Overrated cuisine

[anton pulisov]

I'll start.

France. I asked my colleague what her favourite French meal is. Her answer was, "cheese". That's not a meal, is it?

[anton pulisov]

Can't edit. To be clear, I'm not having a go at cheese, but at French cuisine.

[Moonlight Shadow]

What French cuisine is that? Haute cuisine? One of the many regional and varied cuisine (not much in common between what u get in, say Alsace or Gascoigne i can tell you). The notion of French cuisine dished out abroad?

I mean just the cheeses are at the apex of the genre (it hurts saying that as a Swiss with Italian roots but it is true...)

[Benjm]

(it hurts saying that as a Swiss with Italian roots but it is true...)

If it is any consolation, MS, probably the most overwhelming cheese experience that I have had in my life was at Le Gruyerien in Geneva during Euro 2008.

[The Awesome Berbaslug!!!]

French Cuisine isn't supposed to be great because any one dish is amazing, it's because there's such an enormous variety and breadth of it. In the days before people travelled around the world and discovered asia, it represented a substantial amount of the variety in cuisine accessible to people in europe. A bit like white Dutch footballers. At one point they were cutting edge and the bomb etc, but things have changed, and while they're still often very good, they're not really where it's at any more.

[ad hoc]

Leaving aside the question of cheese which obviously is not something that interests me, it seems that if you're into meat and cream and rich food (I'm not ) then you can have that, and if you like the Mediterranean diet of olive oil tomatoes etc (I do) you can get that. (But Italian food is so much better)

[Bored Of Education]

I think that there is a fair amount of great French food. Someone was asked on the radio what their favourite cuisine was and, while considering my own, I did consider French after my re-acquaintance with it during the glorious summer of 2016. Obviously, they are brilliant with meat - steak frites (I know Belgium claim it as well), boeuf bourguignon, duck confit (I had a fantastic one the other day). They also are able to do the thing that Spain and Italy do which is just take absolutely fresh fish and seafood and cook it very simply and it is wonderful. The French, however, cover it with sauces as well. I absolutely adore tuna nicoise salad, it's one of my favourite salads (as well as the sandwich version, pan bagnat).

So, no, not over-rated.

The cuisines I always think are over-rated are Chinese and Mexican - well, I am always disappointed when I have them - but I am sure that this is because we mostly get shit ersatz versions here.

[ChrisJ]

I think there’s something in what Berba and ad hoc say. I’m sure I remember seeing somewhere a list of worlds great cuisines which proposed French, Italian, Chinese Indian, Mexican and possibly Iranian? But be link between them seemed to be more that they each encompassed a great range of foods and styles within them.

Most national cuisines have a few nice dishes. that you soon get fed up with if that’s all you eat.

I can see why subtlety and detail are wonderful for admirers of French food. But if you don’t eat meat it becomes quite limited and is French cheese really so much better than British cheese? Or even better at all?

I would probably throw in a vote for Chinese as most overrated though. Don’t get me wrong, I like Chinese food. I’m just not sure it’s so great. Again possibly a veggie perspective.

[San Bernardhinault]

Antoine couldn't be more wrong, of course. Both on the subject of cheese, and on French cuisine generally.

As for overrated cuisines - I certainly think Mexican falls into the category. It's delicious. And can be done brilliantly. But people rave about it as the be-all end-all, and frankly it's not. And I eat a lot of really good Mexican food. It's fun to eat. But it remains relatively narrow in terms of what you get - even at the very highest end.

[Lang Spoon]

Spanish food in general is very bland: a land where anything more than a little paprika is considered ¡mui picante!

Basque food gets beyond the plain as plain meat, fish etc. and posh Catalans invented fucking around with molecular gastronomy guff if you have the cash. But mostly it’s plain simple and enjoyable, but more than a bit boring after a while.

[WOM]

I'm always a bit bemused at how the word 'cuisine' has become the defacto word for 'better than average' across all cultures / languages. So, on restaurants you'll see 'Sri Lankan Cuisine' and 'Goan Cuisine'. Surely other languages/cultures have more regionally authentic words for 'better than the bog standard'.

