Ethnic foods you're supposed to like (but hate) - Page 14

Soy sauce on the Spam?

If we're doing a spam musubi, we use Yoshida Sauce, not shoyu.

Spam is the adopted state meat of Hawaii. Hard to call it "Hawaiian" though is my point.

Yeah hawaiian food is kinda funny.

dont tell me this is true about china.

ive seen some fresh off the boat chinese people here act in some really self-centered rude ways like in front of everybody in public like it was no big deal. i did not know this was extended to how the culture is there.

Eason, you are chinese right? Cantonese by any chance?

Here is my take. There are certain posters here that have extreme levels of taste. In other words, it would be impossible to truly please them. What I find odd and also the same with all these people this. Let me use a fashion example. If you notice, many top designers walk out after a runway show wearing a t-shirt and Levi 501s. This is the same with a few posters here.

Here are the facts..... If I am French, I don't have to like all of French cuisine.... If I am Chinese(which I am), I don't have to like all of Chinese cuisine. The same goes for any other cuisine. It is your right to like and love certain dishes but hate with a vengeance some other dish from the same cuisine. It even could be the same ingredients cooked a different way that repulses you. As a whole, I enjoy british food because I find it hearty fair. But pickled herring, marmite etc... that is some bad stuff. I enjoy japanese food and love natto..... some japanese can't stand natto. Some chinese love preserved tofu.... I think it's gross. So it's up to the individual and individual dishes. I just can't stand the snobbery that people bring to some of these posts.

By the way, the really one true refined chinese cuisine and distinctive is cantonese. Other style of chinese cuisine while has their bright points, but are really all basically spicy and oily(Not totally true but a good generalization). I hope others chinese members of this forum can help elaborate more.

I really don't agree with the OP's views on either Mexican or Chinese food (two cuisines I loveeee). I've travelled a fair amount and all over Asia. I also made it a point to take a lot of food photos since so much of the stuff is stuff I've never had despite eating Asian food so frequently in North America. Here are some photos I took while in China that quite debunk the OP's judgment of Chinese food as being all just sloppily thrown together with a bunch of oil and no regard for taste (what crock). Also, all of these photos highlight traditional ways of Chinese cooking (steaming, stir frying, deep frying--that bloomin' onion-esque fish was SO good, boiling, grilling--grilled street lamb meat is PHENOMENAL!, and et cetera). (Things to note in the image: that pile of chili peppers is Szechuan style cooking; notice the little tiny scorpions among the chilis--they were excellent; bottom right is some shrimp dish I had in Shanghai that was hands down the best shrimp Ive ever had in my LIFE--there is some oil for sure, but seriously whatever--I'd eat that every day; middle col rows 1 & 3 highlight some traditional Chinese preparation of steamed fish--really excellent; top right is a papaya with some sort of frog reproductive organs in a sweet tapiocay soup hehe; 1st col 2nd row is a traditional Beijing/northern noodle dish called "zha jiang mien" with some fermented bean paste and fresh & pickled veggies that was just amazing texturally and taste-wise and for < $1 USD. Bottom middle is a photo of a very typical Chinese fast food establishment of pick-your-own hotpot ingredients. Man I miss China!) Seriously, if I could only eat one type of food for the rest of my life, I'd have to go with Chinese just because within Chinese cooking there is so much variety (ranging from the dumplings of the north to seafood of the southeast to the spicy & sweet of the southwest where much of Thai food and Chinese food share origins) that I couldn't imagine getting bored with it; it's rather a pity that American Chinese food sucks. One thing that Chinese food does suck at is dessert. Sorry, but sweet bean paste is just not on the same level as chocolate souffle.

I'm actually European, I just grew up with a lot of Chinese people. I do admit that I have a high level of taste, I'm a bit of a "foodie" and I enjoy cooking. Enjoying meals out is a big part of my enjoyment of life, so when there isn't something that can really satisfy me, it gnaws at me.

FTFY you Eurotrash elitist!

^^^ nonsense, I've enjoyed a hot dog at 3am covered in fresh mustard, onions, and relish, that's high cuisine!

No cream cheese? Rookie.

I love trying new and unusual foods but have always thought I'd draw the line at bugs. If someone put that in front of me, though, I would eat it; it looks fantastic.

well, you probably haven't had enoug Chinese food then. Chinese food is such a generic term, it's like Western food in Asia? What does that mean, that means lump French/Italian/American/German/ and whatever else is cooked by someone other than Asian into one big pile. The difference in Chinese food between each region is as different as French vs. Italian, German vs. Polish, you got a lot more to try before you can dismiss the Chinese food in its entirity.