Tbh I find Italian culinary traditions underwhelming. Like they just gave up 10 minutes in, no work at all because it’s too hot.
To be fair, the further from coastline, the better the Italian cuisine - more herbs, more variety, more complex recipes.
I’m Dutch and I think this map is completely unfair. It overrates our food significantly
I’m a little disappointed that the center is a knife and fork instead of a hand pinching fingers together to make a point
u wot m8?
We’ve got Greggs Sausage Rolls.
All you’ve got is pasta and tomato sauce for every meal, and think different shaped pasta makes it a different dish!
That’s like thinking beans on toast is different if you put it on different shaped bread.
I second this map.
You’re absolutely right! Cooking is all about experience and experimentation. Just like how a sushi chef masters the art of raw fish preparation, you get more comfortable with different types of fish and techniques over time. The key is to try various recipes, observe the textures and flavors, and learn how different fish react to cooking. You’ll soon develop an intuition for how long to cook them, based on the thickness or fragility of the meat.
Your story with chicken resonates too! Everyone starts somewhere with a bit of hesitation, but as you practice, you build confidence. It’s all part of the learning process. Keep going, and you’ll find yourself navigating different ingredients with ease!
okay but north africa food?
Well, the map is titled, “Culinary Map of Europe” :D
I feel like France and Spain are gonna have some pretty strong objections
Not from someone from the South-East of France.
Food in Portugal is delicious
I wholeheartedly support culinarily disrespecting Italians, honestly.
Dudes trying to convince us that they are presenting ancient traditions when their precious dishes are invented in like the 60s
Dudes trying to convince us that they are presenting ancient traditions
Ancient traditions
Look inside
Post Columbian exchange vegetables
Also, many times they will say some isn’t an authentic way to do something, and then you will learn it is authentic for like, a few towns over.
You should see how Italians debate their own food when two of them are from two different towns. It’s bloody epic!
tourist traps are everywhere. nevertheless Italian cousin remains top notch. fact
Must be a freak in the sheets.
I knew an Italian exchange student that kept whining that nothing tasted good and nothing tasted as it should up here in Scandinavia. Then another exchange student (from Thailand I think) got tired of him and told him ~“the rest of the world isn’t your mother” and it was a literal moment of realisation for this dude.
Spanish and Greek food beats Italian. Heck Polish food is way underrated. Also American pizza is better.
American pizza made by Italian immigrants. ftfy
Funny seeing this, especially from an iberian perpective, because local culinary is mostly the same as theirs. With the slight difference we actually have the balls to spice our food.
I have yet to sample an Italian arrabiata sauce that I would remotely call ‘spicy’. Though, to be fair, I’m an American that over spices everything I cook, so my palate is probably blown out at this point.
I’ve read you guys have a too sweet baseline for flavours, due to the overwhelming presence of corn syrup in everything.
Iberian cuisine, as in Portuguese and Spanish (fuck those guys; they can’t make proper bread even if you teach them!), can be spicy but adding heat to a dish serves to accentuate the underlying flavours.
Off the top of my head, I can think of a simple roasted chicken with lemon and mussels.
The chicken is just prepared by seasoning the chicken with coarse salt and stuffing it with a whole lemon, with the ends cut, and roasting in the oven. With the chicken ready, you just take the lemon from inside the bird and squeeze it over. Base flavours are lemon and salt, with the chicken fat binding everything together. You should complain the meat is a bit under salted; it means you are actually tasting it.
The mussels are prepared with white wine, salt and garlic. The garlic is chopped and slightly fried, just until fragrant, in olive oil. The mussels are thrown in, lightly salted, tossed in the base, over high heat, then the wine added and the pot covered to steam the mussels until all are open. Or can just sprinkle salt over the mussels on your plate. You want to taste the mussel.
These are basic dishes any child can eat. Not too extreme flavours. Adding a chopped chilli to the mussels base and a chilli inside the chicken will add a sligh note of heat to the dishes, embolden the overall flavours, but you will still be getting the base flavours after swallowing, lingering in your mouth.
Food should leave a memory. It’s supposed to be flavourful, not painful.
Spain and Portugal should be tier 1 or 2
Madrid’s food scene is amazing
Well most of ‘traditional’ Italien food is actually from the US and had been invented by Italien immigrants.
Yeah, Italian chef friend of mine once said that you use garlic, or onions, rarely both, in authentic italian food. Unless you are from one of the many places where they always use both.
A lot of people don’t realize that Italy is a relatively young country comprising multiple distinct regions and culinary histories.
correct, a lot of “traditional” methods people think are possibly ancient, are like 150 years old. Some areas are culturally diverse to the point where they are basically a completely different culture, in comparison.
