Best and worst countries for food?

I have had good and bad food in most countries. The French are the least imaginative.

The best lamb chops I ever had were in Slovenia.

A lot depends on what sort of food you like. I love the food in Germany, Austria and Switzerland as I feel you can really tuck into it especially the cakes. We've also had some good meals in France and the Caribbean. The one country in which I found it hard to find anything to suit my palette was Denmark.

For non meat eaters, Hungarian food is a bit of a challenge. My order of the vegetable platter arrived with everything battered and deep fried which was a bit of a surprise. The soup of the day in the motorway cafe was tripe. It had to be explained to the youngest person on the tour.

It all depends on taste. One woman’s meat and all that.
Fir me France would be somewhere at the top with India at the bottom.
No doubt many would disagree ( that’s ok) but curry at breakfast lunch and dinner was just too too much for me.
There was a silver lining - I came home having lost weight.

I would say our food (UK) used to be dire but is now so much improved since the 70s 80s and would place it high on my like list,

Mediterrean food, fish, salads, veg dishes and meat all good. Greece and Spain top for me
I loved eating in India.
The UK does well these days. We have such variety due to our colonial history and being in the EU brought great variety to our diet. Having said that, you can’t beat a Lancashire hot pot or Lancashire cheese n onion pie . It’s all about fresh good quality ingredients, no matter where you’re eating

Italy and France have to be my 1&2.
The worst food we had was in Slovenia, mostly grey stew like dishes and versions of fried potatoes.
We abandoned any of the 5* hotel food (dreadful) and ate the freshly caught fish at the coastal restaurants.
It was a few years ago, things might have changed now, but we wouldn’t go back.

France and Spain for me.I have good memories of a back street bistro in Bordeaux where ordinary working people were tucking into a tasty 3 course lunch with wine at a reasonable price. I've also enjoyed China and Morocco.
Also, Australian bakeries, at least in NSW, do amazing pies and the Argentines definitely have the most superb steaks.
The worst meals I've had were in 1983 USSR, especially in Uzbekistan where I think I lived on rye bread and beer for a week, it was so bad. And, sad to say, some of the others were in the UK though I think we are much improved in later years.

When we are (were) in France the Standard of food in both fancy restaurants and the village ones which provide a 3 course home cooked lunch, ,sometimes with wine, for 11 euros were brilliant.
Really missing our visits to France. Maybe this year.

The best food I've had was in Italy, closely followed by Turkey. Turkish food was a surprise, but my parents were living in Ankara for two years so knew the best places to eat.
The worst food was in USA with the exception of one dedicated burger place which was delicious. Austria was disappointing as was France.

I had forgotten about Turkish food, I can honestly say I have never had a bad meal in Turkey.

We have stayed in 5* hotels where the food was exceptional, we have a Turkish friend who used to take us to little local eateries in deserted coves where it was catch of the day along with salad and bread the freshness and taste has so far been unrivalled. (Only accessible by boat)

We were guests in her mothers home in Istanbul (Asian side) she took us to some upmarket restaurant in which the service and choice was so good however, the best meal we had was in a little fish cafe owned by the mosque. Nothing matched, not the chairs or the six tables (very small, more of a take-out) but the shell fish along with the fish was spectacular.

France, probably because we lived there, so had more time to explore. The least enjoyable for me was Japanese, but I was only there for ten days.

Italy, because of the pasta mainly. And the lovely ice-cream.
Worst, definitely Romania. Oh dear, the pickled peppers and the polenta pie!

Spain , yes the tourist menus are dire. Britain, too much choice and badly done

Oh yes - Denmark. We bought a pizza which was totally inedible, absolutely awful and it cost the equivalent of $72. We were only there 4 days, however, so not sure if it is fair to judge. The Danish pastries for breakfast were good, have to say.

I have had some lovely meals in Spain - paella in a little place up in the hills near Malaga and amazing tapas in a tiny little place in a side street in Barcelona stand out - but I have to agree with halfpint1 that in the tourist resorts, most of the menus leave a lot to be desired. We found the food in the Canary Islands much better than that in mainland Spain.

They did some strange things with dried fish in Norway. Walking the fish market in Bergen was an eye opener. Each to his own.

halfpint1

Spain , yes the tourist menus are dire. Britain, too much choice and badly done

I like choice. Love it that I can get food from at least 10 different cuisines in my nearest market town. Cooked by people from those countries, so it’s rare it’s “poorly done”. In fact, we have a tiny new Italian restaurant (4 tables) that serves up meals and snacks that are as good as any we’ve had in Italy. Perhaps we’re just fortunate.

We go to Italy a lot, and to a place that has its own farm and a fabulous restaurant. But it is just all too much with all the different dishes, and I am always left yearning for vegetables and salads, which we always have to order separately and always come in lots of oil.

Maggiemaybe

halfpint1

Spain , yes the tourist menus are dire. Britain, too much choice and badly done

I like choice. Love it that I can get food from at least 10 different cuisines in my nearest market town. Cooked by people from those countries, so it’s rare it’s “poorly done”. In fact, we have a tiny new Italian restaurant (4 tables) that serves up meals and snacks that are as good as any we’ve had in Italy. Perhaps we’re just fortunate.

This We are so lucky in the UK that this is the case in most places. We could go out every day to a different restaurant, all prices, all types and atmosphere, with great variety of fabulous home-made foods.

We are fortunate with our choices of food here in the UK. As for other countries, I don't eat meat ( but do eat fish, not shellfish), so France is a challenge. Have eaten very well in Greece and Spain. USA has to be one of the worst; too much meat, too much slop like creamed sweetcorn/spinach, not enough vegetables, not enough fish. When we were last in the States for a few days post cruise, we were fortunate to find a Cuban restaurant which was a vast improvement on the humungeous platters of 'typical' USA food, always with a bucket of cole slaw. Lovely mojitos too.......

One of the least inspiring is Norway, very beige, very boiled.

I've had really delicious food in Asia and Europe , but definitely the worse food in Russia .

Everything was niet , niet niet on the menus and when you got what was available it was a ghastly pile of potato , cabbage and cold meat guaranteeing you an upset stomach .

silverlining48

It all depends on taste. One woman’s meat and all that.
Fir me France would be somewhere at the top with India at the bottom.
No doubt many would disagree ( that’s ok) but curry at breakfast lunch and dinner was just too too much for me.
There was a silver lining - I came home having lost weight.

I agree that curry for breakfast, when we visited Kerala, was too much. I used to really enjoy workers cafes on the A roads in France, they were amazing value.. Also in Spain..

It depends on who you’re with. Italy was disappointing as my husband doesn’t eat cheese and it gets hard to find food without cheese. France was wonderful, he could eat steak frites and I could have whatever. Spanish food certainly isn’t boring, especially when eating freshly caught fish simply prepared.

I think it’s impossible to generalise. All countries have their regional specialities, plus their share of well prepared food and poorly prepared food. Additionally, it depends on your own personal preferences, like and dislikes.