Your Country's Food
BuoyantSoul
Posts: 117 Member
While reading the "comforts" thread about foods we miss from home, it occurred to me that where I live now, in China, I can enjoy a wealth of foods I didn't have access to (or know about) in my home country. I've tried a great many new and wondrous food while living here - some good, some not so good, some strange or bizarre.
For example, for me, here in China, the good would be stir-fried garlic scapes (the garlic plant/flower) with eggs, Chinese BBQ, hot pot, and Sichuan fried tofu and chilies.
The not-so-good would be black fungus (I despise the texture). Honestly I can eat just about anything else (I'm vegetarian so that doesn't include meat, thank goodness), but that fungus just turns my stomach. I'm not fond of zhou (or congee) either, but I can get it down if necessary.
The strange would be fried scorpions (delicious - I broke veg for them once), the crazy flavors of Oreos like peach/grape, mango/orange, or raspberry/blueberry (all of them yucky), blueberry- or iced-tea-flavored potato chips (both yuck as well), stinky tofu (ehhhhh), and century eggs (not bad at all considering how they're made).
What are some of the foods you've tried in your country of residence that you wouldn't have eaten back home, and what do you think of the local food?
For example, for me, here in China, the good would be stir-fried garlic scapes (the garlic plant/flower) with eggs, Chinese BBQ, hot pot, and Sichuan fried tofu and chilies.
The not-so-good would be black fungus (I despise the texture). Honestly I can eat just about anything else (I'm vegetarian so that doesn't include meat, thank goodness), but that fungus just turns my stomach. I'm not fond of zhou (or congee) either, but I can get it down if necessary.
The strange would be fried scorpions (delicious - I broke veg for them once), the crazy flavors of Oreos like peach/grape, mango/orange, or raspberry/blueberry (all of them yucky), blueberry- or iced-tea-flavored potato chips (both yuck as well), stinky tofu (ehhhhh), and century eggs (not bad at all considering how they're made).
What are some of the foods you've tried in your country of residence that you wouldn't have eaten back home, and what do you think of the local food?
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I can pretty much get the same foods I loved in New York here in Duesseldorf.
There's this Turkish dish popular in Germany though, called Doner. Its like a Greek gyro, except a thousand times better. Oh dear... I love it.
Also, German potato salad knocks regular potato salad out of the park.0 -
I can pretty much get the same foods I loved in New York here in Duesseldorf.
There's this Turkish dish popular in Germany though, called Doner. Its like a Greek gyro, except a thousand times better. Oh dear... I love it.
Also, German potato salad knocks regular potato salad out of the park.
Did you live in NYC? I lived in NYC for eight years and I seem to remember "donairs" being available in NYC, I wonder if they're the same thing?
Mmmmm, gyros are amazing so I can only imagine the goodness. Is there a large Turkish population in Germany?0 -
Yes I did.
It seems "donair" is the same as "doner" according to a Google search, although I never heard of it while living there. From what I am told the doner made in NYC isn't as good as the more authentic German variety. I even had an authentic Turkish doner in Istanbul... wow, it blew even the German one out of the water!
Turks are actually Germany's largest ethnic minority, about 5% of the population.0 -
I'd never heard of Tvorak before coming here. It's like a smooth, sweetened cottage cheese and you can get it with fruit. The yogurt here is also really good. Most typical Russian dishes can be found in the US.0
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I'm in love with liver pate! (leverpostei). It's high in iron and I'm anemic so I basically inhaled it during pregnancy. It's also pretty high in fat depending on the brand you get. My husband doesn't like it, more for me! I also love this mackerel in tomato sauce (makrell i tomat) I prefer the version where it's already hacked up and I can spread it on a slice of toast or wasa crackers (knekkerbrød). My husband doesn't like this either. =P0
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Laban..... it looks like milk but tastes more like yoghurt. I have it on my cereal instead of milk and much prefer it.
As a Brit I find the idea that doner kebab is exotic food to USA people interesting though... you can get doners everywhere in the UK... especially on a Friday or Saturday night when everyone's out partying and stuff (it's a "traditional" accompaniment to lots of pints of beer lol). Brits are generally very much into other countries' cuisine, especially Indian, probably because most traditional British food is really boring :laugh: (there are some exceptions though.... like a traditional Sunday roast, a full English breakfast, a fish n chips supper. those are classics and will never get boring) ..........
I also like (from Bahrain/the Arab world generally) shawarma, sheesh tawook etc (Arab barbequed meat with various spices.... shawarma is a lot like doner but with different spices)......... but that's not hard to come by in the UK in most cities due to the above lol... just find a Lebanese restaurant or similar....0 -
Laban..... it looks like milk but tastes more like yoghurt. I have it on my cereal instead of milk and much prefer it.
As a Brit I find the idea that doner kebab is exotic food to USA people interesting though... you can get doners everywhere in the UK... especially on a Friday or Saturday night when everyone's out partying and stuff (it's a "traditional" accompaniment to lots of pints of beer lol). Brits are generally very much into other countries' cuisine, especially Indian, probably because most traditional British food is really boring :laugh: (there are some exceptions though.... like a traditional Sunday roast, a full English breakfast, a fish n chips supper. those are classics and will never get boring) ..........
