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What are all the ethnic foods you've ever eaten?

There are some exotic foods we tend to take for granted exist. Almost every city for example has a Chinese restaurant, a Mexican restaurant, and maybe an Outback Steakhouse. But this isn’t universal for some reason. Someone asked me if I wanted to go to an Egyptian restaurant and I was like “wait, they have restaurants?”

A question for all those who would say they consider themselves ethnically fluent. What are all the cultural categories of food you’ve had?

OccamsTeapot ,

I don’t want to go through all but some of the more interesting ones:

Ethiopian - delicious stew/curry type food with this fermented flatbread stuff that almost smells a bit like beer. Way better than this makes it sound, lol

Vietnamese - if you like Chinese food you will love it. It’s somewhere between Thai and Chinese. They have an awesome beef noodle soup called pho

Jamaican - my family is partially from here so bias but jerk chicken is worth a mention alone. Very well spiced and usually super juicy chicken. Meat and rice type of stuff. But ackee and saltfish is interesting too, very salted cod mixed with this subtle flavoured fruit that looks a bit like eggs? Again better than it sounds.

Moroccan - If you’re interested in Egyptian food (I also have no idea what that would be, lol) Morrocan is probably a good recommendation. They have a dish called tajine which is a well spiced chicken stew, they cook it in a special pot I think

Mexican! - I know it’s obvious but in Europe Mexican restaurants are very basic. Tacos, burritos etc. But there are so many amazing dishes like mole (chocolate and chilli sauce, fucking delicious) that always get missed. There’s one called queso relleño (?) That is basically like a very rich Bolognese wrapped in cheese and FRIED. Probably best not to eat too often. But maybe you guys in the US get more authentic Mexican food anyway

Also, saying “ethnic foods” comes across a little odd. Makes you sound like a 50 year old white guy who’s never left his home town and isn’t so sure about all this weird food these strange brown people eat. Nothing wrong with being white or culturally insulated of course, but probably not the look you were going for. Might explain the downvotes.

Anissem ,
@Anissem@lemmy.ml avatar

Indian food is amazing.

shinigamiookamiryuu OP ,

My experiences can vouch for that.

HubertManne ,

well barring that many of these ethnic restaurants might be serving things created in america. mexican, cuban, indian, pakistani, chinese, korean, japanese, thai, lithuanian, irish, english, french, italian, argentinian, greek, german, might be others but this is all I can think of. Honestly not sure what the falafel places are considered.

Daeraxa ,

My favourite cuisines I’ve had which were not common ones you can just find on any high street here were mostly found during the height of covid when I was working quite a way from home but the hotel’s restaurant was closed so I had to order delivery each night.

  • Nigerian: Ordered this a few times, peppersoup, moin moin, draw soup, eba amongst the things I had. Soon after a West African section opened in my local supermarket so I could at least get some of the main ingredients to cook some at home.
  • Ethiopian: Amazing, not tried cooking any yet, some ingredients seem hard to come by
  • Afghan: Had a bunch of times as there was a restaurant in my town
  • Sri Lankan: Love it, superficially similar to Indian food but I was surprised just how different it was and has become one of my favourites that I cook at home with regularity.
scytale , (edited )

Wait, you thought Egyptian restaurants don’t exist? Especially for a melting pot like the US, I assume the opposite, that there is always a food place that serves a particular cuisine from somewhere in the world.

But to answer your question, and assuming by exotic, you mean anything that isn’t your standard fare American, European, Mexican, Chinese, Vietnamese, or Japanese food, then I’ve had:

  • Ethiopian
  • Thai
  • Singaporean
  • Filipino
  • Taiwanese
  • Iraqi
  • Afghan
  • Indian
Corno ,

I love Chinese food and will eat it almost daily.

anon6789 ,
@anon6789@lemmy.world avatar

I try to pick something I’ve never had before first my birthday meal every year. The best one was probably the Uzbek place. Everyone there kept trying to talk to me in Uzbek as we appeared to be the only native English speakers in the house, so I’ll assume it was authentic.

All kinds of grilled meats, multiple types of breads, fancy sodas (tarragon was awesome!), sour cherry pierogies with whipped sour cream, stuffed pasta… They had some of everything with their own twist on it. I had plov, the national dish, which was a rice pilaf with grilled meat. Absolutely delicious.

I’d say the hardest cuisines to find here are anything African or anything Eastern European. For that though, the secret is keeping an eye out for church festivals. The Greek Orthodox Church has one that has African and Eastern European, the Polish shrine has a Polish festival, and the Coptic church had Egyptian.

Vanth ,
@Vanth@reddthat.com avatar

I don’t know how to answer “exotic”. “Exotic” can easily slip into xenophobic territory.

Maybe I answer with a restaurant from a specific culture that I had never been exposed to before? In which case, Himalayan/Tibetan/Nepalese. I could eat momos every day. But I say that about every savory-wrapped-in-dough thing. Dumplings, empanadas, bierocks, meat pies, xian bing, piroshki, is there a culture that doesn’t have some variation of that? And it’s always good. If ever there is need for a flag to represent Humanity, it should be of a savory pie.

BCsven ,
  • Chinese
  • Japanese
  • Korean
  • Vietnamese
  • North and South Indian
  • Ethiopian
  • Greek
  • Italian
  • Mexican
  • Caribbean
  • some African (not sure the region)
  • Swedish if you count what Ikea serves at their restaurants :)
AssaultPepper ,

Georgian should be more well known imo. Ethiopian is also a top choice, Guyanese and Peruvian are also pretty good. I’ve had lots but these are the most underrated I’ve found

anon6789 ,
@anon6789@lemmy.world avatar

Ethiopian is amazing! So much flavor, plus you get to eat the plate and utensils! 😁

Apollo2323 ,

I have eaten Romanian food , Polish food , Guatemalan food , Salvadorian food , most of the Latin American countries.

Zerlyna , (edited )
@Zerlyna@lemmy.world avatar

I’m in US… not sure I’d say fluent. “Exotic”…… Thai, Japanese, Indian, Vietnamese. And one time I got oxtail from a roadside food stand 30 years ago… one of my students was from Trinidad and his mom recommended it. But the food I had in Belgium was to die for. Food in Denmark was interesting too.

Cowbee ,
@Cowbee@lemmy.ml avatar

Is this something people track? What’s considered “exotic?”

Blizzard ,

Is KFC exotic if I live far away from Kentucky?

neidu2 , (edited )

I’m european, is Whataburger and a Shiner Boch exotic? Or brisket at golden coral with authentic Galvestonian chlorine water to drink?

shinigamiookamiryuu OP ,

KFC is a specific recipe credited to one guy, so I wouldn’t say in a strict sense, but the case can be made.

shinigamiookamiryuu OP ,

Anything associated enough with another country/culture to pair it with that group of people.

Cowbee ,
@Cowbee@lemmy.ml avatar

Okay, then I again ask, is this something people track?

shinigamiookamiryuu OP ,

Yes.

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