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.

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

Food in Portugal is delicious

I second this map.

Spanish and Greek food beats Italian. Heck Polish food is way underrated. Also American pizza is better.

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.

Spain and Portugal should be tier 1 or 2

If you wanna be pedantic, Italian pasta is actually the knockoff of Chinese noodles.

Also, Greek food is fantastic!

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!

As an American who just had some glorious fake pizza last night, I thought I hated pasta until I had good Italian, and then I realized I just hate Americanized Italian food. Except pizza, we do it better.

Pasta still isn't my favorite, but I'll take it if it's authentic. My SO makes some great aglio e olio and carbonara, often with shrimp.

Well most of 'traditional' Italien food is actually from the US and had been invented by Italien immigrants.

https://www.harpercollins.de/products/mythos-nationalgericht-die-erfundenen-traditionen-der-italienischen-kuche-9783365006252

Fake pizza, sure, but doesn't imply it's bad. Plus ironically, you can find Italian style pizza in the US if you look for it.

That said, I'll still apologize for Dominos, Pizza Hut, et. al. for fast-foodizing the concept of pizza.

okay but north africa food?

Pre 1600s: Y'all a wanta some Rotting fish juice?

How can you put Spain on the same level as Great Britain? Damn Italians don't know how to make anything other than sauce with tomatoes and they think they know how to cook.

I mean, Italian food really is brilliant, they really just over time took all the best things they found and just made great food with it and left out everything else.

It's sort of crazy to think about how delicious a recipe with four ingredients can be until you realize they're four of the most delicious things on the planet.

And if my grandmother had wheels...

The Netherlands is probably an "overcooked pasta" enclave than. When I was a kid, I was sure Al Dente was Italian for Deathly Toxin.

I grew up north of the toxic belt, and it's my firm opinion that Italian food is overrated. Well, except Parmesan, I'll give them that.

Lasagna is like a moussaka with too much tomato sauce and layers of pasta that should've been skipped.

Anyone who downvotes this is either Italian, or has a fetish for mashed tomatoes.

poland in the fattening/caution zone is kind of on point actually

i fucking love polish food and feel that describes it pretty well X3

I mean, it may not be the best, but this puts portugal in a very bad position when we are all mediterranean with mostly the same ingredients.

Wow this is the most triggering post I've seen in a while and that's saying a lot in these times

I confirm. Source: I'm Italian:):):)