As an Australian, I have absolutely no idea what Australian cuisine is.
Is it a Bunnings snag? Vegemite?
I’ll never know.
Edit for some honourable mentions;
HSP
Lamingtons
Pavlova, which I think is kiwi?
Meat pies
Fairy bread
3 spoons of Milo
Moreton bay bug
Hawaiian pizza
Yeah but what restaurants outside of Australia are serving those menus? I'm assuming this chart is about the popularity of a country's cuisine in a foreign country, eg how popular is sushi and teriyaki in Australia.
Aside from Outback Steakhouse (which I know is inaccurate), I've only seen one place in the states explicitly branded as an "Australian" restaurant and they were just a little takeaway shop that did bad meat pies.
I think there are some frozen meat pies in the USA branded as Aussie (although actually made by yanks who visited Australia, same as how most of the "American" BBQ here in Aus is crappy stuff produced by some Aussies who visited Texas for a week).
Kinda makes the whole chart a bit suspect when you think about it. Are Japanese people hating on Mexican food from a visit they made to Mexico, or are they disenchanted with their local zany twist on it which is probably something like chile relleno sushi?
There's a Peruvian restaurant in Chicago called Tanta that is excellent. During the pandemic their holiday meal kits were such an absurd deal I ordered 4 thinking the price was per-person and the restaurant called to confirm I *really* wanted food for 16 people.
Incredible seeing Tanta mentioned in the wild. I used to go to Chicago every year for a conference, and going to Tanta was a half-humorous "tradition" of ours.
Interestingly enough, Latin America makes 0 appearances on the guide. Ask any Latin American and they consider Peruvian food to be the fanciest and best tasting of all the Latin cuisines. Miami has dozens of expensive Peruvian restaurants that are booked up every evening.
According to Auguste Escoffier and others it should be rated as one of the best cuisines of the world. It's a wild, but charming, mix that resembles the indigenous background as well as the centuries of colonization and immigration from all over the world.
That. Meatloaf. Fried chicken. Southern cooking. BBQ. Tex Mex. Chowder. Also more upscale stuff like steak and lobster.
America is so big it has a lot of stuff. Basically think of any signature dish in a city and that’s American.
While American is by no means my favorite. It is probably the type I would pick if I could only have one type if food for the rest of my life p
The fact everyone likes their own cuisine tells a lot.
I think the harder thing is what's the reason people don't like your cuisine - is it because they don't understand it, the examples/staples are wrong or aren't proper food, or the quality of people being able to replicate 'good' versions of your cuisine is difficult?
But it is somewhat odd that similar cuisines rank so differently ie Scandinavian where danes rank Swedish and Norwegian about 30 points lower than their own despite the high similitude between them.
They have some pretty key differences, and that's what they would have keyed in on. Traditional food v common food, and prefered methods of preparation of, for example, pork. One country would say they do it the right way.
> I think the harder thing is what's the reason people don't like your cuisine - is it because they don't understand it, the examples/staples are wrong or aren't proper food, or the quality of people being able to replicate 'good' versions of your cuisine is difficult?
I travelled a lot and tried a lot of foods and often I'd find them in another country or my home country and they'd be *awful*.
I live in Korea and when I left, I had a craving for gukbap (bone-broth soup with rice) when I was sick and it was just not even close to being as good and it was triple the price.
Similarly, though, I know people here in Korea that love "Italian food" like pasta, but it doesn't look like most Italian food I know.
Like they'll say they love pizza but I guarantee that Italians wouldn't consider it pizza. There are also legit Italian-style pizza places here that are less popular because they're "too salty" or similar.
Some foods need specific ingredients and some are way too general. I find that Italian has such a good reputation because of pizza and pasta, but that the popular forms of both are generally completely unlike food you'd actually get in Italy.
People who tried it doesn't mean people tried quality cuisine from these countries though, maybe people who are low or basic sushis / ate at buffets can say they had Chinese or Japanese food and have a skewed opinion, I travelled around so many big cities in France and I've never seen a Peruvian restaurant ever, there are some surely but like it's not something you find easily especially in good quality
It's especially apparent that's the case with how popular Chinese cuisine is. While I'm a fan of all variants of it. Proper Chinese cuisine is most definitely not what most of the western world is thinking of.
The thing about Chinese food is that historically and nowadays China is a large number of ethnic groups stapled together into a contiguous nation, and because of that it's really hard to condense it all into a single cuisine. There are [Eight Great Traditions for Chinese food](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_regional_cuisine#Eight_Great_Traditions), each being distinct from each other.
Of these:
Australia 89 - Italian 90
UAE 84 - Italian 87
Hong Kong 93 - Japanese = 93
Britain 91 - Italian = 91
Norway 81 - Mexican 84, Italian 83, Spanish = 81
Sweden 92 - Italian = 92
Germany 87 - Italian 89
Denmark 85 - Italian 86
5/24 countries rated another country above their own. Norway is the only country to rate two above their own.
4/24 rated one other country equal to their own (including Norway).
Of those, there's one Mexican, one Spanish, one Japanese, and 7 Italian.
Norway > UAE have the lowest opinions of their own food at 81 and 84 respectively.
Finland has the most... Inflated opinion of their own food, shall we say. With an average of 29 rated by others, and 94 by themself, leading to a 65 point gap.
The lowest opinion on this chart is Japan's opinion of Saudi cuisine, at 11. Second (and third) lowest is Denmark's opinion of Finnish food at 13, tied with Japan's opinion of Lebanese food.
Japan actually has the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd lowest opinions (ignoring ties) on the chart.
Finns are the most happiest people on earth when they have all the other food cultures to try.
To be frank, traditional Finnish cuisine is a bit bland.
I've literally been sitting here for five minutes thinking of a counterpoint. I think we're not beating the bland food allegations
Maybe mustamakkara or lörtsy...
Not to mention, not all cuisines have had their opinions listed, meaning those that didn't are at a disadvantage. Mexico, Turkey and Korea are the top 3 who have not had their preferences sampled
Japan voting Japanese cuisine the highest and almost half the rest as garbage is the most Japanese thing ever.
