Ethnic foods you're supposed to like (but hate) - Page 16

Like I've said multiple times, I'm sure I just haven't had good enough food. I haven't said it isn't out there, but frankly if I'm comparing it to all the great food available in Tokyo, Paris, London and New York, it doesn't stack up. When I go to eat I want to experience something fantastic, I want great flavors, great product and perfect execution. This isn't something I often experience with Chinese food.

As for cabbage and tofu... I mean seriously, chopping up some cabbage and sweating (and effectively boiling - a part of chinese food and other asian varieties that I hate) it with a few aromatics and spices with some tofu (if you're lucky they've taken the time to marinate it) and thickened with ghastly corn starch isn't terribly impressive. I was in a suburb of chicago and was taken to a korean place that does a lot of dumplings. I had a few steamed dumplings with tofu and kimchi which I found nice, but tofu has never been a favorite of mine. I think I've had at least 50 different kinds of mapo tofu and never liked it very much either.

I think unless the douchebags are doing something to your food, you shouldn't let them ruin it for you. If a place is noisy, and not the type of noisy you get in a buzzing dining room, I can see a loud table with annoying conversations getting in the way, but for the most part good food always keeps my attention, and the quality of your company also matters.

That plate and the one directly beneath and to the right of it immediately caught my eye as something that is at least slightly elevated from general fare. In the case of the dragon, that's something the French stopped doing in the early part of the 20th century, thank god.

Should I have been more specific? Probably, but I didn't see this turning into your crusade again someone not liking chinese food. In light of a very recent binging on Chinese food in the United States, at the urging of a friend from Singapore and his Chinese girlfriend, I've kind of been a little pissed about what I've been made to eat, and that has led me to paint in broad strokes, largely for my own entertainment.

Part of the point is that a lot of Chinese food, in many strata, save for what you might find in Taiwan or in the more well heeled urban locales will often be overcooked and seriously oversauced. I find it too salty, lacking in balance of flavors, and again, quite often, little care and attention is given to presentation and produce, which is almost always lacking (especially if you compare to what a typical Japanese person would find acceptable). As for the rest of what you post, it is typically ham fisted fare, but at the same time I'm also projecting my viewpoint that really great Chinese food is most likely going to be found in Hong Kong, perhaps Singapore etc... with classically trained chefs (that take into account flavor, proper cooking methods - in the case of chinese food, not boiling food, and good produce). If I'm going to be talking about really great food (which is always my concern), that is going to be my opinion, and is shared by countless Chinese (both nationals and ex-pat) chefs who are in search of really great food. I'm sorry you don't agree.

jesus christ you know what I mean... sashimi, nigiri, inari... I'm so sorry I didn't call it makisushi.

Sure, but not if it's cheesy.

This isn't a contest at all.

Right, I'm sorry for having stated my opinions so offensively. I'm glad you agree that Chinese food on this continent is not particularly special. Although I often have fun on this website poking fun and arguing over the internet, I cannot really say that continuing this exchange will do anything for either of us. You are entitled to your opinions, and I to mine. My background and training are predominantly French, so whenever I taste food, I bring that bias and set of gastronomic priorities along with me. I like to think that I can be objective and not let my euro-centric predisposition get in the way of how I evaluate food, but there are just some things that my taste cannot abide. I'm not saying that I am loath to eat Chinese food, or that I don't that as average food for an average day goes, that it is bad. I think the variety in any Chinese provincial diet is still superior to the average American diet (though I've never been an absolute proponent or defender of American food culture).

However, you have to remember that the lense through which I evaluate food might be different from yours. Even though my arrogance inclines me to say that it is superior or better, I know that not everyone cares about high standards in food like I do. For most people, something that is relatively tasty is good enough. Nevertheless, if I am to compare what I've spoken about to what I really think is truly special, then it is likely to fall short.

When I started the thread I thought it would more or less be in jest, and as much as I love food I don't care enough to get in a fight about it unless I'm working a kitchen and my standards aren't being met. Obviously my strong opinions and standards (and again, not superior, just differently oriented), are not agreeable with most people's. So in closing I'll say again that while I don't agree with you, I hope you'll understand that it's very possible that we don't even care about the same things in food, and so us arguing about it is pointless. I should have been more clear about this throughout the thread, that I don't always look for the same things that other people do. This problem is precisely why a lot of my Chinese friends (and a few really great Mexican cooks I know), always have anywhere from harmless fights to almost fatal encounters with their families over their basic native foods. My future father in law, a Russian, has really gotten into it with me about food, because there's just some things we don't see eye to eye on. He thinks of it in a more utilitarian way, but thankfully his mother (who is part french), understands me a little better, so the dynamic on this issue is still pretty uncomplicated.

Eh any chef with a shitty palate is not tasting his food and isn't a good chef, sorry.