[Bored Of Education]

The only Spanish dish that I can think of that is over-rated is paella. The issue is that, like Italy and France again, it does simple but brilliant dishes using very fresh ingredients. For instance, all of them - plus Portugal, I expect - have their version of prawns in garlic but does that mean that gambas al ajillo is over-rated or isn't Spanish?

[Lang Spoon]

I didn’t mean particular dishes (though I can’t stand paella). But if you go to Spain as I did as a young eater expecting something “Mediterranean” (like Italian food I suppose) you could get a bit flummoxed that most dishes were like granny food. Lots of stews, fried meats, very little spice or even herb use. Pork loin fried eggs and chips for tea. I’m not knocking it, there’s nowt tastier than a good bocadillo. But it is mostly very very simple, “hearty” stuff.

[Moonlight Shadow]

Ah cheers Benjm, if you can go to Gruyeres one day, you will also have a good experience, in the very centre of cheesy swissness (and Giger museum. .).

As with French, Italian, Chinese cuisines do not really exist, we just get a mix of their regional dishes. The Italian region cuisines i know best are Ligurian and Lombardy, they are quite different, you could, like Ad Hoc really like some of Italy cuisines and dread others (never visit the Alpine areas Andy, you would have a terrible time food wise...I am in heaven there but thank God i burn 5/6000 calories a day hiking...)

[Bored Of Education]

Basque is, by far, the best region for Spanish food, obviously. I am not sure that Spanish is put up there with Italian or French so I am not sure how over-rated it can be.

[Lang Spoon]

I think there’s something in what Berba and ad hoc say. I’m sure I remember seeing somewhere a list of worlds great cuisines which proposed French, Italian, Chinese Indian, Mexican and possibly Iranian? But be link between them seemed to be more that they each encompassed a great range of foods and styles within them.

Most national cuisines have a few nice dishes. that you soon get fed up with if that’s all you eat.

I can see why subtlety and detail are wonderful for admirers of French food. But if you don’t eat meat it becomes quite limited and is French cheese really so much better than British cheese? Or even better at all?

I would probably throw in a vote for Chinese as most overrated though. Don’t get me wrong, I like Chinese food. I’m just not sure it’s so great. Again possibly a veggie perspective.

I think Escoffier saw Peruvian cuisine as one of the Great Traditions, along with Chinese and yer French obviously. The one Peruvian restaurant I’ve been to can’t have been that representative so. Unless badly cooked duck and rice floated his boat.

[Moonlight Shadow]

To reply to thread question though, Chinese (i know....) for me, greasy stodge most of it...

[ad hoc]

Basque is, by far, the best region for Spanish food, obviously. I am not sure that Spanish is put up there with Italian or French so I am not sure how over-rated it can be.

Wrong. Galicia

[ad hoc]

Szechuan and Hunan food are excellent. Cantonese and Shanghaiese are much much less so

[Bored Of Education]

As with French, Italian, Chinese cuisines do not really exist, we just get a mix of their regional dishes.

That is a good point and, somewhat, the elephant in the room. I have always said that the idea of 'Italian' food is laughable. Food in the North of Italy is very different from food in the south. I think my mother first told me that they cook with butter in the North and olive oil in the South. I was once given a lasagne in Sicily and it was the weirdest interpretation of my favourite dish with very little mince, no real bechamel, ham, salami and eggs in the layers. I thought I had found the one Italian who couldn't cook but a friend of mine recently told me that this was the Southern peasant version of lasagna and made me a dish of it. Well prepared this time, I loved it.

[EIM]

Sushi is fucking shite.

[Lang Spoon]

Mmm Galician food... trout stuffed with ham and cheese, fried octopus (though I’m definitely never eating those amazing bastards ever again, I for one, look forward to our Future Sentient Cephalopod Overlords.

[Lang Spoon]

Sushi is fucking shite.

This.

[WOM]

Szechuan and Hunan food are excellent. Cantonese and Shanghaiese are much much less so

Hakka Chinese, when done well, is so good it should be illegal.

[The Awesome Berbaslug!!!]

To reply to thread question though, Chinese (i know....) for me, greasy stodge most of it...

I went to Shanghai in 2000 and was brought to a range of regional restaurants catering to people from those regions, and my god you couldn't be more wrong MM. Just coz we get them to put everything in the deep fat frier, and fill it with salt doesn't meant ht at it's what they eat. I had a goat hotpot and it was fucking amazing.