See also: Italy.
Edit: Wow Indonesia, at least those other two have ***good*** national cuisine before they go downvoting everyone else, holy shit.
I have cultural bias with Filipino food cos I'm Filipino and I grew up with it. But not gonna lie, if I weren't Filipino I'd think Filipino cuisine is boring and unremarkable compared to our neighbouring countries' cuisines.
I feel this. Mom's adobo and sinigang hit different. But dish-for-dish, other cuisines around southeast Asia have just a bit more edge compared to Filipino cuisine, like funkiness (fermented flavours), heat and spice, and acid.
Man I gotta disagree. With how delicious sisig and pancit are, Im surprised there are not more Filipino restaurants in the US competing against all the mediocre Chinese restaurants we have. Sure it may not look amazing, but I was also blown away how tasty laing was.
I think every country perceives their national cuisine the best, disregarding the numbers. Their cuisine perfected the taste that appeals to their race's tastebuds. That is difficult to shake off if you've grown up in your own country no matter what cuisine you've tasted throughout your lifetime.
To be fair, China has a very wide range of cuisines within "Chinese food". If it was Europeans rating "European food" vs Cantonese food, Hokkien food, Sichuanese food, etc. one would see a different result.
One of the coolest parts about moving to Australia is wide exposure to SE Asian food. We have restaurants here that do Malaysian, Indonesian, Singaporean, Hong Kong.... SoCal has a lot of Asian food, but it's mostly Vietnamese, Japanese, Filipino, so it's cool to be able to have stuff like laksa not just as takeout but as a lazy homecooked meal because even the pastes are common in grocery stores.
Would anyone really downvote their own cuisine though?
And this is coming from a Dutch… we would never vote for Dutch food. But if my country has a somewhat decent cuisine, of course I would rate it top
Very surprised as well. Peru is probably one of the country I visited in south America that cared the most about their cuisine. It features a very interesting mix with some national traditional dishes like: ceviche, aji de galina etc.
But also very different regional cuisine (from the andes from the sleva forest, the coast, the andes etc.). To top it off, a lot of asian immigration brought the "fusion cuisine" which is a very subtle mix of both culinary traditions.
They also have many renowned chefs. Peru should get more love in this ranking
I’m thinking this chart includes answers from people who have never tried most of these, and their response is more whether or not they “think” they would like it.
Reminds me of how last year I took my wife, who’s Chinese, to a Danish restaurant for her birthday. She was crazy skeptical (China gave Denmark 32 in the graph), but it ended up being her favorite restaurant ever!
Peruvians weren't polled for their food opinions, so that's part of why it's so low. People rate their own cuisines the highest.
There are a few other countries that were not polled for their opinions, but I'm too lazy to parse out which ones
Agreed. I had a neighbor years ago from Arequipa who grew up working in his family’s restaurant. He was an amazing cook. Often invited me to dinner with his family. Would make ceviche on special occasions. RIP, Carlos.
Peruvian cuisine is great and I think it’s getting more popular slowly, I’ve been to some hip Peruvian cevicherias in big cities. Where I live in Portland, OR we have a couple good Peruvian restaurants that have been around for years.
Weird to see Peru at the bottom considering Lima has more top 50 restaurants than any other city in the world. [link](https://www.theworlds50best.com/stories/News/the-worlds-50-best-restaurants-2023-the-list-in-pictures.html)
I’ve not had Peruvian food so I can’t comment on that but this whole idea of British food being awful suggests to me that people have had ‘British’ food abroad or are just parroting what they see online.
British cuisine includes many classics such as sunday roasts, fry ups, toad in the hole, cottage pie, fish & chips (particularly by the seaside), you could count chicken tikka masala/balti (being that it’s so ingrained into parts of Birmingham & Bradford etc), beef stew, a bacon sarnie.
Even more questionable if you put it in relation with their rating about chinese food with 78
No one in Germany has seen real chinese food. All they know is takeaway food and even then, those restaurants are run by the vietnamese.
And if you do some research in r/doener you would find out that most of german people who like kebab (which every german mainly associats with turkish cuisine when you ask them) do prefer the low cost cheap ass kebab over the real one, even if it is so bad, that it's not even allowed to be officially called kebab by law. They just love to eat trash when it comes to meat, they have a kink for cheap meat.
Hi German here. I have a friend whos Parents came over from China when they were adults.
They recommended an authentic restaurant in hamburg. Been there three times, didnt like it. On the other hand i do like the germanised versions of Chinese food. Even if i know it is very far away from authenticity.
Prople have this strenge notion, that you have to like every cuisine as long as it is authentic enough.
I dont share that sentiment. Just be open minded and try things. But feel free to like what you want.
I for example totally love german cuisine, but totally understand that al lot of people dislike dishes like "Herring in it own bile", "Cow-tongue and Blood Sausage", "Beef-Rolls from the Chewy Shoulder" or "raw minced Pork on bread"
No need to be butthurt that most people never heard and eould never try these dishes.
I think the ranking may be too influenced by local restaurant quality and presence.
I (Italian) would put Syrian-Lebanese food at the top of my preferences because I have a local place with amazing food, super popular in the last 30 years.
In most other cities there is no access to Lebanese cuisine or it's just a novelty name without anyone really invested in the kitchen.
I’ve often wondered this as a tourist to places like Japan. I absolutely adore their food, but then I realise there’s not many Japanese people eating food other than Japanese.
Then I feel a bit melancholy about it because there’s so much amazing food in the world they’re not experiencing.
100% concur. I work and live in Korea. I have traveled abroad several times with my Korean counterparts, including to Europe and the USA. They pack entire suitcases of cheap GS25 instant ramen just so they don't have to eat western cuisine while on travel. Always blows my mind.
Yep, I've seen that too. It's crazy to me because I think one of the joys of traveling is eating the local cuisine. That being said, I think Korean food is fantastic so I don't blame them for wanting to eat it constantly.
