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

Mexican food - I dislike most of it, but particularly that bean stuff that looks like a turd on my plate
Ethiopian food - Don't understand this "trend". Really gross food and what's the appeal of no cutlery exactly?
Korean - I'm fine with most of the grilled and fried stuff but the stews are nasty. Overboiled slices of beef floating in whitish grey uber-bland laundry water... really?

I once had Moroccan food at a restaurant where they didn't use utensils. The food tasted pretty good, but I just couldn't enjoy it because I didn't have utensils. I understand the idea that utensils aren't used as often in the country where the food comes from (in the country where I come from we often eat food using bread to scoop it up), but eating like that in a restaurant is just a gimmick.

Originally Posted by gdl203

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Korean - I'm fine with most of the grilled and fried stuff but the stews are nasty. Overboiled slices of beef floating in whitish grey uber-bland laundry water... really?

I think you might be refering to Pho, which is Vietnamese.

I had Vietnamese here in Chicago the other day (in Argyle). I liked the shredded rice, but they had this dried pork with strings of fat which was absolutely rancid. It was by far one of the most disgusting things that has ever been served to me anywhere. It didn't help that the person next to our table had ordered a durian smoothie.

Sometimes it's just gimmicks. I've been to Morocco half a dozen times for pleasure and business. Not once was I served a meal without utensils. Granted, I didn't trek in the desert with the Bedouins and asked them to serve me lunch.

Originally Posted by SField

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I think you might be refering to Pho, which is Vietnamese.
Not at all. I'm referring to the stuff that they serve me at K-town restuarants when my Korean buddies take me there. It comes with a big bowl of sea salt because apparently it is supposed to be uber-bland... go figure

This kind of stuff

Originally Posted by SField

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This is true of many countries. I have been to Mexico more than ten times, which isn't a lot. However I have gotten to taste a lot of local things, and I'm quite sorry, but the amount of good peasant food is much less in comparison to impoverished parts of italy, greece, and provincial france. India, the phillippines and israel/lebannon are also like this. Mexicans do have good produce though. Mexican food in the united states is generally deplorable. Taco trucks get so much positive attention, and frankly I don't think any of it is better than McDonalds. The food might not be engineered, but it's usually a greasy, soppy mess. In general I don't always like the food of countries where heavy spice is the norm. Very spicy food usually occurs in societies where sophistication and good produce were scarce. I generally find the food to have no redeaming qualities save for the heat, and anyone can do that. There's no attention given to balance of flavors.

this mean you must hate a good part of italian food since it is fairly spicy.

I dont really like Italian foods, I only eat spaghetti that I make at home.

Originally Posted by scarphe

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this mean you must hate a good part of italian food since it is fairly spicy.

I dont even know how to reply to that.

Originally Posted by SField

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I dont even know how to reply to that.

simple yes i enjoy even though it i spicy or no , i hate that disgusting peasant food.

Originally Posted by SField

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Completely disproven by most middle eastern and meditarranean food.

One of the big reasons that spicy food shows up in hot climates is that it cools you down after eating it (of course this has nothing to do with the differance between something that is brilliantly spicy and something that someone covered in tobasco to cover up lack of flavor). There may also be something to do with the climates the hot peppers grow in but i wouldnt know.

Originally Posted by acidicboy

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I don't know, Field. AFAIK, and from our experience at home oil is used sparingly when you cook in a wok just enough to hasten the cooking process, since for the most part wok cooking is about cooking food at the quickest possible time to seal in the flavor. If you're eating eggplant swimming in oil and mapo tofu (which is also claimed by the Japanese as their dish) then more than likely the food is Szechuan.

I dunno...there are definately goign to be chinese people who have learned to cut down in the oil but I would say that is the exception to the rule. For the last two years I lived with a few chinese people and a half-mexican--we have gone through so much vegetable oil that its not even funny. At home with my parents, the oil was always on a shelf in the pantry since it was rarely used and a bottle lasted a long while (butter/olive oil/pam covered most uses). Now I've got a squeeze bottle of vegetable oil right next to the stove that gets refilled from giant costco sized bottles (of which we have bought several)...its really kind of gross

I definately see where SField is coming from and it looks like a lot of people didnt bother reading (lots of people suggested "you just havnt tried the right place"). There are simply some instances where the authentic ethnic food just isnt good. Oftentimes, the americanized or modernized versions are far better. A lot of the bayless stuff may be based on stuff he actually found in mexico but the better stuff is not based solely on the traditional methods...there are new flavors and touches added as the cooking has gained new flavors. When my roommate makes "real mexican" food based on what her mother would make (in turn based on what they ate in some small town decades ago), I often find it too restricted or lacking. People have discovered other flavors that mesh well into mexican food (even the mexicans have) but you miss out on all of that when you stick to traditional recipes that were clearly intended to stretch a small supply of ingredients as far as possible (especially meat).

Chinese food is pretty similar although I have heard it argued that a lot of it has to do with the cultural revolution leading to a flight of top cooking talent (thus eliminating the trickle down effect). This would explain tiawanese and hong kong food being much more inspired.

Originally Posted by scarphe

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simple yes i enjoy even though it i spicy or no , i hate that disgusting peasant food.

In the grand scheme of italian cooking there is preciously little that is spicy, and spicy by the standards of Chinese or other types of typically spicy cooking. Italian food is mostly about fresh, clean flavors that are well balanced and nuanced. You mostly only find some heat in Calabria and Sicily, but even then it's totally different in application than the thoughtless heat in most ****** food.

If you want oily, rich sauce-heavy foods, try Shanghai-nese food. It is known for extremely rich, thick soy-sauce/rock sugar based sauces.

Originally Posted by SField

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I think you might be refering to Pho, which is Vietnamese.

I had Vietnamese here in Chicago the other day (in Argyle). I liked the shredded rice, but they had this dried pork with strings of fat which was absolutely rancid. It was by far one of the most disgusting things that has ever been served to me anywhere. It didn't help that the person next to our table had ordered a durian smoothie.

No, it's definitely not Pho.

If you had a bad first experience eating pho, try someplace else. Seriously. It's really good.

I dont like PHO, it's over-rated and has too much of MSG

I don't like 99% of "authentic ethnic" food

Give me Americanized every time.