If you could only eat the cuisine from one country

The problem of 'one country' is not one of curries or yorkshire puddings for that matter but simply that ingredients/recipes have been traded and adapted around the world for centuries. We may look at Italian food [for example] now and say how we like it but most of it is no more 100% 'pure' Italian than the hamburger. The croissant is made all over the world but so is the cornish pasty. Some Cheddar cheese is made in France - Does that make anything made using it any less French ? IMHO food is the only true global phenomenon.
 
Italian in a heartbeat. And it would not mean that I could eat only pizza and pasta. In fact, I wouldn't eat pizza but I would eat very well under this cruel and unusual dictator.
 
sidevalve said:
The problem of 'one country' is not one of curries or yorkshire puddings for that matter but simply that ingredients/recipes have been traded and adapted around the world for centuries. We may look at Italian food [for example] now and say how we like it but most of it is no more 100% 'pure' Italian than the hamburger. The croissant is made all over the world but so is the cornish pasty. Some Cheddar cheese is made in France - Does that make anything made using it any less French ? IMHO food is the only true global phenomenon.
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I cannot agree with you sidevalve. Yes certainly, there is a great deal of cross fertilisation and that absolutely is a simple reality of the modern world of global communication and widespread international travel. But that cultural and national identity in cuisine still prevails, and actually remains very strong, seems obvious to me. Rick Stein’s travelogues in Greece, in Italy and in Spain make that very obvious. That there are clear distinctions between each of the nations and even the sub-cultures within those nations of all of the South-East Asian nations is another obvious example.
 
Ken Natton said:
I cannot agree with you sidevalve. Yes certainly, there is a great deal of cross fertilisation and that absolutely is a simple reality of the modern world of global communication and widespread international travel. But that cultural and national identity in cuisine still prevails, and actually remains very strong, seems obvious to me. Rick Stein’s travelogues in Greece, in Italy and in Spain make that very obvious. That there are clear distinctions between each of the nations and even the sub-cultures within those nations of all of the South-East Asian nations is another obvious example.
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I think @sidevalve's point holds true with UK and Australian cuisine. We are very much a melting pot. Many other countries (although influenced hundreds of years ago by cross continental migration) remain much truer to a national 'type' of cuisine. Italy being a case in point. Its comparative. When I used to travel to France 40 years ago there were no pizza outlets - but there are now. Nevertheless French cuisine remains dominant in France. Its reflected in the produce available in French supermarkets/markets. You will also still find it virtually impossible to buy hot chillies in France, for example. Possibly this would be true in Italy as well.
 
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Ken Natton said:
I cannot agree with you sidevalve. Yes certainly, there is a great deal of cross fertilisation and that absolutely is a simple reality of the modern world of global communication and widespread international travel. But that cultural and national identity in cuisine still prevails, and actually remains very strong, seems obvious to me. Rick Stein’s travelogues in Greece, in Italy and in Spain make that very obvious. That there are clear distinctions between each of the nations and even the sub-cultures within those nations of all of the South-East Asian nations is another obvious example.
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I understand your point but I still stick to my guns. We can not speak of one country without accepting that other countries are involved. This is not a modern phenomenon [although it has increased in recent years due as you say to travel]. Of course each country even every region has it's own 'twist' BUT for hundreds of years 'foreign' items have been incorporated when they became available. The food of a medieval peasant in France was not far removed from that of his equal in England [or Germany or Spain] ie pretty poor and consisted of whatever grew close by. There were differences but only because of the plants available. But we are not talking flavours here.
The potato is a classic example - it is not a european vegetable so are we to say that every dish containing potatoes is to be ruled out ? [of europe anyway] Rice is another - yet it is used in many countries now and seems to be part of the national cuisine of many - paella without rice ? But rice is not spanish.
We look upon food as a fixed item but it is constantly evolving, no doubt the medieval peasant thought his food was pretty well 'evolved' but it was changing then and it is changing now. In another century the national dish of India could be beans on toast who knows - after all it is nutritious and cheap and our great great grandchildren could be saying how much they prefer 'proper' Indian food - none of this curry rubbish :whistling:
 
morning glory said:
I think @sidevalve's point holds true with UK and Australian cuisine. We are very much a melting pot. Many other countries (although influenced hundreds of years ago by cross continental migration) remain much truer to a national 'type' of cuisine. Italy being a case in point. Its comparative. When I used to travel to France 40 years ago there were no pizza outlets - but there are now. Nevertheless French cuisine remains dominant in France. Its reflected in the produce available in French supermarkets/markets. You will also still find it virtually impossible to buy hot chillies in France, for example. Possibly this would be true in Italy as well.
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No argument, there. My own experience of Australia is that the cuisine was barely distinguishable. I mean, doubtless there are clear distinctions at the higher level, I recall eating a starter in one restaurant that called it ‘A Warm Wallaby Salad’. You won’t get that in the UK. And to qualify as a King Prawn, it would have to be much larger in Sydney than it would to be given that designation here in the UK. Also, though I think we have improved here in the UK since then, at that time, a steak house in Australia was in a different class to steak houses in this country. The Mallee Grill in Devonport was our most favoured place to eat throughout our time there.

But when I was in Tasmania, I was working at the paper mill at Wesley Vale near Devonport, and the mill canteen was basically a British mill canteen. Again, the fish in the Friday fish and chips was shark rather than cod, but the basic dishes were exactly the same. The pies in the local pie shop had certain differences from what you would be likely to get in the UK but any British person would immediately have recognised them as essentially the same.
 
sidevalve said:
I understand your point but I still stick to my guns. We can not speak of one country without accepting that other countries are involved. This is not a modern phenomenon [although it has increased in recent years due as you say to travel]. Of course each country even every region has it's own 'twist' BUT for hundreds of years 'foreign' items have been incorporated when they became available. The food of a medieval peasant in France was not far removed from that of his equal in England [or Germany or Spain] ie pretty poor and consisted of whatever grew close by. There were differences but only because of the plants available. But we are not talking flavours here.
The potato is a classic example - it is not a european vegetable so are we to say that every dish containing potatoes is to be ruled out ? [of europe anyway] Rice is another - yet it is used in many countries now and seems to be part of the national cuisine of many - paella without rice ? But rice is not spanish.
We look upon food as a fixed item but it is constantly evolving, no doubt the medieval peasant thought his food was pretty well 'evolved' but it was changing then and it is changing now. In another century the national dish of India could be beans on toast who knows - after all it is nutritious and cheap and our great great grandchildren could be saying how much they prefer 'proper' Indian food - none of this curry rubbish :whistling:
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Okay, I take your point, even pasta does not have it origins in Italy. Actually what we perceive as French, or Italian or Greek cuisine is actually far more recently established. But that leads off into another discussion for which this is definitely the wrong forum!
 
Ken Natton said:
Okay, I take your point, even pasta does not have it origins in Italy. Actually what we perceive as French, or Italian or Greek cuisine is actually far more recently established. But that leads off into another discussion for which this is definitely the wrong forum!
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It depends on what do you mean about pasta. Dried pasta or fresh pasta and how is made. But something says to me that maybe a new thread are coming......
 
MypinchofItaly said:
It depends on what do you mean about pasta. Dried pasta or fresh pasta and how is made. But something says to me that maybe a new thread are coming......
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Well okay, it was my understanding that it was specifically Marco Polo who first brought vermicelli from the Far East, which is credited as the foundation of the culture for pasta in Italy.
 
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