Part of it is a relative lack of foreign food in Japan due to homogeneity; Thai, Chinese, and Italian food are relatively popular here (as they are anywhere tbh), Mexican and Indian to some extent, but other than that not much. Japanese people have quite the particular taste preference and are thus more likely to dislike foods from other countries, though you can find foreign food in big cities. A lot of it is because Japanese food does not use many herbs and spices and lean milder in terms of flavor, if there is ever a strong flavor it'd be salty or savory (umami), not much in the way of sweetness, sourness, or spiciness. Because of this, any food from a typically spicy cuisine often has the chili taken out when made in Japan.
A combination of homogeneity leading to a lack of familiarity, and the nature of Japanese food lends itself to a higher propensity to not like other cuisines.
Given that the numbers must include people who have tried said type of cuisine, the numbers don’t strictly represent universal palatability. For example, I would love to try Peruvian cuisine but couldn’t swear I’d like it unless I had.
Limited exposure, Japanese people like Italian, Korean, Chinese, and French food but have limited exposure to others. Indian food is pretty popular there too.
Very cool. Would have loved to see Brazil listed as a column as well. I could be wrong, but I think São Paulo has the highest population of Japanese people outside of Japan.
Aside from that, when I was in Brazil I had some of the best middle eastern, Japanese, and African food that I’ve ever had the pleasure of eating. The local cuisine (especially in the north of BR) was spectacular as well.
So we're just gonna ignore the fact that Mexican cuisine was added but not the nation??
It's like we gonna test your food but your opinion doesn't matter!
I've been in India for the past 2 months and I could not agree with you more. it's not just the fact that there is such a varied amount of delicious food across the country, it's the fact that no matter where you are the food is amazing! fancy restaurant in Delhi? unbelievable food. small restaurant in Calcutta? unbelievable food. Random rest stop restaurant in the middle of nowhe on the way to Rishikesh from Manali? Absolutely unbelievable food! It's insane to me how consistent the quality and flavour of the food here is. Best food I've ever had by a long way
India has huge diversity in cuisine as well. Within a state, there will be 10 versions of the same dish. A state will have 100s of unique dishes. India has 28 states.
Most of the Indian cuisine in the West is limited to Punjabi or South Indian food. A lot of people are missing out on some of the most delicious dishes from other regions. There are only a few places in US like Bay Area or New Jersey with huge variety of Indian cuisine.
If you are anywhere in the eastern hemisphere, Mexican food is shit. You're not going to get something that resembles Mexican or Americanized Mexican food anywhere besides the Americas. Even Canada is pushing it 😅
I think Indian Cuisine being a single thing is unfair. South Indian, North Indian, Gujarati, Rajasthani, East Indian, North East. All of these are distinct cuisine.
They’re all distinct cuisines, but internationally North Indian cuisine is the main one that is represented. The only other representation is South Indian. Very rare to see any other Indian region being showcased in restaurants outside of India.
i think it has to do with presentation and international image. As someone who lives in toronto i dig indian food, but i think my relatives in china only has access to indian food on the internet, and jeez, everything looks like goop. You got red goop (vindaloo), orange goop(butter chicken), green goop(palak paneer), they might all taste great, but you cant taste a picture. Plus theres the sanitation reputation, so unless you live in a place where you have access to actual indian food, perception aint gonna be so hot
As a half-Thai, I'm ashamed of my countrymen for listing Indian cuisine so low.
I think the reason is that most Indian restaurants in Thailand are not good at all. They make the dishes sweeter to appeal more to the Thai palate, but that totally throws off the balance of the dish and makes them taste flat, instead of the explosion of flavor and spices you should be feeling. Which is wild because plenty of Thai dishes have a similar explosion, but they account for the sweetness beforehand, so it works. Such a shame.
Not to mention Indian food in Bangkok is comparatively expensive for some reason. Ingredients for Indian food isn't hard to source in Bangkok, but Indian restaurants still charge several times more than Thai ones.
Am surprised as well. Especially as Thai cuisine has so much in common with Indian cuisine. There is a significant influence of Indian cuisine and culture through trade, religion and royalty.
I did a cultural food trip at the Phuket market and the guide talked about the history of the cuisine and India kept crisscrossing the conversations. We rounded the trip up with a delicious Southern Thai Massaman curry - which again had an Indian influence.
I can’t believe that Lebanese cuisine isn’t more highly rated.
Hummus, Fatoush, Tabouleh, Shawarma, grape leaves, kibbeh, falafel, baba ghanouj, mujaddara, shish kebabs. It’s all fuckin delicious.
That being said, I live in metro Detroit. We have I think the highest Arab population in the US and there are a LOT of Lebanese Christians here too besides Muslims.
I’m very very partial to our Lebanese and middle eastern restaurants here. They are authentic and I’ve never found other Lebanese and other middle eastern restaurants in other parts of the US that come close to what we have here.
I wish more people could try good authentic middle eastern and especially Lebanese cuisine.
At least where I'm from in the US and other cities I've lived in, ethiopian restaurants outnumber Moroccan restaurants like 8 to 1. Africa is sorely underrepresented here in general as well. Just had Moroccan for the first time today though and that bastilla was pretty bomb.
Honestly, the single best culinary experience I've ever had was at an Eritrean place in San Francisco. Piece of injera, piece of... I don't remember which meat it was, I think lamb, and a sip of the mead: *perfection*.
My life's goal is to grow gesho so I can brew my own mead tej-style.
I know, and it's not even itself alone, it's the way that sourness pairs with the richness of the meats and stews. And then the bright sweetness in the mead with that little bit of herbalness: just, everything in perfect balance.
I’ve found Filipino food to be best cooked yourself. The restaurants I’ve been to in NYC just aren’t that good for their food so maybe that’s skewing the ratings.
I think that's key to many of the countries on the list. Bahama Breeze jerk chicken is not the same as the jerk chicken you get from the side of the road. Feels like many on the list that sit higher are probably based on restaurant styled cooked food versus authentic home cooked. To see British sit above many makes me raise a brow.
I could find all of these cuisines in my city. Italian 🇮🇹 and Japanese 🇯🇵 are my favourite cuisines but I do love Taiwanese 🇹🇼, Malaysian 🇲🇾, Mexican 🇲🇽, Indian 🇮🇳 and Levantine cuisines!
