I’m kind of shocked to hear that about the impression of Spanish food. I’ve been there many times and it’s my culinary “go-to” country. And, nearly everyone that I know that has traveled there as a novice has come back amazed. I try not to be an elitist, but I’m skeptical of the palate of anyone that is complaining of Spanish food.
I’ll have to confess that while I’ve never actually ingested Balut or Durian (despite opportunities), I’m pretty confident they aren’t my thing. But, I suspect the original question was more about mainstream ethnic foods that you “don’t get” as opposed to extremes.
Durian and virtually any form of offal, from my own ethnic heritage (pig’s brains and eggs and fried chicken livers, calf liver and onions, etc.) or others (though I’ve had a couple edible preparations of foie gras and thymus glands),
I haven’t had fowl embryos, but I’m willing to assume that I won’t like them.
British food has been very fine for a long time, it wasn’t translated into restaurants that well in the past, that improved in the 80s and 90s. Of course if you go into an average pub having done no research you might well be disapointed, which in sure is the case in the US should you fancy more than a burger.
It depends a lot on how you define “Spanish food”: super fancy haute cuisine? tapas? all the fried and refried and re-refried stuff that they eat in Andalucia? fresh seafood in Galicia?
I don’t know if I like or if I dislike “Spanish food”. I like some of it, and I hate some of it. Just the same with French food.
My votes go to:
currywurst
pastrami
deep dish “pizza”
most of the wobbly stuff from Japan I’ve tried
andouillette
What most people think of as ethnic is a watered down version of the real stuff and/or something that locals rarely if ever eat.
Seriously? WTF, Robert? I could eat moros y cristianos every day. With platanos maduros. And roast pork. And maybe some gambas al ajillo. Making myself hungry. No decent Cuban food in DC, and there hasn’t been for 20 years. Enough to make me cry
I used to love it, but an incident involving bad tripe some years ago in Marseilles has so informed my reptile memory that I literally gag at its taste. Too bad. I now make do with posole.