Trying foods or being open to foods that aren’t traditional or authentic to a region

Sounds like a dance on American Bandstand.

There’s a vibrant Croatian community in Kansas City. I used to enjoy their food and culture.

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Since we retired, our vacations no longer have to fit into a 1-2 week period. The extra time we now get to spend in the places we visit allows us the opportunity to try non indigenous (should I say non-traditional or non-authentic?) restaurants. So, in Paris, we got to accompany a local resident to an African (Ivory Coast) restaurant that we enjoyed. I haven’t been to Africa, but have eaten food from that region served by immigrants to NYC. Available ingredients are different, so the resulting taste was different. Nice experience. We also ate Northern Italian food that was different from both what we had in Italy & what we get at home. I guess I recommend doing this if one, as a tourist, has the time.

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I had wonderful Vietnamese food in Paris, which is where I first had passion fruit sorbet.

But that was in 1984, and I haven’t been back since.

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I love passionfruit sorbet and gelato, as well as passionfruit cocktails

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This for me :100:

The biggest exception would be Paris, but when you live there its different. I learned that I love Cambodge, Lao, and Viet, as well as north African because of the influence of these former colonies.

Indian in London is a close runner up.

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I love anything passion fruit because of that experience in Paris. And Moroccan/North Africa foods there, as well.

It’s interesting that when I lived in Madrid 1982-84 there was no restaurant food I was able to find from any of Spain’s former colonies. There are many influences of Islamic and Jewish ingredients and food preparations from the centuries of cultural interactions before the Reconquest/Reconquista, which were largely unacknowledged then as far as I could tell, having been so incorporated in “Spanish” food for centuries, and of course New World ingredients such as chocolate and tomatoes, etc., from the colonies, again so commonplace for centuries. But no Mexican/South American/ etc. restaurants back then.

I’m sad to say I haven’t been back to Spain since 1984. However, I try to keep up with all the immense changes in Spanish cooking/cuisine since then. What a huge difference!

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Berlin is so special with the international population from so many different cultures.
I was only there for a week, in 1983 (!). Most amazing place I’ve ever been, in that regard, even/especially way back then, when Berlin was in the middle of a different country, so to speak.

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I probably like London and Paris restaurant offerings more in the last 10 years because they’re not as perhaps “authentic” but they’ve brought in many more influences and integrated food from other cultures. Growing up in California was a veritable hodgepodge of culinary delights and my palate likes the different choices in both cities. When we go to London next month we will have Indian, Japanese, Spanish and Mediterranean/North African and I’m happy about that. Now when I go to San Sebastián or Sevilla I want just Spanish so I’m not always consistent.

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L’As du felafel is a great experience, though in my mind I have equaled in at least three other places. It is felafel and fresh pita with toppings.

Getting the felafel part correct is important, but the array of toppings is possibly more important. And if you trust the maker to use their own discretion, then you can let them choose which topping to use and how much.

I have had Thai food in Paris that was serious. BTW, when the OP references “Chinese food in Paris,” realize that the ‘chinois au coin’ is mostly Vietnamese.

Generally, with felafel, I prefer balls to patties. I like the fluffy interior. In a pita, the maker will often squash them open to make it less clumsy to eat.

It is only silly if you make up an argument about it. I fully understand that couscous is an important part of French food culture. And there is French pizza. The pizza I had in Charlesville-Mezieres is very much different than where you’d find it in Italy or America.

Again, authentic is not the same as traditional. Traditional has a lot to do with place of origin. That is not part of the definition of authentic.

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Is your question ‘I like to eat pizza in Tokyo just because it’s so different who else’, or ‘who else has eaten a better pizza in Tokyo than in Italy’?

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I have a local place (in a strip mall no less) that has a food counter in the back of a Middle Eastern grocery.

Their falafel put even the venerable L’As to shame…light and fluffy balls with housemade pita.

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For me, it’s more about your first question.

I take more pleasure in trying new foods, or trying foods while travelling, than comparing foods from one place to another.

It’s not that I don’t end up comparing the foods or restaurants in some way, and deciding I like one restaurant more than another , but ranking, or discussing which cities make a food more delicious than the place where the food originated is secondary to trying a food that interests me.

That said, I can think of some situations where a food that originated somewhere else might be better in the land where it landed though immigration. Cuban food in Florida might be better than Cuban food in Cuba, since the Cubans who migrated to Florida have access to and can afford more ingredients and possibly better quality ingredients than the Cubans can access back in Cuba.

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That sounds ideal! Counters in the back of markets? Usually a mark of quality I say.

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PS by salads on the falafel, I don’t mean vegetables or salads on the side.

Sometimes, some of the vegetable toppings or condiments used on Israeli falafel are referred to as salads.

Unfortunately, A lot of Cuban food in Miami has been South Americanized with the explosion of that population. It is now the norm.

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Right. I do tend to think of the colonial or migrant foods in those countries as part of their cuisine’s makeup, tho. Like Turkish in Berlin, or Indian in London.

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You need to get back :slight_smile:

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There are 2 or 3 falafel places in Berlin that make spectacular falafel. Our favorite one requires at least 20 min on my Vespa, but thankfully our favorite farmers market sets up shop right in front of Habibi on Saturdays. Then it just becomes a dilemma of whether we want Thai dumplings, gyros pita, or falafel.

#firstworldproblems :wink:

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I know I need to get back to Europe, especially Berlin and Spain; I’ve needed to get back for decades! I ended up with two joint replacements before I was 45 (with lots of pain and orthopedic disability), then adopted a 7 year old from foster care whose emotional issues make travel difficult, then I had a third joint replacement 10 years ago, and now young adult son still has difficulty traveling. It’s really sad to me that I haven’t been able to get back to Europe. However, the joy my son brings me is a huge reward reward. He’s of Puerto Rican descent and is very interested in Spain, and in Berlin, too, so I’m hoping!

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