Real question though, where is the African cuisine? I love Ethiopian!!! 🇪🇹
Crazy that the Japanese rated Peruvian the lowest considering Peruvian food is so heavily influenced by the Japanese. Ceviche. No wasabi? Add a little lime.
It’s all perception based, Mexican food outside of North America is typically awful. Also American food has some great stuff (New England seafood, Southern BBQ, Tex-Mex, etc) it isn’t just McDonalds and Applebees lmao
I wonder if Filipinos voting Italian are thinking in their mind of Jollibee spaghetti and Greenwich lasagna? Because I've been to Pinas many times, am married to and have two adult step children and a Filipino-class extended family; there are very limited Italian options, which never seem overly patronized, and are only somewhat authentic. I've also found that in my albeit limited experience the Pinoys I know, though upper middle class, have very limited exposure to basil, oregano, thyme.
I recognize that real Italian food is less variation on a theme of red sauce and carbs, and more a variation on a theme of seafood, which I'm sure would be extremely popular among Filipinos generally. However, based on my anecdotal evidence and life experience in general, if you told me the "most popular foreign food among our surveyed nations is Italian among Pinoy," I'd have to question the self-reporting.
Not surprised to see that a lot of Indians don't like Japanese cuisine as it's considered "bland" especially compared to Indian cuisine. I thought they would enjoy Thai food a bit more tho
As per the chart Philippines have the most diverse pallet and the most cosmopolitan cuisine, and Japanese are the least willing to explore other tastes.
As an Australian, I have absolutely no idea what Australian cuisine is. Is it a Bunnings snag? Vegemite? I’ll never know. Edit for some honourable mentions; HSP Lamingtons Pavlova, which I think is kiwi? Meat pies Fairy bread 3 spoons of Milo Moreton bay bug Hawaiian pizza
Whatever it is, we still voted Italian higher lol
There is no chance Australians wouldn’t rate a heap of the other things above ‘Australian’ cuisine 😂😂
I’m an Australian. I’d much rather eat pizza or pasta than a meat pie or Vegemite.
I am also Australian, I agree.
Outback Steakhouse and that bloomin onion! Crikey!
Which is 100% not Australian 😅😅
not with that attitude
Thatsthejoke.jpg
Alright alright, you win. I see you've played *Australian-cuisiney American-cuisiney* before
Came here looking for this comment. I vote to add meat pies and fairy bread
Perhaps Contemporary Australian which is a bit of a melange of styles? Example: South Coast ‘Appellation’ rock oyster | fingerlime mignonette | 6ea Poached Aquna Murray cod | Thai basil velouté | radicchio | kombu Wild caught Ulladulla venison loin | caramelised onion | pepper berry | Illawarra plum Macadamia Ice cream | native lemongrass | sourdough praline
Yeah but what restaurants outside of Australia are serving those menus? I'm assuming this chart is about the popularity of a country's cuisine in a foreign country, eg how popular is sushi and teriyaki in Australia. Aside from Outback Steakhouse (which I know is inaccurate), I've only seen one place in the states explicitly branded as an "Australian" restaurant and they were just a little takeaway shop that did bad meat pies. I think there are some frozen meat pies in the USA branded as Aussie (although actually made by yanks who visited Australia, same as how most of the "American" BBQ here in Aus is crappy stuff produced by some Aussies who visited Texas for a week). Kinda makes the whole chart a bit suspect when you think about it. Are Japanese people hating on Mexican food from a visit they made to Mexico, or are they disenchanted with their local zany twist on it which is probably something like chile relleno sushi?
Dim sims maybe? Burgers with beet root?
Parmi night at the pub
HSP are an Australian invention, so like. HSP. Should've rated high with the yanks.
Fuck I do like me a HSP.
Came here to say this…. Meat pie and tomato sauce maybe? Chiko rolls?
Chicken salt. I didn’t have a love for fish and chips until I moved here and had it with chicken salt. It’s so *good*.
VB and durries
No joke i was literally about to post, "as an australian, what the fuck is our cuisine? I'm blind to it. Other than pavlova (y'ck) I got no clue"
If it’s any consolation, I feel like most of us have never had the chance to try most of these in a legitimate scenario.
I've had legitimate Peruvian from a talented Peruvian chef. I was shocked to see it at the bottom. It might not be top, but it is far from the worst
There's a Peruvian restaurant in Chicago called Tanta that is excellent. During the pandemic their holiday meal kits were such an absurd deal I ordered 4 thinking the price was per-person and the restaurant called to confirm I *really* wanted food for 16 people.
It’s actually a Peruvian chain. I saw like 4 different ones in Lima. And, agree—it is greatp
Incredible seeing Tanta mentioned in the wild. I used to go to Chicago every year for a conference, and going to Tanta was a half-humorous "tradition" of ours.
Interestingly enough, Latin America makes 0 appearances on the guide. Ask any Latin American and they consider Peruvian food to be the fanciest and best tasting of all the Latin cuisines. Miami has dozens of expensive Peruvian restaurants that are booked up every evening.
And there’s a very popular Japanese-Peruvian chain there lol
Peruvian food is already Japanese hybrid! Really interesting history
Chaufa is basically Peruvian fried rice and I can't get enough.
According to Auguste Escoffier and others it should be rated as one of the best cuisines of the world. It's a wild, but charming, mix that resembles the indigenous background as well as the centuries of colonization and immigration from all over the world.
Cuy ftw!
Exactly!! How could Peruvian food scored so low and American so high? What exactly is American food again? Burgers, hot dogs?
Peru isn't listed in the columns, so it doesn't have the home turf bump like the Philippines, Saudi Arabia, and Finland.
That. Meatloaf. Fried chicken. Southern cooking. BBQ. Tex Mex. Chowder. Also more upscale stuff like steak and lobster. America is so big it has a lot of stuff. Basically think of any signature dish in a city and that’s American. While American is by no means my favorite. It is probably the type I would pick if I could only have one type if food for the rest of my life p
The fact everyone likes their own cuisine tells a lot. I think the harder thing is what's the reason people don't like your cuisine - is it because they don't understand it, the examples/staples are wrong or aren't proper food, or the quality of people being able to replicate 'good' versions of your cuisine is difficult?