I also like (from Bahrain/the Arab world generally) shawarma, sheesh tawook etc (Arab barbequed meat with various spices.... shawarma is a lot like doner but with different spices)......... but that's not hard to come by in the UK in most cities due to the above lol... just find a Lebanese restaurant or similar....
I don't think donairs would be exotic to many Americans, at least not those in large cities, but you must realize that much of the USA is culturally homogeneous and "ethnic" foods beyond Mexican are just not available. (Mexican food seems available all over the place, I think because there are Mexican immigrants all over the US and Mexican food has become a kind of American food.) It's simply because there aren't many people from other countries in those areas.
Whereas in the cities of course there are people from all over the world. and in most large cities you can get just about any type of international food you can dream of. Indian is very popular, as well as Cuban, Dominican, West Indian, Italian, Chinese, Korean, Thai, Japanese, Middle Eastern (sorry to use this term as a catch-all but in the US it tends to be very mixed cuisine), etc. I was lucky enough to live in NYC where you can get any country's cuisine you desire as well as some fairly interesting fusions!
You've reminded me that I am dying for a decent Indian meal. Would give my left arm (not the right, obvs, or I'd never be able to eat) for a proper South Indian breakfast with iddlis, sambar, dosai, and some Keralan coffee. South India does breakfast right, North India does dinner right.
My family is English - I'm second-generation Canadian - so I've spent most of my life eating good old roast beef with Yorkshire pudding, lamb with mint sauce, and trifle at Christmas. Now I've gone veg, but still dream of a visit to Harry Ramsden's, which is a bit of a family tradition every time we go back to visit our family in Guiseley, Yorkshire. I mean I want to say I won't break veg, but the smell of that fish may just break me!0 -
Sweden has quite the smorgasbord (hehe) of culinary culture. The Swedes are very much into meat, fish, and coffee breaks.
Pickled herring was something I got into after tasting it for my first Christmas. I wasn't much for fish before then, but man, the herring got me. XD The Swedes also like tubed foods: tubed cheese, tubed mayo, tubed caviar, tubed a lot of things. I still don't like most of the stuff. The things people eat here for snacks and breakfast I think are funny. Flat flour bread with a slice of cheese or ham with tubed caviar on it or a put together same thing at the store with shrimp and greens. Fika is a thing in Sweden. Coffee breaks are at 10am and 4pm. People crowd into bakeries or cafes to snack on coffee and a pastry. It's so popular that even my mom does it back home, lol. But, if you're not working, you are expected to sit there for 2 hours and talk. Not my sort of thing. They have a type of dairy called filmjolk. It tastes like sour cream without the sweetness and has the consistency of yogurt. Weird stuff. I think it tastes okay. The meat department is pretty interesting. I've tried horse sausages, bear sausages, and deer sausages. Yes, horse meat exists here. Interesting tasting stuff. Never thought I'd taste bear. Hard breads are popular here. Knackebrod is something people eat all the time, yet I feel like I'm going to break my teeth every time I crunch on one piece.0 -
What are some of the foods you've tried in your country of residence that you wouldn't have eaten back home, and what do you think of the local food?
BuoyantSoul! My Muse buddy. (haha, I had to watch some Muse videos on Youtube after commenting on that post. Sadly, hubby was at work)
I like SD, live in Germany, but I have had just the worst food experience ever since moving here. All they ever eat is Pork. Ok, they eat other meats, but the only meat I used to really eat was chicken (vegetarian now), which many places didn't offer, or if they did, it was always prepared the same. Bor-ing. I also live in a small crappy village where they don't have much in the choice of foods I'd actually eat. Even the pizza here is bad. God I hate German pizza. We did find a Gyro place where they make a really good chicken dish, and that was a nice treat. What I DID eat since moving here was butter, lots of butter and sugar. In the form of cookies, and cakes I would bake to try to make living in Germany a little more like home. Well, that's why I'm here on MFP. The cookies and cakes literally became a part of me. A little too much of me.
Sorry, I don't want to seem like I'm complaining, but I am the pickiest eater my parents have ever known. :ohwell: I honestly wish I liked other foods, or was more adventurous, but I actually really dislike most foods. If it doesn't have sugar, flour, or peanut butter
...I don't want it. :laugh:
Edited to add: I'm originally from L.A. (but not the city, city, the valley) We had EVERYTHING there. A food lovers paradise! I never had a problem finding delicious things to eat.0 -
I'm totally with you on the German pizza. What the hell is that crap? LOL.0
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Hahaha...THANK YOU!! I never thought I'd ever 'pass' on pizza. EVER. Seriously, WHAT IS IT??
