[phoenix 12]

I had to pick "other" There wasn't a Hamburger/French Pastry option. LOL

Mike

[Ninja_59]

Chinese for me, so good, flavors and colorfull dishes

[Grumio]

I went with Indian, but if Barbecue had been listed the choice would have been much tougher.

Guess I'll have to see how brisket & pork butt do in a tandoor (or is that even possible? are tandoors high-heat only?)

[Ishbel]

I had to pick 'other'. A lot of American food is based on British dishes - think pies, think roasts, think wonderful puddings.

[phatch]

I'm a bit surprised about who has picked French. I was figuring Cape Chef would certainly pick French but he hasn't voted. Nicko picked French and I was picking him for the Middle East. But I'm surprised in general how much Middle Eastern has been picked. Not that I can argue with that as it's great food.

I'd guess that the most frequently discussed cuisine here at CF is Italian followed by aspects of French (sauces especially). Combined, they don't even have as many votes as Middle Eastern alone. But I don't really read the pro forums so that might have a different skew.

[teamfat]

If I picked American, would I have to spend the rest of my life eating at KFC, Sizzler and Appleby's ? If I did a standing rib roast, what difference would it make if I did a Yorkshire pudding or not, and what if I topped it with Bearnaise? What is the real, fundamental difference between won-tons and ravioli, or Bechemal and country gravy?

Certainly food for thought.

mjb.

ps: I forgot to mention I picked Eastern European, so I can live out the rest of my life on bratwurst and sauerkraut!

[phatch]

Originally Posted by teamfat

ps: I forgot to mention I picked Eastern European, so I can live out the rest of my life on bratwurst and sauerkraut!

Go Siegfrieds! I suppose you're a frequent diner there?

[KYHeirloomer]

Phil, regarding your analysis, I'd say you are correct---Italian and French.

My guess would be that we still think in terms of France and the culinary arts as being synonyms. And Italian is the ethinic push everywhere you turn around, so people discuss, and cook, it too.

But, when push comes to shove, most of us are eclectic in our food preferences. So American and Mid-Eastern provide the broadest range of selection.

If you're gonna lock yourself in, you want the widest number of choices, dontchathink? And those two provide it.

[chrose]

I was just thinking the other day that I love Asian cooking so much I could eat it ALL the time. But now that you put it to a question I think I would have so say "American". There may be the same wide variety of flavors, textures, et al in many other cuisines but for my taste buds I think that maybe not "American" per se, but the cooking of the United States. Until you figure out how to make Old Bay in another culture it's got to be North America for me.
But thank god I don't have to choose!

[shroomgirl]

picked up, "The Complete Middle East Cookbook" at the library yesterday.....the countries include: Afghanistan, Iran, Egypt, Yemen, Gulf States, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Lebanon, Jordan, Syria, Armenia, Turkey, Cyprus, Greece.

what a line up.... it's interesting flipping through the countries to see the differences/similarities.

so a Mediterranean Diet would be:Spain, Southern France, Italian, ????

good thread, thank you for stimulating thought provoking questions.

[phatch]

You could probably cross over to Morocco too for Meditteranean?

Of course the book Street Food of the Mediterranean includes Greece, Turkey, Syria, Saudi Arabia, Egypt as well as Italy and Spain.

[KYHeirloomer]

"shroom, would that be Tess Mallos' book? I've had it for some time; since it was new, in fact. A great book---even if many of the pages are dogeared and stained.

Defining "Mediterranian" get a bit nebulous. Generally speaking, when people say "Mediterranian" they mean the northern tier. That would include the Iberian peninsula, France, Italy, and Greece. Although a lot of people seem to forget that Spain and Portugal are part of that grouping. And, to be fair, a lot of Iberian food does not relate to the Franco/Italian/Greco model.

People with a penchant for North African and Mid-Eastern food have always sort of resented that. The rest of the Meditarranian rim has great cuisine. Plus it greatly influenced those countries on the northern shore, as a result of the Muslim and Turkish invasions and occupations.

Perhaps the ultimate fusion of the northern and southern rims is the cuisine of Malta and its satilite islands. But even Sicilian food has as much Turkish influence as Italian.

I reckon if the survey had merely listed "Mediterannian Rim" as a choice, it would have won hands down.

[shroomgirl]

yes, Tess Mallo's the author...and yes if Mediterranean Rim was a response I would have gravitated to that
though miss thai, vietnamese, japanese and chinese

[AndyG]

Originally Posted by Grumio

I went with Indian, but if Barbecue had been listed the choice would have been much tougher.

Guess I'll have to see how brisket & pork butt do in a tandoor (or is that even possible? are tandoors high-heat only?)

Traditional tandoors are all high heat for sure. But then who says you can't bend the rules a bit?

[caleb3000]

If I were on an island (and I was stuck on that island forever) that only had one restaurant then I hope that it would be Mexican restaurant.