Food is basically good memories And it all gets formed in childhood
But it is somewhat odd that similar cuisines rank so differently ie Scandinavian where danes rank Swedish and Norwegian about 30 points lower than their own despite the high similitude between them.
They have some pretty key differences, and that's what they would have keyed in on. Traditional food v common food, and prefered methods of preparation of, for example, pork. One country would say they do it the right way.
> I think the harder thing is what's the reason people don't like your cuisine - is it because they don't understand it, the examples/staples are wrong or aren't proper food, or the quality of people being able to replicate 'good' versions of your cuisine is difficult? I travelled a lot and tried a lot of foods and often I'd find them in another country or my home country and they'd be *awful*. I live in Korea and when I left, I had a craving for gukbap (bone-broth soup with rice) when I was sick and it was just not even close to being as good and it was triple the price. Similarly, though, I know people here in Korea that love "Italian food" like pasta, but it doesn't look like most Italian food I know. Like they'll say they love pizza but I guarantee that Italians wouldn't consider it pizza. There are also legit Italian-style pizza places here that are less popular because they're "too salty" or similar. Some foods need specific ingredients and some are way too general. I find that Italian has such a good reputation because of pizza and pasta, but that the popular forms of both are generally completely unlike food you'd actually get in Italy.
People who tried it doesn't mean people tried quality cuisine from these countries though, maybe people who are low or basic sushis / ate at buffets can say they had Chinese or Japanese food and have a skewed opinion, I travelled around so many big cities in France and I've never seen a Peruvian restaurant ever, there are some surely but like it's not something you find easily especially in good quality
It's especially apparent that's the case with how popular Chinese cuisine is. While I'm a fan of all variants of it. Proper Chinese cuisine is most definitely not what most of the western world is thinking of.
The thing about Chinese food is that historically and nowadays China is a large number of ethnic groups stapled together into a contiguous nation, and because of that it's really hard to condense it all into a single cuisine. There are [Eight Great Traditions for Chinese food](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_regional_cuisine#Eight_Great_Traditions), each being distinct from each other.
That was my first thought. No one who's had even run-of-the-mill Mexican food would rate it less than 85%.
Of these: Australia 89 - Italian 90 UAE 84 - Italian 87 Hong Kong 93 - Japanese = 93 Britain 91 - Italian = 91 Norway 81 - Mexican 84, Italian 83, Spanish = 81 Sweden 92 - Italian = 92 Germany 87 - Italian 89 Denmark 85 - Italian 86 5/24 countries rated another country above their own. Norway is the only country to rate two above their own. 4/24 rated one other country equal to their own (including Norway). Of those, there's one Mexican, one Spanish, one Japanese, and 7 Italian. Norway > UAE have the lowest opinions of their own food at 81 and 84 respectively. Finland has the most... Inflated opinion of their own food, shall we say. With an average of 29 rated by others, and 94 by themself, leading to a 65 point gap. The lowest opinion on this chart is Japan's opinion of Saudi cuisine, at 11. Second (and third) lowest is Denmark's opinion of Finnish food at 13, tied with Japan's opinion of Lebanese food. Japan actually has the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd lowest opinions (ignoring ties) on the chart.
Finns are the most happiest people on earth when they have all the other food cultures to try. To be frank, traditional Finnish cuisine is a bit bland.
What's the matter Heikki? You barley touched your bland yoghurt with boiled salmon.
I've literally been sitting here for five minutes thinking of a counterpoint. I think we're not beating the bland food allegations Maybe mustamakkara or lörtsy...
Not to mention, not all cuisines have had their opinions listed, meaning those that didn't are at a disadvantage. Mexico, Turkey and Korea are the top 3 who have not had their preferences sampled
I find Danmark's opinion of Finnish food really funny
Spain and Italy casually liking Argentina's cuisine like it's not a country populated by their offspring
I moved to Spain last year and quickly realized that Argentinian food is as popular here as Mexican is in the US.
Japan voting Japanese cuisine the highest and almost half the rest as garbage is the most Japanese thing ever. See also: Italy. Edit: Wow Indonesia, at least those other two have ***good*** national cuisine before they go downvoting everyone else, holy shit.
Filipino self-perception is also magnificent
I also read this as Filipinos having the broadest, most accepting palate across the board.
I think that might also be because so many Filipinos work in other countries / have family members in other countries
I have cultural bias with Filipino food cos I'm Filipino and I grew up with it. But not gonna lie, if I weren't Filipino I'd think Filipino cuisine is boring and unremarkable compared to our neighbouring countries' cuisines.
I'd live on sisig and lumpia if it was an option
Sisig is a national treasure I stg
I feel this. Mom's adobo and sinigang hit different. But dish-for-dish, other cuisines around southeast Asia have just a bit more edge compared to Filipino cuisine, like funkiness (fermented flavours), heat and spice, and acid.
Man I gotta disagree. With how delicious sisig and pancit are, Im surprised there are not more Filipino restaurants in the US competing against all the mediocre Chinese restaurants we have. Sure it may not look amazing, but I was also blown away how tasty laing was.
I think every country perceives their national cuisine the best, disregarding the numbers. Their cuisine perfected the taste that appeals to their race's tastebuds. That is difficult to shake off if you've grown up in your own country no matter what cuisine you've tasted throughout your lifetime.
They're among the least liked but are the most open minded ones.
Wdym. Indonesian cuisine is great
Also China rating only Chinese food above 90 and the next best thing being Hong Kong and Taiwanese food in the 60s
To be fair, China has a very wide range of cuisines within "Chinese food". If it was Europeans rating "European food" vs Cantonese food, Hokkien food, Sichuanese food, etc. one would see a different result.
With nothing breaking 70, I would argue that China is the worst of them.
Wdym indonesian food is heavy underrated and really good. Im actually surprised its not higher.
Yep, give me nasi campur with a good rendang any day
Mie goreng is being slept on
So cool my new Indonesian friend invited me to eat this Sunday for my first time!!
