Cultural dishes

One of my New Year’s resolutions is to try more dishes from around the world. What is your favorite cultural dish?

*I’m investigating food communities for an anthropological research project so replies may be used under pseudonyms

Welcome to the forum.

And, to answer your question - Lancashire hotpot.

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Aren’t all dishes cultural?
And without knowing what and where you are kinda meaningless.

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Yes, all dishes come from some cultural heritage or another. I posted on the assumption that the OP was interested in a favourite dish from folk’s personal cultural heritage. If that wasnt the intent, I’ll happily post again once there’s clarification.

By the by, havent studies indicated that the world’s favourite “foreign” food is Italian.

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That was 100% the intent

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In that case, responses might be interesting, anth.

Most contributors here are American (I’m not). I’ll certainly be interested to read if they post a dish from the culture of their ancestors, before coming to America, or if they post a dish that reflects a current broad American culture (which, of course, could be anything popular - like pizza).

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Hi Anth, I’m Bionda, one of the forum mods. Welcome to our community, and we hope you’ll contribute more as a member than as a researcher. Also, the vagueness of your initial post is a little startling. Wouldn’t a real anthropologist be much more specific?

Also, what do you mean by “replies may be used under pseudonyms”?

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I recommend you check out the 196
Flavors site:

as well as our own HO Cuisines of the Quarter threads.

This month’s Cuisine of the Quarter MAHARASHTRIAN - Winter 2023 (Jan-Mar) Cuisine of the Quarter

I am currently most interested in Turkish , Georgian , British, Japanese , Burmese and Mexican foods. There are dozens of home cooks on this site who are very interested in many cuisines.

My current favourite cultural dishes are

Dumplings
Stuffed grape leaves
Cheese pies (tiropita, khachapuri)
Meat pies (Tourtière, empanadas, brik)
Spinach pies
Vegetable soups (shchi, borscht)
Salads (Olivye, Rossoli, Waldorf, Watergate :grinning:)

My region’s contribution to Culinaria is the Hawaiian pizza, invented by a Greek immigrant living in Chatham, Ontario,
Canada.

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Big Mac and French Fries

Croque Madame

Soup Dumplings

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If we base dishes where my ancestors are from:

roast pork, sauerkraut, dumplings (from my Czech heritage)
roast beef, Yorkshire dumplings, mashed potatoes, peas (from my British heritage)

There is some Romanian in my heritage but none of the cuisine was passed down.

As for my own heritage, I am from Montreal (bagels) and I now live in Ottawa (Lebanese style pizza).

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Anything with Chorizo…

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Hi Bionda,
Thanks for the welcome. I’ve been lurking for a while, but this assignment finally convinced me to post. I’m not a trained anthropologist but am doing this research project as part of my anthropology class. Also, the vagueness is due to not wanting to lead people to a specific definition of culture, and therefore, possibly influencing responses.

As for pseudonyms, I want to protect the identity of any participants so no one’s actual username and/or name would be used in any content that would be viewed by others in the unlikely event I mention them directly.

I really am interested in learning about new and interesting dishes that I can try. I’m trying to combine my interest in all things food with completing this assignment. Sorry if that came off as jarring.

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Thanks for the clarifications @anth.food

“My” culture is also fluid and can be interpreted through a wider or narrower lens. More narrowly focused I have South Indian vegetarian food in my culture, and I love most dishes from there. Randomly picking out of the myriad dishes here, I would say: Masala dosais or idlis with all the accompaniments; Rasam and rice (see my username); Yogurt-rice with lemon or mango pickle; any vegetable poriyal or paruppu usilli; (I have a hard time picking one favourite).
More widely focused pan-Indian food: real authentic Delhi street food style chhole-bhature; samosas; dhoklas; other street food like spicy misal; pao bhaji; chaat; pani-puri. I also like Indian-Chinese food (veg Hakka noodles in particular).

Foods from my current cultural setting: vegetarian chili; pizza if the crust and toppings are really good.

This does not mean I don’t like other foods, I love a wide variety of veg food from all round the world. My answers are just what bubbled up to the top of my mind.

I regret that I have only one fleeting life and only one stomach to dedicate to this cause.

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Steak and kidney pudding, mash potato & cabbage.

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Southside of Milwaukee
Polish chop suey
Brats boiled in beer and onions, then grilled
Frozen custard
Friday fish fry (beer battered)
Fried cheese curds
Pickled everything

Polish:
Czarnina
Pierogies and butter
Bigos

German:
Knackwurst
Sauerbraten
Best goulash I’ve had was in German restaurants
Rollbraten

Serb:
Cevapcici
Cabbage rolls
Burek

Armenian:
Basturma
Khorovats
Harissa (not the paste)
Dolma (stuffed grape leaves)
Bozdash

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And here I was, thinking the answer was “petri”…

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:raised_hands:t4: :clap:t4:

In a food context, that kind of dish is the opposite of what you want to see :laughing:

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