took.

I feel like you have the order backwards - that a "new" cuisine starts out in low-income immigrant communities, then spread out into higher end and fashionable cooking.  You even mention it in your opening about west african cooking.

In western Canada we have a very small west african community, so I doubt that's it.  But I wonder if maybe Filipino food is the next big thing?  Big immigrant community, there are local restaurants, even Jollibee (Filipino fast food) has gone international.  Now the 2-3 times I've had Filipino food I wasn't super impressed, but that's been some kind of meat on a skewer served by a local community group, not at a proper sit-down restaurant.

But what do I know.

[Sheilbh]

I feel like you have the order backwards - that a "new" cuisine starts out in low-income immigrant communities, then spread out into higher end and fashionable cooking.  You even mention it in your opening about west african cooking.

My theory and this could be wrong is low-income migrant communities/people looking for new food then, for want of a better word, "food influencers" and finally chains.

In western Canada we have a very small west african community, so I doubt that's it.  But I wonder if maybe Filipino food is the next big thing?  Big immigrant community, there are local restaurants, even Jollibee (Filipino fast food) has gone international.  Now the 2-3 times I've had Filipino food I wasn't super impressed, but that's been some kind of meat on a skewer served by a local community group, not at a proper sit-down restaurant.

But what do I know.

I went to a wedding where the catering were some Filipino street food guys - and it was incredible - I think they've just got the money together to launch a restaurant which is exciting. But aside from that my experience has been a bit mixed.

When I visited Slovenia its cuisine seemed really interesting to me, a mixture of Balkan, Italian and German, like the country itself.

Also Trieste - extraordinary weird, interesting but delicious mix of cultures.

[The Larch]

You made me look up Croatian restaurants in Barcelona, and there's a guy that seems to do Spanish-French-Balkan fusion. I'll add it to my list!

When I was in university, the U of Manitoba was in a deeply suburban part of town, so there wasn't really a lot of bars / restaurants nearby.  More than a comfortable walk, but still kind of walkable, was a Bosnian restaurant.  It's my only experience with balkan food to date.  I don't remember if it was called a bosnian burger on the menu, or my fraternity buddies just called it that, but it was interesting and good.  It was served on something mid-ways between a burger bun and a pita.

Cevapi?

[Barrister]

Cevapi?

That looks about right but I'm positive it was more shaped like a burger patty, and not kebabs.

[The Larch]

Cevapi?

That looks about right but I'm positive it was more shaped like a burger patty, and not kebabs.

Maybe in that particular place they shaped the meat differently, but it's what sounded closer to me.

There's another similar dish called Pljeskavica which is more burger-ish, but AFAIK it's Serbian and not Bosnian (although they are very similar cuisines) and it's not eaten in bread.

This is pljeskavica:

[crazy canuck]

Other, Southern Croatian - a fusion a Italian, French and Balkan cooking - it is absolutely fabulous.

If I had to pick a region that is well known to the rest of the world, it would be Italian.

French influences in Croatian cuisine? First time I've ever heard that. What kind of stuff do they make? I would have guessed that coastal Croatian cuisine would be more similar to Italian/Greek than to French, and for it to incorporate more fish and seafood into it, which is absent almost in the rest of the region.

When I visited Slovenia its cuisine seemed really interesting to me, a mixture of Balkan, Italian and German, like the country itself.

Balkan cuisine has some really stellar stuff but it's not super varied, and really heavy on meats, at least what I've been able to experience from it.

The Northern area is definitely more German/Italian - at times it felt like Northern Italy/Austria.  The Southern region (the Dalmatian Coast in particular) has a very different feel (and taste).

Regarding the French influence, I was surprised myself.  But it was explained to me that Napoleon had a huge impact during the brief time he ruled there.  For example, the region has a large number of olive trees because of his directive that they be planted.  The cultural influences remained strong after he left.

By Balkan, I was referring more to the Turkish influences - the spices used in some of the dishes are mouthwatering.

As for particular dishes - its more about the style of cooking.  I am not enough of a foodie to really go into the details.  I just know what I like, and this I loved. 

[The Larch]

I really want to go but I also really love the idea of the guy who has absolutely perfected one thing - so just does that one thing really really well which, from what I understand, is big in Japan.

According to what I've read on the topic it is slightly obsessive, yeah. I sometimes find hard to believe some of the stories of the "In a true sushi restaurant you must spend your first 5 years just to learn how to do the rice before you're even allowed to touch the fish", but absolute dedication to their craft seems to be pretty widespread.

At the high end I believe they're also extremely fundamentalistic on the sourcing of ingredients. Stuff like "this dish can only be made with the exact rice the recipe calls from, which can only be obtained in a family farm where they've been cultivating rice for 20 generations" kind of thing. This is also sometimes common in very traditional French and Italian cuisine, which in Europe is reflected on their obsessive dedication to protected designations of origin for foodstuffs.

I do wonder what nation's cuisine is going to be next (and not that Vietnamese is the most recent - probably Korean went big more recently, if not others). 

I think the breakthrough in London at the minute is probably West African. Nigerian and Ghanian places especially have been around for years as restaurants and food places that are basically relatively low-key, pretty cheap and for the diaspora community and local fans - but there's now a fair few that have opened that are very haute cuisine places. I desperately want to go here: https://ikoyilondon.com/ but it is very expensive (and it's very London/British food scene of fashionable combos right now - Nordic style foraging and "micro-seasonality"/local produce, big Japanese influence and West African flavours). There's a few other amazing looking restauurants like that I have my eye on (for when I win the lottery ).

I think the next step is probably mass market, democratised, everyone gets to try it and restaurants pop up all over the place. I feel like that's the route Vietnamese, Korean and Thai took.

Edit: Also in terms of change - again I only really know London - but Sri Lankan and Burmese food have both had really popular mini-chains planting the flag over town. I suspect that'll spread.

What that shows is the incredible diversity of London, I guess. Over here in Spain I'd say that for a while it's Peruvian (and some other less glamourous South American cuisines) what has really shot to prominence, both at the high end and in more common places.

It seems that this "next big thing" debate is more about which inmigrant communities are more common in each of our countries.