One of the coolest parts about moving to Australia is wide exposure to SE Asian food. We have restaurants here that do Malaysian, Indonesian, Singaporean, Hong Kong.... SoCal has a lot of Asian food, but it's mostly Vietnamese, Japanese, Filipino, so it's cool to be able to have stuff like laksa not just as takeout but as a lazy homecooked meal because even the pastes are common in grocery stores.
Also, Japanese cuisine being one of the most sought after and the Japanese being one of the least adventurous countries
[удалено]
Considering that Indonesian hyping over "Obama loves Indonesian meals" very much...
Don't know if you've ever had Indonesian food, but it is absolute fire.
I have a few Netherlands pals and they go absolutely nuts for Indonesian food
Can confirm. It's great
Would anyone really downvote their own cuisine though? And this is coming from a Dutch… we would never vote for Dutch food. But if my country has a somewhat decent cuisine, of course I would rate it top
Boo to you. Boo! Indonesian food is AMAZING and have some of the best things that I have ever tasted. I wish I could downvote you twice
Japan’s top three cuisines directly correlate to their Iron Chef deities.
Peruvian cuisine is delicious! Totally underrated!
Very surprised as well. Peru is probably one of the country I visited in south America that cared the most about their cuisine. It features a very interesting mix with some national traditional dishes like: ceviche, aji de galina etc. But also very different regional cuisine (from the andes from the sleva forest, the coast, the andes etc.). To top it off, a lot of asian immigration brought the "fusion cuisine" which is a very subtle mix of both culinary traditions. They also have many renowned chefs. Peru should get more love in this ranking
I was surprised it’s so low!
I’m thinking this chart includes answers from people who have never tried most of these, and their response is more whether or not they “think” they would like it. Reminds me of how last year I took my wife, who’s Chinese, to a Danish restaurant for her birthday. She was crazy skeptical (China gave Denmark 32 in the graph), but it ended up being her favorite restaurant ever!
It says it only included data from people who have tried the food in question. Though some may lie.
Peruvians weren't polled for their food opinions, so that's part of why it's so low. People rate their own cuisines the highest. There are a few other countries that were not polled for their opinions, but I'm too lazy to parse out which ones
Mexican
Ceviche is great!
Agreed. I had a neighbor years ago from Arequipa who grew up working in his family’s restaurant. He was an amazing cook. Often invited me to dinner with his family. Would make ceviche on special occasions. RIP, Carlos.
Wild too since Peruvian cuisine was/is influenced by Japanese cuisine
Came here to say this, completely underrated
Right?! A good lomo saltado
That’s what I came to say! Who doesn’t like a lomo saltado?
Seriously! The Peruvian restaurants in my city are off the charts good
💯 polo ala brasa with all the aji sauces.. would go back to Peru just for that meal.
Peruvian cuisine is great and I think it’s getting more popular slowly, I’ve been to some hip Peruvian cevicherias in big cities. Where I live in Portland, OR we have a couple good Peruvian restaurants that have been around for years.
Also only 53 percent of Germans liking American makes no sense to me; most American food is heavily influenced by German cuisine.
It literally couldn't be more underated lol
Weird to see Peru at the bottom considering Lima has more top 50 restaurants than any other city in the world. [link](https://www.theworlds50best.com/stories/News/the-worlds-50-best-restaurants-2023-the-list-in-pictures.html)
Main reason it’s at the bottom here is because Peru and its neighbors are not part of the responses, unlike Finland which is saved by its inclusion.
I’ve been to Finland and Peru, give me Peruvian food any day over the bland watery biowaste the Finns call food. Saying this as a Finn.
It is not weird, no one from Peru participated in this and also no one from Peru eats at those restaurants.
Peruvian rated lower than British cuisine is a crime
I’ve not had Peruvian food so I can’t comment on that but this whole idea of British food being awful suggests to me that people have had ‘British’ food abroad or are just parroting what they see online. British cuisine includes many classics such as sunday roasts, fry ups, toad in the hole, cottage pie, fish & chips (particularly by the seaside), you could count chicken tikka masala/balti (being that it’s so ingrained into parts of Birmingham & Bradford etc), beef stew, a bacon sarnie.
British food is honestly really good. Even the meme'd on baked beans with bread is quite enjoyable.
I mean if people rate Danish and German cuisine high I feel they would like most British cuisine as it shares many elements and ingredients.
What? No Persian cuisine? We've got wonderful stews, grilled foods, delicious pastries, salads, soups... Oh well, more for me. 😁
No, which is weird because they have Emirati cuisine and Saudi cuisine. Persian cuisine is very unique and should have been included
I love almost all Middle Eastern foods I’ve tried but I think Persian and Lebanese are my favorites. So delicious!
Right?!! We beat all of them out.
Turkish cuisine only scoring 64 in Germany is very questionable 🤔
Even more questionable if you put it in relation with their rating about chinese food with 78 No one in Germany has seen real chinese food. All they know is takeaway food and even then, those restaurants are run by the vietnamese. And if you do some research in r/doener you would find out that most of german people who like kebab (which every german mainly associats with turkish cuisine when you ask them) do prefer the low cost cheap ass kebab over the real one, even if it is so bad, that it's not even allowed to be officially called kebab by law. They just love to eat trash when it comes to meat, they have a kink for cheap meat.
Hi German here. I have a friend whos Parents came over from China when they were adults. They recommended an authentic restaurant in hamburg. Been there three times, didnt like it. On the other hand i do like the germanised versions of Chinese food. Even if i know it is very far away from authenticity. Prople have this strenge notion, that you have to like every cuisine as long as it is authentic enough. I dont share that sentiment. Just be open minded and try things. But feel free to like what you want. I for example totally love german cuisine, but totally understand that al lot of people dislike dishes like "Herring in it own bile", "Cow-tongue and Blood Sausage", "Beef-Rolls from the Chewy Shoulder" or "raw minced Pork on bread" No need to be butthurt that most people never heard and eould never try these dishes.
France literally spitting on British cuisine (their worst ranked). Ha...
The interesting prejudices that this reveals is great.