Although I gotta say, NY pizza... now that IS a high standard to live up to.0 -
Oh absolutely, when you come from the city that has the gold standard in pizza, everything else is just a let down. But German pizza is just a special kind of letdown. I don't know... I just can't get into it. It's just... no. >_<|
First time I dined on German pizza I was with my Australian buddy. He, too, thought the pizza was lacking, and he has not had the pleasure of eating the gold standard of pizza, a NY slice.0 -
Oh absolutely, when you come from the city that has the gold standard in pizza, everything else is just a let down. But German pizza is just a special kind of letdown. I don't know... I just can't get into it. It's just... no. >_<|
Haha, I actually literally LOL'd0 -
I haven't actually had German pizza, but dude, Korean pizza is a million kinds of special. For starters, their standard, normal pizza has canned corn on it... :noway:0
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Umm.... GROSS.0
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I haven't actually had German pizza, but dude, Korean pizza is a million kinds of special. For starters, their standard, normal pizza has canned corn on it... :noway:
I was just about to ask if China could get in on the "worst pizza in the world" contest!
They also put canned corn on the pizza here. Must be an Asian thing? I've also gotten a pizza with green and red maraschino cherries on it along with the vegetables. The sauce on the pizza is usually not like any kind of pizza sauce we would be familiar with - I have no idea what it is, but it's often brown and tangy. Not bad, exactly, but not... right, either. They have "fruit" pizza here too, which is just like you'd imagine - gross. The crusts are usually nothing like a proper pizza crust either.
And everyone eats the pizza with a fork - once I saw a woman impale a slice on the end of a fork, turn it upside-down, and eat around and around the slice, rotating the fork as she went. They've no idea how to manage a slice of pizza, as food isn't generally eaten with hands in China and forks and knives are foreign. When I hit up Pizza Hut (I know, I know, but it's the best we have and the only pizza place to get a veg pie) I dig in with my hands and people must think I'm mad. I miss a big old soggy NYC slice folded in half and letting the grease run out into the paper plate. Drunk at 3 a.m. Or John's on Bleecker.
Now you've inspired me - I really need to capture some photos for proof.0 -
BuoyantSoul! My Muse buddy. (haha, I had to watch some Muse videos on Youtube after commenting on that post. Sadly, hubby was at work)
I like SD, live in Germany, but I have had just the worst food experience ever since moving here. All they ever eat is Pork. Ok, they eat other meats, but the only meat I used to really eat was chicken (vegetarian now), which many places didn't offer, or if they did, it was always prepared the same. Bor-ing. I also live in a small crappy village where they don't have much in the choice of foods I'd actually eat. Even the pizza here is bad. God I hate German pizza. We did find a Gyro place where they make a really good chicken dish, and that was a nice treat. What I DID eat since moving here was butter, lots of butter and sugar. In the form of cookies, and cakes I would bake to try to make living in Germany a little more like home. Well, that's why I'm here on MFP. The cookies and cakes literally became a part of me. A little too much of me.
Sorry, I don't want to seem like I'm complaining, but I am the pickiest eater my parents have ever known. :ohwell: I honestly wish I liked other foods, or was more adventurous, but I actually really dislike most foods. If it doesn't have sugar, flour, or peanut butter ...I don't want it. :laugh:
Edited to add: I'm originally from L.A. (but not the city, city, the valley) We had EVERYTHING there. A food lovers paradise! I never had a problem finding delicious things to eat.
I know where you're coming from, being I used to live close to SF. I've been eating kebab pizzas here in Sweden. They just taste soo good! The cookies and pastries here aren't to die for, but it's the breeeeeeaaaaaaaad. XD :laugh:0 -
Green Tea Ice Cream flavored Oreos.
Blueberry-Raspberry flavored Oreos.
Peach-Grape flavored Oreos.
Mango-Orange flavored Oreos.
I'll post more photos of other weird stuff later!0 -
Green Tea Ice Cream flavored Oreos.
Blueberry-Raspberry flavored Oreos.
Peach-Grape flavored Oreos.
Mango-Orange flavored Oreos.
I'll post more photos of other weird stuff later!
Th-thoroughly grossed out. :sick:0 -
Wow, uh most of it (read: all) doesn't seem good AT ALL.0
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:indifferent: :indifferent: :indifferent: :sick: :sick: :sick:0
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Wow, uh most of it (read: all) doesn't seem good AT ALL.
You think? Haha. I'll be diplomatic and just say that none of those flavors are my cup of tea. Though the Green Tea Ice Cream one isn't so bad. It's just not good, either. When I first had one I guess in my mind I was expecting mint flavor because of the green. But mint is NOT popular in China, not even for chewing gum or toothpaste.0 -
So, I just ate my first durian fruit. That's the stinky fruit that smells rotten. Blech. It tastes almost exactly how it smells, but more pungent. Can't say as how I recommend it!0
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I see it has been years since anyone has posted but I thought I'd add to the conversation. We have durian and strange flavors of seemingly familiar foods, but as I'm in Saigon, there isn't much I can't get if I'm willing to pay for it. The thing that has surprised me the most is things like putting sugar in milk. And at the movie theatre, most of the popcorn has sugar including the kettle corn, caramel, and *gasp* cheese flavored popcorn. That's what bothers me most: you order food that is described as the food you want, it looks like the food you want and sometimes it smells like the food you want. But it rarely tastes like the food you want.0