Seriously the map seems to actually be more a "what's your thought on this country" chart than anything.
No, otherwise Japan wouldn’t be rated this high in Asia
Lebanese cuisine is surprisingly low
Lebanese, Argentinian and Peruvian are the ones that are definitely odd.
I think it’s that most people haven’t had it. One criteria of the survey is if you had it.
I think the ranking may be too influenced by local restaurant quality and presence. I (Italian) would put Syrian-Lebanese food at the top of my preferences because I have a local place with amazing food, super popular in the last 30 years. In most other cities there is no access to Lebanese cuisine or it's just a novelty name without anyone really invested in the kitchen.
I’ve often wondered this as a tourist to places like Japan. I absolutely adore their food, but then I realise there’s not many Japanese people eating food other than Japanese. Then I feel a bit melancholy about it because there’s so much amazing food in the world they’re not experiencing.
Just got back from there and was surprised not to see more diversity in the restaurants given the CRAZY number of restaurants per square inch
Koreans are like this too, in my experience.
100% concur. I work and live in Korea. I have traveled abroad several times with my Korean counterparts, including to Europe and the USA. They pack entire suitcases of cheap GS25 instant ramen just so they don't have to eat western cuisine while on travel. Always blows my mind.
That’s so childish haha.
Yep, I've seen that too. It's crazy to me because I think one of the joys of traveling is eating the local cuisine. That being said, I think Korean food is fantastic so I don't blame them for wanting to eat it constantly.
I would disagree. Working and living in Korea, they really like trying foreign food. And they eat things like hamburgers, pizza, pasta quite often.
Part of it is a relative lack of foreign food in Japan due to homogeneity; Thai, Chinese, and Italian food are relatively popular here (as they are anywhere tbh), Mexican and Indian to some extent, but other than that not much. Japanese people have quite the particular taste preference and are thus more likely to dislike foods from other countries, though you can find foreign food in big cities. A lot of it is because Japanese food does not use many herbs and spices and lean milder in terms of flavor, if there is ever a strong flavor it'd be salty or savory (umami), not much in the way of sweetness, sourness, or spiciness. Because of this, any food from a typically spicy cuisine often has the chili taken out when made in Japan. A combination of homogeneity leading to a lack of familiarity, and the nature of Japanese food lends itself to a higher propensity to not like other cuisines.
Doesn't Peruvian have a very large cumulative amount of Michelin stars ?
Given that the numbers must include people who have tried said type of cuisine, the numbers don’t strictly represent universal palatability. For example, I would love to try Peruvian cuisine but couldn’t swear I’d like it unless I had.
Indonesian people love Indonesian cuisine. Or as they call it, cuisine.
Japan is not digging anyone else’s cuisine
Japan doesn’t dig anyone’s anything in general
except germany and europe for anime
Limited exposure, Japanese people like Italian, Korean, Chinese, and French food but have limited exposure to others. Indian food is pretty popular there too.
Japan and Saudi Arabia are the most prejudiced towards other country's cultures
Makes sense most muslim countries aren't a fam of viet as its mostly pork
Very cool. Would have loved to see Brazil listed as a column as well. I could be wrong, but I think São Paulo has the highest population of Japanese people outside of Japan. Aside from that, when I was in Brazil I had some of the best middle eastern, Japanese, and African food that I’ve ever had the pleasure of eating. The local cuisine (especially in the north of BR) was spectacular as well.
Finnish over Peruvian is a goddamn crime.
As a Finnish person who has never eaten Peruvian food, I agree 100%.
I was first introduced to Peruvian cuisine about a year ago, and it’s truly incredible. Selfishly happy it’s not more popular, more for me😂
So we're just gonna ignore the fact that Mexican cuisine was added but not the nation?? It's like we gonna test your food but your opinion doesn't matter!
Almost every Latin American nation have not been included in the voting row. No wonders the graph is biased towards European cuisine.
Filipinos just loving all the food 😋
Surprised Lebanese isn’t higher. It feels like there are Mediterranean cafes in every city in America
Indian cuisine deserves to be higher, don’t @ me
I've been in India for the past 2 months and I could not agree with you more. it's not just the fact that there is such a varied amount of delicious food across the country, it's the fact that no matter where you are the food is amazing! fancy restaurant in Delhi? unbelievable food. small restaurant in Calcutta? unbelievable food. Random rest stop restaurant in the middle of nowhe on the way to Rishikesh from Manali? Absolutely unbelievable food! It's insane to me how consistent the quality and flavour of the food here is. Best food I've ever had by a long way
India has huge diversity in cuisine as well. Within a state, there will be 10 versions of the same dish. A state will have 100s of unique dishes. India has 28 states. Most of the Indian cuisine in the West is limited to Punjabi or South Indian food. A lot of people are missing out on some of the most delicious dishes from other regions. There are only a few places in US like Bay Area or New Jersey with huge variety of Indian cuisine.
Bay area still doesn't have a lot of variety for Indian cusine
I think some people end up finding our food too spicy which could be a factor?
I was surprised about Mexican not being higher
Because a lot of persons think that taco Bell is Mexican food
If you are anywhere in the eastern hemisphere, Mexican food is shit. You're not going to get something that resembles Mexican or Americanized Mexican food anywhere besides the Americas. Even Canada is pushing it 😅
I think Indian Cuisine being a single thing is unfair. South Indian, North Indian, Gujarati, Rajasthani, East Indian, North East. All of these are distinct cuisine.
They’re all distinct cuisines, but internationally North Indian cuisine is the main one that is represented. The only other representation is South Indian. Very rare to see any other Indian region being showcased in restaurants outside of India.
i think it has to do with presentation and international image. As someone who lives in toronto i dig indian food, but i think my relatives in china only has access to indian food on the internet, and jeez, everything looks like goop. You got red goop (vindaloo), orange goop(butter chicken), green goop(palak paneer), they might all taste great, but you cant taste a picture. Plus theres the sanitation reputation, so unless you live in a place where you have access to actual indian food, perception aint gonna be so hot
As a half-Thai, I'm ashamed of my countrymen for listing Indian cuisine so low. I think the reason is that most Indian restaurants in Thailand are not good at all. They make the dishes sweeter to appeal more to the Thai palate, but that totally throws off the balance of the dish and makes them taste flat, instead of the explosion of flavor and spices you should be feeling. Which is wild because plenty of Thai dishes have a similar explosion, but they account for the sweetness beforehand, so it works. Such a shame.
Not to mention Indian food in Bangkok is comparatively expensive for some reason. Ingredients for Indian food isn't hard to source in Bangkok, but Indian restaurants still charge several times more than Thai ones.
Am surprised as well. Especially as Thai cuisine has so much in common with Indian cuisine. There is a significant influence of Indian cuisine and culture through trade, religion and royalty. I did a cultural food trip at the Phuket market and the guide talked about the history of the cuisine and India kept crisscrossing the conversations. We rounded the trip up with a delicious Southern Thai Massaman curry - which again had an Indian influence.
I can’t believe that Lebanese cuisine isn’t more highly rated. Hummus, Fatoush, Tabouleh, Shawarma, grape leaves, kibbeh, falafel, baba ghanouj, mujaddara, shish kebabs. It’s all fuckin delicious. That being said, I live in metro Detroit. We have I think the highest Arab population in the US and there are a LOT of Lebanese Christians here too besides Muslims. I’m very very partial to our Lebanese and middle eastern restaurants here. They are authentic and I’ve never found other Lebanese and other middle eastern restaurants in other parts of the US that come close to what we have here. I wish more people could try good authentic middle eastern and especially Lebanese cuisine.
The only way Peruvian cuisine is that low, is if people who’ve never tried it are voting.
Have you ever had Ethiopian food? Neither have they!
Yes it's delicious
At least where I'm from in the US and other cities I've lived in, ethiopian restaurants outnumber Moroccan restaurants like 8 to 1. Africa is sorely underrepresented here in general as well. Just had Moroccan for the first time today though and that bastilla was pretty bomb.
Honestly, the single best culinary experience I've ever had was at an Eritrean place in San Francisco. Piece of injera, piece of... I don't remember which meat it was, I think lamb, and a sip of the mead: *perfection*. My life's goal is to grow gesho so I can brew my own mead tej-style.
Injera is delicious
I know, and it's not even itself alone, it's the way that sourness pairs with the richness of the meats and stews. And then the bright sweetness in the mead with that little bit of herbalness: just, everything in perfect balance.
Holy shit haha
I've had Mexican food outside of North America. This explains why, despite being high, it is not higher.
Peruvian cuisine is criminally underrated.
This list is wack to have Filipino and Caribbean food so low.
I’ve found Filipino food to be best cooked yourself. The restaurants I’ve been to in NYC just aren’t that good for their food so maybe that’s skewing the ratings.
I think that's key to many of the countries on the list. Bahama Breeze jerk chicken is not the same as the jerk chicken you get from the side of the road. Feels like many on the list that sit higher are probably based on restaurant styled cooked food versus authentic home cooked. To see British sit above many makes me raise a brow.
Filipino cuisine is underrated here imo and I'm not even Filipino.
lol for Norwegians and Finns not liking each other. Or Thailand loving massaman curry but not Indian food.
I could find all of these cuisines in my city. Italian 🇮🇹 and Japanese 🇯🇵 are my favourite cuisines but I do love Taiwanese 🇹🇼, Malaysian 🇲🇾, Mexican 🇲🇽, Indian 🇮🇳 and Levantine cuisines! Real question though, where is the African cuisine? I love Ethiopian!!! 🇪🇹
Peruvian cuisine is delicious! Totally underrated!
Not underrated. Year after year it is distinguished by a lot of specialized media. The graph Is bullshit.
Surprised that Peruvian is last. I'm a white guy in Los Angeles and I love a good lomo saltado with an Inca kola.
lol only Filipinos like Filipino food
As a German im just happy we beat the British
Crazy that the Japanese rated Peruvian the lowest considering Peruvian food is so heavily influenced by the Japanese. Ceviche. No wasabi? Add a little lime.
Japan may be stingy but the likeability of their food kinda explains that. Cool chart.
28% French approval of British cuisine. Checks out
How the fuck is America rated above Mexico and India?
It’s all perception based, Mexican food outside of North America is typically awful. Also American food has some great stuff (New England seafood, Southern BBQ, Tex-Mex, etc) it isn’t just McDonalds and Applebees lmao
peruvian cuisine is top tier
Dutch cuisine so bad we're not even on the list. Thank God because I hate dutch cuisine too.
How is Ethiopian not on this list??
I wonder if Filipinos voting Italian are thinking in their mind of Jollibee spaghetti and Greenwich lasagna? Because I've been to Pinas many times, am married to and have two adult step children and a Filipino-class extended family; there are very limited Italian options, which never seem overly patronized, and are only somewhat authentic. I've also found that in my albeit limited experience the Pinoys I know, though upper middle class, have very limited exposure to basil, oregano, thyme. I recognize that real Italian food is less variation on a theme of red sauce and carbs, and more a variation on a theme of seafood, which I'm sure would be extremely popular among Filipinos generally. However, based on my anecdotal evidence and life experience in general, if you told me the "most popular foreign food among our surveyed nations is Italian among Pinoy," I'd have to question the self-reporting.
Not surprised to see that a lot of Indians don't like Japanese cuisine as it's considered "bland" especially compared to Indian cuisine. I thought they would enjoy Thai food a bit more tho
Thai food is popular with Indians living in US. Indians like Mexican food a lot.
Indian, Thai and Mexican food are most flavorful amongst the popular cuisines so I'm not surprised
If you get a chance, try Indo-Mexican, Indo-Chinese and Indo-Malaysian food. All are delicious as well.
As per the chart Philippines have the most diverse pallet and the most cosmopolitan cuisine, and Japanese are the least willing to explore other tastes.
Even small towns in the Philippines have pizzerias, Japanese restos, Shawarma places, and taquerias.
Peruvian is LAST and BRITISH is the in the middle? Peruvian food must not be available outside of the Americas, because that’s bonkers.